Use a Super Serial Card or an Apple IIc port. If you have an Apple Super Serial Card, set it for the standard parameters (see Section 3 for details).
You need a 6M cable to connect the Cranmer Brailler to the Super Serial Card. You need a 10M cable to connect the Cranmer Brailler to an Apple IIc port.
Devices like the Cranmer Brailler add a new wrinkle to braille. When you are producing regular braille, there would never be a situation when you press the space bar while you are brailling a letter. Most of the commands to the brailler are made by pressing the space bar while brailling a character. This is called chording. See the Cranmer Brailler manual for a fuller explanation.
Connect the cable from the serial card to the brailler. Turn on the Apple with the BEX disk or with the Apple master disk. Insert a piece of paper in the brailler. Turn on the Cranmer Brailler. The brailler should make a double beep (like a door bell). Braille an H chorded with the space bar followed by a regular H. There should be a pleasant beep. Braille an R chorded with the space bar. The brailler makes a soft beep.
Type a control/reset on the Apple. The Apple beeps and
shows a close square bracket character. On the Apple, type When you are asked for the printer slot, give the
appropriate number. Answer B (for brailler) for the printer class. Give
brailler type 3 (for Cranmer Brailler). Give a carriage width up to 42
(depending on your application) and form length 25. It is critical that
you match the form length in the configuration with the page length of the
Cranmer. The default page length on the Cranmer is 25 lines.
When you are ready to send grade two braille to the
Cranmer, turn on the brailler. Next enter chord-H H chord-S Y chord-R.
When you print, give the appropriate printer number. The brailler should
start up.
When it gets to the end of a page, the brailler beeps.
Put in a new page. Press a chord-(dots 4-5) to indicate a new page is
inserted properly. To force a page eject, enter a chord-(dots 4-5-6).
If you do not enter a chord-S Y when you start up the
brailler, you will have trouble with the Cranmer buffer. When characters
are sent to the brailler, they are stored in the brailler memory buffer.
The chord-S Y tells the brailler to wipe out part of the buffer when the
buffer is almost full. If you run into problems, you can clear the buffer
with a chord-N followed with a chord-(dots 1-2-3-4-5-6).
You can reprint a sheet on the Cranmer when using BEX.
It takes a little longer at the page change, but it gives you extra
insurance in case the paper jams.
When you set up a configuration, reserve two printer
descriptions for the Cranmer. For one of the descriptions, follow the
script given previously. For the other description, When you turn on the Cranmer, issue four commands:
chord-H H; chord-(number sign) C 7; chord-S Y; chord-R. At each page
change, simply insert the next sheet, press chord-(dots 4-5) on the
Cranmer, and press the spacebar on the Apple. The Cranmer has to be set
for 7 data bits to be able to move by lines in its buffer. That is why the
command chord-(number sign) C 7 is required in the start-up commands.
If you wish to reprint a sheet, insert a new sheet and
then issue five commands. On the Cranmer keyboard, enter: chord-(dots
3-6); chord-E; M B; M U 25 chord-Q; and finally P 25 chord-Q. You've just
instructed the Cranmer to enter Command Mode, then enter the Editor, move
to the bottom (end) of the buffer, move up 25 lines, and finally print 25
lines. To resume printing with the next sheet, insert a new sheet, press
chord-(dots 4-5) and chord-R on the Cranmer, then press the Apple
spacebar. Because this procedure can be tricky if you are not use to the
editor mode on the Cranmer, you might want to have a practice "fire-drill"
to make sure you can reprint a page.
For the purposes of this discussion, assume you are
using slot 1 on the Apple for the Super Serial Card. Actually any free
slot except slot 3 will do. If you have an Apple IIc, either port 1 or
port 2 can be used. You would use a Cricket in port 2, so these examples
will use port 1. If you have an Apple IIgs, you must install a Super
Serial Card to use the VersaBraille transfer functions.
There are a number of critical parameters that
describe how communication is conducted between two machines. On the Super
Serial Card, these parameters are set by flipping little tiny switches. On
the VersaBraille, the parameters are set from the keyboard.
Set the Super Serial Card for the standard parameters.
See section 3 for details.
To connect the Apple and the VersaBraille, you need a
cable adapter. These are available from Raised Dot Computing. If you have
a new VersaBraille cable with a male end, you still need a cable
adapter. If you have a model C or D VersaBraille, you need a 1F
adapter. If you have a model B VersaBraille, you need a 1M adapter. The
sex of the VersaBraille end of the cable adapter depends on the sex of the
VersaBraille interface cable.
