Touch-typing tutor for Windows XP?

Question

I am looking for a "touch-typing" tutor that runs on Windows XP.

Background: I am involved in a local development project in rural central Africa, and we would like to include some skills training in touch-typing as part of our educational activity. The machine (just one at the moment) we have available runs Windows XP (thus the platform requirement).

The "ideal" app:

• must be freeware (but opensource not required);
• must run on Win XP (as noted above);
• should be "light" (i.e., small download) as line speed there is extremely slow;
• no need for "eye-candy"!

I think this is fairly simple/straightforward. As ever, some personal experience of the package would be much appreciated. I would be happy to elaborate this with any necessary details I have neglected to mention.

Answer 1

TypeFaster typing tutor free open source 1.81mb download

http://www.typefastertypingtutor.com/index.html

Supports multiple keyboard layouts and more can be added easily (see the developers section). Includes support for non-rectangular keys. The following keyboard layouts are currently supported: UK-English US-Dvorak US-English Danish Finnish French French-Belgian German Portuguese Spanish etc.

A clear indication of which fingers to use. This is the essence of touchtyping. A 3D typing game. Typing statistics and the option of practising the least accurate/slowest/custom keys. Keyboard is not a fixed size (resolution independent). Multi-user support. Teacher support (view student statistics). Interface for editing lesson files and game settings. Backspace support Right to left text support. Variable text size. Lesson files can be prose or poems. Lesson progress indicator. Completely free with full source code availability.

Multi-user This is for several users on one computer. For example, each of your family members can have their own login. The settings and progress of each user is stored.

Multi-user with teacher support This version is designed for use in a school. It must be installed in one place only, for example in a shared, writable network folder. Ideally in its own fairly small partition but with some space for new users. In this version there are two types of users: ordinary users and users with teacher privileges.

When ordinary users (pupils) login, they must select a teacher. The pupil will then get the lesson files that that teacher specified. So there should be a teacher's name for each different set of lesson files. An example of a teacher's login name is: 'Mr Smith' If Mr Smith teaches typing to two different grades then he should create a different login for each grade, so for example, he could then create two users with teacher privileges: 'Mr Smith's Grade 8s' and 'Mr Smith's Grade 9s' and give them different lesson files.

can be made portable

1. Download the installer and install to the default folder C:\Program Files\TypeFaster
2. Copy all files (except uninstall.exe) to a folder of your choice
3. Uninstall the program
4. Launch TypeFaster.exe

Also has an accessible version http://www.typefastertypingtutor.com/accversion.html

The accessible version is for visually impaired or blind users. It uses the excellent, free, text-to-speech engine: Flite, to provide continuous voice support. Currently, only the US-English keyboard layout is supported.

Answer 2

Gtypist

I use GNU Typist. It is a cross-platform and open source typing tutor. It is extremely lightweight and runs in the command line. It is also portable on Windows (.7z files in the link below)

• It's free and open source
• It runs on Windows XP. You can find the binaries here
• It's extremely light (1.14MiB)
• Command line interface without eye-candy

Answer 3

RapidTyping

RapidTyping is a free typing tutor for personal and classroom use. It supports multiple profiles with detailed statistics and is highly customizable. It also has a portable version, so each user could save their own progress with the application on a USB stick. RapidTyping is:

• Free for personal and corporate use (but not open source)
• Runs on Windows XP (see screenshot)
• Somewhat light. The installer is 16.5MiB, and the portable version is 22.1MiB
• Eye-candy can be turned on and off in the user profile settngs

Answer 4

There are lot of nice typing software as mentioned in other answers. I see that you are looking for light weight typing learning software. I would recommend Shaplus Typing game, it is only 144 kb in size.

There are 2 modes in this software, one is game mode where you can play with all letters and other is practice mode where you can practice only the required keys. So if you are starting to learn, you can just practice the keys in middle rows with proper fingering and gradually you can add more keys in other rows.

In addition to English keyboard keys, it support many other language keyboards.

You can download it free from http://www.shaplus.com/typing-game/