Hi guys


I am guessing there is some one using a braille display connected by blu tooth.


I was wondering if there was any one who had written a tutorial on connecting there braille display using blu tooth they might want to share?

And how it is done.



I am guessing if it is like other devices on the braille display you have to turn on blu tooth on it so it can be found and if using a computer with blu tooth on it you need to get it to search for that blu tooth device say called what ever it is called.

In NVDA

Under the braille display settings where there are other braille displays I see the part where it can be a com port r via usb is there if you have blu tooth on the computer you can see it in this section to?

I am guessing the part before where it says the braille display names there would be units there that do have blu tooth?


I see the question come up a few times on the list if they are new braille display users either connecting by usb or blu tooth or even a com port.


Gene nz

Gene,

I seldom deal with Braille displays, but I have often dealt with Bluetooth devices in general, and there is a standard procedure, some of which you've mentioned.  It would be my guess that before NVDA (or any screen reader) would be able to detect a Bluetooth connected Braille display that you would have had to do the Bluetooth setup, separately, first.

1. Under Windows 10 or 11, open Settings, Devices, Bluetooth and Other Devices Pane and the first thing to check is that Bluetooth is turned on to begin with.  If not, turn it on.  This should have the dual result of making the PC discoverable as well as putting it into discovery mode looking for other Bluetooth devices when needed in the later steps.

2. Turn on your Braille Display, do whatever the instructions state for that device to put it into the mode where it is discoverable by Bluetooth.  Those exact steps will, of course, be device dependent, so I can't say more about that.

3. Back to the PC, in the same Bluetooth and Other Devices Pane you were in at the end of Step 1, activate the Add Bluetooth or other device button.  This will set the PC about the process of discovering nearby Bluetooth devices to which it is not already connected that are in discoverable mode on their end.

4. Choose your Bluetooth device, in this case the Braille Display, from the resulting list.

What happens from there can vary.  There are certain Bluetooth devices that "just connect" at this point, others have a passcode process, and I can't say which situation you'll be in.  I'd suspect the automatic connection but depending on the age of the device, that may not be so.

After the device is connected to the PC under Windows, it is then that you go back to the screen reader and go through whatever gyrations it requires to set itself up to use that Braille Display via Bluetooth.  It should, once a Bluetooth connection between PC and Braille Display is established, be one of the devices you have to choose from in the screen reader itself.
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Scratch most feminists and underneath there is a woman who longs to be a sex object. The difference is that is not all she wants to be.

    ~ Betty Rollin

Hi,
I'd also be interested in this. I'd like to connect an Alva BC640 that's more than 10 years old. My computer is new and I'm running Windows 10.

Thanks,

Janet

Hi Brian,

Thanks for this thorough explanation.

Janet

Hi Brian


I had a fair idea it might of been like when you connect say your phone to say a blue tooth speaker the process you mentioned. but in this case a braille display.


I can add in the extra steps for adding a blue tooth braille display from the computer so it see it.


One thing I did not relize is that blue tooth uses a com port  on the computer.


This is under the braille display in the list after you tab once to see the com ports etc.

Under the braille display settings.


Guess you never stop learning.


Gene nz

On Sun, Mar 27, 2022 at 01:22 AM, hurrikennyandopo ... wrote:

I had a fair idea it might of been like when you connect say your phone to say a blue tooth speaker the process you mentioned. but in this case a braille display.

-
And it very much is.

It really doesn't matter the wireless technology, per se, it can be either WiFi or Bluetooth, but the general procedure is "get the peripheral, whatever it may be, set up with the wireless connection to the computer, then do whatever in-program configuration (if any) is necessary to get the program connected to that device."

It is Windows that's handling the wireless communication part while your program is doing whatever it needs to do to send "the correct data" to that device.

It's quite analogous to an wireless printer.  You have to get the printer and computer on the same WiFi network, then get the computer to recognize the printer [which is the equivalent of pairing in Bluetooth], then choose that printer in the print dialog of whatever program you wish to have send to it.  For a Braille display and Bluetooth it's get both sides of he equation into discovery mode, discover and pair, do whatever voodoo you do in the screen reader to direct input and output to the Braille display.
 
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Scratch most feminists and underneath there is a woman who longs to be a sex object. The difference is that is not all she wants to be.

    ~ Betty Rollin