If you have an Apple IIc and a model C or D
VersaBraille, you need a 2F cable. If you have an Apple IIc and a model B
VersaBraille, you need a 2M cable. This cable connects the Apple IIc to
the VersaBraille I/O cable.
Place the VersaBraille next to the Apple computer.
Connect the cable adapter to the serial card on the Apple. Connect the
VersaBraille interface cable to the cable adapter and the
Turn on the Apple. Then turn on the VersaBraille. It
is a good idea to always turn on the VersaBraille after the Apple when
they are wired together. When you want to turn them off, first eject the
VersaBraille tape. Turn off the VersaBraille, and then turn off the Apple.
The VersaBraille should be last on and first off. If you turn on the Apple
when the VersaBraille is turned on, you will not damage any equipment, but
you may confuse the VersaBraille. The VersaBraille may start to format a
tape if it thought it received a format command from an Apple being turned
on.
Load the master overlay tape into the VersaBraille.
Press the braille select switch. Inspect the table of contents when the
tape loads. The first chapter is called terminal. The second
chapter is called duplicate. Load the first chapter (when the
table of contents says terminal, press the advance bar). The
display says "terminal loaded." (On a model B VersaBraille, the display
says "open new chapter." Ignore this message). Eject the master overlay
tape. Do not turn the power off. Load your newly formatted tape.
Now you want to change the communications parameters
on the VersaBraille. The "switch settings" are controlled by software.
They are not physical switches, but electronic pulses stored on tape that
can be loaded to and saved from the VersaBraille's memory.
Nevertheless, try to imagine that the VersaBraille has 17 or 18 different
"switches" that control the communications parameters.
Type a chord-R E on the VersaBraille. Remember that
chord means pressing the space bar at the same time you
braille a letter. A chord-R means striking dots 1-2-3-5 and
the space bar all at once. To change the parameters, you use just two
buttons, the word button (the one with the single stroke beneath it), and
the advance bar (the one just above the braille display). The first
characters tell what switch is being examined. The second Actually, you do not have to scan all the
parameters. You can stop after handshake. Type a chord-R S to
go back to whatever you were doing before changing parameters. You must
type chord-R S to get out of the "parameter setting mode." If you don't,
the VersaBraille beeps at almost any button you push.
Press the new chapter button (the one
with the little square). Type TERM as a chapter title. Do not press the
advance bar. Type a chord-O to save the overlay on the new tape. You have
just saved a one page chapter called TERM on the VersaBraille tape. This
chapter contains the instructions and parameters for communicating with
the Apple computer.
Press the new chapter button. Enter an arbitrary
chapter name like DEMO. Press the advance bar. The display should be blank
except for the cursor in the first character position. Enter a chord-R R
to put the VersaBraille in remote. Enter a chord-U to set the VersaBraille
at upper case lock.
Press Control-Reset on the Apple. The computer should
show a close square bracket on the display. If you are using port two on
the Apple IIc, follow the instructions for using slot 2. If the serial
card is in slot 2, then type PR#BUT <CR>. Then type IN#BUT
<CR>.
You should see an er sign on the VersaBraille display.
The er is the braille equivalent of the close square bracket. This is
known to computer people as the BASIC prompt. The computer is
trying to tell you that it's ready to execute any legal command. At
this point, the VersaBraille should be in complete control of the Apple.
For example, you can braille CATALOG carriage return on the VersaBraille
to get the Apple disk catalog. To braille a carriage return on the
VersaBraille, you use two characters: a "special symbol" followed by an M.
Just to keep things interesting, the "special symbol" is different for
each VersaBraille model. On a model B, use dots 4-5-6; on a model C, use
dot 4; and on a model D, use chord dots 4-5-6.
When you can braille the Apple commands on the
VersaBraille's keyboard and get the Apple to respond, then the
connection is working normally.
Sometimes people call to say that they cannot get the
transfer functions working. It is critical to get the VersaBraille working
as a computer terminal first.
If there are problems, review this procedure,
especially if you have never used the communications features of the
VersaBraille before. The first things to suspect are the switch settings
on the serial card and the communications parameters on the VersaBraille.
The second thing to suspect is the cable adapter. Have your adapter
checked out by a technical person to make sure that it is connected right.
