BRAILLENOTE QT USER GUIDE V5.0 D1.0 P/N NT211 PULSE DATA INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 1 Expo Place P.O. Box 3044, Christchurch, New Zealand. Telephone +64 3 3844555. Fax +64 3 3844933 E-mail: enquiries@pulsedata.com World Wide Web: http://www.pulsedata.co.nz COPYRIGHT NOTICE All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the express written permission of Pulse Data International Limited. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this manual is correct at the time of issue. Neither Pulse Data International Limited nor its agents assume responsibility for errors or omissions in this information. No liability is assumed for damages resulting from the use of this information. Copyright (c)1999 - 2003 by Pulse Data International Limited, Christchurch, New Zealand. The patent for the touch cursor technology incorporated in BrailleNote is owned by ALVA BV. This product complies with the requirements of EMC Directive 89/336/EEC. SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INTERFERENCE There may be temporary degradation of performance when the BrailleNote is subjected to a strong radio-frequency field, electro-static discharge or transient electrical noise. FCC WARNING (USA only) This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and if not installed and used properly, in accordance with the manufacturer's instruction, may cause interference to radio and television reception. It has been type tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device in accordance with Subpart B of Part 15 of FCC Rules and Regulations, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference in a residential installation. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: (1) Reorient the receiving antenna. (2) Relocate the equipment with respect to receiver. (3) Move the equipment away from the receiver . (4) Plug the equipment into a different outlet so that the equipment and receiver are on different branch circuits. If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for additional suggestions. The user may find the booklet prepared by the Federal Communication Commission helpful: "How to Identify the Resolve Radio-TV Interference Problems". This booklet is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Stock No. 004-000-00345-4. Shielded cables and certified Class B peripherals must be used on this product. Using unshielded cables or uncertified peripherals may result in this unit not complying with FCC Rules Part 15. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the manufacturer could void the user's authority to operate this equipment. NOTICE FOR CANADA This Class B digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference-Causing Equipment regulations. MODEM INFORMATION (USA ONLY) This equipment complies with Part 68 of the FCC rules. Located on the equipment is a label that contains, among other information, the FCC registration number and ringer equivalence number (REN). If requested, this information must be provided to the telephone company. The REN is used to determine the quantity of devices which may be connected to the telephone line. Excessive REN's on the telephone line may result in the devices not ringing in response to an incoming call. In most, but not all areas, the sum of the REN's should not exceed five (5.0). To be certain of the number of devices that may be connected to the line, as determined by the total REN's contact the telephone company to determine the maximum REN for the calling area. This equipment cannot be used on the telephone company-provided coin service. Connection to Party Line Service is subject to State Tariffs. If this equipment causes harm to the telephone network, the telephone company will notify you in advance that temporary discontinuance of service may be required. If advance notice isn't practical, the telephone company will notify the customer as soon as possible. Also, you will be advised of your right to file a complaint with the FCC if you believe it is necessary. The telephone company may make changes in its facilities, equipment, operations, or procedures that could affect the operation of the equipment. If this happens, the telephone company will provide advance notice in order for you to make the necessary modifications in order to maintain uninterrupted service. If trouble is experienced with this equipment, please contact: Pulse Data Humanware 175 Mason Circle Concord CA 94520 Phone 800-722-3393 If the trouble is causing harm to the telephone network, the telephone company may request you to remove the equipment from the network until the problem is resolved. This equipment uses the following USOC jacks: RJ11C It is recommended that the customer install an AC surge arrester in the AC outlet to which this device is connected. This is to avoid damaging the equipment caused by local lightening strikes and other electrical surges. This equipment is Hearing-Aid Compatible (HAC). The telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 makes it unlawful for any person to use a computer or other electronic device, including fax machines, to send any message unless such message clearly contains in a margin at the top or bottom of each transmitted page or on the first page of the transmission, the date and time it is sent and an identification of the business or other entity, or other individual sending the message and the telephone number of the sending machine or such business, other entity, or individual. (The telephone number provided may not be a 900 number or any other number for which charges exceed local or long-distance transmission charges.) Table of Contents 1 Getting Started. 1-1 1.1 Equipment Checklist. 1-1 1.2 General Features. 1-2 1.3 Software Features. 1-2 1.4 Orientation. 1-4 1.5 Thumb Keys. 1-4 1.6 Braille Display. 1-4 1.7 Touch Cursor. 1-5 1.8 Keyboard. 1-5 1.9 Power Switch. 1-6 1.10 Speech. 1-7 1.11 Earphones. 1-7 1.12 KeySoft Concepts. 1-8 1.13 The BrailleNote Keyboard. 1-10 1.14 The KeySoft Menus. 1-13 1.15 A First Experience. 1-15 1.16 General Functions. 1-18 1.17 Switching Between Tasks. 1-21 1.18 Keyboard Assistance. 1-21 1.19 Switching Off. 1-22 1.20 Setting Time and Date. 1-22 1.21 User Settings. 1-23 1.22 Electronic User Guide. 1-24 1.23 Where to now? 1-25 2 The BrailleNote QT Hardware 2-1 2.1 AC Adapter and Battery. 2-1 2.2 Charging the Battery. 2-2 2.3 Checking Power Status. 2-2 2.4 Battery Care. 2-3 2.5 Calibrating the Battery Gauge. 2-3 2.6 Long Term Storage. 2-7 2.7 Using the Serial Port. 2-7 2.8 Using the Parallel Port. 2-8 2.9 Using the Infrared Port. 2-8 2.10 Using the Modem. 2-9 2.11 Braille Display Care. 2-10 2.12 PC Cards. 2-10 2.13 CompactFlash Cards 2-11 2.14 External Disk Drive. 2-13 2.15 Using a Visual Display. 2-15 2.16 Braille Terminal. 2-18 2.17 Remote Synthesizer. 2-19 2.18 Software Upgrades 2-19 2.19 General Care. 2-19 3 The Word Processor. 3-1 3.1 General. 3-1 3.2 What is a Word Processor? 3-1 3.3 Text and Braille. 3-1 3.4 The KeyWord Menu. 3-2 3.5 Documents, Folders and Drives. 3-3 3.6 Selecting a Document. 3-4 3.7 Naming a Document. 3-6 3.8 Creating a Document. 3-6 3.9 Reading a Document. 3-7 3.10 Review Commands. 3-12 3.11 What is the Cursor? 3-12 3.12 Braille Display Modes. 3-14 3.13 Format Indicators. 3-16 3.14 Editing a Document. 3-17 3.15 Searching a Document. 3-20 3.16 Checking the Cursor Position. 3-23 3.17 Going to a Specified Position. 3-23 3.18 Marking Places for Quick Reference. 3-23 3.19 The Spelling Checker. 3-24 3.20 Opening Documents. 3-29 3.21 Large Documents. 3-31 3.22 Switching Between Documents. 3-32 4 The Book Reader. 4-1 4.1 Instant Braille Transcription. 4-1 4.2 Reading the Sample Book. 4-1 4.3 Braille Display Thumb Key Commands. 4-2 4.4 The Review Cursor. 4-3 4.5 Additional Reading Commands. 4-3 4.6 Miscellaneous commands. 4-4 4.7 Review Book Opening Options. 4-5 4.8 Reading Books Stored on Other Drives. 4-7 4.9 Exiting KeyBook. 4-8 4.10 Bookshare.org on the BrailleNote. 4-9 5 General Functions. 5-1 5.1 Date. 5-2 5.2 Time. 5-2 5.3 Grade for Braille entry and Keyboard type. 5-4 5.4 Braille Display Options. 5-5 5.5 Keyboard Settings. 5-9 5.6 Review Voice. 5-10 5.7 Visual Display. 5-12 5.8 Next Appointment. 5-12 5.9 Power and Battery Status. 5-13 5.10 User Guide. 5-13 5.11 Insertion. 5-13 5.12 Repeat and Spell. 5-14 5.13 Hear Punctuation. 5-14 5.14 Change Task. 5-14 5.15 Front Thumb Keys On/Off. 5-14 5.16 Change Speech Volume Rate and Pitch. 5-14 5.17 Editing at a Prompt. 5-15 5.18 Media Player. 5-16 6 Embossing and Printing Documents. 6-1 6.1 Overview. 6-1 6.2 Setting Up the Embosser or Printer. 6-1 6.3 Embossing or Printing a Document. 6-1 6.4 Printing a Braille Document. 6-2 6.5 Embossing Options. 6-3 6.6 Embossing a Group of Documents. 6-4 6.7 The Embosser Set-up List. 6-4 6.8 Testing the Embosser. 6-6 6.9 The Printer Set-up List. 6-7 6.10 Testing the Printer. 6-8 7 Advanced Word Processing. 7-1 7.1 Overview. 7-1 7.2 Document Types. 7-2 7.3 Formatting a Text Document. 7-3 7.4 Formatting a Text Document for Embossing. 7-12 7.5 Block Commands. 7-19 7.6 Cursor Movement Modes. 7-25 7.7 Moving to the Start of the Next Line. 7-26 7.8 Moving to the Next Tab. 7-26 7.9 Inserting the Time Date or Calculator Result. 7-26 7.10 Binding Spaces. 7-27 7.11 Pasting an Address. 7-27 7.12 Working with Documents on other Drives. 7-27 7.13 Saving a Document. 7-28 7.14 Quitting a Document. 7-29 7.15 Creating Other Documents Types. 7-29 7.16 Braille Documents. 7-29 7.17 Formatting a Braille Document. 7-31 7.18 Initial Format Settings in a Document. 7-38 7.19 Extended Characters. 7-39 8 The Scientific Calculator. 8-1 8.1 Overview. 8-1 8.2 Entering KeyPlus. 8-1 8.3 Entering a Calculation. 8-1 8.4 Basic Operations. 8-3 8.5 Memory Operations. 8-5 8.6 Scientific Operations. 8-6 8.7 Inserting a Result or a Calculation. 8-9 9 The Planner. 9-1 9.1 Introduction. 9-1 9.2 The KeyPlan Menu. 9-1 9.3 Selecting the Date. 9-2 9.4 Page Layout. 9-3 9.5 Entering Text. 9-3 9.6 Reviewing the Appointments. 9-5 9.7 Editing Appointments. 9-6 9.8 Selecting Another Date. 9-7 9.9 Rescheduling and Canceling Appointments. 9-7 9.10 Alarms. 9-8 9.11 Embossing and Printing. 9-10 9.12 Planner Year Files 9-11 10 The Address List. 10-1 10.1 Introduction. 10-1 10.2 Adding an Address. 10-1 10.3 Looking Up an Address. 10-3 10.4 Changing a Field or Adding More Information. 10-6 10.5 Deleting a Record. 10-6 10.6 Duplicating a Record. 10-6 10.7 Inserting an Address into a Document. 10-7 10.8 Embossing Addresses. 10-8 10.9 Printing Addresses. 10-9 10.10 Templates. 10-10 10.11 Copying Addresses. 10-12 10.12 Selecting an Address List. 10-14 10.13 Creating an Address List. 10-14 10.14 Using KeyList to Manipulate Databases 10-16 11 E-mail. 11-1 11.1 Introduction. 11-1 11.2 What Can KeyMail Do? 11-1 11.3 KeyMail Overview. 11-2 11.4 Before You Start. 11-4 11.5 Quick Start. 11-4 11.6 Write an E-mail Message. 11-11 11.7 Read E-mail. 11-14 11.8 Connect to a Service. 11-23 11.9 Setup Options. 11-25 12 Web Browser. 12-1 12.1 Overview. 12-1 12.2 Setting up a Service Provider. 12-1 12.3 Changing to another Part of KeySoft. 12-1 12.4 Logging on. 12-2 12.5 Navigation. 12-3 12.6 Moving from Page to Page or Site to Site. 12-5 12.7 Page Management. 12-6 12.8 Application Management. 12-8 12.9 Favorites. 12-10 12.10 History. 12-11 12.11 Saving and Refreshing Web Pages. 12-12 12.12 Downloading Files. 12-12 12.13 Tables. 12-13 13 The File Manager. 13-1 13.1 Introduction. 13-1 13.2 Selecting Files, Folders and Drives. 13-2 13.3 Checking the Spelling of Folder or File Names. 13-2 13.4 The Directory Option. 13-2 13.5 Folder Manager. 13-3 13.6 Document and File Types. 13-4 13.7 Copying a File. 13-5 13.8 Erasing a File. 13-6 13.9 Renaming a File. 13-7 13.10 Moving a File. 13-7 13.11 Protecting a File. 13-7 13.12 Groups of Files and Wild Cards. 13-8 13.13 What is a Directory? 13-10 13.14 Creating Renaming and Erasing Sub-Directories. 13-13 13.15 File Translation. 13-15 13.16 Translation Menu. 13-16 13.17 Importing Files. 13-16 14 The Utilities Menu. 14-1 14.1 Overview. 14-1 14.2 ActiveSync. 14-1 14.3 Backup or Restore Files. 14-5 14.4 Pronunciation Dictionary. 14-9 14.5 Date and Time Set. 14-12 14.6 KeySoft Application Programs. 14-13 14.7 Miscellaneous Options 14-13 14.8 Key Management. 14-14 15 Command Summary. 15-1 15.1 General Commands. 15-1 15.2 Wordprocessor. 15-4 15.3 Format Braille Document for Text. 15-6 15.4 Calculator. 15-8 15.5 Planner. 15-9 15.6 Address List. 15-10 15.7 E-mail. 15-11 15.8 Unicode Characters. 15-12 15.9 Web Browser. 15-12 15.10 Stopwatch. 15-15 15.11 Media Player. 15-15 Appendix A User Settings for BrailleNote QT A-1 Appendix B Searching for Format Indicators B-1 Appendix C Java Script C-1 Appendix D Networking D-1 Appendix E Databases E-1 Appendix F Information on Bookshare.org F-1 Appendix G KeySync and File Synchronization G-1 Appendix H Software Upgrading H-1 Appendix I Troubleshooting BrailleNote QT I -1 Appendix J Computer Braille Reference List J -1 1 Getting Started. Welcome to the BrailleNote QT, an innovative personal productivity system, from Pulse Data International. BrailleNote incorporates a computer style keyboard, a choice of 18 or 32 cell Braille display, high quality responsive speech, and a suite of powerful applications running under the Windows CE operating system, all packaged into a truly portable system. This user guide tells you all about the BrailleNote QT. 1.1 Equipment Checklist. Carefully unpack your BrailleNote. Save the box and packing materials for future use. Your BrailleNote package comprises the following items: * BrailleNote QT; * AC adapter; * Slim line carrying case; * Earphones; * Modem data cable; * Serial communications cable; * 9 to 25 pin cable adapter; * Audio tape containing a "Getting Started Tutorial."; * Command summary in embossed Braille; * Command summary in ink-print; * This User Guide in ink-print; * PC software for BrailleNote Family on CD-ROM; * Your BrailleNote may also include a modem cable adapter if you live in the UK, Australia or New Zealand. BrailleNote options include the following items: * 120 MB/1.44MB Super Disk drive. * MicroDrive Storage Cards. * Braille Manual. * BrailleNote GPS. * Multilingual - add on languages including french, german and spanish. * Software Maintenance agreements. 1.2 General Features. The BrailleNote is a compact portable Personal Organizer with a computer style keyboard, and a Braille display. The Braille display may be either 18 or 32 cells with each cell comprising 8 dots, allowing for both the display of 6 dot and 8 dot Braille. Each cell of the Braille display has an associated cursor routing button. Four thumb keys on the front of the BrailleNote supplement the Braille display and provide convenient navigation control. The BrailleNote also has synthesized speech output that can be used in conjunction with the Braille display or on its own. The BrailleNote runs under the Windows CE operating system and incorporates a built-in modem and integrated e-mail software, which is compatible with all of the popular mainstream e-mail protocols. It has standard serial and parallel ports as well as a high-speed infrared port, a PC card (also known as PCMCIA) slot and a CompactFlash slot. The BrailleNote uses flash memory technology to retain information indefinitely even if the batteries run flat, and its user memory can currently be expanded up to 48 Megabytes. 