[BlindTlk] FW: [Tech-VI] Return of the Braille typewriter

Fri Jan 10 18:20:45 UTC 2025

The article did not mention that the name of the add-on is PC Keyboard and it is available through NVDA's built-in add-on store.

David Goldfield,
Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist

www.DavidGoldfield.com

Director of Marketing,
Blazie Technologies
www.BlazieTech.com

Am Yisrael Chai
The Nation of Israel Lives!

NVDA Certified Expert

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-----Original Message-----
From: BlindTlk <blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jack Zimmerman via BlindTlk
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2025 1:13 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jack Zimmerman <braillecat782 at gmail.com>; Raul Gallegos - NFBTX <rgallegos at nfbtx.org>
Subject: Re: [BlindTlk] FW: [Tech-VI] Return of the Braille typewriter

Oh my, now, this be nice! I have been wanting something like this for Quite a while now!  Will take a look at it Raul and thanks much forthe heads up!! 
Jack'nDave
Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 10, 2025, at 12:00 PM, Raul Gallegos - NFBTX via BlindTlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello Everyone. I am writing to share the news about this wonderful add-on that can be used with NVDA. In short, it allows you to type on a Perkins keyboard using your regular computer keyboard. I am using it right now as I write this email to tell you about it, and it’s very nice. Beyond my feeling that this is a cool add-on, I know nothing else about it, other than it works. So, I am sharing this with you. Happy typing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From: tech-vi at groups.io <tech-vi at groups.io> On Behalf Of David 
> Goldfield via groups.io
> Sent: Friday, January 10, 2025 10:15 AM
> To: tv <tech-vi at groups.io>
> Subject: [Tech-VI] Return of the Braille typewriter
> 
> 
> 
> livingbraille.eu - Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 1:53 AM
> 
> 
> Return of the Braille typewriter
> 
> 
> In the last few days; we have had a colorful mix of texts, announcements, images and even music on the subject of Braille.
> But today I have something completely different for you. Something with which you can become active yourself.
> Something that I have tried out in advance. I’ll talk about this in more detail in a moment.
> 
> Have you ever wondered whether you can write on AN ordinary keyboard like on a Braille typewriter?
> I tell you, yes, it actually works.
> All you need is the free screen reader NVDA and a specific addon that does exactly what I wrote about above.
> It turns your PC keyboard into a Braille typewriter.
> My first cocky thought was something along the lines of:
> “Oh, great, I’m definitely really good at that!”
> Well, in theory maybe.
> In practice, it turned out to be completely different.
> It took me more time than I expected to adapt to the new way of writing. And I lined up mistake after mistake. To be honest, so many that it really couldn’t be called nice anymore.
> At some Point, I took the time again and, as an exercise, wrote down a short text five times in a row that I could recite from memory.
> And after the third or fourth time, there was a slight improvement.
> Nevertheless, I still wonder what could have caused my initial writing problems.
> Are PC keyboards just not suitable for typing in this way?
> Or, shockingly, have I actually forgotten how to write with a Braille typewriter?
> Maybe some of you will try it out and tell me about your experiences on livingbraille.eu.
> Now I will explain to you step by step how you can transform your PC keyboard into a Braille typewriter.
> As already mentioned, the first thing you need is NVDA.
> You don’t have to permanently install the screen reader on your system. It is enough if you create a portable version during installation.
> You can download NVDA here:
> 
> Display "“Download NVDA” — NV Access" from www.nvaccess.org
> 
> After starting NVDA for the first time, you will be presented with a dialog box with some basic settings. They shouldn’t actually be a problem for you. The only important thing here is that you decide which key you use as the NVDA key. You’ll need it later.
> Next you have to install the addon. But it’s really very simple. You can download it here:
> 
> https://nvda.es/files/get.php?file=pckbbrl
> 
> Once you have started NVDA, simply go to the file explorer of your choice and click on the downloaded addon.
> Confidently answer the following dialogs with yes and OK.
> NVDA will restart after installing the addon.
> The addon is then freely available to you.
> All you have to do is select the correct Braille input table.
> To do this, call up the NVDA menu with NVDA-n,select Options and then Settings.
> In the menu that now appears, either press b or use the down arrow to navigate to Braille. From there, simply continue with tab until you reach the input table option.
> Once you have selected the table that suits you, click on “Apply” and “OK”
> No worries! The text was actually longer than it actually takes.
> 
> And now the fun begins
> To get started, press the NVDA key and 0.
> The input keys here are f-d-s-a for points 1, 2, 3 and 7 and j-k-l-ö 
> for 4, 5, 6 and 8 Of course I’m talking about computer braille here.
> The rest of the keyboard continues to function normally: Arrow keys, backspace, enter and so on.
> If you want your good old F-D-S-A-J-K-L-Ö keys back, just press NVDA key plus 0 again.
> Then everything is back to normal.
> And now I hope you have as much fun trying it out as I had myself.
> May your successes be greater than mine.
> 
> https://www.livingbraille.eu/return-of-the-braille-typewriter/
> 
> 
> 
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