If RDC supplied it, contact us about getting a free replacement. Next,
make sure the serial card is functioning right. You may get someone else
to lend you a spare card. Finally, there may be a problem with the
VersaBraille. It is our experience that this is quite unlikely.
To operate the VersaBraille with BEX, you need two
more overlays. One overlay is for transfers To the VersaBraille. The other
overlay is for transfers From the VersaBraille.
Make sure the modified terminal overlay is still
loaded. If you have turned off the VersaBraille since the last session,
load the chapter TERM that you put on your new tape. Type a chord-R E.
Press the advance bar until you see When the tape stops moving, type a chord-R M. This
wipes out the overlay from the VersaBraille memory. Eject the tape. Load
the master overlay tape and load the second chapter, called duplicate.
Eject the master overlay tape and load your own tape. When tape has been
loaded, type chord-R E. Change the first four parameters. These should be
You have just set up the three overlays that you need
to work with the Apple. If all goes well, you may not have to set the
communications parameters again for a long, long time. Save the new
overlay tape in a safe place. Better yet, make additional copies of these
three overlays on other tapes. If you load the overlays from your new
tape, there is no need to change the parameters. Remember that if an
overlay is loaded, and you want to load another one, you first have to get
rid of the first overlay. Type a chord-R M to get rid of the first
overlay.
When you test the VersaBraille interface for the first
time, establish a configuration with Echo, Cricket, or other voice output.
Answer Yes to the configuration question While it is possible to use the VersaBraille for both
input and output for the Apple, we don't recommend it--especially not as
your first interface. It's quite tricky to use the VersaBraille both
as a computer terminal and as a source or receiver of whole chapters. More
details on this appear last in this section.
Cable the VersaBraille to the Apple. Turn on the
Apple, turn on the VersaBraille. Give a voice or screen configuration name
on the Apple. On the VersaBraille, load the FROM VB overlay. Put the
VersaBraille in remote; type chord-R R.
To start the transfer, use the It is time to pay attention to the VersaBraille. You
did load the FROM VB overlay, didn't you? Eject the overlay tape and load
the tape containing the chapter you want to send to the Apple. Find the
chapter title in the table of contents. Do not press the advance bar to
enter the chapter. Just stay in the table of contents. Enter a chord-X H
on the VersaBraille. The rest is automatic. You should hear the
VersaBraille tape begin to move the moment you enter chord-X H.
If you want to send an entire tape to the Apple, use
the chord-X T command instead of the chord-X H command on the
VersaBraille. If you are sending a full VB tape to the Apple, then you
need to use two data disks to receive the material. Once the transfer
starts, replace the program disk in drive one with a second data disk. The
program automatically switches disks when the first data disk gets too
full.
Cable the VersaBraille to the Apple. Power on the two
devices. Use a screen or voice configuration. On the VersaBraille, load
the TO VB overlay. When it is loaded, type a chord-R R (that puts the
VersaBraille in remote). Eject the tape, and load the tape you want to
send the chapter or chapters to.
On the Apple, use the To VersaBraille option on the
Main Menu. Give the name of the chapters you are transferring. Press
<CR> to the question about defining VB page breaks (unless you
really know what you are doing). When it asks for a maximum page size,
give a number under 950. Once you answer this question, the rest should be
automatic. The VersaBraille is in local when the transfer is over. Enter
another chord-R R if you want to send more material to the VersaBraille.
To use the VersaBraille as a computer terminal with
BEX, first cable the Apple and the VersaBraille together. Turn on the
Apple, then turn on the VersaBraille. Load the TERM overlay chapter. Eject
the tape and load a new tape. Open a new chapter. Type chord-R R chord-U
(putting VersaBraille in remote, upper case lock). You'll boot BEX and
establish a new configuration. When BEX prompts If you have a VersaBraille II Plus, you will need to
get the appropriate cable from TSI.
For a VersaBraille II, use an Apple Super Serial Card,
an Apple IIc serial port, or an Apple IIgs serial port. The standard
parameters work fine. Use a 6M cable for the Super Serial Card or the
Apple IIgs cable adapter. Use a 2M cable for an Apple IIc. Connect to the
DTE port on the VersaBraille.
Use the menus on the VersaBraille to set the
VersaBraille communications parameters. Enter P for parameters, and S for
serial. There is one very strange item in this list--you must specify 7
data bits. It may be difficult to understand why you need to set the Super
Serial Card to 8 data bits while the VersaBraille is set to 7 data bits.
This is a case where our previously stated rule of making parameters match
is broken. Without a doubt, this is the trickiest aspect of the interface.