1.3 Software Features. A multi-purpose integrated software package called KeySoft, running under the Windows CE operating system, is especially designed for people with a visual impairment. KeySoft provides the following functions: A word processor, called KeyWord, which is powerful yet surprisingly simple to learn. KeyWord has most of the features of an office word processor, including unlimited text insertion, search and replace, indents, clipboard operations and so on. It can even directly import and export the popular Microsoft Word format documents. An e-mail program, called KeyMail that lets you send and receive electronic mail. KeyMail works using a standard e-mail connection. You can also send and receive attachments with your e-mail. An Internet Browser called KeyWeb that allows you to search and use the world wide web for research, shopping etc. A Media player that plays MP3 format audio files. A calendar, scheduler and planner called KeyPlan. Your entries may include alarms, which sound even if the BrailleNote is switched off. An address list manager, called KeyList, which sorts your entries and allows flexible searching. Addresses can be copied into letters. A 10 digit scientific calculator called KeyPlus. A book reader called KeyBook that enables you to read books in any standard text format including Microsoft Word format. A Keyboard Learning function that helps you to learn the keyboard functions. A File Manager that allows files to be copied, renamed, deleted or translated. A program called ActiveSync that allows the BrailleNote disk structure to be viewed and managed on a PC running Microsoft Windows. The BrailleNote can be connected to the PC using the infrared or serial ports. A Braille Terminal mode that allows the BrailleNote to act as a Braille display for a screen reader such as Window Eyes, JAWS, HAL and SuperNova running on a desktop or laptop computer. A Remote Synthesizer mode that allows the BrailleNote to act as a speech synthesizer for other computers. You can switch easily between these KeySoft tasks, which are fully integrated so you can transfer information between them. KeySoft has both forward and back translators, so a Braille document can be imported into the BrailleNote and translated automatically into a text document, and vice versa. The BrailleNote can output its display to a remote screen device using the serial or infrared port. Sighted observers or teachers can use the visual display screen to view what is happening on the BrailleNote. Information can be transferred to and from another computer such as a PC or Apple Macintosh or specialized equipment such as a self-contained scanning system. You can print via the infrared port if you have access to a printer with an infrared interface. Alternatively, you can print via the parallel or serial port. BrailleNote also allows you to input Braille using the F, D, S and J, K, L keys on the home row of the keyboard. 1.3.1 The Windows CE Operating System. The Windows CE operating system is a modern, powerful operating system designed for small hand-held computers. It supports many technologies such as e-mail, high speed infrared communications, desk top PC synchronization, portable mass storage, and more. Hand-held computers have quite different processors from the Pentium type processors incorporated in PC's that run the standard Windows operating system. Standard Windows programs like Microsoft Word and Excel do not run under Windows CE. Furthermore, programs like Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, which run on hand-held computers under Windows CE, generally require a built-in visual display. Consequently, standard Windows CE programs are not suitable for the BrailleNote. 1.4 Orientation. BrailleNote is supplied in a soft slim line wrap around leather carry case. To open the case, lift the flap on the front edge. Fold back the case to allow operation of the BrailleNote. On the front edge of the BrailleNote you will find 4 buttons called thumb keys. Take your BrailleNote from its carry case and place it on a work surface. Along one edge are four keys that move when you push them. Position the BrailleNote with these keys facing you. This is the way you would normally use the BrailleNote. You can operate the BrailleNote while it is in its carry case. 1.5 Thumb Keys. The four keys facing you are normally operated by your thumbs so we call them "Thumb keys" to differentiate them from the main keyboard keys. They are used in conjunction with the Braille display when reading and navigating menus and lists, and to review document, e-mail, and planner content. They can be operated using your thumbs without moving your fingers from the Braille display discussed in the next section. The thumb keys can be set up for left-handed or right-handed operation. You can also create a custom thumb key set up to suit your personal preference; see Section 5.4.14. The factory setting is right-handed. The thumb keys are named as follows: PREVIOUS, BACK, ADVANCE and NEXT. In the right-handed configuration the key functions are assigned from left to right in that order with PREVIOUS on the left and NEXT on the right. For the left-handed configuration the functions are assigned in the reverse order with PREVIOUS on the far right and NEXT on the far left. 1.6 Braille Display. If you put your thumbs on the thumb keys and drop your fingers, they will be positioned on or about the Braille display. The electronic Braille display comprises either eighteen or thirty-two identical eight dot cells that can display any Braille symbol. Each dot of the Braille display is, in fact, a pin that is controlled electronically. To display a dot the pin is raised and the pin is lowered when there is no dot. When the display is off all dots are raised slightly and are somewhat spongy to touch. The Braille display is able to be refreshed; it can be written and re-written repeatedly. The Braille display and thumb keys are used together. You can navigate menus, read prompts and documents using only the Braille display and thumb keys. You can do so without moving your fingers from the Braille display. 1.7 Touch Cursor. You will notice small buttons immediately behind each cell of the Braille display. Press a button and you will sense a click. This is the touch cursor. It is especially useful when editing a document. In KeyWord, for example, when you press a touch cursor button, the cursor moves to the character associated with that button. You can then edit that particular character. This is discussed in Chapter 3. The touch cursor can also be used to select an item from a menu or list. 1.8 Keyboard. The keyboard has a standard typewriter layout for letters and numbers. To position your hands correctly there are small raised dots on each of the "home" keys, F and J. There is also a raised dot on the I key. As discussed later, the Keyboard Learn mode, accessible from the Main Menu, is an invaluable aid towards learning the placement of the various keys. The bottom row of keys, from the left, consists of 11 keys as follows: CONTROL, HELP, MENU, FUNCTION, SPACE BAR, REPEAT, SINGLE QUOTE, DELETE, LEFT ARROW, DOWN ARROW, and RIGHT ARROW. The function key has a raised dot on it. On the second row, SHIFT is at the left-hand end and SLASH is the right-most key. The last five keys on the second row are: COMMA, PERIOD, SHIFT, UP ARROW, and SLASH. On the third row, the left-most key is READ and the right-most key is ENTER. Between L and ENTER are the usual SEMI-COLON and APOSTROPHE keys. On the fourth row, TAB is at the left-hand end and the BACKSLASH key is at the right-hand end. The fifth or top row consists of ESCAPE, the numbers 1 through 9, then 0 followed by DASH, EQUALS, and BACKSPACE. To help you locate the number keys, the 3, 7, and 0 keys have raised dots on them. In this User Guide, combination key presses are described in the following way. The instruction: Press READ with T. means that you should hold down the READ key, press the T key briefly, then release both keys. It is important that you fully depress the first key, in this case the READ key, before you press the second key, which is in this case the T key. 1.9 Power Switch. From the front edge of your BrailleNote, move your hand along the left side of the case and towards the rear. You will first notice a raised circle which identifies the headphone socket. Continue to move your left hand towards the rear of your BrailleNote. You will come upon another raised feature surrounding the rocker type POWER switch. To switch the BrailleNote on, press the POWER switch near the front of the rocker. A power on message is displayed, the content of which will depend on where the BrailleNote was when you last switched off. Press the POWER switch near the rear of the rocker to switch off. Every time you switch the BrailleNote on, its operation resumes in exactly the same place as it was when you switched it off. If you are not sure if the BrailleNote is on or off, feel the position of the POWER switch. If you don't use the BrailleNote for approximately 10 minutes it will enter hibernate mode, where the power drawn from the battery is the same as if the unit was switched off. Pressing any key will end the hibernate mode, but it is recommended that you momentarily press the CONTROL key to end the hibernate mode. This will avoid the possibility of inserting unwanted characters if a document was open when the unit entered the hibernate mode. If your BrailleNote displays "Battery low," or does not come to life, you should plug in the AC adapter. The power socket is located at the rear of the BrailleNote on the extreme left. Locate the socket, then locate the small plug on the end of the AC adapter cable. Plug the small AC adapter plug into the socket. Plug the AC adapter into a wall socket. The message "AC adapter on," is displayed to confirm battery charging is in progress. If the BrailleNote does not start, wait 30 seconds or so and try switching it off then on again. If this does not work then press the Reset button, which is located just behind the Power switch. The Reset button is recessed to avoid accidental operation, so you need to use a pointed object to press it. The BrailleNote immediately beeps to confirm that it has been reset. After about 10 seconds, if the speech is on, KeySoft announces a sign on message and resumes from the Main Menu. The Braille display will show Main Menu. 1.10 Speech. Either the built-in loudspeaker at the center back of the BrailleNote or earphones can be used for speech. If the earphones are plugged in, the loudspeaker is automatically disabled. The headphone socket is on the left side of BrailleNote, towards the front. To locate the headphone socket move your hand along the side of the case starting at the front. You first notice a raised circle. This identifies the headphone socket where you plug in your earphones. The speech volume, speed and pitch can all be controlled by keyboard commands. These commands are described fully in Section 1.16.5, but nevertheless it is important to know how to control the volume of the speech right now. To increase the volume press FUNCTION with PERIOD. The FUNCTION key is located immediately to the left of the SPACE BAR. To decrease the volume press FUNCTION with COMMA. To adjust the volume by several levels, hold down the FUNCTION key and repeatedly press either COMMA to decrease or PERIOD to increase the volume. The speech supplements the Braille display. You might prefer the Braille display when editing text, reading detailed material or accessing notes during meetings but prefer speech for reading longer documents such as novels when reading for pleasure. We will explain how to turn off the speech or the Braille display later. 1.11 Earphones. The headphone set supplied with the BrailleNote is an ear-hugging type, designed to be compact for easy storage and unobtrusive when worn. The headphone set comprises a plug, twin core cable joined together over most of its length, the rest being two separate cables connecting to two earpieces. The cable is supplied from the factory coiled up and tied with a twist tie. To use the earphones, first untwist the tie and uncoil the cable. Next locate one earpiece. It doesn't matter which of the two earpieces you put in each ear because the earpieces are interchangeable. The earpiece consists of a curved flexible rubber piece which, in use, goes behind your ear and a rigid rod to which attaches a round earphone. Plug the plug into the BrailleNote's headphone socket. Put the earpieces on by pulling the curved piece and rod apart slightly and slipping the curved piece over and behind each ear with the earphone in your ear. The earphone can be slid up or down on the rod for comfort and rotated for best fit. Make sure that the curved pieces fit properly over your ears and the earphones sit comfortably. Adjust the volume to a comfortable level after fitting the earphones and while the BrailleNote is speaking. The BrailleNote will also work with a wide range of popular ear- and headphone styles. 1.12 KeySoft Concepts. Learning to use the BrailleNote is easy because the software is very consistent. Similar operations in different parts of KeySoft are carried out in similar ways. Some of the concepts used in KeySoft will now be described. 1.12.1 Help Messages. At any point in KeySoft you can press the HELP key to display information about the options that are available. The HELP key is the second key from the left on the bottom row of the keyboard. KeySoft help is "context sensitive," which means that you are only given help relevant to your current situation. Remember to press HELP for assistance when you need it. It does not affect your work in any way, and after you have finished listening to the Help message, you are returned to the point at which you selected Help. To read a longer Help message on the Braille display, use the ADVANCE thumb key and to review the message use the BACK thumb key. When the help system is being used to review a list of available commands, pressing ENTER on the displayed command will cause that command to be executed. The Braille grade used when displaying text is able to be selected. The Factory setting is Grade 2 Braille. You can change the setting as described in Section 5.4.6. 1.12.2 Prompts. Whenever KeySoft requires input from you, a brief message called a prompt is displayed. The prompt indicates what input is required from you. If you are unsure how to respond, press HELP. Where possible, KeySoft offers reasonable suggested choices. BrailleNote provides prompts in Braille, speech or both together. The factory set up turns on both the Braille display and speech and the following discussion assumes that both are on. You can read the Braille display or listen to the voice or do both. In this user guide when we say that the BrailleNote "displays a message" we mean that the message is both written on the Braille display and spoken. You can turn off one or other of the outputs; you will learn how to do this in Sections 1.16.1 and 1.16.2. 1.12.3 Reading Prompts on the Braille Display. Generally the prompts displayed in Braille are identical to what is spoken. Sometimes there are slight differences because what is appropriate in speech does not need to be displayed in Braille. Also, because the Braille display has a limited length, Braille output is limited to the number of whole words that fit on the display. If a prompt is longer than the Braille display or you are reading a long passage of Braille, you can scroll the Braille display to see the next group of words by pressing the ADVANCE thumb key. In the following discussion it is assumed that you will scroll to read the full prompt as necessary. Remember you can also scroll back to see the previous display by pressing the BACK thumb key. To help reading longer messages and prompts you can press PREVIOUS together with BACK to move the Braille display one word to the left. Pressing PREVIOUS together with ADVANCE moves the Braille display one word to the right. You can return to the previous prompt by pressing PREVIOUS at any time. 1.12.4 Repeating Spoken Prompts. If you are working with speech and miss hearing a prompt the first time, don't worry. You can have it repeated by pressing REPEAT. The REPEAT key is immediately to the right of the SPACE BAR. 1.12.5 Menus. KeySoft uses a series of "Menus" to provide a quick and easy way of performing many complex functions. Each menu contains a list of options from which a selection can be made. For example, the Main Menu allows you to select the Word Processor, Planner, Calculator, and so on. The selection of items is described in Section 1.14 1.12.6 Exiting the Current Activity. Another concept used throughout KeySoft is that of exiting what you are doing and taking one step back to the previous option point. You can do this by pressing the PREVIOUS thumb key particularly when you are using the Braille display or by pressing ESCAPE when you are using the keyboard. It is the top left key on the keyboard. 