[BRLTTY] History of Brltty

[John J. Boyer]

In the late nineties I wrote a Grade 2 translator for BRLTTY. Others 
contributed to it. I then developed it into liblouis, which still 
acknowledges its BRLTTY roots. It is now used very widely.

John

On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 01:26:36AM -0500, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
> On Wed, 9 Dec 2015, Rob wrote:
> 
> > What is the history of Brltty? I have to admit, it is an indispensable 
> > tool in my arsenal, but how did it all get started to end up as the 
> > wonderful program it is today?
> 
> It all started in 1995 with Nikhil Nair and James Bowde, two students at 
> the University of Cambridge, UK. Nikhil was blind and wanted a native 
> solution for using his CombiBraille with Linux.  The oldest BRLTTY 
> release announcement I could find is for version 0.22 Beta in the 
> December 1st 1995 edition of Linux Journal (meaning that BRLTTY is 20 
> years old this month):
> 
> 	http://m.linuxjournal.com/article/2872
> 
> I was already a big Linux fan at the time. To be able to access a Linux 
> computer, I needed a second computer running DOS and the proprietary 
> software to drive my Alva BC340, and use that second computer with a 
> terminal emulator to access the Linux computer via a serial cable.
> 
> Linux was already quite capable back then, especially for accessing the 
> burgeoning Internet with a 14400 baud modem over a traditional phone 
> line (and that was fast!).  That's how I stumbled across the first 
> BRLTTY announcement. That was so cool I couldn't resist downloading the 
> code and start tinkering with it. Then the process of 
> reverse-engineering the communication protocol for my Alva started.  
> Eventually (i.e. after some long nights) I had it figured out and I 
> wrote the second BRLTTY driver.
> 
> I was so excited about being able to use the native Linux console 
> directly that I had to share this with someone else who could appreciate 
> this accomplishment. In other words that someone else had to be another 
> computer geek who happened to be blind as well. That's how I ended up 
> inviting Stéphane Doyon on a whim, whom I had never met before, to come 
> to my place for some hacking session on his own braille display.
> 
> Equipped with two computers and one already functional braille display, 
> we were able to reverse-engineer the communication protocol for his TSI 
> Navigator in only one day of work. The third BRLTTY driver was born.
> 
> We submitted our drivers to the BRLTTY maintainer and a strong 
> collaboration between Nikhil, Stéphane and myself ensued to improve the 
> BRLTTY core code.  Eventually, version 1.0 was released:
> 
> 	http://www.redhat.com/archives/blinux-list/1996-August/msg00031.html
> 
> A few months later, BRLTTY gained its initial speech support and version 
> 1.0.1 was released:
> 
> 	https://www.redhat.com/archives/blinux-list/1996-September/msg00007.html
> 
> In early 1998, Nikhil couldn't dedicate as much time to BRLTTY and 
> that's when I took over the maintainer role. That corresponds to BRLTTY 
> version 1.9.0.
> 
> Then, several people started contributing to the project. Many of them 
> are still following this mailing list. Notably, a certain Dave Mielke 
> whose contributions were significant.
> 
> Fast forward to 2001 or 25 BRLTTY releases later, I was short of enough 
> free time to properly maintain the project.  Given that BRLTTY already 
> did all that I needed, it is possible that my motivation also dropped a 
> little. It was time for another maintainership transition. That's when 
> Dave stepped up to the plate. And Dave's dedication to BRLTTY really 
> brought it to another level of refinement. And 15 years later Dave is 
> still running the show.
> 
> > As a side note, how many of us use 
> > Brltty as our sole means of navigating in Linux?
> 
> Count me in. Since early 1996.
> 
> 
> Nicolas

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-- 
John J. Boyer; President,
AbilitiesSoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.org
Madison, Wisconsin USA
We develop software for people with disabilities which is abailable at 
no cost.