[BRLTTY] HelpTech Activator aC4: Unable send any key input

[Tim Böttcher]

After further trial and error, it turns out that if I connect the activator while it's closed (i.e., qwerty keyboard folded), I can issue commands via the Braille keys, however the command to switch to Braille input mode doesn't seem to work. That is, I can scroll up and down by pressing B1 and B4, respectively, but I cannot type anything. In theory, pressing B1+B8+SpaceRight should switch to Braille input mode, but that doesn't seem to do anything.

The moment I open the qwerty keyboard, neither the keys of that keyboard nor the outer perkins-style keys work anymore. 

> Am 13.05.2026 um 14:11 schrieb Tim Böttcher <contact at tim-boettcher.email>:
> 
>  Hi, all,
> 
> it used to be possible to connect my Activator to my RaspBerry Pi via USB (albeit I never got bluetooth to work) and use it that way.
> 
> I used it with BRLTTY 6.5 through 6.7. Recently, my Activator returned from repairs and is now at Firmware version 2.6(was 2.3 previously). Now, I can still read and scroll within the buffer sent by BRLTTY, but I cannot type anything, neither on the included qwerty keyboard, nor on the Braille keyboard.
> 
> This appears to be version-independent--tested it with BRLTTY 6.7 and 6.9.1 on Debian and Ubuntu. I haven't tested bluetooth yet but given it didn't work before, I'm not hopeful it's working now.
> 
> My suspicion is that the firmware update broke something. Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any idea what I could do other than report this to HelpTech?
> 
> Kind regards,
> Tim
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