1.12.7 Automatic Cut-off of Prompts. KeySoft gives detailed spoken prompts and messages to help you learn the system. To prevent these messages slowing down an experienced user, speech is cut off automatically by the next key stroke. 1.12.8 Instant Access. You can switch from one KeySoft task to another with a simple key sequence. For example, you can switch from the Word Processor to the Planner, and then return to the same point in your document. 1.12.9 Braille Documents. KeySoft assumes that you want to create text documents, so that is the suggested choice. A text document can be directly printed, and if you want to send it to an embosser, KeySoft translates it automatically into Braille format. You also have the option of generating Braille documents directly. A Braille document can be embossed, and also can be sent to a printer by means of the automatic translation feature. 1.13 The BrailleNote Keyboard. The location of each keyboard key has previously been described. We will now describe the keys with special uses and how to use them. 1.13.1 Modifier Keys. You will already be familiar with the way the SHIFT keys are used; to get the upper case of a letter or the upper character of a numeral or symbol key, you hold down one of the SHIFT keys while you type the letter, numeral or symbol key. In a similar way, the READ, CONTROL, and FUNCTION keys do nothing when pressed on their own but are used to modify the action of another key. The READ, CONTROL and FUNCTION keys, in combination with other keys, are used extensively throughout KeySoft for special operations such as reading the next sentence, deleting a word, or hearing the time, etc. When the READ, CONTROL or FUNCTION is to be pressed in combination with another key, a statement like: Press READ with G. will be made. This means, press and hold down the READ key, press the 'G' key briefly, then release both keys. It is important that you fully depress the first key, in this case the READ key, before you press the second key, which in this case is the 'G' key. READ Key The READ key is the left-most key on the third row up, or "home" row. The READ key is one of the most important keys in the KeySoft system. It is used in combination with other keys for reading text, moving around a document and accessing other KeySoft functions. The READ key is always associated with reviewing or hearing something; it does nothing on its own. CONTROL Key The CONTROL key is the left-most key on the bottom row of the keyboard. The CONTROL key is used with other keys throughout KeySoft to give editing functions such as deleting text, spell checking, etc. It is always associated with changing something, and does nothing on its own. FUNCTION Key The FUNCTION key is the key with the raised dot on it, just to the left of the SPACE BAR. It is labeled Fn. You would normally press the FUNCTION key with your left thumb. The FUNCTION key is used extensively with other keys to obtain special functions such as hearing the time or date, adjusting the voice volume, etc. 1.13.2 Other Keys with Special Uses. ESCAPE key The ESCAPE key is the left-most key on the top row. It is widely used in KeySoft. It lets you take one step back to the last option point. You can use the ESCAPE key to abandon an operation that is partly completed. If you press ESCAPE several times you will return to the Main Menu. TAB key The left-most key on the fourth row up from the bottom. Press TAB to move the cursor to the next Tab position. In the calendar it moves the date by a year. HELP key The HELP key is second from the left on the bottom row of the keyboard. When you press HELP KeySoft will display a help message about the current operation. Typically, after the message is finished, KeySoft returns to the point at which help was selected. And the last utterance is repeated. If the help message consists of a list of possible commands, you can either press ENTER on the desired command to execute that command, or press ESCAPE to return to your point of entry. MENU key The MENU key is the third key in from the left on the bottom row of the keyboard. The MENU key returns you directly to KeySoft's Main Menu. From the Main Menu you can then choose the word processor, planner, address list etc. UP and DOWN ARROW keys The DOWN ARROW key is second from the right on the bottom row of the keyboard, and the UP ARROW is the key immediately above it. They are used in Menus, Lists and Directories to advance to the next item in the list or to back up to the previous item. Press UP ARROW to move vertically up a document page, back a week in the calendar, or back a field in the address list. Press DOWN ARROW to move vertically down a document page, forward a week in the calendar, and forward a field in the Address List. The UP and DOWN ARROW keys may be used in combination with the FUNCTION key to obtain functions called PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN. To obtain PAGE UP, hold down the FUNCTION key, just to the left of the SPACE bar, and press UP ARROW. PAGE UP is used to move back one page in a document. It is also used in the KeyPlan planner to move back one day, and in the calendar to move back a month. To obtain PAGE DOWN, hold down the FUNCTION key with DOWN ARROW. PAGE DOWN is used to move down one page in a document. It is also used in the KeyPlan planner to move forward one day, and in the calendar to move forward a month. LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys The LEFT ARROW key is the third from the right on the bottom row of the keyboard, and the RIGHT ARROW key is the first key from the right on the bottom row. Press the LEFT ARROW to move back one character in a document, back a day in the calendar, and back a record in the Address List. Press the RIGHT ARROW to move forward one character in a document, forward a day in the calendar, and forward a record in the Address List. The LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys may be used in combination with the FUNCTION key to obtain functions called HOME and END. The HOME function provides a quick and convenient way of returning to the start of a line, menu, or list. Similarly, the END function positions you at the end of a line, menu, or list. ENTER key The ENTER key is the right-most key on the home row. When you are typing a document, press ENTER to start a new line at the left margin. The ENTER key is used throughout KeySoft to enter responses to prompts for information, such as a filename or page number. BACKSPACE key BACKSPACE is the top right key on the keyboard. Press BACKSPACE to delete the last character you typed. In a Menu, BACKSPACE will take you back one item in the Menu. REPEAT key The REPEAT key is the key just to the right of the SPACE bar. It is used to repeat the last spoken prompt. DELETE key The DELETE key is the third key to the right of the SPACE bar. It is used to delete the character at the cursor. CAPS LOCK There is no physical "Caps Lock" key on the keyboard. To turn Caps Lock on so that all letters are typed in capitals, or upper case, press CONTROL with SHIFT. That is, press and hold down the CONTROL key, press either of the SHIFT keys momentarily and then release both keys. KeySoft will say, "Caps Lock On." All letters typed will now be in capitals, or upper case. To turn Caps Lock off, just press and release one of the SHIFT keys on its own. KeySoft will say, "Caps Lock off." Caps Lock will also turn off if you use a SHIFT key to type a capital letter. 1.14 The KeySoft Menus. 1.14.1 Structure. The entry point to KeySoft is the Main Menu, which contains twelve items. You can display each of these items in turn, and select one. When you have done this, you are generally presented with another menu. The system may extend to 3 or 4 levels of sub-menu. This structure is an important aspect of KeySoft. Items are grouped together for easy location, so a huge range of functions can be found from one starting point, the Main Menu. For example, if you start at the Main Menu and choose the Word processor option, you are presented with the KeyWord menu. This contains the following items: Create a document, Open a document, Emboss a document, and Print a document. These all relate to word-processing. If you choose to Emboss a document, you are presented with a further choice of Embossing, or Setting up the embosser, and so on. Now let's see how the Main Menu works. 1.14.2 Reading a List or Menu Using Thumb Keys. You can read through any menu or list using only the thumb keys and Braille display. Consequently you can keep your hands on the Braille display avoiding the need to go back and forwards between the Braille display and keyboard. The thumb keys perform the following functions: To step forwards through a menu - press ADVANCE. Menu items are displayed one at a time. To step back through a menu - press BACK. Menu items are displayed one at a time in reverse order. To select a menu item - press NEXT. To exit a menu - press PREVIOUS. Remember that for the right handed configuration the key functions are assigned from left to right as PREVIOUS, BACK, ADVANCE and NEXT. 1.14.3 Reviewing the Main Menu. To start with, go to the Main Menu by pressing the MENU key. This is the third key in from the left on the bottom row of the keyboard. KeySoft displays: "Main Menu." Note that the Grade of Braille used when displaying prompts is Factory set to Grade 2. How to change this is described in Section 5.4.6. To display the first item of the Main Menu, press ADVANCE or SPACE or the DOWN ARROW key on the keyboard. KeySoft displays: "Wordprocessor." The Word processor is used to create or edit a document, and to emboss or print it. You could select the Word processor at this point, but our present object is to review all the items in the Main Menu. So, press ADVANCE or SPACE or DOWN ARROW repeatedly, pausing to read each of the other eleven options in the menu, which are: Planner; Address List; E-mail; Internet; Media Player; Book Reader; Scientific Calculator; File Manager, which allows files to be copied, translated, etc; Utilities, which is a group of general purpose functions; Terminal for Screen Reader, which allows the BrailleNote to act as a Braille display for other computers. Remote Synthesizer, which makes the BrailleNote act as a speech synthesizer for other computers. Keyboard Learn, which helps you to learn the keyboard functions. For Information press READ with I, which provides information about the BrailleNote such as serial numbers and software versions. For the Options Menu, press FUNCTION with O, anywhere, which is a reminder of how to access the Options Menu. The final announcement and display is: "End of Menu." Having stepped forward along the menu by pressing ADVANCE or SPACE or DOWN ARROW repeatedly, you can step back by pressing the BACK thumb key or BACKSPACE or UP ARROW repeatedly. When using speech, if you don't want to hear a complete announcement, you can cut it off and move to the next item by pressing SPACE or BACKSPACE or DOWN ARROW and UP ARROW keys, or the thumb keys. This speech cut-off occurs at all points in KeySoft. 1.14.4 Selecting from the Main Menu. When KeySoft displays the option you want, press the NEXT thumb key or the ENTER key. The exceptions are Information and Options Menu, where you need to press a modifier key with the initial to access them. Don't worry about getting in over your head, because you can always back out of a selection by pressing the PREVIOUS thumb key or ESCAPE on the keyboard. When you have selected an item from the Main Menu, you are generally presented with another menu, from which you can again select an item. To display a Help message describing your options at any point, press HELP. To return to the previous menu, press the PREVIOUS thumb key or ESCAPE on the keyboard. To go directly to the Main Menu, press the MENU key. 1.14.5 Keyboard shortcuts. At first, if you are using the Braille display, you can use ADVANCE to move forward or BACK to move back through the menu and select a choice by pressing NEXT. Or if you are using the keyboard, you can use SPACE or DOWN ARROW to move forward, or BACKSPACE or UP ARROW to move back through the menu items and select a choice by pressing ENTER. When you are more familiar with KeySoft, you can move quickly around the menus by pressing the first letter of each selection. For example, if you were at the Main Menu and you wanted to go to the Word processor and Open a document, you could press W, then O. You can do this as quickly as you can type. 1.15 A First Experience. 1.15.1 General. Most people hate reading user guides. They would much rather just have a go, on the presumption that if the product is any good, it should be obvious how it works. If that's you, then this is your section. We'll go through two simple demonstrations: in the first we'll create a basic word processor document, and in the second we'll do an addition with the calculator. You should only need the simple commands that have been introduced so far. If you are not keen on jumping in at the deep end, don't panic. It's not essential to follow these demonstrations, because after this part we'll revert to normal manual mode, and describe more of what the BrailleNote can do. 1.15.2 Writing a Simple Document. The aim of this first exercise is to write a very simple document with the word processor. To reach a common starting point, go to the Main Menu by pressing the MENU key. Your BrailleNote displays: "Main menu." To get to the word processor, press W. Your BrailleNote displays: "KeyWord menu." To Create a document, press C, for Create, and your BrailleNote displays: "Folder name? Press ENTER for General," KeySoft is asking which part of its filing system you want to use, and is offering the "General" folder. This is fine for now, so follow the prompt and press ENTER. KeySoft then displays: "Document to create?" Notice that, a little after the question mark there is a cell which has dots 7 and 8 on. This is the cursor. It shows where the character that you type will be entered. Dot 7 is below dot 3 and dot 8 is below dot 6. You are being asked to provide a name for the new document, so type a name such as: "test." When you have typed the name, press ENTER. Your BrailleNote displays: "Top of document. Blank." This means that you have created a new document named "Test," and the cursor is sitting at the top of it. The Braille display is completely blank. You are now free to type whatever you like. For this demo we'll limit ourselves to: "This is a test of my new BrailleNote." The characters are displayed on the Braille display as you type. The cursor, dots 7-8 appears to the right of the last character brailled. As before this shows where the next character will be entered. Each word is spoken when the space bar is pressed. That's all we'll write for now. To finish this little exercise, press ESCAPE. Your BrailleNote displays: "KeyWord menu." You are back at the Word processor menu, and your new document has been automatically saved. If you press ESCAPE again you arrive back where you started, at the Main Menu. 1.15.3 Trying Out the Calculator. You might also like to try out the Calculator, which you can do without