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The Simputer is Unicode compliant, and has an innovative Text-to-Speech (TTS) system with a speech dictionary that is customizable for different Indian languages. The basic Simputer platform is a SA-1100 StrongARM CPU, with 32Mb DRAM and 16Mb Flash memory. The operating system is Linux and the development platform Perl/Tk.
An important feature of the Simputer is the SmartCard Reader/Writer which vastly increases the functionality of the device. Also, the Simputer is targeted as a shared computing device for a local community of users. This requires the device to be personalized for individual use on a changing basis. The SmartCard is again the basic method by which this device can be personalized.
The primary connectivity option will be the V.34 (33.6 Kbps) Soft Modem. Extensibility is provided through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port to enable external keyboard/mouse and other peripherals. Other built-in features include an IRDA interface and an MP-3 Audio Player. The Simputer can be powered by 3 AAA batteries or by an AC Adapter.