[BRLTTY] brltty in termux on ipad?

[Tim Böttcher]

To date, I've never managed to figure out how to connect my HelpTech Activator with a RaspBerry Pi via Bluetooth; Even with Blueman, I can initially pair, but then the device disconnects and shows an input/output error. It's 3 meter USB wires for me now :p

For what it's worth, I found Userland on Android to be quite capable. Didn't even need to root the phone, and I still could run everything I wanted on there. I didn't test running BRLTTY there, mind--I suspect that might become gnarly. You can run BRLTTY on Android itself, of course--whether that results in the desired UX when paired with Userland is somewhat dubious, however.


-- 
Tim Böttcher, BSc
Mathematical-technical software developer
Email: contact at tim-boettcher.email
Website: https://tim-boettcher.online

> Am 29.12.2025 um 09:49 schrieb Sébastien Hinderer <Sebastien.Hinderer at ens-lyon.org>:
> 
> Tim Böttcher (2025/12/28 23:19 +0100):
>> As for portable Linux setups, I'm with Nicolas on the RaspBerry Pi.
>> 
>> The main issue is that you also need a power bank or similar mobile
>> power source capable of sustaining the RaspBerry Pi and any attached
>> devices. Those power banks exist, but aren't exactly tiny. So it's
>> somewhat portable, certainly less bulky than a laptop, but you still
>> needat least your Braille display, RaspBerry Pi and a power bank for a
>> minimal setup. Also note that the video dummy necessary to make Orca
>> think there's a screen attached is, as far as I know, only available
>> on Xorg, not Wayland. So if you want a GUI, that limits you to Xorg
>> for now.
> 
> Regarding the source of energy, that was actually the beauty of Mario's
> solution based on Handy Tech's Active Star. That device has a
> compartment inside of it which hadoriginally been conceived for you to
> put a phone inside of it. The use-case is that the phone connects to the
> braille display through bluetooth, and in addition this compartment had
> a small wire through which you could plug your phone to the braille
> device's battery. And so Mario's idea was to put a raspberry pi into it.
> I know another list memberwho does or at least did the same with
> success. On my side, I did want to do the same but always had issues in
> peering the RPi with the braille device, which I found quite a pity.
> 
> Coming to what Nicolas says about braille devices running Linux, I think
> that this is the case e.g. for Eurobraille's last device whose name I
> can't remember right now. Linux also seems popular among portable
> digital book players, as I am sure Nicolas knows. ;-)
> 
> But it seems that nowadays Android has become a serious concurrent for
> Linux in that field. Maybe one way out would be to look into Linux-based
> phones?
> 
> Seb.
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