any extensive knowledge of the BrailleNote. From the Main Menu, go to the Scientific Calculator by pressing S. You hear: "KeyPlus. Zero." Just 0, number sign followed by the letter J, is displayed on the Braille display. This means that the Calculator is ready, and the display is showing zero. If someone has previously used the Calculator and the display is not zero, you can clear it by pressing CONTROL with I. Let's try calculating 2 + 3. The '+' function is obtained by pressing the EQUALS key. You don't have to use SHIFT to obtain the '+' function. To calculate the result, press ENTER. Your BrailleNote should confirm that the answer is indeed 5. On the Braille display both the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and the UK Braille Mathematics Notation are supported. The correct code for your country is automatically selected when you set up your Calculator Braille Language as described in Section 5.4.9 You can review the calculation by pressing the PREVIOUS and NEXT thumb keys together. The Braille display will show 2 + 3 = 5, in either Nemeth or UK mathematics notation depending on the selected calculator language. Pressing the PREVIOUS and NEXT thumb keys again will return to just displaying the answer. If the speech is on, the speech will mirror the content on the Braille display. To complete the exercise, press ESCAPE to return to the Main Menu. 1.16 General Functions. Some useful general functions are available wherever you are in KeySoft. These functions may be accessed from the Options Menu, but are often more conveniently accessible using a Quick Command. The Quick Commands typically use the FUNCTION key in combination with another key. You could be using the Word processor, or using the Calculator, or reading a menu. After using one of these functions you are returned to the place you were at previously. The Options Menu contains four additional items that are not available by using the Quick Command key combinations. Pressing FUNCTION with O anywhere in KeySoft will access the Options Menu. KeySoft displays: "Options menu." The Options Menu can then be reviewed by pressing the ADVANCE or BACK thumb keys or the UP and DOWN ARROW keys on the keyboard. The Options Menu comprises a long list of items. Only some of the items are relevant at this point but the complete list is provided so you know what to expect when you read the menu. Where applicable, the equivalent Quick Command is also given. The Options Menu contains the following items: Date. FUNCTION with D; Time. FUNCTION with T; Grade for Braille entry and keyboard type; Braille display options; Keyboard settings. FUNCTION with K; Review voice. FUNCTION with R; Visual display. Next appointment. FUNCTION with N; Power and battery status. READ with ESCAPE; User guide. FUNCTION with U; Insertion. FUNCTION with I; Spell. Repeat and spell. FUNCTION with L; Hear punctuation. Repeat with maximum punctuation. FUNCTION with P; Change task. FUNCTION with C; Front Thumb keys On/Off. Web Disconnect and finally the speech settings, a list of 6 items that tell you how to adjust the volume, speed and pitch of KeySoft's speech. The "Insertion" item is displayed only when it is appropriate to insert such things as the date or time such as in KeyWord. To select an item, move through the menu until the required item is displayed, and then press ENTER. Alternatively, from anywhere in the Options menu, press the initial letter of your choice. This does not apply to the speech settings, the commands for which are summarized at the end of the Option Menu. The Quick Commands for the Options Menu are also listed in the Command Summary. We will deal with the more frequently used items in the Options menu now. All of the items are detailed in Chapter 5. 1.16.1 Turning the Braille Display On or Off. To turn off the Braille display, hold down the NEXT thumb key, press SPACE, then release both keys. The same key combination turns the Braille display on. KeySoft confirms the Braille display status by displaying "Braille display off" or "Braille display on." Note that if the Braille display is turned off when speech is off, speech is forced on. This avoids having both Braille and speech off simultaneously. The function to turn the Braille display Off is also available from the Options Menu, under Braille Display Options. 1.16.2 Turning Speech On or Off. There are three speech options: Speech On, Speech on Request and Speech Off. If speech is currently on, hold down the PREVIOUS thumb key, press SPACE, then release both keys to select Speech on Request. KeySoft displays: "Speech on request." To select the next option, Speech Off, press the same key combination again. KeySoft confirms that speech is off by displaying "Speech off" only on the Braille display. To turn Speech On again, press that key combination again. KeySoft displays: "Speech on." You are returned to where you started with Speech On. When the Speech on Request option is selected, KeySoft only speaks when you use a command that is a specific speech command. For example, in KeyWord, the word processor, when you move forward word by word using READ with L, nothing is spoken. However if you use the dedicated "Speak Word under Cursor" command, READ with K, the word under the cursor is spoken. Note that if speech is turned off when the Braille is off, the Braille display is forced on. This avoids having both Braille and speech off simultaneously. The function to select Speech On, Speech on Request, or Speech Off is also available from the Options Menu, under Review Voice. 1.16.3 Setting the Keyboard Voice. The first of these settings determines how KeySoft speaks what you type. Press FUNCTION with K for Keyboard Voice. KeySoft displays: "Keyboard voice? Words." The options are as follows: To turn off speech altogether, press F followed by ENTER; To spell words as they are typed, press S followed by ENTER; To speak whole words, press W followed by ENTER; To both spell and speak words, press B followed by ENTER; Or just press ENTER to leave the selection unchanged. The suggested setting is "Words." If you are learning to type, you may prefer the "Spell" option or the "Both" option. If you can type quickly, you might select the "Words" option, or turn off speech altogether. You can press HELP for a reminder of these options. Two further Keyboard settings are then presented, relating to when Braille input is required from the keyboard. These items will not be discussed here. Press ESCAPE to leave the Keyboard Settings. 1.16.4 Repeating an Announcement. As we have already mentioned, you can get KeySoft to say a prompt again by pressing REPEAT if you didn't quite catch it. To repeat the prompt with the important parts spelled out, press FUNCTION with L. To reveal the most detail, you can repeat the last prompt with full punctuation and spaces. To do this, press FUNCTION with P. After either command you are returned to your original place in KeySoft. 1.16.5 Setting Volume, Speech, Speed and Pitch. The characteristics of the BrailleNote's voice can be changed anywhere in KeySoft, as follows: For higher volume, press FUNCTION with PERIOD; For lower volume, press FUNCTION with COMMA; For faster speech, press FUNCTION with EQUALS; For slower speech, press FUNCTION with DASH; For higher pitch, press FUNCTION with SHIFT with EQUALS; For lower pitch, press FUNCTION with SHIFT with DASH. There are 32 volumes, 16 speeds and 16 pitches, and they change one step at each key press. A reminder of the commands is given in the Options Menu, at the end of the list. 1.16.6 Power and Battery Status. The BrailleNote Power and Battery status can be obtained at any time. Press READ with ESCAPE. KeySoft displays the battery charge level as a percentage of fully charged, and whether the AC Adapter is On or Off. 1.17 Switching Between Tasks. KeySoft allows you to switch directly from one KeySoft task to another without returning to the Main Menu. You can switch between the Word processor, Scientific Calculator, Planner, Address List, E-mail, Internet, Media Player and Book Reader. For example, if you are writing a document and you need an address, you can switch directly to the Address List, look up the address, and then return to the Word processor. You are placed back at the same point in your document. To access the Task Menu, hold down FUNCTION and press S, then to cycle through the list of available programs, press S repeatedly and when you get to the task you want, release the FUNCTION key. You may do the same thing using READ with TAB instead, pressing ENTER to confirm your selection. The following hotkeys are also available for changing tasks: To select the Word processor, press FUNCTION with 4; To select the Calculator, press FUNCTION with 5; To select the Planner, press FUNCTION with 6; To select the Address List, press FUNCTION with 7; To select the E-mail system, press FUNCTION with 8; To select the Internet browser, press FUNCTION with 0 (as in Zero) To select the Book Reader, press FUNCTION with 9. To select the Media Player, press FUNCTION with S, repeatedly. 1.18 Keyboard Assistance. There are two ways of getting help with keyboard input. The first is available from the Main Menu, and is called "Keyboard Learn." In Keyboard Learn, as you press each key, or key combination, KeySoft speaks its function. For example pressing FUNCTION with T will give the response "display the time." Keyboard Learn is invaluable for familiarizing yourself with the keyboard layout and Quick Commands that are available at any point within KeySoft. The thumb keys are also included in Keyboard Learn. The second mode is available when the Word processor, Calculator, Planner or Book Reader is being used. It is called Announce Key mode, and can be entered by pressing READ with A. The A stands for "Announce" In addition to speaking letters and signs, the function of any key or key combination is spoken. For example, in the Word processor, READ with L says: "Forward one word," without causing any further action. Announce Key mode is helpful for learning the commands in KeySoft. You can exit either mode by pressing ESCAPE. 1.19 Switching Off. Before you switch off your BrailleNote, it is good practice to return to the Main Menu first. This ensures that the current document is saved. If you don't do this, the current version of your work would be lost if the batteries became discharged. That's fairly unlikely, but it's good insurance for the cost of one key stroke. If you have a disk drive, you should consider backing up your work regularly. It's a common thing to do with any computer. It minimizes the amount of data you could lose should a computer or software "crash" occur. You can backup all your working files by using the Backup function in the Utilities menu, as described in Section 14.3. 1.20 Setting Time and Date. To display the current day and date, press FUNCTION with D. To display the current time, press FUNCTION with T. These commands are available from any place within KeySoft. If either the date or the time is incorrect you can set new values and have them displayed in your preferred format from the "Date and Time Set" option in the Utilities Menu. Setting the Date and time requires you to complete the following steps: Remember that on-line help is available at any point by pressing HELP, and that if you wish to leave a displayed value unchanged, just press ENTER to move onto the next item in the list. You may exit the setup list at any point by pressing ESCAPE. Return to the Main Menu by pressing MENU. Press U to go to the Utilities Menu. Press D to go to the Date and Time set option. Choose your preferred date format. For USA format where the date is in the form month/day/year press S, or for UK format where the date is in the form day/month/year press K. Press the ENTER key to complete your entry. Choose your preferred time format, 12 or 24 hour. For a 12 hour clock press 1, for a 24 hour clock press 2, then complete your entry by pressing ENTER. Enter the current time. Press HELP to display instructions on how to enter the time in the format you have selected. Enter the current date. Press HELP to display instructions on how to enter the date in the format you have selected. After setting the time and date you will be returned to the Utilities Menu. 1.21 User Settings. BrailleNote provides many user set-able options. As you become more knowledgeable about how BrailleNote works, you can change the way it behaves to better suit your personal preferences. Your BrailleNote supplier will most probably have set the User settings most appropriate to your needs. The following items, will be of principal interest: Speech; volume, rate, and pitch; Time and date set, and in preferred format; Keyboard input voice setting; words, characters, or off; Review or reading voice settings; punctuation settings, numbers or digits; Preferred cursor shape on Braille display; Braille language; US, UK, or Australian; Braille grade for keyboard input; grade 1, or 2; Calculator language Nemeth or UK math; Computer Braille language; US, or UK; Thumb key layout; Spelling checker dictionary language installed; Address list data base installed; E-mail data base installed. Some of these items have already been covered in this Getting Started chapter, but for convenience, Appendix A provides additional assistance and if appropriate a reference to the relevant section in the User Guide. The next section explains how to use the Electronic User Guide to read a particular section of the user guide. After reading this next section, you could use the Electronic User Guide to read Appendix A, User settings for the BrailleNote. 