The other parameters are straightforward:
To send text from the VersaBraille II to the Apple,
you use BEX's option I - Input through slot on the Second Menu. To send
text from BEX to the VersaBraille II, you use a BEX printer defined as a
class P - Paperless brailler. Establish a configuration that includes the
serial card you use for VersaBraille-Apple communications. You specify
this card twice The Kurzweil Reading Machine (KRM) is a device which
takes printed material, reads it and speaks it using synthetic speech. It
can also output the text on an RS-232 serial line. The text can be saved
as a BEX chapter by using the Input through Slot option on the Second
menu. Once the text is stored as a BEX chapter on disk, it can be
translated and sent to a braille device, or any other combination of BEX
options.
You need a Apple Super Serial Card or an Apple IIc
port. You need a special cable to connect the serial card with the KRM.
These cables are available from Raised Dot Computing. Select the
appropriate cable as follows:
You must establish the appropriate BEX
configuration. When BEX prompts: Connect the cable to the lower port on the Model 3
Reading Machine, or the middle port on the Series 400.
On the Second Menu, pick I for Input through slot. The
program prompts for the name of the chapter you are creating on the Apple.
When you supply the name, BEX indicates that it is ready to receive text.
What happens during the transfer of data depends in
part on your KRM model. There's less manual intervention with the
newer, series 400 KRM. As the KRM sends text to the Apple, BEX is
collecting characters in the page buffer. When these characters add up to
approximately 3300, BEX sends the KRM a signal to stop, saves the page
buffer to disk, gets ready to receive more data, and sends the KRM an "I'm
ready now" signal. Your only concern is not overfilling the disk: thirty
BEX pages is the limit on one data disk. Most printed material contains
less than 3300 characters on a page. It's pretty easy to keep track
of how many print pages you're scanning on the KRM; after you've scanned
thirty print pages, press Q on the Apple keyboard. BEX saves the last page
buffer and builds a directory; you can then insert a fresh disk, choose
option I, and start on a new chapter.
More manual intervention is required for the older,
model 3 KRM'S. These models don't understand BEX's "Hold it" and "I'm
ready now" signals. To get around this limitation, you press P on the
Apple keyboard which forces BEX to store the page buffer. If you press P
while the KRM is in the middle of scanning a page, you'll lose data: get
in the habit of pressing P after the KRM has finished scanning each print
page. When you've scanned thirty pages or are done scanning the document,
press Q on the Apple keyboard. BEX saves the last page buffer and builds a
directory; you can then insert a fresh disk, choose option I, and start on
a new chapter.
You can manually insert short comments into the text.
When The chapter that you have just created has a carriage
return at the end of each print line. Usually you want to strip these off.
Use option R - Replace characters on the Main Menu; when BEX prompts
If you follow the procedures in this section, and the
text comes out as garbage, then your KRM is set for a baud rate other than
4800 baud. This means it's time for the favorite game of all
interfacers: "baud rate roulette"! Re-configure, and answer NO to the
Use a 6M cable to connect a Super Serial Card to the
Apple LaserWriter. If you have an Apple IIc, it must have the 3.5
ROM upgrade. Use a 2M cable to connect the Apple IIc to the Apple
LaserWriter.
There is an important little knob on the side of the
LaserWriter. It has four settings: AppleTalk, Special, 9600, and 1200.
AppleTalk is for the Macintosh. Special means Diablo Emulation mode. The
9600 and 1200 settings are for working directly with PostScript, a
graphics and typesetting language built into the LaserWriter. BEX can
either work with the special Diablo emulation mode, or
directly generate PostScript files. In Diablo emulation mode, you can
produce high quality print output that looks very clear and sharp. The
9600 mode can be used to generate virtual typeset quality.
Set the four position mode switch on the LaserWriter
to special. This sets the Diablo 630 emulation mode. Configure as follows:
Besides the nine spaces explicitly marked, there are
no other spaces in this sequence. This sequence sets Xon/Xoff handshakes,
line length 255, and sets the left margin and the top margin. You can vary
the number of spaces and carriage returns in the sequence to set the left
margin and the top margin to your taste. Escape 9 sets the left margin. By
preceding the command with 8 spaces, this sequence sets the The good news is that once you set up your
configuration, you don't have to worry about sending out the sequence;
it's all done automatically!
