S.W.H.-Wintextware supplies WintextCom Personal Information Manager(tm) along with a registry settings utility for installing Braille keyboard support and/or autonomous Braille display output support.

You can find this utility called "brl_support_on.reg" in the "Utils" folder under "Utilities", in the WintextCom program group created under "Programs" on the start menu during installation. Executing this utility enables Braille support. There is a corresponding option called "brl_support_off.reg", which removes the Braille support key from the registry.

By default, the Braille support utility enables Braille output to a Freedom Scientific Braille display and sets up a Braille input keyboard in the default position, keys "FDSJKLA;" corresponding to dots 12345678. The setup is for six dot British Braille computer code, the settings intended primarily for VersaBraille emulation. In many circumstances, you would wish to customise the registry key, or install the required settings yourself without using this utility. This section of the WTC documentation describes the options in the utility file that relate to Braille keyboard configuration.

You can edit the utility rather than execute it by right clicking it in the start menu display (or pressing the context menu key) and selecting the edit option. It is a standard .reg file that defines a WTC settings key:

"brl_support"="D+b625FUSB;BFDSJKLA<59>;-BVCXM<44>:BEZ:BF;-BREWUIOQP;-B43278910;-BK,43278910;-BK,:76:77:78:75:74:73:7B:707279"

The first Braille input keyboard configuration sets up the default Braille input support, Braille key set in the default position and the rest of the keyboard inactive apart from Escape, Tab and a few other special keys listed in a preceding section of this documentation. It is active, the setting is installed by executing the shipped utility without modification.

There are several more Braille input definitions following the default, which are inactive, the "B" option being preceded by a minus sign. You can activate any one of these by removing the minus sign, to use as-is or as the nearest match to the configuration that you actually want and then just edit the dot definitions and/or options. Note that the default setting includes the dot definitions even though they do not need to be specified; this enables you to easily make adjustments.

The last active configuration on the line is the one that takes defect. This means you can enable a later configuration by removing the minus sign without necessity to insert a minus sign before the default configuration to explicitly disable it. However, if you are using the Braille support utility to activate Braille display output only and do not want a Braille input keyboard at all, you will then need to minus out the default configuration.

The first three Braille input configurations after the default provide the Braille keys on a different row - bottom, one above home and number row, using the standard positions for Braille input keyboard implementation on these rows.

The next configuration is the same as the previous, Braille input keyboard on number row, but allows ordinary typing on the main keyboard as well. You can use the numeric keypad keys to enter numbers without using the Braille dot combinations.

The final configuration demonstrates a function key Braille input configuration. Consider the keyboard turned around so it is back to front from the perspective of the Braille user. Then there is a six-dot Braille keyboard using the middle six function keys, with a space key next to the outermost dot on each hand, to be operated with the little finger. F1 serves as an ENTER key and F12 as a Backspace key. The main keyboard is active, so someone sitting opposite the Braille user could type normally. This setup could be used for face-to-face communications, quite literally. Note, however, that it has been found that the sensitivity to certain dot combinations using function keys is variable and could make Braille typing laboured, it has not been extensively tested.

Page url: http://wtcmanual.wintextware.com/index.html?bti_braille_support_setup_util.htm

The Braille Support Setup Utility