I think the best solution would be to use a data acquisition device, either
USB or PCI.

Measurement computing sell relatively cheap devices, e.g. this USB one for
$99:
http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-1024-Series.aspx

<http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-1024-Series.aspx>can measure
24 digital channels (you could get two if you need 30).

Each "competitor" could have a small switch, which connects their input line
to say a 5V power supply.

You can then write a very simple program to detect when each competitor
presses their switch
(with sub-millisecond accuracy!).

These devices apparently have linux support.

Jason

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 2:44 PM, yosi yarchi <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi all
>
>
> I need application that will be able to collect and process inputs from 30
> (!) competitors, and will display the results very fast. The ideal solution
> could be to collect the inputs via SMS: each competitor send his answer, the
> application collect the answers (related to phone number) and process them.
> However, I can't assume that the competitors have mobile phones (they may be
> little childs...).
>
>
> I thought to use 30 USB numerical keyboards as input devices, connected
> with cables to 3 hubs, connected to the computer.
>
> However, I don't have experience with USB drivers at linux...
>
>
> Is it feasible? What should be the main guidelines for the solution?
>
>
> With best regards
>
> Yosi Yarchi
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Linux-il mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
>



-- 
Jason Friedman
Postdoctoral scholar
Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science
Macquarie University, NSW 2109 Australia
email: [email protected]
web: http://curiousjason.com
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