The only other thing to mention about using the
LaserWriter in Diablo emulation mode is that you need to end each file
with a form feed, or the last page won't be printed. You can use
Multi-function print and specify one copy. That does the exact same thing
that Print does--except it adds the desired form feed at the end of the
print cycle.
The Apple LaserWriter is actually a very powerful
computer. It uses a language called PostScript. BEX can directly generate
PostScript code to give the LaserWriter detailed instructions on what type
font to use, how to output characters, and how to go to the next line or
page. This facility was put into BEX to allow Raised Dot Computing to
produce its own manuals quickly. However, BEX falls quite short of using
the LaserWriter to its full potential.
When we want to make something look very nice, we use
the JustText software on the Macintosh. When we want large print very
quickly from Apple disks, we use the BEX PostScript driver. Here are some
of the biggest limitations with the BEX software: It is very hard to
change font size and line spacing within the text. This makes it tough to
make nice looking headings. In addition, BEX makes decisions on how to
break words into lines based on fixed spacing (rather than proportional
spacing). This can cause some ugly lines (especially when a line contains
many capital letters). Why are we telling you about these problems? We
want you to know that the BEX PostScript driver was written for a
particular Set the four position mode switch on the LaserWriter
to 9600. This tells the LaserWriter to expect PostScript code
from the serial port at 9600 baud.
Configure as follows:
Notice that you do not have to give any set up
sequence. BEX automatically sets the Super Serial Card for Xon/Xoff
handshakes.
BEX supplies suggested values for all the parameters
(except font size) if you press a carriage return after each question.
Your configuration can have several printers using PostScript if you need
to quickly generate output at several different font sizes. For example,
printer one could be 8 point, and printer two could be 16 point. A BEX
configuration cannot contain both PostScript printers and Specific
printers.
To generate the output, print your BEX file to the
appropriate printer number. You do not need to put a form feed at the end
of your text, BEX makes sure that the last page is sent out.
Raised Dot Computing has written a separate
manual on the use of the PostScript Driver. Please write for a copy if you
would like more information about this interface.
Randy Dipner of Colorado has pioneered the idea of
making simple modifications to a daisy wheel printer to produce braille.
To produce Dipner Dots, you must have a daisy wheel printer (dot matrix
printers do not work). The Dipner Dot method uses a single character, such
as a period or center dot, to emboss dots into lightweight paper that is
backed by a soft roller. BEX has all the software needed to produce grade
two braille with this method. Although you do not produce Library of
Congress quality dots, the dots are quite readable. This is absolutely
not recommended for schools or transcriber groups. But it may
be very appropriate for a blind professional in an office setting.
The most important modification needed for the printer
is to change the roller. There are two approaches. One is to wrap some
soft material around the existing roller. But then, switching from print
to braille and braille to print is a bit of a production. It is
recommended that you have a spare roller wrapped with soft material. Then,
switching modes means literally switching rollers, which can be done in a
few seconds. You do not need a removable roller if you are sheet-feeding
your printer.
If you decide to go this route, there are two steps.
First, buy a spare roller for your printer. This may cost about $100.
Next, get in touch with the nearest Ames Supply. Ames sells printer and
other computer supplies. Ask to have your roller re-covered with "low
resilience" material. Ask for "30-Durometer rubber." Durometers are the
unit of measurement of resilience. This should cost between $10 and $15.
There are about 12 Ames Supply Houses around the country, one of them is
located at 2537 Curtis St., Downers Grove, IL 60515.
You can take an ordinary roller and wrap it with soft
material, such as several layers of "flannel rubber sheeting" available
from medical supply houses. Make a layer several millimeters
Configure BEX as follows:
BEX automatically sets the spacing for standard
braille. You may find that other characters besides a period improve the
quality of the braille. Try using epoxy or nail polish to fill in the at
sign or a degree sign if you want to change the spacing between dots.
To improve the quality of the embossing, remove your
printer's ribbon. It is recommended that you have a printwheel
reserved for braille production. The character that you are using to punch
dots may get too worn down for regular inkprint use.
Closely related to embossed Dipner Dots is the ability
to generate flat braille on an inkprint printer. Instead of trying to
produce tactile braille, it is possible to print a pattern of inkprint
periods that simulate braille.
