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 and 32. 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.