1.22 Electronic User Guide. The text of the full User Guide is stored in your BrailleNote and is available for reference at any time. To access it, press READ with HELP. You can look up a topic in the Table of Contents or Index, and read that section of the user guide. When you are finished with that section, you can return to the Table of Contents or Index or exit the user guide. You are returned to your original place in KeySoft when you exit. If you have edited your user guide KeyWord Text files in any way (a practice we do not recommend as it can interfere with the table of contents and index functions) it is important to note that the user guide files are loaded on every reset. This means that to save any edited copies, you should first change the file names so the newly loaded copies do not over write them. To refer to the User Guide press READ with HELP. If this is the very first time you have accessed the Electronic User Guide your BrailleNote displays: "Look up Table of Contents or Index?" Press T to select the Table of Contents or I to select the Index. KeySoft confirms your selection. If you have accessed the user guide before, your BrailleNote displays: "Continue reading (reference)?" where "reference" is the last topic referred to. If you press Y to continue you are returned to that topic. If you press N you go to the Table of Contents or Index. Use the ADVANCE or BACK thumb keys or SPACE or BACKSPACE on the keyboard to move through the Table of Contents listing, which is in alphabetical order. Press any letter to jump to the items starting with that letter. Once the desired item has been found, press NEXT or ENTER to select it. If the item has sub-indexes, repeat the selection procedure. You can then read the selected section on the Braille display using the ADVANCE key like in any other document. Once you have entered the User Guide at a particular place, the following review commands are available for reading the content: To read from the start of the previous sentence, press READ with U; To read from the start of the current sentence, press READ with I; To read from the start of the next sentence, press READ with O; To read from the start of the previous paragraph, press READ with 7; To read from the start of the next paragraph, press READ with 9; To skip back one section, press READ with T; To advance one section, press READ with B. To go back to the Table of Contents or Index press BACKSPACE. To exit the User Guide and return to your original place in KeySoft press ESCAPE. To continuously read a section of the User Guide using speech, select your starting point from the Table of Contents or Index as discussed above, then press READ with G. To pause reading, press READ with SPACE. To read the User Guide continuously from the Braille display, press SHIFT with READ with G. To pause reading, press READ with SPACE together. You can adjust the rate at which the Braille display advances. Press PREVIOUS to slow down and NEXT to speed up the refresh rate. You can issue the review commands while reading is in progress or after it has stopped. If you give a command while reading is in progress, what is currently being spoken is cut off and reading begins immediately from the new position. As an alternative to accessing the Electronic User Guide through its Table of Contents or Index, you can also read the user guide as a number of KeyWord documents. Each chapter and appendix is a document in the folder called "Manual," stored in the drive "KeySoft System Disk." 1.23 Where to now? By now you should have a basic knowledge of the BrailleNote and KeySoft. Only this chapter, chapter one is recorded as an audio tutorial to get you started. The entire User Guide is stored in the BrailleNote so you can read each chapter at your leisure. The User Guide can be read using your BrailleNote as previously described. A good starting point is to browse through the Table of Contents, as this will provide you with an appreciation of the topics covered in the User Guide. Alternatively, the User Guide is available as an optional extra in embossed Braille format. The distributor who sold you your BrailleNote can supply this. Please read the next chapter, which concerns practical matters like the batteries, port connectors and the optional disk drive. To read Chapter 2, follow the procedure discussed in the previous section. You will find Chapter 2 in the Table of Contents so you can select it from there and start reading. After Chapter 2, the remainder of the User Guide is all about KeySoft and you can pick and choose what to read. If you are new to KeySoft, you might want to work through Chapters 3 and 6, which introduce the basic word processor functions and embossing and printing your documents. You might then want to read Chapter 5, which deals with the functions available via the Options Menu, or Chapter 7 for advanced word processing features. Alternatively, you can read Chapter 8 on the Calculator, Chapter 9 on the Planner, Chapter 10 on the Address List, Chapter 11 on E-mail, or Chapter 12 on the Web Browser, depending on your interest and requirements. Chapter 13 describes use of the File and Folder Manager, and the translation of files from Text to Braille and other formats. Chapter 14 covers the Utilities menu, where topics like using ActiveSync, and backing up and restoring files are discussed. Chapter 15 provides a convenient listing of all the keyboard commands for the BrailleNote. These are categorized under general commands as well as commands for each of the applications of KeySoft. You might find it tedious to read a user guide, but we have endeavored to make sure it is full of useful information, and it's surprising what sticks in your memory. When people say, "I didn't know you could do that!" it usually means that they haven't read the User Guide. And remember, please make frequent use of the HELP key. It's a valuable source of information, whatever part of KeySoft you are using. End of Chapter 1 2 The BrailleNote QT Hardware This chapter discusses battery care, the serial, parallel, infrared and modem port connectors, the optional SuperDisk drive, care of the Braille display, PC and CompactFlash cards, installing software upgrades, and use of the remote visual display option. 2.1 AC Adapter and Battery. The BrailleNote can operate from its internal rechargeable battery or from its AC adapter. The length of time you can run the BrailleNote from a fully charged battery is typically over 20 hours before it becomes flat. Activities like printing, e-mailing and communicating using the serial or infrared port increase the drain on the battery. Using the built-in modem also drains the battery more than editing documents. PC cards that draw their power from BrailleNote's battery reduce the available battery life too. The BrailleNote warns you if the battery is getting low. When the battery gauge indicates that the battery is down to 10% full or less the following warning is displayed periodically: "Battery is low." If possible, connect the AC adapter to re-charge the battery now. You typically have about 2 hours of battery life remaining. If the battery continues to run down and becomes nearly flat, KeySoft displays the following message: "Battery is critical." If this message is displayed, you should act within the next 30 seconds or your BrailleNote may switch itself off. The time available to switch off may be as little as 30 seconds but it is typically 15 to 20 minutes if you are not using high current accessories. You have two options. You can connect the AC adapter and carry on working indefinitely, or you can save your current work and switch off. To save your work, just return to the Main Menu. If the BrailleNote switches itself off, it cannot be switched on again until it is powered from the AC adapter. Your BrailleNote automatically manages its power usage to give you the maximum life from the battery. The hibernate mode is entered after approximately 10 minutes of inactivity. Pressing any key will end the hibernate mode, but it is recommended that you momentarily press the CONTROL key to end the hibernate mode. This will avoid the possibility of inserting unwanted characters if a document was open when the unit entered the hibernate mode. You can help by switching off your BrailleNote when you are not going to be using it for a while. Remember that you can switch your BrailleNote off and on without affecting your work in any way, and your BrailleNote resumes from where you were when you switched off. 2.2 Charging the Battery. To charge the battery, simply plug the AC adapter in and the BrailleNote looks after the battery charging itself. If the BrailleNote battery is flat and the AC adapter is connected, the battery is fast charged in about 2 hours. Charging takes less time if the battery is only partially discharged. You can charge the battery and run the BrailleNote simultaneously, although the battery may take longer to charge. You can leave the AC adapter connected indefinitely without any risk of damaging the battery. To connect the AC adapter, locate the power socket on the back of the BrailleNote, near the left-hand corner of the case. Insert the plug on the AC adapter cable into the socket, and plug the AC adapter into a wall socket. The BrailleNote displays: "AC adapter on." The message is displayed even if the BrailleNote is switched off. If this message is not displayed after a second or two, check that the AC supply is switched on, and that the plug on the end of the AC adapter cord is inserted securely into the BrailleNote's power socket. The socket is located at the back of the case on the left. When the battery is charging, if the AC supply is interrupted, or the AC adapter is disconnected the BrailleNote displays: "AC adapter off." This message too, is displayed even if the BrailleNote is switched off. The messages are both spoken and appear on the Braille display assuming both speech and Braille are on. Of course, if speech is off, the message only appears on the Braille display. If the Braille display is off the message is only spoken. 2.3 Checking Power Status. You can check the state-of-charge of the battery and whether the AC adapter is connected from anywhere in KeySoft by pressing READ with ESCAPE. First, the battery state-of-charge in percent is displayed: "Level c percent," where c is the battery's state-of-charge. Then the AC adapter status is displayed: "Adapter (status)", where "status" is either "on" or "off". After these messages are displayed, you are returned to your original place in KeySoft. Press the ADVANCE key to clear the battery status message from the Braille Display. 2.4 Battery Care. Running the battery down periodically does not benefit the battery but it will ensure that the battery gauge is more accurate, as described in the next section. The battery lasts longer if the BrailleNote is used in and stored at the same temperature range that you are comfortable in. If possible, avoid exposing the BrailleNote and its battery to high temperatures. Batteries are particularly temperature sensitive. The battery should only be charged in ambient temperatures from 50 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit or from 10 to 40 degrees Celsius. If the BrailleNote has been exposed to temperatures outside this range, leave it at room temperature for at least half an hour before plugging in the AC adapter. If you want the greatest capacity and longest life out of the battery we recommend that you keep the BrailleNote in a temperature range of 60 to 86 degree Fahrenheit, or 15 to 30 degrees Celsius. Like all rechargeable batteries, as the BrailleNote battery ages its capacity reduces. If your BrailleNote is used every day we expect that the battery will last typically 18 months before the battery's capacity is noticeably lower than it was 18 months before. We recommend that you send the BrailleNote back to an authorized BrailleNote service center to replace the battery. Replacement batteries are expected to last typically 18 months before they too, need replacing. 2.5 Calibrating the Battery Gauge. BrailleNote incorporates a battery gauge which is originally calibrated at the Factory. For best performance, the gauge needs to be calibrated periodically as the battery ages during its life. Remember that as the battery ages its capacity reduces. When the battery gauge is calibrated it measures the battery capacity. If the battery's capacity is reduced then the battery gauge over estimates the remaining charge in the battery. The most noticeable sign that the battery gauge needs to be calibrated again is if the "battery is low" warning is closely followed by the "battery is critical" warning. There should be a gap of from one to two hours of continuous operation between these warnings. The battery gauge should never need to be calibrated more than once every two months and usually much less frequently. Note that if the battery goes completely flat, the battery gauge will no longer be accurate, and it will need to be re-calibrated. To calibrate the battery gauge, first fully charge the unit, then run the BrailleNote without the AC adapter until the BrailleNote freezes. Next plug in the AC adapter and completely recharge the battery. To assist with this process, a special "battery drain" mode is included, as discussed in the next section on Support Information Mode. As you discharge the battery you need to ignore the battery warnings and continue to run the battery down. It may be convenient to continue using the BrailleNote normally but make sure you have saved your work once the "battery is critical" warning is given. 2.5.1 Support Information Mode You can check the battery and battery gauge characteristics using the support information mode. Included is an option to "drain" the battery which assists with re-calibration of the battery fuel gauge. To enter the support information mode from anywhere in KeySoft press FUNCTION with O, followed by READ with I. You can now select the following options: 1) To find out if the battery gauge has been calibrated and is accurate, press A. For example, if the battery gauge is calibrated KeySoft will prompt: "Gauge is accurate." If the gauge is inaccurate, it means that the battery charge level may not be being reported correctly. Refer to item 6 below for instructions on how to re-calibrate the battery gauge. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 2) To determine the "Last charge" information for the battery, press B. The reported time indicates the time it took to fully charge the battery after plugging in the AC Adapter. The report is in the form: Last charge: 234 minutes. Completed: Friday, February 9, at 2:47pm. Started: Friday, February 9, at 10:53am. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 3) To determine the charge available from the battery, press C. For example, a typical message is: "Nominal available charge 16,640." The higher the value the greater the capacity. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 4) To review the last measured discharge count of the battery, press D. The last measured discharge is the learned battery capacity. For example, a typical discharge message is: "Last measured discharge 26,136." The higher the value the greater the capacity available from the battery when it is fully charged. The factory default value is 33,904, which indicates that the gauge is not calibrated. This could happen for example, if the BrailleNote had been in storage for several weeks and the battery had completely discharged. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 5) To review the cell voltage critical warning value, press E. This value cannot be changed. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 6) There are two types of battery "drain" mode. These modes are useful for flattening the battery in order to re-calibrate the battery capacity gauge. To have KeySoft continuously repeat the message "I'm talking until my battery goes flat. This repetition is enough to drive me crazy. How about you?", press F. Alternatively, to drain the battery using the braille display, press X. This causes the rows of dots on the braille display to pop up and down in turn. To prematurely stop either of these modes once they have begun, press reset. Follow these steps: a) Fully charge your BrailleNote by leaving the Adapter connected for at least 3 hours. Check by pressing READ with ESCAPE that the capacity is displaying 100%. b) Disconnect the AC Adapter from the BrailleNote. c) To start the "battery drain" mode, place the BrailleNote in a place where the message or the clicking of braille cells won't indeed "drive you crazy", and allow it to continue until the unit completely freezes. During this process the BrailleNote will first report many times that the "battery is low", eventually followed by "battery is critical". Some time thereafter the unit will freeze. Pressing SPACE while the "battery drain" message is being spoken will announce the time at which the process started, and the elapsed time. d) Re-connect the AC Adapter, and the BrailleNote should restart. The message "AC Adapter On" should be spoken, followed by the message that the "Battery test is completed". To hear details on the battery test, press SPACE. The time taken to Discharge the battery from its fully charged state is given. 7) To determine the capacity inaccurate count, press I. For example, a typical capacity inaccurate count message is: "Capacity inaccurate count 74." The battery inaccurate count is incremented for every partial or full charge -discharge cycle. The higher the count, the greater the likely inaccuracy of the battery gauge. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 8) To display information about the last battery discharge time, press L. This value is determined during the "battery drain" process, and indicates the length of time the BrailleNote operated from a fully charged battery to the point where its operation was halted due to the critically low battery condition. After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 9) To determine the charging status, press S. For example, if the battery is being fast charged, the BrailleNote displays: "Fast charging." After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 10) To display the temperature range that the battery is in, press T. For example: "Between 20 and 30 degrees C." After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. 