[BRLTTY] Brailliant Bi40X and bluetooth

[Isabel Ruffell]

On Mon, May 05, 2025 at 04:17:57PM -0400, Dave Mielke wrote:
> [quoted lines by Isabel Ruffell on 2025/05/05 at 19:58 +0100]
> 
> >2. After pairing the device on the computer (I have tried this with bluetoothctl, blueman-manager, and through GNOME settings at different times) the device appears in the list of "Connected Devices" on the BI 40X [that is, both in the Terminal application and in the Options / Bluetooth menu.
> 
> I wonder if that means that there's an atual connection or just that it's in the paired devices list.

Yes, that is how it seems to me. Some of the menus on the device seem less than precise on this point.  
Hi Dave,

Thanks for following up. 



 
> >3a. If I initiate a connection from the computer (from any of those programs), it goes into the connect/disconnect cycle. This through  some uninformative dialog boxes or similar.
> 
> Just guessing that requesting a connection causes it to try an rfcomm (i.e. Bluetooth serial) connection, which the BI40X doesn't support.

That makes sense to me.> 
> >3b: "Brailliant BI40X Disconnected". If I initiate the connection from the BI 40X, by selecting the connection there, it simply says "Braille Display". 
> 
> That's probably correct, though I don't personally have a BI40X in order to verify. I think it's simply telling you that it's now in Braille Display mode. That text will then be overwritten as soon as the screen reader on the host writes to it.

yes, that is how it works on USB connections. 
 
> >As a side-effect, thelast does also disrupt the speech on both the BI40X 
> 
> I think that's also expected given that the BI40X has switched into its braille display mode. This is because everything would now be under the control of the host's screen reader.


Yes, I see - I should have realised that.
  
> >and the computer (via orca).
> 
> I'm not sure why that'd be.
> 

It can be a bit flaky in other contexts; i don't think this is the, or a, primary issue.


> >It is the distribution's package. I have not compiled anything. 
> 
> Maybe Debian (I think you said that's what you're using) doesn't build brltty such that it includes HID support.
> 
> >But, just to reiterate: it works via usb, 
> 
> Yes, because brltty supports HID via USB internally.
> 
> >and I could get the BrailleNote Touch working via bluetooth. 
> 
> Yes, because it uses rfcomm (i.e. Bluetooth serial).

Aha! That all makes *much* more sense. Thank you for clarifying all of that. I have a much clear understanding of the issue now.


All the best,

Isabel



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Isabel A. Ruffell
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