[BRLTTY] Technological developments in braille displays

[Jason White]

With apologies in advance if this is off topic for the mailing list. If 
it is, I'll gladly take it elsewhere.

I have been observing the braille display field over the years and would 
be interested to know what other BRLTTY users think. So far, nothing has 
emerged to supersede the piezoelectric cell, which is used in most 
contemporary braille displays. Alternatives have been proposed and 
patented but have a habit of going nowhere in practice. Recent claims by 
a U.S. firm, Tactile Dynamics, to have developed a new cell technology 
allowing for large multi-line displays sparked interest on another 
mailing list to which I'm subscribed; it remains to be seen whether a 
viable, mass-produced device will result. There is also a fairly recent 
paper by researchers in France discussing the use of shape memory alloys 
in the construction of tactile displays, and various other approaches 
have been tried historically and documented in papers and, more 
frequently, patents. Robotron here in Australia developed an 
electro-mechanical braille cell, but as far as I know it has only been 
used in a scientifi calculator rather than in general-purpose displays 
(I don't know why - perhaps technical or production problems). 
Apparently it was less costly to produce than the piezoelectric cell, 
while operating at lower electrical power.

Entering the prediction game for a moment, what do you think are the 
prospects of one of the various projects currently underway resulting in 
something less expensive than, but at least as reliable as, the 
piezoelectric cell technology?

The features of braille displays have improved gradually over time, for 
example in keeping with newer interface methods such as USB and 
wireless. I don't think there is much to say here in general terms, 
other than that an impressive plethora of designs has appeared over the 
years in portable displays, note-taking devices and desktop systems. At 
a personal level I very much like my Inka display. Eventually I will 
need something more portable as well, however, as I expect to be 
increasingly giving presentations at seminars and conferences, 
participating in more meetings, etc., in which environments a portable 
display would be very useful.

Two interesting current products from my point of view are the Braillex 
Elba from Papenmeier, as it runs Linux, and the Braille Star from 
Handytech which tries to be both a braille display and, in a limited 
form, a text reading/note taking device. Baum's Vario displays are also 
excellent.

Just my thoughts.