11) To display the cell voltage of the battery, press V. For example: "Cell voltage 1.5 Volts" After executing this command you are returned to the Support Information mode. To return to the place where you selected the Options menu, press ESCAPE.. 2.6 Long Term Storage. If you store a BrailleNote for more than two to three weeks, the battery will become completely flat. If the battery was less than fully charged prior to storing the BrailleNote, the time for the battery to become fully flat will be shorter. This is because BrailleNote's battery self discharges internally and because BrailleNote draws a very small amount of current even when it is switched off. The battery gauge will be inaccurate at that point, and if you use this feature, you will need to re-calibrate the gauge as described in Section 2.5. If you intend to leave the BrailleNote switched off for more than a few days, fully charge the battery beforehand, or leave the AC adapter connected if this is convenient. If you intend to store a BrailleNote for more than two to three weeks without the AC adapter connected, ensure your work is saved by returning to the Main Menu, and fully charge the battery before putting the BrailleNote into storage. When you take a BrailleNote out of long-term storage, first connect the AC adapter to recharge the battery. Try switching the BrailleNote on. If it does not resume normally, press the Reset switch with a pointed object. The BrailleNote beeps to confirm that it has been reset. Wait a few seconds while the BrailleNote initializes itself. If the battery has gone quite flat, you will be prompted to reset the time and date and so on. Press ENTER several times if you want to leave that for later or refer to Appendix I which describes the procedure for initializing the BrailleNote. 2.7 Using the Serial Port. Reach beyond the keyboard to the back of your BrailleNote and investigate the layout of the back panel. There is a recessed panel comprising from the right, a modem jack, female 25 pin parallel port, a card slot and a nine pin male port. This nine pin male port is the serial port. The serial port can be used to provide a connection to a visual display, PC or other equipment. You can use the serial port to connect to a terminal, an embosser or printer that has a serial interface, a modem or to other computers to import and export documents and files. You can use the BrailleNote as a remote speech synthesizer by connecting the serial port to a suitable driver. You can also run ActiveSync on a PC and access your BrailleNote through the serial port like an extension of the PC. Your BrailleNote is supplied with a serial cable that has two identical nine pin plugs on each end of the cable. You don't have to identify which is the right end of the cable, either end will do. The connectors can only be plugged in one way. To plug in the connector hold the plug horizontal and push it gently into the socket. If it does not engage turn it through 180 degrees and try again. The cable supplied is called a "null modem cable". This cable works with most equipment except external modems. A different cable is needed to communicate with a modem and equipment that emulates a modem. The 9 pin plugs on each end of the serial cable incorporate two locking screws designed to secure the plug when it is plugged in. Use of these screws is recommended to prevent the plug falling out in use. The screws can be tightened and undone by hand. In the usual way, turning them clockwise does them up and turning them anti-clockwise undoes them. Do not over tighten the screws; a light force is sufficient to hold the connector. Don't forget to disconnect the cable when you are done. As a precaution check for anything connected to your BrailleNote before transporting it. 2.8 Using the Parallel Port. To the right of the rear panel is a 25 pin female connector. This is the parallel port. It can be used to connect to an embosser or a printer that has a parallel interface. A compatible cable is supplied with your printer. It is convenient to leave one end of the printer cable connected to the printer. The other end can be plugged into the BrailleNote when required. The 25 pin plug is similar to the 9 pin plug but the plug is much longer. It too can only be plugged in one way. To plug in the connector, hold it horizontally and try pushing it gently into the socket. If it does not engage turn it through 180 degrees and try again. Use the locking screws to prevent the plug falling out in use. The screws can be tightened and undone by hand. In the usual way, turning them clockwise does them up and turning them anti-clockwise undoes them. Do not over tighten the screws; a light force is sufficient to hold the connector. 2.9 Using the Infrared Port. The infrared port is located at the rear of your BrailleNote on the right, directly behind the ENTER key. Run your hand across the back of the BrailleNote on the extreme right and you will feel a vertical channel. The infrared port communicates through a window that is located in the channel. BrailleNote's infrared port conforms to the Infrared Data Association specification for infrared communications. This standard is called "IrDA" for short. This is a new type of infrared communications that can work up to a high speed. BrailleNote's infrared port can be used for printing or for communicating with a remote visual display. You can also run ActiveSync on a PC and access your BrailleNote through the Infrared port like an extension of the PC. Using the infrared port, you can print to a printer equipped with an infrared port. You can also print to a printer that is connected to an IrDA compatible accessory such as the JET EYE printer adapter. This adapter is normally connected between a PC and a printer without an infrared port. Embossing and printing using the infrared port is described in Section 6.7. To communicate with a remote visual display using the infrared connection, an IrDA compatible port is needed on the PC. The JET EYE PC is an accessory that provides such a port. It is designed to be used in conjunction with a PC or a lap top computer, plugging into a serial port on the host computer. Terminal software running on the PC enables the PC's screen to display output from the infrared port of the BrailleNote. This provides a sighted teacher with a text display matching the BrailleNote activity. Using BrailleNote's infrared port to communicate with a remote visual display is described in Section 2.15.2. IrDA compatible infrared communications work over a distance of up to at least three feet (1 meter) for standard power devices and up to at least eight inches (200 millimeters) for low power devices. The BrailleNote is a standard power device. The host's and BrailleNote's infrared ports must face each other but they do not have to be lined up exactly because the infrared beam is quite wide. After a little experimentation, you will be able to determine the most convenient arrangement of equipment that works reliably. 2.10 Using the Modem. The internal modem can be used for sending and receiving e-mail. A modem jack is located on the right of the rear panel. Your BrailleNote is supplied with a modem cable for connecting BrailleNote's modem to a phone line. If you live in UK, Australia or New Zealand, an adapter that plugs into a standard "BT" type phone jack is also supplied with your BrailleNote. The modem cable plugs into the adapter and the adapter plugs into a phone jack. The modem cable has a phone type plug at either end the cable. Insert one plug into the BrailleNote modem jack and the other end into a phone jack. To do this, locate the locking clip on one side of the plug. Orient this side to the bottom of the modem jack, engage the plug in the socket and push the plug home. A latch holds the plug that should hold when the cable is lightly pulled. To unplug, squeeze the clip in towards the plug and pull the cable. The case bottom is scalloped under the modem jack so that you can easily get your fingertip under the clip. When the plug is unclipped it releases freely. Don't forget to disconnect the cable when you are done. As a precaution check for anything connected to your BrailleNote before transporting it. 2.11 Braille Display Care. Each cell of the Braille display has eight pins. For each pin there is a special crystal which lifts the pin to make a dot, and allows the pin to drop when there is no dot. The pins have to be able to move freely. In normal use dirt unavoidably accumulates on the display and around the touch cursor buttons. To prevent the pins from jamming, the display and touch cursor should be cleaned regularly. Cleaning the Braille display is not straightforward. We recommend that you send the BrailleNote back to an authorized BrailleNote service center every twelve months to clean the Braille display. Making sure that your hands are always clean is a good start towards minimizing problems with your Braille display. We suggest that once per week you wipe the surface of the Braille display using a soft damp cloth. The cloth should be squeezed hard to ensure that all excess moisture has been removed. Use only warm water on the cloth. 2.12 PC Cards. 2.12.1 General. The BrailleNote has a slot for plug-in PC cards or so called PCMCIA cards. These cards are about the size of a credit card, only thicker. As well as allowing you to use PC cards for extra data storage, the card slot enables accessories compatible with the BrailleNote to be added. For example, the SuperDisk drive is a standard disk drive accessory. Instead of a plug, it has a card attached to a cable, and by inserting the card you are effectively plugging in the accessory. To find out what PC card accessories are available or will become available call your BrailleNote distributor. Compact Flash cards can be used in the PC card slot as well as in the dedicated Compact Flash slot in the rear panel, see Section 2.12.3. An adapter is available into which you slide the card before inserting it into the slot as described below. Feel along the right-hand edge of the BrailleNote and you will find a horizontal slot. The card eject button is located in a recess behind the slot. The PC card slot can be used for an external disk drive, IBM MicroDrive, ATA memory card or other accessory. 2.12.2 Installing and Un-installing PC Cards. PC or PCMCIA cards can be installed only one way. A polarizing key prevents a card from being fully plugged in if it is the wrong way up. A simple strategy for finding the correct orientation is to just try gently plugging it in. If it engages, gently push it home. If it stops with a "clunk" with the card protruding some 10 mm from the slot, take it out, invert it and try again. You can also identify the correct orientation by touch. The front of the PC card is the short edge on which there are many indentations along its entire length. Hold the front edge away from you. Run your fingers along this edge and just around the corners, where you will find some polarizing ridges. If the card is facing upward, there will be two ridges on the right-hand side. The groove between them can be detected with your fingernail. On the left, there will be one ridge. If necessary, turn the card over so that there are two ridges on the right and one on the left. You could label the PC card once you have identified the correct orientation. PC cards can be installed with the BrailleNote switched on. When you do so the BrailleNote displays: "Card inserted." To remove a PC card, firmly push the PC card eject button. Remember it is located behind the PC card slot. This disengages the card from its connector and pushes the card out about a quarter of an inch. Always use the eject button even if the card has a cable with a grip. You can now pull the PC card completely out of the slot. If the card is unplugged with the power on, BrailleNote displays: "Card removed." 2.12.3 Accessing files on the PC Card. The PC card slot is treated as a drive by KeySoft, where it is listed as Storage card. (Storage card also covers the external disk drive as it plugs into the same slot.) To access files on the PC Card, at any file prompt, go to the drive list and press S for Storage card. Proceed as normal. 2.13 CompactFlash Cards A CompactFlash card is 3.5cm by 4cm, about the size of a matchbook. Like the PC card, it provides considerable extra data storage, and cards come in a large range of capacities running into several gigabytes. 2.13.1 General. The BrailleNote has a card slot for CompactFlash cards. This slot is located in the rear panel between the serial and parallel ports. As well as allowing you to use CompactFlash cards for extra data storage, the CompactFlash card slot can be used for an external disk drive, IBM MicroDrive, CF memory card or other accessory that has a CompactFlash card plug. CompactFlash cards can be used in the PC card slot as well. An adapter is available into which you slide the CompactFlash card before inserting it into the PC card slot as described in section 2.12.2. 2.13.2 Installing and Un-installing CompactFlash cards. Unlike a PC Card, the CompactFlash card is wider than it is long, so it is important to orient the card correctly, as attempting to plug the shorter side in may damage the pins in the back of the slot. Also, a polarizing key prevents a card from being fully plugged in if it is the wrong way up. A simple strategy for finding the correct orientation is to just try gently plugging it in. If it engages, gently push it home. If it stops with a "clunk" with the card protruding some 10 mm from the slot, take it out, invert it and try again. You can also identify most CompactFlash card's correct orientation by touch. The front of the CompactFlash card is the longer side that has two rows of pin sized indentations. The bottom side of most CompactFlash cards have a slight grip ridge along the opposite edge. You could label the CompactFlash card once you have identified the correct orientation. CompactFlash cards can be installed with the BrailleNote switched on. When you do so the BrailleNote displays: "Card inserted." To remove a CompactFlash card, hold the card firmly and pull it out. There is a recess in the BrailleNote's casing below the card slot to allow room for a thumb or finger. Most CompactFlash cards have a grip ridge that makes them easier to grasp. If the card is unplugged with the power on, BrailleNote displays: "Card removed." 2.13.3 Accessing files on the CompactFlash Card. The CompactFlash card slot is treated as a drive by KeySoft. To access files on the CompactFlash Card, at any file prompt, go to the drive list and press C for CompactFlash. Proceed as normal. 2.14 External Disk Drive. The BrailleNote supports the LS120 Super-Disk Drive as an accessory. The Super-Disk is a high density storage drive. It can store up to 120 Megabytes of information on a floppy disk which is the same size as the standard 3.5 inch disk. It can also read standard 3.5 inch floppy disks. There are technical differences between the various LS120 drives available. Only the drive recommended by Pulse Data International should be used in conjunction with BrailleNote. Pulse Data has tested and approved the PCMCIA Travel 120 Super-Disk drive made by Accurite Technologies Inc for use with the BrailleNote. The Travel 120 supports three disk formats: 720 Kbytes. 1.2 Mbytes. 