Introduction
Welcome, one and all! This is installment 2 of the Brailliance series, and why not start with the primary function of these devices? We will show you how to connect your display to a computer and mobile device! With this out of the way, let’s get started!
Requirements
Before you connect your display to any of these applications, you will need to make sure you have the appropriate software in order for this to work. For Windows: Windows 8.1 or newer is required. If you have a Mac: Mac OS 12 or above is required. If you are using an iPhone or iPad, make sure it has iOS 14.4 or above.
Screen Readers
On Windows, the Brailliant works with the primary screen readers JAWS and NVDA. If you have JAWS 2020 or above, you do not need to install aditional drivers. Otherwise, you will need this file installed first for any version below 2020. For NVDA, you do not need any aditional software if you are running 2020 or above.
Setting up your Braille Display
Now it’s time for the good part! Let’s set up your braille display with your devices! Each device has a different process, so read carefully. Let’s start with Windows.
Windows using USB
The easiest way to set up your braille display on a computer is through a USB connection. Connect the USB C cable to the computer, then use the top left port on your unit to connect the smaller end of the cable. From the main menu of the display, find “Terminal” using the navigation tips we showed you on the very first installment. Press “Enter,” and you will find “USB connection.” Press “Enter” here, and your display will then say, “Braille Display.” No need to panic, this just indicates the device is ready.
Using JAWS
This article assumes you are familiar with the JAWS for Windows Screen reader’s layout and commands. From the main JAWS Window, press “Alt+O” to go to the options menu, and locate “Braille.” From here, “Tab” till you hear, “Add Braille Display…” You will be presented with a list of braille displays supported by JAWS. Locate your model in this list, whether it’s Brailliant BI X series, Chameleon, or Mantis. Press the “Space Bar” to highlight the display you want and tab to “Next.” Press “Enter” here, and you will be asked which port you want to use each time you connect the display. You can pick USB from the list, or if you’re using Bluetooth, you can also select this setting. JAWS is pretty good at detecting which method you are using here. Once you find the port, find “Next,” and JAWS will ask you what display you want to use EACH TIME it starts up. You can select your braille display here, or if you know you won’t have your unit all the time, just find “No Display.” Find “Finish,” and press “Enter.” JAWS will tell you that in order for things to work, you will have to restart the screen reader. Press “OK,” and you will be back in the braille options dialog. From here, you can select what kind of braille settings you want. Go ahead and change these before exitting this dialog box. Once finished, find “OK.” From here, Simply exit JAWS and start it again. You should NOW have braille show up on your display and you can use that, rather than your keyboard!
A Note for JAWS Users
As of June 20, 2023, a new update to JAWS now will NOT require you to do all this setup process. Just connect your braille display to the computer, and start JAWS up. It will detect the model you are using, and it will add it automatically for you. Of course, if you need to change the braille code and other options, you would do it from that same braille options box.
NVDA
This assumes you are ready to go on your braille display, and you are familiar with how to use NVDA. All you literally do, is start up NVDA, and you have braille INSTANTLY! HOWEVER, if something goes wrong, or, if you need to change other braille settings, we’ll show you how to do this. Press “Insert+N” to open the NVDA menu. Press “P” for preferences, and press enter on “Settings,” since it’s the first option. on the list that appears, find “Braille.” Press “Tab,” and you will be on the braille settings dialog. You can press “Tab” till you hear “Change…” From here, press Enter.” Find the entry that says, “HumanWare Brailliant BI/B series / BrailleNote Touch.” No worries, this entry covers ALL new HumanWare devices. Tab one more time and you will see, “Port.” From here, we recommend you leave it to “Automatic.” Find “OK,” and press enter. You’re back to the braille settings dialog, where you can change other aspects of how you want your braille output to look like. When you’re finished, find “OK,” and you should see braille pop up on your display, as normal! If for some reason your display disconnects, you can press “Control+NVDA+A,” and select either “Automatic,” or the “HumanWare Brailliant BI/B series / BrailleNote Touch” entry. Then press “Enter” to save your setting.
Windows Using Bluetooth
This process is a bit more detailed in setup. However, adding the braille display is EXACTLY the same. We just need to do one thing before adding it to the screen reader. From the sttart menu, type “Bluetooth.” the first option should be, “Add a Bluetooth Device.” Before you press enter, let’s get the display ready to pair.
