
                                  BRLTTY FAQ
     ________________________________________________________________
   
   Q.
          I'm the impatient type. How do I install this thing?
          
   A.
          
          + Uncomment one of the BRL_TARGET lines in the Makefile.
          + Type make.
          + As root, type make install.
          + Run /sbin/brltty.
          + Optionally: run /sbin/brltty from /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit or
            equivalent.
          + That's all!
            
   Q.
          What if it works?
          
   A.
          Then tell us!!! We have no idea how many people actually use
          BRLTTY.
          
   Q.
          How do I select my braille display and configure BRLTTY?
          
   A.
          You should edit the Makefile and uncomment one of the
          BRL_TARGET lines. You may also edit the file brlconf.h wich is
          located in the subdirectory corresponding to the Braille
          target you choose. In the same subdirectory should be an
          additionnal README file for specific braille terminal
          information. Finally, although it is not necessary, you can
          have a look at config.h.
          
   Q.
          Can I have BRLTTY running even before I login?
          
   A.
          Sure! We recommend that you do so by starting BRLTTY from your
          rc.sysinit (or any script executed at boot time). Start BRLTTY
          as early as possible in the boot process.
          
   Q.
          How do I find out and learn which key does what?
          
   A.
          See the brlttyh*.txt file in the subdirectory containing the
          sources of the driver for your terminal. There is a help
          toggle key that will bring up that very file while you are
          running BRLTTY, so you can refer to it live. All you need to
          learn is which key brings up the help screen and which keys
          correspond to FWINLT and FWINRT (full window left and right
          respectively).
          
   Q.
          Can I look at boot time messages with BRLTTY even if they were
          printed on the screen before BRLTTY started?
          
   A.
          Sure! Just go through the scrollback buffer using the
          SHIFT+PAGEUP/SHIFT+PAGEDOWN keys. (Note that this
          functionality of the console driver is only available with
          SVGA video cards.)
          
   Q.
          Can I use BRLTTY while in single user mode?
          
   A.
          Sure you can use BRLTTY in single user mode. If you start it
          up as the very first thing of the very first script that init
          runs when booting (usually rc.sysinit), then it will be on
          when you get to the prompt.
          
   Q.
          Can I use BRLTTY with special video modes?
          
   A.
          Some kernel parameters allow using different video modes
          (provided by the BIOS), like 80x50 for instance. See
          /usr/src/linux/Documentation/svga.txt if you have recent
          kernel sources installed. BRLTTY will adapt automatically to
          whatever screen size you are using.
          
   Q.
          Is it possible to use DOSEmu with BRLTTY?
          
   A.
          Yes, with some restrictions. First, to get it to work, pay
          attention to the following two points:
          
          + The "video" option in your /etc/dosemu.conf file must not
            contain the word "console". That keyword would make dosemu
            bypass the kernel console driver and DOS would write
            directly to the video card. BRLTTY would show a blank
            screen.
          + Make sure the appropriate com port is not declared for use
            by DOS and remains in BRLTTY's control. Furthermore, if you
            use the "raw keyboard" option, then cursor movement keys,
            cursor routing and cut & paste functions will not work. This
            is because simulating key presses must be done differently
            within dosemu with raw keyboard mode enabled (most probably
            by using scan codes). We have not had time yet to
            investigate this problem further. Any help would be
            appreciated.
            
   Q.
          What files do I have to copy to carry BRLTTY to a root disk or
          to another computer?
          
   A.
          See the script called "install-brltty" generated automatically
          when you compile BRLTTY. The components are:
          
          + the executable
          + the device node /dev/vcsa0 (character special 7,128)
          + the /etc/brltty subdirectory (this is recommended but
            optional)
          + and make sure that adequate versions of the shared libraries
            will be available.
            
          As an absolute minimum, you could compile BRLTTY statically
          (with LDFLAGS=-s -static in the Makefile) and configure any
          other parameters that correspond to your target system. This
          way you'll have a single file (brltty) to carry. Note however
          that compiling it statically makes it much larger.
          
   Q.
          Why does the cut & paste function leave out the beginning of
          some of the lines I try to cut?
          
   A.
          Currently, the cut function grabs a rectangular area from the
          screen, as opposed to grabbing linearly from the starting to
          the ending point. This has the advantage of allowing one to
          cut only certain columns: a quoted E-mail message for
          instance, or a column of a ps output... In the future, there
          may be both a linear and a rectangular cut function.
          
   Q.
          Is it possible to use my own braille dot translation table?
          
   A.
          Yes, if you can put it into the right format (use the -t
          option when invoking BRLTTY). The format of the braille
          translation tables is outlined in the BrailleTables/README
          file. The utility txt2tbl may be useful if you have an ASCII
          braille table. The utility convtable may be useful if you have
          a binary braille table in another format. Both utilities and a
          few others can be found along with some braille tables in the
          BrailleTables subdirectory.
          
   Q.
          Who do I contact if I have questions or problems?
          
   A.
          There is currently a team of three active developers. All have
          worked on the main BRLTTY module and each has written a driver
          for a particular brand of braille terminals. For general
          questions about the main module of BRLTTY, send your mail to
          any or all of us. For questions about a specific braille
          display device, contact the author of that driver. Here are
          the addresses:
          
          + [1]Dave Mielke [2]<dave@mielke.cc>:
            current maintainer of the BRLTTY project and author of the
            drivers for the BrailleNote and LogText drivers.
          + [3]Nicolas Pitre [4]<nico@cam.org>:
            former maintainer of the BRLTTY project and author of the
            driver for the Alva series as well as the driver for the
            Eurobraille family.
          + [5]Stéphane Doyon [6]<s.doyon@videotron.ca>:
            Author of the driver for the TSI displays (Navigator and
            PowerBraille). Maintainer of the BrailleLite driver. Active
            developper.
          + Nikhil Nair [7]<nn201@cus.cam.ac.uk>:
            founder of the BRLTTY project and author of the Tieman B.V.
            CombiBraille driver. No longer active.
     ________________________________________________________________

References

   1. http://mielke.cc/
   2. mailto:dave@mielke.cc
   3. http://www.cam.org/~nico/
   4. mailto:nico@cam.org
   5. http://pages.infinit.net/sdoyon/
   6. mailto:s.doyon@videotron.ca
   7. mailto:nn201@cus.cam.ac.uk