120Mbytes. The first two formats are compatible with standard 3.5 inch floppy disks. You need LS120 diskettes to store information in high density format. The Travel 120 disk drive is small and light. There is an opening in the front of the drive where the disks are inserted. A cable comes out of the back of the case and there is a socket for the power adapter. The cable has a bulge which is a noise filter. The cable terminates in a PCMCIA interface card. Disks are ejected electronically. This means that you cannot remove a disk unless the drive is powered on. WARNING: Do not turn off your BrailleNote when the Super-Disk's motor is running. This could result in the loss of files on the Super-Disk diskette. If you have initiated an operation that results in the Super-Disk being accessed, wait until the Super-Disk motor stops then switch off your BrailleNote. 2.14.1 Dimensions. Size: 0.67 x 4.0 x 6.1 inches or 17 x 102 x 155mm. Weight: 10.4 oz. or 295 grams. 2.14.2 Uses for an External Disk Drive. The disk drive is ideal for situations where floppy disks are an easy form of file transfer between a PC and the BrailleNote, such as a school classroom. You can also use a disk drive to: * Back up valuable data, for example, an address list, e-mail or general documents. BrailleNote's internal storage system is designed to minimize the risk of data loss. Nonetheless, it is unwise to rely on BrailleNote to retain the only copy of your valuable documents indefinitely. You might even accidentally delete valuable documents yourself. Backing up your electronic documents is good practice. It helps minimize the cost of re-instating lost documents. A backup option is provided in the Utilities Menu. * Store bulky documents or files such as e-mail attachments. That is, to provide mass storage. Using an external disk drive as a mass storage device allows you to off load or archive information from your BrailleNote to free up memory space. * Exchange files with other computers, for example, electronic books. You can exchange information with other computers using a SuperDisk drive. To do this you save information to a standard 3.5 inch floppy diskette using the usual PC format for this type of diskette. The storage is limited to 1.44 Mbytes. Anyone with a standard floppy disk drive is then able to read it. You can also read a 3.5 inch floppy diskette produced by someone else on a Windows PC. 2.14.3 Installing the Travel 120 SuperDisk. The Travel 120 must be used in conjunction with a power adapter. Insert the plug on the end of the power adapter's cable into the back of the Travel 120 drive and plug the adapter itself into a wall socket. Next take the PCMCIA interface card at the end of the main cable and insert it into the PCMCIA slot on the right side of the BrailleNote. You can connect the Travel 120 at any time, you do not have to turn the BrailleNote off first. If the BrailleNote is on, KeySoft displays a message confirming "card inserted". Similarly, a "card removed" message is displayed when the drive is un-installed. The Super-Disk drive appears in BrailleNote QT's drive list as a "Storage Card" once it has been installed. 2.14.4 Inserting a Diskette. To insert a diskette first orient the diskette. Find the edge which has the shutter. Gently push that edge into the front of the Travel 120. The front is the opposite end to the end with the cables coming out of it. Push the diskette until it clicks home inside the drive. To eject the diskette press the button on the front right of the disk drive lightly. The button is rectangular and it has a tactile action when you push it. The diskette is ejected electronically just enough to be able to hold the disk. Grasp the diskette and pull it completely from the drive. 2.14.5 Care of the Travel 120 Super-Disk. The Travel 120 Super-Disk drive can be used over a temperature range of 40 to 131 degrees F or 4 to 55 degrees C. Avoid over heating it. For example, do not leave the Travel 120 in a vehicle in full summer sunlight. The storage medium in a floppy diskette is a delicately coated disk inside a protective plastic jacket. A shutter covers the access hole when the diskette is removed from the disk drive. The shutter is only retracted when the disk is in use. Do not open the shutter or touch the surface of the diskette. This is likely to permanently damage the diskette. Use only pre-formatted diskettes in the Super-Disk drive. 2.15 Using a Visual Display. BrailleNote can provide a text output to the serial port or infrared ports that reflects what the BrailleNote displays. The text output can be displayed by a visual display. Sighted observers or teachers can use the visual display screen to view KeySoft's prompts and help messages, and your text if you are typing a document. The visual display can be a terminal or a PC, lap top or hand-held computer running terminal emulation software. The terminal or terminal emulation software must emulate a DEC VT100 or an ANSI terminal. For PC's running Windows 95/98, "HyperTerminal", provided as part of the communications accessories for Windows 95/98, can be used as the terminal software. To facilitate the use of HyperTerminal as the remote Visual Display for the BrailleNote, a program shortcut is provided on the "Software for BrailleNote Family CD" supplied as part of the BrailleNote package. The visual display can be connected to either the serial port using the serial communications cable provided with the BrailleNote or "connected" using the infrared port. The infrared port connects using a beam of infrared radiation that can be broken if the beam is interrupted. This is why we call it a connection. When connected to the remote display, the BrailleNote provides a display suitable for a sighted teacher or assistant. What is displayed remotely corresponds to the BrailleNote's local activity, that is, what the user is reading or hearing. The preceding Section 2.7 describes the use of the serial port and Section 2.9 describes the use of the infrared port. 2.15.1 Connecting a Visual Display to the Serial Port. In the following discussion when we refer to a terminal, we mean either a dedicated terminal or a PC running terminal emulation software. The following procedure might require the help of a technician if the terminal is unfamiliar to you. The procedure involves connecting the BrailleNote to the terminal using a cable and setting up the terminal to communicate at a certain speed and format. This can be done manually for some terminals. Or if the terminal is intelligent, done by the terminal itself as it automatically detects the serial speed and format. The necessary settings are: bit rate: 38400 bps. parity: none. data bits: 8. stop bits: 1. To connect BrailleNote's serial port to a terminal, first plug one end of the serial communications cable into the serial port as described in Section 2.7. Plug the other end of the cable into a mating socket on the terminal. If the terminal has a 25 pin D type connector instead, use the 9 pin to 25 pin adapter. Ensure the terminal is switched on. Finally, direct the BrailleNote to drive the serial port by selecting the remote visual display output as described in Section 2.15.2 below. Now, when the BrailleNote displays something such as a prompt the terminal should also display the corresponding prompt. If the terminal responds when the connected BrailleNote displays something but the terminal's display is not intelligible then the speed and/or format are probably not right. Correct the settings and retry. 2.15.2 Connecting a Remote Visual Display using the Infrared Port. A suitable remote visual display for use with the infrared port is either a portable computer or a PC equipped with an IrDA port. Although there are many IrDA devices available, they are not all compatible. Check first that the computer has an IrDA compatible port The following procedure might require the help of a technician if the equipment is unfamiliar to you. First set up the terminal software on the computer to receive the input from its infrared port. Next, position the computer so the infrared port on the BrailleNote is facing the infrared port on the remote display device. Finally, direct the BrailleNote to send display output to the infrared port as described below. 2.15.3 Turning the Visual Display On and Off. The last step to provide a visual display to have your BrailleNote send text to the serial or infrared outputs. Press FUNCTION with O, then V for Visual display. KeySoft displays: "Visual display, Currently off". The options are: To turn the visual display on press F then ENTER. To send the visual display to the Serial port press S then ENTER. To send the visual display to the Infrared port press I then ENTER. Or just press ENTER to leave the selection unchanged. To turn the visual display off, press F then ENTER. Use the serial port if you are using a standard computer terminal or a PC running a terminal emulator program. Use the infrared port if you are using a desktop or hand held PC with an infrared port and running a terminal emulator program. 2.16 Braille Terminal. BrailleNote can act like a remote Braille line or terminal . You can then run a screen reader, for example Window Eyes, JAWS, or HAL on a desktop PC, using the BrailleNote as its Braille display. The serial communications or null modem cable provided with your BrailleNote should be used to connect the PC to your BrailleNote. If your PC's serial port has a 25 pin connector you will need to use the 9 pin to 25 pin adapter also provided. Plug the cable into the serial port on the rear of BrailleNote as described in Section 2.7. Plug the other end into a serial port on your PC. On BrailleNote, at the Main Menu, press T. KeySoft displays: "Braille Terminal". The BrailleNote now acts as a Braille display connected to the serial port of the desk-top PC. You are able to run a screen reader from the desk-top keyboard, and BrailleNote displays text on its display. Refer to your screen reader documentation for details of how the screen reader interacts with the BrailleNote. The screen reader will have an associated driver, and maybe other configuration files, that determines the function of the BrailleNote keyboard when it is being used as a Braille display. BrailleNote cannot be used for its normal functions while it is acting as a remote Braille display, however, you can use the "Change Task" option to temporarily leave the Braille Terminal. For example, during a screen reading session, you may wish to temporarily switch to the Planner to add an appointment, and then switch back to using the Braille Terminal mode. To exit the Terminal for Screen Reader mode, press ESCAPE and you are returned to the Main Menu. You should plug in the AC adapter if you intend to use your BrailleNote as a remote display for an extended period. 2.17 Remote Synthesizer. Your BrailleNote can act like a Keynote Gold Stand Alone speech synthesizer. You can then run a screen reader or the desktop version of KeySoft on a desktop PC, using your BrailleNote as its synthesizer. You must connect your BrailleNote to your PC as described for the Braille Terminal in Section 2.16 above. On BrailleNote, at the Main Menu, press R. KeySoft displays: "Remote synthesizer ready". The BrailleNote now acts as a Keynote Stand Alone synthesizer. You are able to run a screen reader or KeySoft from the desktop keyboard, and BrailleNote speaks. The message "Remote synthesizer ready" will stay on the Braille display while the BrailleNote is being used in this mode. BrailleNote cannot be used for its normal functions while it is acting as a synthesizer. To exit the Remote Synthesizer mode, press SPACE with E and you are returned to the KeySoft Main Menu. You should plug in the AC adapter if you intend to use your BrailleNote as a remote synthesizer for an extended period. 2.18 Software Upgrades From time-to-time, upgrades will be available for the KeySoft software suite used in the BrailleNote. The procedure for installing these upgrades is detailed in Appendix H. 2.19 General Care. Apart from periodically wiping the Braille display, re-calibrating the battery gauge and cleaning the case, the BrailleNote needs no special maintenance. The internal battery should last typically 18 months before needing replacement and this must be done by an authorized service agent. Keep beverages like tea and coffee away from the BrailleNote. Periodically wipe the case down with a warm damp cloth. Don't use any cleaning compounds. End of Chapter 2. 3 The Word Processor. 3.1 General. This chapter introduces the basics of KeyWord, the word processor part of KeySoft, and describes how to create, read and edit a document. Advanced aspects of KeyWord, including creating documents with more complex formats, and quickly making extensive changes to a document, are covered in Chapter 7. In the following discussion, the general terms "announcements," "prompts" and "reading" when used to describe the output of your BrailleNote, mean either Braille display, voice output, or both. You can select any of these output options. Section 1.16.1 describes how to turn the Braille display off and on and Section 1.16.2 describes how to turn the voice off and on. Where the Braille display and voice output are significantly different, both are described. 3.2 What is a Word Processor? A word processor is like a sophisticated typewriter. The difference is that you do not have to get the document right first time. You can add, delete and change things to your heart's content, and all the time your work is stored in BrailleNote's memory. You only need emboss or print your document when you are entirely satisfied with it. There are other advantages too. You can make changes at a later date, and you can keep all the various versions. It's easy to make copies of documents, and filing and retrieving is much simpler than with hard copy. Besides writing documents, KeyWord is useful just for reading documents such as e-mailed documents that have originated elsewhere. These can be read directly without specifically translating them to Braille. 3.3 Text and Braille. When you start to compose a document, KeyWord assumes that you want to do it in text, so the layout and format are for a print page, suitable for printing directly. This doesn't mean that you are committed to a text document, however. You can send it to an embosser and KeySoft automatically translates it into a suitable format. Alternatively, you have the option of creating a Braille document directly, with a layout and format for a Braille page. A Braille document requires the use of the F-D-S and J-K-L keys to input the Braille characters, which is discussed in Section 7.16.1. A Braille document may be embossed directly or printed using automatic Braille-to-Text translation. Unlike some other word processors, KeyWord allows you to work with the layout of a document as it will be printed or embossed. This means that you are working with the actual layout while you are editing, and you do not have to make allowances for any effects of formatting commands. KeyWord allows you to format a document for printing and independently format the same document for embossing. The two sets of formatting controls are independent. Consequently the layout of a document, either text or Braille, can be precisely controlled without making changes between printing and embossing. The document remains unchanged when you send it to a printer or embosser. 