Balsa is a hardware+software computer solution for use by language workers in remote areas, where power for computer use is a major problem. It provides language development software to assist in translation, literacy and language documentation tasks. It features a simple, easy to use interface.

Balsa is distributed as an image that can be copied to an SD card. The SD card can be inserted into a computer. Balsa sets up the computer to use the SD card as the system device. The user's data is stored on the host computer.

To upgrade Balsa, turn off the computer and change the SD card for an upgraded version.