This page contains documentation of utilities that support Braille access to TRIANGLE.
Braille is a method of reproducing standard literary documents using raised dot patterns. There are 64 patterns possible with a standard Braille cell - consisting of 6 dots arranged in two columns of 3 dots. Unfortunately, this configuration provides too few characters to conveniently work with math and science. TRIANGLE uses the 8-dot GS code so users can effectively work with math and science.
An 8-dot Braille cell has two columns of four dots. Most modern refreshable Braille displays will display 8-dot Braille. Most printers will also print 8-dot Braille but there are few generally-accepted conventions for what the cells having lower dots mean.
As mentioned above, TRIANGLE uses the GS8 code to properly display characters. Braille displays must load the GS8 table in order to display the GS8 dot patterns. Once loaded, the user can type anything from the keyboard and learn the dot patterns. Users will note that capital letters have an extra dot on the lower left (the only widely-accepted 8-dot Braille convention) and that most punctuation marks are those of Standard English Braille (SEB), but that there are a few differences. There are unique symbols for the opening and closing parentheses, and the present SEB parenthesis mark is used as the question mark in GS. The numbers 1-9 are the letters a-i with an added dot-6, and the 0 is the ing sign, dot-346.
Once the GS8 Braille file is loaded, TRIANGLE or the GSDIC utility (located in the main TRIANGLE directory and documented in UTILITY.DOC) can be used to explore the other GS symbols. One recommendation is to read the BASIC.EXT file located in the GS subdirectory. This file shows the basic GS symbols in both the GS8 and GS6 form. The more advanced symbols are in ADVANCED.EXT also in the GS subdirectory. One can also read the GS.CHR file in the GS subdirectory. This shows the single cells of GS8 and their names. Another recommendation is to bring up the GS dictionary with CTRL F9, type a, then cursor through the GS symbol dictionary. Finally we recommend reading the tables in the GS subdirectory and some of the example files that we have included in subdirectory EXAMPLES to illustrate use of GS for math and science.
For more information about Braille and the GS code, please go to the GS Braille web page.
GS Braille was developed by John Gardner, Professor of Physics, Oregon State University and Norberto Salinas, Professor of Mathematics, University of Kansas.
GATEWAY.COM is the Braille screen reader program origially from Telesensory, Inc but is now by Blazie Engineering, Inc. that works with all the PowerBraille display hardware. It is included with permission of Blazie. The newer ScreenPower program has a different method of loading files, and we have not yet written a utility for loading the GS Braille file.
Gateway should be started and the GS Braille file loaded into it before starting TRIANGLE. GATEWAY is located in the main TRIANGLE directory.
To load GATEWAY and change its Braille file to GS8, type
GATEWAY <ENTER>
LOADCODE -g <ENTER>
See Section 4 below for more information about the LOADCODE utility.
If an alternate screen reader is used to display characters on a refreshable Braille display, it is important to be able to load in the GS8 table so that characters will be properly displayed.
Other Braille displays may be used with TRIANGLE, but they should also be able to load in the GS8 character table.
A user who knows how to make and load a new table in his/her Braille display can derive a GS8 table from the GS.TXT file (Section 6 below). GS.TXT is a standard .txt file containing only printable ASCII characters and can be read with any word or text processor.
A number of characters above ASCII 127 are reserved for German and Spanish, the only non-English languages presently usable with TRIANGLE. A user who does not need German or Spanish need not put any undefined or reserved characters into his/her table.
We would be grateful if anyone who prepares a table for another Braille display would send a copy to the Science Access Project for distribution to other users of those displays. Please send information to triangle@dots.physics.orst.edu or to the director,
John
Gardner
e-mail: gardnerj@ucs.orst.edu
Tel: (541) 737 3278
Department of Physics
Oregon State University
301 Weniger Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331-6507
Note to Windows users: We have found some problems when using Windows with a screen reader and a Braille display and then running TRIANGLE in a DOS window. It seems that the Braille displays do not accept new font sets to be loaded as Windows has control. This is true even when using the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" from the Shut-down menu. The only workaround is to either turn of the Windows screen reader and restart, or start directly into DOS by pressing F8 while the computer is booting, and then selecting the MS-DOS choice.
This is a utility program for users to load Braille fonts into the VersaPoint Embosser and the Gateway screen reading program from Blazie. LOADCODE may also be used to load the GS screen font into the VGA display adapter, and to load the GS Braille table into BKEYS. BKEYS is a keyboard utility from the Science Access Project (described above in Section 2) that allows the user to enter Braille characters as dot patterns.
LOADCODE syntax:
LOADCODE [-efgklsv] <filename>
where <filename> represents
the name of the table to be loaded. If no filename is given, the GS table
GS.TXT is assumed. If the table file is not in the same directory as
LOADCODE.EXE, the full path name should be given.
-e Load table in <filename> into VersaPoint Embosser. -f Load the GS8.FNT file into the active VGA character set. -g Load table in <filename> into GATEWAY. -k Load table in <filename> into BKeys. -l Locate <filename> and print 1st line of the file. -s Shows current GATEWAY table definition. -v Verify GS.TXT table and create GS.CHR file - a list of GS symbols followed by their names. The printable ASCII characters in the ASCII range 32-127 are not included.
BKEYS is a small memory resident keyboard utility program that allows the user to enter Braille characters from the keyboard as dot patterns. This is accomplished by entering key chords, that is simultaneously pressing several keys on the keyboard.
The keyboard assignment for Braille characters is:
f for dot 1 d for dot 2 s for dot 3 a for dot 7 j for dot 4 k for dot 5 l for dot 6 ; for dot 8
To enter Braille characters depress the keys corresponding to the desired dot pattern all at the same time. Upon releasing the keys the character will be entered into the keyboard buffer and thus into any application program that uses the normal BIOS keyboard entry routines.
To load BKEYS while at a DOS prompt, change to the BRAILLE subdirectory, type 'bkeys' and press enter. A brief message will be displayed indicating that BKEYS has been loaded, along with a reminder of the keys used for Braille entry. The Braille keyboard feature may then be enabled and disabled with CTRL ALT b. It may also be turned on for a single character with CTRL ALT <space>.
BKEYS is initialized with the US computer Braille code. It may be switched to the GS code by typing LOADCODE -k <ENTER> after loading BKEYS. See Section 5 below for more information about LOADCODE.
BKEYS is copyrighted by Oregon State University, 1995. All rights reserved.
GS.TXT is the master table defining the GS symbols for each ASCII position. The GS symbols are conventional ASCII for the printable ASCII characters, positions 32-127, but are different elsewhere. This table defines the GS8 and GS6 Braille notation for each ASCII position, but only the GS8 notation is used with TRIANGLE. This table is loaded into BKEYS.EXE and GATEWAY.COM by LOADCODE.EXE.
The first column in the GS.TXT table is the ASCII position, the second column is a Hex code for the dot pattern. The hex codes take the top dot as the least significant bit and the bottom dot as the most significant bit in a 4-bit hex byte. The third column gives information equivalent to the hex code but in a form more useful to human readers - the dot numbers. These are enclosed in parentheses.
The next columns give the equivalent symbol in the 6-dot GS6 code, the hex code first followed by the dot numbers enclosed in square brackets. There is a comment field, and the official name of the symbol is in the last column. The GS.TXT file is located in TRIANGLE's main directory (c:\triangle\) or can be seen here.
US.TXT is the American computer Braille table. It is the default table for BKEYS and Gateway and may be reloaded into either program with the LOADCODE utility.
Still have questions about TRIANGLE? Send e-mail to: triangle@dots.physics.orst.edu