# braille displays

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by roxtar (move over school!) on Wednesday, 25-Apr-2012 19:19:47

Hi,
I'm starting to look into braille displays, but I have a few questions.
First of all, I've never owned one. I've had very limmited experience with one display on one computer a long time ago, but didn't get to use it much, as it was at guide dog school and I was busy with other things.
I Want to know how practicle having a braille display is.
Also, what is a good portable model, like one that could fit in a relatively small bag?
I want one that is bluetooth capable, so I can read books on my iphone, as if it were an ebook reader.
On that note, can braille displays be used with any degree of efficiency with apps like ibooks or read2go?
Will I have things like auto scroll when I'm reading?
Since the real purpose of me getting the display is reading, this is what I'm most concerned with.
I was looking into a braille pen, but have heard some pretty bad reviews.
I just wanted it because it was cheap!
Thanks for any advice you can give.

## Post 2 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 25-Apr-2012 21:13:10

The only one I know of that can connect with an IPhone or things like that is the Braille Pen. I have been wanting a small and portable Braille display myself, but I think the Braille Pen only has up to 12 cells. Another one, which is unfortunately not wireless but is also very portable is the SyncBraille. Although I own a HIMS product (The Braille Sense Plus), I just looked into the SyncBraille recently and think it's pretty cool. There's a 20-cell and a 32-cell model, and when I can afford it, I would want to get the 32-cell one to use with a laptop. I know that the SyncBraille has scroll buttons, but not sure whether it has autoscroll.

## Post 3 by write away (The Zone's Blunt Object) on Wednesday, 25-Apr-2012 21:54:45

The brailliant line has bluetooth. And so does the refreshabraille and the braille connet. I think braille displays are definitely efficient if you're a braille reader. I don't have one anymore, and I definitely miss it. Sometimes there are situations in which one would rather read something instead of listening to some synthesized voice read it. As for autoscroll, as far as I know, most displays do have that. even the older ones that I have seen, like the crappy pac mate display had auto scroll. So yes, autoscroll in the newer, more portable displays is definitely a feature.

## Post 4 by Lisa's Girl forever (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 4:18:15

o that sounds cool. i'm also thinking of a brl display. that's awesome.

## Post 5 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 17:45:15

Just got a refreshaBraille and for the most part love it. Its panning buttons are a bit weird and for as fast as I read I'd prefer to just push with a thumb and go, but am figuring out a way to move with it. It's great to have one because you don't have to wait for the speech to go blah blah blah and catch up with where you are mentally. Really small and light, and I'll put it in a pocket once its case gets here. Not willing to do that when it doesn't have a case as don't want to get lint into the cells.
Anyway you want routing buttons which turned me off from the Braille Pen as a display. I just can't see using one without those.
Lots of models are coming out cheaper now though I realize that's a relative term.
Any organization serious about Braille literacy would fund the research and evelopment to build a fully functional but inexpensive display, and drench the market with those. Even before computers Braille was expensive to produce, and all the buffoonery and hype talk about too lazy to learn, or pick-your-Braille slogan is all worthless as henshit on a pumphouse handle so long as the market is not just completely saturated with these things, so even the little blind tykes are running around with them. So long as Braille is out of most blind people's price range, all their talk is a load of shit.
Anyway a bit of a diversion there, but you're on the right track to want a Bluetooth device - Bluetooth is just serial over the air, and is a well-established protocol that won't be going away. Also anything that use HID (human interface device) protocol, like your RefreshaBraille and a lot of other displays means that it doesn't require specific drivers, actually it means a whole lot more than that but I won't bore the nontechnical types with this. The problem has always been with this blindy shit that it's so proprietary and weird it often don't behave like a normal device.
But modern displays at least are much more normal this way. My Focus at work just plugs in, works, and if unplugged behaves like a USB device ought to. I unplug it from one workstation, snap it into a test machine, go, bring it back to the first one, it's fine. I remember a time with the older ones where you could never do that to a display even though you could to all kinds of regular hardware.
The RefreshaBraille paired with my iPod the same way my external keyboard and my GPS receiver did, and you shouldn't settle for less. It should be standard enough your average IT guy can plug it in or hook it up for you and have it work.
My only complaint about the RefreshaBraille is that with NVDA it won't accept the HID driver but wants the older driver plus the display run in some old Serial mode, which mine cannot since its hardware is a couple years old. Boo f'in hoo I'll get a USB bluetooth adapter for $10 and hook it up that way, rather than run it backwards-ass.

