The Freedom Scientific Braille display can be connected to your computer via a USB connection or to a serial communications port.

To specify the connection, follow the "F" driver specification with the name of the require port, "USB" or "COM1" through "COM4". If you do not specify a port, WTC will search for a Freedom Scientific Braille display connected to your computer, which must be switched on. The search starts with USB then proceeds through the above range of serial ports, but note that it is unreliable on some systems and it is better to specify the connection port explicitly.

Once WTC has established a connection to the Braille unit, it determines the available number of cells, and by default, uses the full length of the Braille display. If you do not require this, but with to use the Braille settings specified for WTC itself, preceded the port specification with an asterisk ("*"). This will cause the Braille driver to use those settings regardless of the capabilities of the unit.

If the driver configuration string uses the ":" status byte for verification, WTC displays a message box giving information about the connected display and the S.W.H.-Wintextware driver version. The driver is actually deactivated before this dialogue is displayed so that it can be read with a screen reader without interference, then when the message box is closed by pressing ENTER or ESC, the driver is activated again for use. Sometimes the driver reactivation fails and it is necessary to start again. Once you have established a working setup with a Braille display, you would ordinarily suppress verification by using the "+" status bye option. The Freedom Scientific Braille display driver actually works even if Freedom Scientific's JAWS screen reader is running, but they interfere with one another's key input and display output, and JAWS tends to become progressively more unstable.

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Specifying the Connection Port