Preparing the Display
There are two methods of doing this process. If you are on the ‘Terminal menu,’ you move down one more option after “Connected Devices,” you should read, “Add Bluetooth Device.” Press enter here, and you should see “Activate bluetooth on your host device’s settings,” followed by the name of your display. Pay close attention to the name here. Alternatively, from ANYWHERE on the braille display, even the main menu, hold down the “Enter” key for five seconds. You will get back to that prompt to pair your device. Now, on your computer, press “Enter.” Your computer should then look for bluetooth devices, and with luck, you should see your braille display. Select this, and find “Pair.” From here, you should see your display vibrate, followed by, “Connected.” If needed, on your display, press “Home” till you read “Connected Devices.” Press “Enter” here, and find the name of your device. If your device is connected properly, you should see a full cell at the very end of the device’s name. Press “Enter,” and you should read “Braille Display.” Now, you can set up the screen readers the ways we mentioned above.
The Apple Ecosystem
This line of products is much easier to connect to these displays, and we’re going to show you how to do it! Remember, you want to put your display in pairing mode first before doing this as described above. For Mantis users, the “VoiceOver Modifier, or VO keys for short are going to be the Control+Windows keys to activate this command.” On ALL supported apple products, the layout of your mantis will change to this keyboard layout on the bottom row. The keys are “Control, FN, Option, Command, Space, Command, and Option.” With that disclaimer out of the way, Let’s start with the Mac!
Mac OS
Again, this guide assumes you are familiar with the basics of VoiceOver to find these options. From the system settings app, locate “Bluetooth.” In here, locate the name of your braille display and select it. After a few seconds, you will hear a beep from your Mac confirming the device has been connected. On your display, you should also read “MacBook Connected.” Substitute MacBook for the name of the mac, such as “Jose’s MacBook Pro.” Find the device as usual on your display to start operating it via your braille device’s keyboard. If you need to customize even more braille options, press “VO+8” to enter the VoiceOver Utility. From here, find “Braille,” and customize any options you need. Alternatively, if you want to make life MUCH easier, you can simply connect the display through USB, and use the “USB connection” option. Once you connect, after about five seconds, your display should begin showing braille as normal!
iOS
On iOS, pair the device through the bluetooth option on your settings app. Find the name of your device and select it, exactly the same way as the Mac. If you need to customize more braille options, you can find the options under your settings, accessibility, VoiceOver, and locate Braille. You can also use the USB connection, but it will require you to have a camera adapter to connect it to the bigger end of the USB cable, then connect it via lightning to the phone or iPad, if it has a lightning port. Otherwise, most newer iPads and the newest iPhone 15 models released on September 18, 2023 work with USB C cables. You will just need a cable like this.
Chromebooks
As of this writing, the latest braille displays do have support for chromebooks using the Chrome Vox screen reader, but it only works through USB. Simply connect the device to your chromebook, and Chrome Vox should turn on automatically.
Troubleshooting
Before you think about throwing any piece of technology out the window, let’s try a couple of these solutions if for some reason the devices are not talking to each other to get braille. This happens mostly with bluetooth devices, so let’s first turn bluetooth off, and back on. On the braille display, the second option after “Connected Devices,” is “Re-connect devices.” The bluetooth radio will turn off and back on to try and re-connect. If this does not work, power down the two devices, and start them back up. Repeat the same connection process. If for some reason this does not work, you may need to forget the device completely on both devices. On the braille displays in question, locate the settings, or options menu. In here, find “Bluetootth.” Once you do, navigate to the option that says, “Delete paired device.” Locate the device you wish to delete, and press “Enter.” You should then get, “Device unpaired.” Now you can start from scratch and see if that does the trick. If this STILL, does not work, give us a shout!
Braille Commands Lists
We would LOVE, to provide an extensive list of commands you can use with your screen readers, but this article is honestly long enough already, and we do not wish to make you read any more than you need to. So instead, we’re going to put a list of resources you can use for ALL the commands you want to know. If you have a Mantis and are familiar with the screen reader keyboard commands, you’re right at home! However, if you have a device with a braille keyboard, it is a learning curve. Let’s get you started with the resources needed! These apply to Chameleon, not just Brailliants like some of these say.
Conclusion
So much information for sure! However, keep in mind that this display was mainly intended to interface with the devices we mentioned above. “what about Android?” As of right now, there is NO easy way to pair one of these displays with Android. We hope Google will fix this, and when the time comes, we will update this article with Android instructions and commands. For now, we hope you get a great amount of information on using your display with smart devices! It definitely is a perfect combination.