| This directory contains the BRLTTY driver for the BrailleNote | |
| [http://www.braillenote.com], which is manufactured by Pulse Data International | |
| [http://www.pulsedata.co.nz] of New Zealand. As a component of BRLTTY, this | |
| driver is released under the terms of the GNU Public License. It has been | |
| tested with BraillNotes 18, 32, and Apex. | |
| It was implemented, and is being maintained, by Dave Mielke <dave@mielke.cc>. | |
| Thanks to Mike Pedersen <mpedersen@mindspring.com> for his help and advice. | |
| There are a number of ways to put the BrailleNote into its Braille Terminal | |
| Mode. The quickest way is to use the direct keyboard shortcut | |
| backspace+enter+[2345]. Another way is to go to the Main Menu by pressing | |
| space+[123456], and then selecting Braille Terminal Mode by pressing the letter | |
| "t" [2345]. Yet another way is to go to the Options Menu by pressing | |
| space+[135], then going to the Task Menu by pressing the letter "c" [14], and | |
| then selecting Braille Terminal Mode by pressing the letter "t" [2345]. | |
| The BrailleNote does not inform the computer that it has been switched into its | |
| Braille Terminal Mode. This means that it's display will not automatically | |
| refresh with the contents of the computer screen until something happens which | |
| requires an updating of the state of its braille cells, e.g. when content | |
| within the text window changes, or, on those models which have them, when the | |
| information represented by its status cells changes. This could be caused by | |
| such things as new output from the computer, cursor motion, or window motion. | |
| One brutal but benign way to force a refresh of the braille cells is to | |
| manually restart the braille driver by pressing space+enter+[123456]. | |
| * For a list of commands by function, see "help-cmds.txt". | |
| * For a list of commands by key combination, see "help-keys.txt". | |
| The thumb keys provide access to the most commonly used screen navigation | |
| commands. Combinations of dots 1 through 6 either provide access to the full | |
| set of screen navigation commands (including those which are accessible via the | |
| thumb keys) or, if one of the input modes has been selected, are a keyboard for | |
| the current virtual terminal. Combinations of dots 1 through 6, together with | |
| the space bar, provide access to commands which control, and make special | |
| requests of, the driver. Driver options can be enabled via combinations of dots | |
| 1 through 6 together with the space bar and the enter key, and can be disabled | |
| via combinations of dots 1 through 6 together with the space bar and the | |
| backspace key. Some special commands, due to the need to assign logical key | |
| combinations, and aggravated because the BrailleNote itself intercepts certain | |
| key combinations for its own purposes, violate these conventions. | |
| The BrailleNote, at least as of the time of this writing, doesn't signal the | |
| pressing of dot 7 (backspace) and/or dot 8 (enter) unless the space bar is also | |
| simultaneously pressed. This makes the straightforward entry of 8-dot computer | |
| braille impossible. A scheme has been implemented, therefore, to get around | |
| this limitation. It allows the states (on or off) of both dot 7 and dot 8 to be | |
| either temporarily (just for the next character) or permanently changed. It | |
| uses the chord of dot 4 and the space bar, together with all possible | |
| combinations of dots 3, 5, and 6. | |
| Dot 5 requests a permanent state change, dot 3 represents dot 7, and dot 6 | |
| represents dot 8. Pressing dot 4 together with the space bar indicates that you | |
| wish to enter one character; if an input mode has already been selected, then | |
| it indicates that you wish to temporarily change the states of dots 7 and 8. | |
| Pressing both dots 4 and 5 together with the space bar indicates that you wish | |
| to permanently switch to an input mode; if one has already been selected, then | |
| it indicates that you wish to permanently change the states of dots 7 and 8. In | |
| conjunction with either of the fore-going: pressing dot 3 turns dot 7 on, and | |
| pressing dot 6 turns dot 8 on. The braille keyboard can be returned to screen | |
| navigation mode by pressing the letter "n" (dots 1, 3, 4, ane 5) together with | |
| the space bar. | |
| When the BrailleNote's Visual Display is assigned to the serial port, then a | |
| free virtual terminal is activated and becomes that display. When the Visual | |
| Display is subsequently either turned off or reassigned to a different port, | |
| then this virtual terminal is released, and, if it is active, then the virtual | |
| terminal which was active when the display was assigned to the serial port is | |
| reactivated. |