Making inkprint dots requires no physical modification
of any of the printer parts. Answer the configuration questions as you
would for embossed braille, only use brailler number 13 A Sider hard disk is a product sold exclusively by
First Class Peripherals. First Class Peripherals can be reached at (800)
538-1307 Ext. 240. You must be at the Master Level of BEX to use one. You
cannot install a hard disk on an Apple IIc. This means you must have an
Apple IIe (with an extended 80 column card) or IIgs. You need at least one
5.25 inch disk drive. Use of the Sider is incompatible with a regular slot
RAM card, such an Apple Memory Card. They both change the disk operating
system at the same spot. The program crashes if both are in your system.
Use the Sider instruction manual. This material is
intended to be supplementary.
BEX works with only one Sider drive. You can use
either the 10 megabyte or the 20 megabye drive. It is possible to cable
two Sider hard disks together, but you cannot access any information from
a second Sider using BEX.
The Sider works with up to four different operating
systems (DOS 3.3, CPSTM, ProDOS, and PASCAL). When you format the Sider,
you instruct it on how to divide up the space on the disk for the
different systems. If you don't plan to use some of these operating
systems, then you may want to minimize their allocated space.
BEX uses DOS 3.3. The Sider partitions memory into
units called volumes. The Sider can allocate two sizes of
volumes for DOS 3.3: small and large. The small volumes are 140,000 bytes
(about the size of a floppy disk); the large volumes are about 400,000.
You choose how the DOS 3.3 space is divided. My own preference is all
small partitions except for about 10 large partitions.
As far as BEX is concerned, the volumes can be thought
of as RDC has found no way to do the installation without
the assistance of a patient sighted person. The installation process
should take 2-4 hours. Once you've completed installation, BEX is
completely accessible.
Use the instructions that come with the Sider to
connect the Sider to your Apple IIe. Install the interface card in slot 7
(the floppy disk controller should be in slot 6). The Sider should have a
termination plug (one inch long jack) in the bottom plug, and the cable to
the interface card in the top plug. The Sider has its own power cord. Pay
close attention to the ventilation needs of the Sider.
Before we go any further, we have to make sure that
BEX recognizes the disk controller card as being a Sider. Keep the Sider
turned off. Insert your BEX boot disk in the booting floppy drive (slot 6,
drive 1). Turn on the Apple. The disk will not boot. Press control reset
followed by: At the Starting Menu, press W to find out what BEX
thinks is in slot 7. If the display shows As stated above, the formatting procedure requires the
assistance of a sighted person. An attempt to use TEXTALKER causes the
installation program to crash. Again, carefully review the Sider
instruction manual before formatting.
With the Sider turned off, turn on the Apple computer.
Press a Control-Reset on the Apple. Insert the disk labeled Installation
The program asks: You are presented with a visual display of how the
disk is to be divided. It took me a few tries to get the hang of this
program. Please pay close attention. Basically, you have to work backward.
To compress one partition, enlarge the partition to
its left. If you want to minimize the Pascal space, use the <CR> to
move the "cursor" to the ProDOS square. Next press an L to indicate that
you want the largest ProDOS size. This squeezes Pascal to its smallest
possible size. If you don't want any ProDOS space, move the "cursor" to
CPSTM and ask for the largest size. To compress CPSTM, ask for the largest
size for DOS-LV.
Now comes the moment of decision: how to divide up the
DOS 3.3 space. If you are going to do a lot of copying of data back and
forth between Sider and floppies, ask for a lot of "DOS-SV" space (the
size of a small volume is about the same as a floppy). If you have a lot
of big documents that don't fit on one floppy, ask for a lot of "DOS-LV"
volumes.
When the various partitions are assigned to your
liking, press an I. The program asks whether you wish to continue.
The program displays a lot of numbers that you must
copy down in the back of your Sider Manual. If you have problems and call
Sider's technical support, you may be asked for these numbers. It is
important to write down the total number of DOS volumes that you have set
up. You will need that number during the BEX configuration. The total
number of DOS volumes depends on how you have divided up the Sider's
You are asked to insert the Support Utilities for
Apple DOS 3.3 into the floppy drive. This is the flip side of the disk
that is presently in the drive. Once this disk is in the drive, type:
BEX allows you to copy the Boot side and the Main side
onto any Sider volumes. In this example, we copy the BEX Boot side onto
volume 2, and the Main side onto volume 3. But you could use other volumes
on your system. Note that you never want to use volume 1 since that is
where the support programs are stored.
When initialization is over, the Sider's Main
Menu is presented. Choose option 5 (Support Utilities). This takes you to
the Support Utilities Menu. Choose option 3, DOS File Utilities. This
takes you to a program similar to FID.
