[brailleblaster] Re: Co-ordinating work on the BrailleBlaster code

  • From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:05:45 -0500

Right. BrailleBlaster will use the printer window provided by the 
platform for actually selecting the driver. However, it may need to do 
some processing to prepare the input that the driver needs. In the case 
of the Tiger this would be a bit image. I would much rather just go from 
UTDML to this bit image directly, rather than going through PEF. For 
users who don't want graphics, liblouisutdml already generates files 
that can be sent to most embossers. A bit of processing can be used for 
embossers with special reaquirements.

I have downloaded the source for brailleutils and will look at it to see 
if there is something we can use.

I would want to produce PEF only if the user wanted a PEF file.

John B.

On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 12:32:05PM -0700, John Gardner wrote:
> John, BrailleBlaster will need to work with the standard OS printer driver
> interface on all OS.  If so then everything is automatic.  The only
> "special" information will be to "special" printer drivers.  ViewPlus
> printer drivers will be standard ones for all OS.
> 
> I see no reason we cannot deal with this PEF interface when users want
> braille only.  If one wants graphics and/or in, then they must choose to use
> hardware that support it.
> 
> John G
> 
> 
> John
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: brailleblaster-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:brailleblaster-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John J. Boyer
> Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 10:47 AM
> To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [brailleblaster] Re: Co-ordinating work on the BrailleBlaster code
> 
> Well, unless brailleutils can be upgraded to include adequate tactile 
> graphics support we won't be able to use it in BrailleBlaster. Excellent 
> tactile graphics capabilities are a basic design objective.
> 
> Although ViewPlus provides a printer driver for the Tiger, 
> BrailleBlaster will still have to provide the input that the driver 
> needs. If I remember right, this is a gif image. So BrailleBlaster will 
> still need a Tiger choice on its embosser driver menu.
> 
> John B.
> 
> On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 10:00:14AM -0700, John Gardner wrote:
> > No John, PEF does not support graphics.  I suggested during the
> development
> > of PEF that graphics should be included, but I was told to go mind my own
> > business.  Which of course I was already doing.  So if we are going to
> > support graphics, we'll need to use graphics-knowledgeable printer
> drivers.
> > ViewPlus embossers support graphics as well as ink.  BrailleBlaster does
> not
> > need to include them, because any ViewPlus embosser user gets an
> appropriate
> > printer driver with her embosser.They are accessed through the standard
> > Windows printer driver interface.
> > 
> > I know that other embossers can do graphics, but they also use proprietary
> > drivers.  I hope that these other embosser manufacturers can make their
> > drivers accessible to BrailleBlaster users.  But never through PEF.
> > 
> > John G
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: brailleblaster-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > [mailto:brailleblaster-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John J. Boyer
> > Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 9:51 AM
> > To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [brailleblaster] Re: Co-ordinating work on the BrailleBlaster
> code
> > 
> > Bert,
> > 
> > NIce to see a message from you on the list. I was just going to write to 
> > you about extensive testing of the liblouisutdml Java bindings. But that 
> > is for another message.
> > 
> > I am downloading brailleutils. liblouisutdml will need code to convert 
> > UTDML to PEF, but that was in the project plans anyway. However, our 
> > graphicsw requirements may be greater than PEF supports. We need the 
> > ability to place tactile graphics anywhere on a page and to include both 
> > Braille and graphics on the same page. This wasn't supported the last 
> > time I checked.
> > 
> > John
> > 
> > On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 01:44:13PM +0200, Bert Frees wrote:
> > > Hello everybody,
> > > 
> > > I'd like you to consider using brailleutils 
> > > (brailleutils.googlecode.com), a Java API for embossing and converting 
> > > braille. I think I mentioned it before. It was written by Joel Hakansson
> 
> > > from TPB and I've been working on the project the last couple of months.
> 
> > > It now contains about 50-60 embosser models (from Index, Braillo, 
> > > Interpoint, Tiger, Enabling Technologies, Cidat & Mountbatten). The 
> > > Tiger models currently use the Tiger driver in Legacy (generic) mode. 
> > > This means that images & ink + braille interlined are not possible yet.
> > > 
> > > brailleutils is being used in Daisy Pipeline 2 and odt2braille. It 
> > > would be neat if it was used in BrailleBlaster too. No double work would
> 
> > > be done, and any improvements that are made would benefit all 3 
> > > projects.
> > > 
> > > I would be happy to help you guys with this if you are interested!
> > > 
> > > Bert
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Op 16-jul-11, om 22:22 heeft John J. Boyer het volgende geschreven:
> > > 
> > > Now that some people are interested in the BrailleBlaster code, perhaps
> > > we can discuss assigning different packages and classes to particular
> > > persons. I have already assigned the localization package to my on-site
> > > computer tech. The wordprocessor package will be revamped when I have a
> > > good grasp of JFace. For now, I want to stick with the present setup, 
> > > so
> > > I can activate some menu items and actually get ?BrailleBlaster to do
> > > something. The Main class doesn't need much attention. It just gets
> > > things started and shuts them down. BBIni.java gets things set up. I
> > > want to keep that for my own work. Subcommands.java is just a skeleton
> > > that implements the translate subcommand and the emboss subcommand.
> > > Someone might like to flesh it out, using the apache.cli package to
> > > process commands. Someone might also  like to look at the embosser
> > > package. It will contain drivers for each embosser. These will be
> > > co-ordinated by the EmbosserManager.java class.ifferent people might
> > > write drivers for different embossers. The genreic embosser is already
> > > taken care of by the classes in the daisy branch of the Java hierarchy.
> > > We need a driver for the Tiger, with appropriate saveguards for
> > > proprietary information.
> > > 
> > > John
> > > 
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > Bert Frees
> > > Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
> > > Dept. Elektrotechniek - ESAT - SCD
> > > Onderzoeksgroep Documentarchitecturen
> > > Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 bus 2442
> > > B-3001 Heverlee-Leuven
> > > België
> > 
> > -- 
> > John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> > Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> > http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> > Madison, Wisconsin USA
> > Developing software for people with disabilities
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> Madison, Wisconsin USA
> Developing software for people with disabilities
> 
> 
> 

-- 
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities


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