## Post 6 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 23:02:13

Well, you should check out 18, 24 and 40 cells to see what balance suits you best in terms of cells per line and size (I have a Braille Pen 12, but then an 80 cell for PC work, but some might want 40 for everything).
I think the largest display that fits in a backpack or computer case is 64 cells, but price goes up very quickly.
All the displays that were mentioned work, to my knowledge, as well as Focus Blue from FS, Braille Edge (or something like that) from Hims (new), Papenmeier bluetooth displays, Handytech and Alva displays (usually more expensive), and seika from Perkins (cheaper but les reliable).
Autoscroll has to be implemented both on the display hardware and the screen reader software. I believe only Windows eyes and Jaws do this reliably with Handytech displays. Possibly a few other models, I do not believe Voiceover does this for the iPhone, though I'd be happy to be proven wrong (you can ask at www.applevis.com).
A few random notes:
Unfortunately some screen reader manufacturers (erhmm Freedom scientific) and braille display manufacturers (eerms Papenmeier) have, so far, managed to prevent the creation of one braille standard driver interface for Windows, which would've made it as easy as plugging a chord to get displays working with Windows machines. The effort was called Openbraille and its documentation can be found at www.openbraille.org (note that the last update is since 2009, yet my contacs refuse to admit that this is dead, though it seems awfully obvious).
There are at least 3 separate projects serious about creating a lowcost (200 to 500 dollars) braille display. National Braille Press (hope to have a prototype in the late fall), Bristol Braille Technologies (plan to build a prototype in the coming months) and some group whichis part of the RNIB (still conceptual). The actual braille cell technology has not been updated in 40 years, and there are definitely better solutions out there. The hope for a cheap and reliable refreshable braille is still very much alive, and Dean Blazie (who invented both the braille notetaker and Jaws), is part of the National Braille Press team, along with big shots from Duxbury and others, so my bet is on them to come out with something good.
But braille support is still too fragmented and expensive, and it is partly the industry's own fault, partly lack of interest in braille which comes from the high prices.

## Post 7 by starfly (99956) on Friday, 27-Apr-2012 10:07:57

I have a FS blue tooth Focus 40 cell, I can tell you, it really helps when reading information out to a customer insted of having to rely on speach to read it out to you as the user and then back to the customer. Example: reading out phone numbers is a whole lot easier on a braille display then repeating back what jaws is saying to you. Just to be up front here, I have had mine for a year and new to braille displays but I will not go back not having one for work.

## Post 8 by roxtar (move over school!) on Friday, 27-Apr-2012 13:48:00

Thanks for all the info.
I'ts true, all the problems with high cost braille.
I'd love to rely on braille more than I do, but I just can't see carrying around a suitcase just to read a book, especially when i could fit 1000 books in my pocket on an e reader.
What I want the display for most of all is reading ebooks.
I am a writer, and I want to be able to see punctuation and styling in braille when I read, instead of just hearing the book.
I want a smallish display that will hook up to my pc and my iphone.
I don't want 40 or 80 cells, i think 20 would do, at the max.
I just want it to be small, and easy to read ebooks on the iphone with.
Also, what do rooting buttons do? Everybody I've ever talked to about braille displays says rooting buttons are a must. So, what do they do?
Thanks for all the advice.

## Post 9 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Friday, 27-Apr-2012 19:28:02

Routing buttons are the buttons over each cell of a Braille display, and they just help you to move to a desired character more quickly, so it's really good when editing a document. You can also click on something like a link or button with them.

## Post 10 by BlindTechsNet (Veteran Zoner) on Saturday, 28-Apr-2012 5:58:35

I have had my RefreshABraille for just over a month in a half. I paid 1700 dollars cash for it and love it for what it does. its rugged, mental, and has a great battery life. I use it with everything, my iphone4S, my MacBook Air for work, and my Mac Mini desktop at home. it goes in and out of my laptop bag constantly and holds up well. battery lasts me under heavy use about 3 full days of work. if you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

## Post 11 by roxtar (move over school!) on Sunday, 29-Apr-2012 21:43:45

awesome.