Insert the BEX boot disk into floppy drive 1. Choose
option 1, copy files. Copy from slot 6, drive 1, volume 0 to slot 7, drive
1, volume 2. Answer the filename prompt with an equal sign followed by a
carriage return. This has the effect of choosing all the files. Answer N
to the question about prompting, then press two returns to start the
copying. Here is what the screen looks like:
When the Sider has finished copying the Boot side,
choose option 7 to reset the slot, drive, and volume defaults. Insert the
Main BEX disk in floppy drive 1. Copy from slot 6, drive 1, volume 0 to
slot 7, drive 1, volume 3. Copy all the files using the equals sign.
When all the files are copied, choose option 11 to
Quit. This takes you back to the Master Menu. Press <CR> (this takes
you to option 3 of the Master Menu). You get the BASIC prompt. Type the
following:
If you are not storing the Boot side on volume 2, then
modify line 10 accordingly. If all goes right, BEX starts to load. If you
have an Echo, then BEX starts to talk. You can dismiss your sighted
friend. Give her or him some potato chips and a beer.
At the configuration prompt, enter an ampersand (and)
and press <CR> to set up a Master Level configuration. Answer the
questions as you would normally. When you are asked if you have an
You must list the Sider slot as the first drive slot.
For the question about how many volumes, use the number from the Sider
initialization (the sum of the small and large DOS 3.3 volumes). For the
questions about the Boot side volume and the Main side volume, give the
volume numbers where you copied the program disks. Next you are prompted
for information about more drives. Give the slots and drives of your other
floppy drives. When you have no more drives, answer 0 to the disk slot
prompt.
Keep your BEX disk in drive one of your floppy the
first time you use BEX. BEX copies the serialization information onto the
hard disk.
When you boot up your system, you are presented with a
Master Menu. Press return to get into BEX. Give your new configuration
name (the configuration that refers to the Sider). You should get correct
serialization information.
To switch from Starting Menu to Main Menu, just press
the space bar. To switch from Main Menu to Starting Menu, just press the
space bar.
BEX treats each volume in the Sider as a separate disk
drive. To scan the contents of volume 18, enter 18 to the chapter prompt.
If you refer to drive 1, you are redirected to either the Main volume or
the Boot volume (depending on whether you are in the Boot side or the Main
side). Your floppy drives are the last few drive numbers. If you have 48
Sider volumes and two disk drives, then floppy drive 1 is treated as drive
49, and floppy drive 2 is treated as drive 50. The BEX default drive is
the last drive, which should be a floppy drive.
For example, you can enter Of course, it may take some time getting used to
having many megabytes of storage on a hard disk at your disposal. You may
find it useful to learn how to use auto chapters to automate file
manipulation on the Sider. The zero drive number in the target code was
designed to make things easier for a Sider user.
One major problem with using the Sider is keeping
track of all the chapters that you store in the different Sider volumes.
The Whole Disk Catalog on the Page menu allows you to output a range of
volumes (drive numbers). Use option W on the Page Menu. You are prompted
for a drive number. Answer with If you want a printout, you can use the Master Level
feature to turn on a printer with the control-B P printer number command.
For example, to turn on printer two, type three characters: control-B P 2.
To turn off the printer at the end, type control-B P D.
If you are at the Master Level, you can replace the
plus sign with an ampersand to save the catalog in a chapter. You will be
prompted for a chapter name at the end of the catalogs. This feature has a
limit of 2048 characters. It is recommended that you only catalog 3 or 4
volumes at a time. Here is an example of using this feature:
PR#2
<CR>
(if the serial card is in slot 2). Use PR#A for port one
on the Apple IIc. The brailler should wake up and emboss an er sign (dots
1-2-4-5-6). Anything you type on the Apple comes out on the unit in
computer braille. If you are not getting anything in braille,
something is wrong. It may be the switch settings, the cable, the serial
card, your use of the brailler, or the brailler itself. One possible
problem may be the internal switches in the Cranmer. There is a way to
test the internal switches. Turn the Cranmer off and then on again. Enter
chord-H H Chord-B dropped F chord-R R. Now type a word on the
Setting the BEX Configuration
Operation of the Brailler
Reprinting Pages on the Cranmer
The Equipment
The Serial Interface
Cable Adapter
Interfacing to the Apple IIc
Connecting Things Together
Setting Up an Overlay
b 1200,
this means that the baud rate is set at 1200. Press
the word button several times until the display shows b 9600.