3.4 The KeyWord Menu. To select the word processing functions, start from the Main Menu and press SPACE repeatedly until "Word processor" is displayed, and then press ENTER. Alternatively, just press W. If you have the Braille display on, you could also use the ADVANCE thumb key to step through the menu and the NEXT thumb key to select an item. KeySoft displays: "KeyWord Menu." Press SPACE to display the first item in the KeyWord Menu, which is: "Create a document." As the prompt suggests, you use this option when you want to create a new document. Press SPACE again, and KeySoft displays the second item, which is: "Open a document." You use the "Open" option to read an existing document, or to make changes to one. Press SPACE again, and KeySoft displays the third item in the KeyWord menu, which is: "Emboss a document." You choose this item once a document had been created and edited, and you are ready to emboss it. Press SPACE again, and KeySoft displays the final item in this menu, which is: "Print a document." You choose this item to print a document on an ink printer. As with the Main Menu, you can review the KeyWord Menu by pressing SPACE or BACKSPACE, and you can select an item by pressing ENTER. Alternatively, you can select an item directly from the KeyWord Menu by pressing the initial letter, such as E for "Emboss a document." In this chapter we concentrate just on opening and editing a document. Embossing and printing are covered in Chapter 6. 3.5 Documents, Folders and Drives. 3.5.1 Documents. Documents are the most common type of file you will use on the BrailleNote. You must give each document a unique name enabling KeySoft to distinguish one document from another. For example, when you use KeyWord to write a letter, that letter is stored as a document. Every document name should indicate what type of information it contains. A document name can be up to 250 characters long, including spaces. It cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | 3.5.2 Folders. When you have been using your BrailleNote for a while you could very easily accumulate several hundred documents, and it could become tedious to find any particular one. To make life easier, documents can be organized into groups called "Folders." Initially, there are folders named "General," and "My Books," together with a number of others that KeySoft uses. Besides these, you can create as many new Folders as you wish. Folders can contain both Braille and text documents. A folder name can be up to 250 characters long, including spaces. It cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | The folder system used in the BrailleNote only allows one level of folders to be created. That is, it is not possible for a folder to have a sub-folder. 3.5.3 Drives. Documents can be stored by different pieces of hardware in the BrailleNote, called "disk drives," or just "drives." BrailleNote incorporates a type of memory called "flash" memory. The associated drive is referred to as a "Flash Disk." It provides fast, secure storage retaining its contents even if the battery is flat. It is the memory you normally use to save your documents. You can copy, rename, erase or edit and re-save documents to the Flash Disk. Another drive is the KeySoft System Disk. This drive stores information installed in the Factory. This includes the main operating software, User Guide, and a sample book. Information installed at the Factory is retained even if the battery goes flat, but user information stored in the KeySoft System Disk will be lost. It is therefore not recommended that you save documents in the KeySoft System Disk but you can open documents like the sample book, and the BrailleNote user guide that are stored in it. If you do save documents in the KeySoft System Disk, be aware that they will be lost if the battery goes flat or you do a Reset with keys J-K-L held down. You can add other drives like a memory card or the optional Super-Disk drive. These drives plug into the PC card slot as described in Section 2.12. If you plug another drive into the PC card slot it is referred to as a Storage Card. 3.5.4 Changing the Current Drive. There is a way of selecting a drive in KeySoft generally, which is not restricted to the KeyWord. If you are at a prompt for a filename or folder name, and you have not had the opportunity to select a drive, then press BACKSPACE, or UP ARROW. KeySoft displays: "Drive? (Last drive used)." To step through the list of available drives press ADVANCE or SPACE or DOWN ARROW. The list comprises the "Flash Disk" and "KeySoft System Disk." If you have installed a Super-Disk then "Storage Card" is also included. Press NEXT or ENTER to select a drive. 3.6 Selecting a Document. Several documents are provided with KeySoft. If you want to read one of them, how do you select it? From the KeyWord menu, select "Open a document." KeyWord displays: "Folder name? (name)," where the word "name" between the brackets is really the name of the last folder used. In the spoken version of this prompt, the words "Press ENTER for" precede the folder name. The extra wording is intended to clarify the purpose of the prompt. This is a general convention in KeySoft; the spoken prompts are more verbose to help communicate the meaning of the prompts. Only the short version of the prompt that appears on the Braille display is given in the following discussion. To select a document you must first select the appropriate folder. There are three different methods of doing this: Option 1: To select the offered folder, just press ENTER. This is the folder that was last used. Option 2: To look through the list of available folders, press ADVANCE or SPACE or DOWN ARROW repeatedly. When the name of the folder you require is displayed, select it by pressing NEXT or ENTER. You can move back along the list, by pressing PREVIOUS or BACKSPACE or UP ARROW repeatedly. While scanning the list you can quickly relocate to an alphabetical position in the list by pressing a letter. For example, pressing T puts you at the beginning of the list of folders starting with T. If you keep on pressing T, you cycle through all the names starting with that letter. Option 3: Type the name of the folder you require, and press ENTER. With this method, remember that you may have to type as many as 250 characters to exactly match the name. You can change the current drive by pressing BACKSPACE or CONTROL with D at the "Folder name?" prompt. The Flash Disk is assumed here. If another drive was previously selected, a drive prompt is given as described in 3.5.4 above. When you have selected a folder, KeyWord asks: "Document to open? (name)," where the word "name" between the brackets is really the name of the last document you accessed. Just like folder selection, the same three methods are available for selecting a document. Select the offered document by just pressing ENTER, or review the list of documents by pressing SPACE repeatedly and select a document by pressing ENTER, or type the document name and press ENTER. This selection procedure is significant because it is general throughout KeySoft, and is not restricted to just opening a document. Whether you use the SPACE or DOWN ARROW key or the ADVANCE thumb key to scan through a list of folders or documents is a matter of personal preference. Similarly, you may use either the BACKSPACE or UP ARROW key or the BACK thumb key to move back through a list. If you are opening an ASCII text file, or a plain Braille document you will be prompted to review the options associated with the opening and subsequent saving of the document. Section 3.20 discusses the options given when opening such documents. 3.7 Naming a Document. In the next section we talk about creating a document, but first we discuss names. Each document must have a unique, meaningful name so that it can be stored and later retrieved by specifying its name. You can use whatever name you like, with up to 250 characters and spaces. It cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | If you have several documents on a similar subject, you may find it helpful to put the common part of the name first. For example, you might have: "Club minutes, January," "Club minutes, February," and so on. These document names would be grouped together alphabetically for easy location. If the months are put first, the documents are scattered through the list of documents. Documents can be grouped into folders to make them easier to find. As an example, the documents just mentioned might all be put into a folder called "Club minutes 2001." The rules for naming a folder are the same as for naming a document. Some characters are reserved and you may not use them in a document name. They are: \ / : " < > | * and ? 3.8 Creating a Document. We now create a trial document. From the Main Menu, select the Word Processor option. From the KeyWord menu select "Create a document." KeySoft displays: "Folder name? General." The General folder is fine; so press ENTER to accept KeySoft's suggestion. You are then asked: "Document to create?" Type in the name: "Sample," with or without a capital S as you wish, and press ENTER. KeySoft says: "Top of Document. Blank." The Braille display is blank. You are now at the top left-hand corner of an empty text document. Without worrying about mistakes, type half a dozen sentences. Each character is displayed on the Braille display as you type. Each word is spoken only when you have pressed the space bar to complete the word. You can change the Keyboard Voice so that KeySoft speaks each letter as it is pressed, or both words and letters, or nothing at all. How to change the Keyboard Voice was discussed in Section 1.16.3. You may also notice that you can type indefinitely without worrying about the right margin. This is because KeyWord automatically starts a new line if it cannot fit another word onto the current line. This process is known as word wrapping. The start of a new line is shown on the Braille display as dots 1-2-4-6 followed by the letter L. You probably know dots 1-2-4-6 as the grade 2 contraction "e d." It is also "$" in computer Braille. The symbols $l indicate a line break. There are many of these special format indicators that start with "ed" or "$" such as this. They are described in more depth in Section 3.13. Also notice that when you fill the Braille display KeySoft automatically moves so that there is room to show the last complete word at the right of the display. Start a new paragraph by pressing ENTER to start a new line, and type a few more sentences. Places where you have pressed ENTER to start a new line are shown on the Braille display as dots 1-2-4-6 or "ed" followed by the letter p. This is also discussed again later. When you have finished typing, press ESCAPE. Your document is saved, and you are returned to the KeyWord menu. 3.9 Reading a Document. We now discuss the various commands for reading a document. We recommend you open your "Sample" document, or the "Demonstration Document" that comes with KeySoft, so that you can practice using the reading commands. The "Demonstration Document" is found in the "General" folder. Open the document as explained in Section 3.6. Reviewing the document by reading the Braille display is, of course, quite different from listening to the document so these two methods are discussed separately below. First we discuss reviewing using the Braille display. Note: If you are ever unsure which document you are reading, press CONTROL with READ with I. This will display the name of the document. 3.9.1 Reading Using the Braille Display. You can read through the document up to eighteen or thirty-two symbols at a time. This depends on the width of the Braille display of your BrailleNote and the number of whole words that fit on the display. To facilitate reading, KeySoft avoids breaking the last word by leaving the last few cells blank. The Braille display provides a window into the document. The window can be stepped forwards or backwards through the document using the thumb keys. The ADVANCE thumb key steps forward one window and the BACK key steps back a window. After reading across the display press the ADVANCE key to display the next window. Repeat the procedure to read through the document. You can go back if necessary by pressing the BACK key. You can also move the display to the left or right a word at a time. Press PREVIOUS with BACK using both thumbs, to move the display back a word in the document. Similarly press PREVIOUS with ADVANCE to move the display forward a word in the document. Remember the thumb keys were discussed in Section 1.5. The function performed by the PREVIOUS and NEXT thumb keys is defined by the "Function of PREVIOUS and NEXT thumb keys" setting in the Braille Display Options. Section 5.4.4 provides information on how to change the setting. The default setting is Up and Down, and using this setting the PREVIOUS thumb key steps directly up and the NEXT key steps directly down where the document has text organized in columns or tables. When text is arranged in sentences the cursor either moves to the space between words or to the start of the word in the line above or below. The function of the PREVIOUS and NEXT thumb keys can also be set to move back or forward by sentence or paragraph. By changing the reading mode within the document, these thumb key commands move by line rather than sentence, and section rather than paragraph. To return to the top of the document, press READ with T. KeySoft displays a window of text starting at the very first symbol in the document. To jump directly to the end of the document, press READ with B. KeySoft displays a window of text ending with the last symbol in the document. Experiment with the thumb keys to become familiar with them. Try reading your "sample" document or the "Demonstration Document" with these keys. You can set your BrailleNote to automatically advance the display without you having to press the ADVANCE key all the time. Each Braille window is displayed for a time before the next window is displayed. You can set the speed to suit your particular preference. To start the automatic advance press SHIFT with READ with G. Press NEXT to speed up and PREVIOUS to slow down the display rate. You can stop by pressing PREVIOUS and NEXT or READ with SPACE simultaneously. Re-start by pressing SHIFT with READ with G again. 3.9.2 Listening to a Document. When you are reading sentences or paragraphs, you may be simply listening to the text, or checking it in detail for errors. You can choose to hear the amount of detail you require by setting the punctuation level. You may also choose whether numbers are spoken as words or as digits. You use the keyboard to enter commands when listening to BrailleNote's speech. To listen to a document without stopping, press READ with G, for "Go." KeySoft continues reading to the end of the document unless you stop by pressing READ with SPACE. You can start and stop as you wish with these two commands. To return to the top of the document, press READ with T. KeySoft says: "Top of document." and announces the first word of the document. To jump directly to the end of the document, press READ with B. Experiment with the Go, Stop, Beginning and End commands until you are happy that you understand their effects. There are several other important commands for moving around the text. These additional commands are arranged in groups of three on each row of the keyboard centered on the comma, K, I and 8 column of keys. These are all used in conjunction with the READ key. For example, try the commands for reading characters: To move back a character and read it, press READ with M; To read the current character, press READ with comma; To move forward a character and read it, press READ with period. This convention also applies to reading whole words, as follows: To move back a word and read it, press READ with J; To read the current word, press READ with K; To move forward a word and read it, press READ with L. You may be able to guess the next triplet of commands: To move back a sentence and read it, press READ with U; To read the current sentence, press READ with I; To move forward a sentence and read it, press READ with O. A similar convention applies for previous, current, and next paragraphs: To move back a paragraph and read it, press READ with 7; To read the current paragraph, press READ with 8; To move forward a paragraph and read it,