[BRLTTY] Simple Linux console for visually impaired student

[Chevelle]

I think Debian Trixie would detect a USB display out of the box as long 
as it is one that BRLTTY is known to work with.
It can work with Bluetooth once the device is paired.


On 10/14/25 3:35 PM, Tom Kirby wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am a (sighted) Computer Science teacher based in the UK with a keen, 
> interested and talented student who is 16 years old and 
> visually impaired. He is confident with his existing braille devices, 
> and one of them (a Mantis Q40) is supposed to work with brltty. 
> (Unfortunately, his brand new HumanWare Monarch apparently can't do 
> this, in spite of its amazing multi-line touch display /etc/.)
>
> I'm trying to set up a laptop for my student with a simple Linux 
> console, connected to his Mantis Q40. I have the use of a capable 
> enough Lenovo laptop that I can do as I like with. My dream is to have 
> him able to interact with the Linux console and - through it - to be 
> able to write and run Python programs. I think that interacting with a 
> console, shell etc. would be well within his capabilities, even though 
> some of my sighted students struggle with this!
>
> I don't need to have brltty start early in the boot sequence, as (for 
> now) my student will have plenty of sighted help when using the laptop.
>
> Getting up and running with brltty has been far from simple. Though I 
> would consider myself pretty experienced with Linux, I've struggled to 
> get brltty working on Mint, and I've found it pretty difficult on Arch 
> as well.
>
> Is there a distribution where brltty works pretty much out of the box? 
> Or if not, is there a (simple) set of recommendations for getting it 
> to work on a clean install of Arch?
>
> Please excuse me if I'm asking something that could be answered with a 
> simple Google. I've tried engaging with the brltty web pages, but 
> there is a great deal in there and I don't know quite where to start 
> and how much of it is current and relevant to what I am trying to achieve.
>
> Thank you and best wishes
>
> Tom
>
>
>
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