Status: concept / early prototyping. Specifications marked
TARGETare engineering goals, not validated production claims.
QuranPrompter is an open-source, pocket-size, offline Qur’an audio appliance that plays recitation while projecting synchronized Arabic, transliteration, and translation onto a wall like a teleprompter.
No phone. No app. No account. No mandatory internet. No touchscreen. No ads.
Place the device on a table or shelf, point it toward a wall, turn it on, and press the center control. Qur’an begins playing and the projected text follows the recitation automatically.
The device should remain fully usable with projection off through tactile controls and optional spoken guidance.
| Area | TARGET |
|---|---|
| Enclosure | 72 × 72 × 36 mm |
| Weight | <170 g |
| Projection | 640×360 minimum, text-optimized |
| Useful throw | ~0.5–2.5 m |
| Speaker | 3 W mono, speech/recitation optimized |
| Battery | 4,000–5,000 mAh |
| Runtime | 12+ h audio-only; 3–5 h continuous projection target |
| Processor | ESP32-S3-class baseline; alternatives welcome |
| PSRAM | 8 MB target |
| Content storage | 16 GB standard |
| Controls | rotary encoder + tactile buttons + volume |
| Network | none required for normal operation |
| Updates | USB-C and/or microSD |
| Content | Arabic Qur’an + translations + transliteration + recitation packs |
See docs/product/requirements.md for the full requirement set.
The project is organized so contributors can independently work on:
- Firmware — playback, synchronization, rendering, controls, power, updates.
- Electronics — MCU, storage, audio, charging, projector interface, PCB.
- Industrial design — enclosure, optics placement, acoustics, thermals, DFM.
- Qur’an data — provenance, manifests, translation metadata, validation.
- Audio/timing — codec experiments, reciter-specific timing formats.
- Accessibility — tactile UX, projected contrast, spoken navigation/help.
- Manufacturing — BOM, fixtures, assembly, factory test, QA.
No hardware is required to contribute to UI or interaction design.
cd simulator
python3 -m http.server 8000Open http://localhost:8000.
The simulator implements a minimal projected interface, keyboard-mapped hardware controls, text modes, navigation, repeat state, and spoken guidance using the browser speech API where available.
QuranPrompter/
├── assets/ Concept renders and diagrams
├── content/ Content manifests, schemas and samples
├── docs/ Product, architecture, UX and engineering docs
├── firmware/ Embedded firmware scaffold
├── hardware/ Electronics + mechanical source areas
├── manufacturing/ Assembly, QA and sourcing templates
├── prototypes/ P0–P3 prototype records
├── research/ Component research and decision matrices
├── simulator/ Hardware-free interaction simulator
├── tests/ Projection/audio/power/content test plans
├── tools/ Content pack and validation utilities
└── .github/ CI, issue templates and contributor workflow
- Qur’an first. This is not a generic projector or smart speaker.
- Offline first. Core use cannot depend on cloud services.
- Instant use. Place → Power → Play.
- Physical controls. Essential actions never require a phone.
- Wall projection. Reference optical geometry is forward-facing.
- Audio works alone. Projection is optional.
- Spoken guidance. Help can be heard when the wall display is unavailable.
- Sacred-text integrity. Arabic Qur’an content requires provenance, validation and conservative review.
- Repairable/open. Editable source files—not only exports—belong in the repository.
- Measured claims. Battery, brightness, thermals, cost and reliability remain targets until physical prototypes validate them.
- P0 — software simulation: audio/text/timing/UI without custom hardware.
- P1 — bench prototype: dev board + external projector + speaker + physical controls.
- P2 — integrated prototype: custom PCB + 3D printed enclosure + battery.
- P3 — engineering prototype: near-production optics, acoustics and thermal layout.
- EVT / DVT / PVT: validation and production stages.
See ROADMAP.md.
Do not add arbitrary Qur’an audio, translations, fonts, or datasets merely because they are downloadable online. Every redistributed content pack must document source, license, attribution, integrity hash and review state.
Third-party Qur’an content remains under its own license. The hardware/firmware licenses do not relicense third-party sacred text or recordings.
See docs/quran-content/content-policy.md.
This repository includes a proposed split-license strategy while the project is still pre-release:
- Hardware design: CERN Open Hardware Licence v2 — Strongly Reciprocal candidate.
- Firmware/tools: Apache-2.0 candidate.
- Documentation: CC BY-SA 4.0 candidate.
- Third-party content: original licenses only.
QuranPromptername/logo: project trademark, not granted by hardware/software license.
Before a public v0.1 release, maintainers should confirm and add the complete authoritative license texts. See LICENSES/README.md.
Start with CONTRIBUTING.md, then look for issues labeled difficulty:starter or pick an area from docs/contributing/contribution-lanes.md.
Especially useful early contributions:
- projector module evaluation for sharp Arabic at low power,
- ESP32-S3 framebuffer/audio benchmark,
- FreeCAD reference enclosure,
- KiCad development board,
- Arabic projection test card,
- verified content-pack tooling,
- reciter-specific timing research,
- tactile/accessibility review,
- acoustic-chamber experiments.
QuranPrompter is an engineering project, not a source of religious rulings. Projected translations are translations of meaning and must be attributed. Arabic Qur’an content changes receive stricter review than ordinary code changes.
The project succeeds when another person can clone this repository, understand the architecture, run the simulator, modify the CAD/PCB/firmware, build compatible hardware, validate the Qur’an data path, and contribute improvements upstream without access to private design files.