[BRLTTY] New displays from Baum?

[Dave Mielke]

[quoted lines by Jason White on 2009/04/17 at 20:07 +1000]

>I've read descriptions of VarioConnect, but not EcoVario and Refreshabraille.
>Nor was Baum's Web site much help. Just for the curious, what is distinctive
>about the latter two?

I can't tell you anything about the EcoVario models because none of them has 
crossed my path so far. I asked Baum for an up-to-date list of their USB 
vendor/product IDs, and the EcoVario models were in the data they sent me. 
Since Baum is very good about sticking to their protocol, about maintaining 
backward compatibility, and about making careful and sensible extensions to 
their protocol, I'm sure that, whatever EcoVarios are, we do support them 
properly.

The Refreshabraille is an 18-cell display manufactured by Baum according to APH 
specs. That's why you can't find it on Baum's web site. You can, however, find 
it on APH's web site. APH are the people who also develop the ICON and Braille+ 
PDAs.

The Refreshabraille isn't actually for sale yet. I believe the correct URL for 
its web page is:

   http://www.aph.org/tech/rbd_info.htm

It has an 8-dot braille keyboard with a single spacebar. Due to the narrowness 
of the 18-cell display, dots 7 and 8 are on either side of the spacebar and are 
pressed with the thumbs. There are two long, thin keys, one above dot 3 and the 
other above dot 6, which are used for panning left/right. There's a third such 
key in the center, in-line with the panning keys, which is used as a second 
spacebar. This is because the internal menu allows for the controls to be 
reversed so that the devbice can be rotated 180 degrees. Just in front of the 
space between dots 1 and 4, but behind the spacebar, is a five-way joystick. 
So, from back to front, it looks like this:

  the braille cells
  the routing keys
  pan left (at the left), second space key (centered), pan right (at the right)
  dot 3, dot 2, dot 1, small gap, dot 4, dot 5, dot 6
  five-way joystick (centered)
  dot 7 (under dot 2), space bar, dot 8 (under dot 5)

The power button is in the center of the front surface. Tapping it wakes the 
display up from power saving mode. A long press turns the display on/off. When 
the display turns on the braille cells give one long vibration - when it turns 
off they give two.

The display is battery powered, and charges from the USB port. The USB port is 
the small kind, and hides in a hollow place of the bottom under the dot 7 key 
with a slot for the cable to come out on the left side. The documentation says 
that this is to protect the connector and port should the display be dropped, 
and it certainly looks well-designed for that purpose.

>I may be wrong, but I don't recall seeing support for the VarioPro series,
>which I only know from descriptions on the Baum Web site - 

That's an oversight on my part. I'll update the release notes. Thanks.

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