You just changed the baud rate to 9600 baud. To advance to the next
switch, press the advance bar.
Communications Parameters
b 9600
- baud rate. It starts at 300 or
1200. Press the word button until you set it at 9600.
d 8
- It may show 7 or 8 data bits. Set at 8
data bits
p n
- parity. Set at no parity
s 2
- stop bits. Set at 2 stop bits.
t c
- translator. Set at computer braille
ll
- line length. Ignore this, just press the
advance bar.
pl
- page length. Ignore this setting as well.
ci
- carriage return input. Ignore.
cr
- carriage return delay. Ignore.
et
- end transmission character. Ignore
dx h
- duplex. Set at half duplex.
hs dtr
- handshake. Set at hardware handshakes
ai
- ASCII control character input. Ignore.
co
- carriage return output expansion. Ignore.
ak
- acknowledge. Ignore.
dci
- device control character input. Ignore.
cts
- clear to send handshake. Ignore.
cd
- carrier detect. Ignore.
Using the VersaBraille as a Computer Terminal
Setting Up Two More Overlays
t c.
Press the word
button twice so it says t n.
Press the advance bar several
times until the first characters are ak.
Press the word
button so the display shows ak y.
Now type chord-R S. Press
the new chapter button. Type the chapter name TO VB. Do not press the
advance bar. Type a chord-O to save this overlay.
b9600, d8, pn, and s2.
When you have set these four
parameters (using the Using the VersaBraille with BEX
Setting up your Configurations
Do you
have a tape-based VersaBraille?
Give the model type (But, C or Do)
and the slot number. Answer No to the question about a set up sequence
unless you know specifically what sequence you will use. (If you choose to
use non-standard switch settings on the Super Serial Card, you could
establish the appropriate parameters with an automatic set-up sequence.)
Transferring from the VersaBraille
From
VersaBraille
option on Do you want control characters?
question.
Press <CR> to the question about VB page breaks. The computer says
Enter chord-X H at the VB chapter name
Transferring to the VersaBraille
Enter
configuration,
enter four characters: *V1 <CR>
(The digit one indicates you're interfacing through slot 1.) You should be
able to answer the configuration questions through the VersaBraille.
Answer Yes to the question about a remote keyboard. Answer Yes to the
question about having a braille device for the computer dialogue.
VersaBraille Parameters
9600 baud
7 data bits
2 stop bits
full duplex
no parity
DC IN no
DC OUT no
DTR handshake
DSR yes
CTS yes
RTS handshake
Do you have a remote serial device to input text
through slot?
question. The second time is when you configure one
of your printers as a Paperless brailler. More details on this and the
actual data transfer appear in User Level Section 11.
Do you have a remote serial device
to input through slot?,
answer Yes. Then BEX asks, Is this a
Kurzweil Reading Machine?
When you answer Yes, then BEX
automatically sets communications for 4800 baud and 1 stop bit. This is
the most common setting on the KRM.
text output mode.
Press the page
button. The text is spoken and sent to the Apple. The Apple makes a noise
during the data transfer--like the noise made during Replace characters.
Its pitch depends on how fast the characters are moving, so it may grind
or chirp.
Controlling Data with Series 400 KRM'S
Controlling Data with Model 3 KRM'S
Reformatting scanned data
Use transformation chapter:
specify the chapter named KRM on
your BEXtras disk. This strips off the carriage returns, and tries to put
in paragraph ( $p ) indicators. You can then edit the chapter.
You can fix any errors from the KRM, and adjust the paragraph markers. You
can run the chapter through the Grade 2 translator and send the braille
chapter to a VersaBraille or other braille device.
Troubleshooting
Is this a KRM?
question. BEX now leaves the SSC or IIc port
alone, so it's set to 9600 baud. Try communicating with the KRM at
9600 baud--if it works, you're in luck. Otherwise, write a BEX chapter
with the command sequence that changes baud rate for the SSC or IIc
port--see Section 6 for what characters to use. Print this chapter to the
download device slot--you can establish a New printer on the fly with N if
you have to. Experiment with printing various baud rate commands to the
slot until you discover the KRM'S baud rate. Now, re-configure again,
answer NO to the Is this a KRM?
question and answer YES to
the Do you want to send an automatic set-up sequence?
question. Enter the same command sequence that worked when you printed it.
Diablo Emulation Mode
Enter printer slot: # <CR>
Enter printer class: G <CR>
Enter carriage width: 65 <CR>
Enter form length: 55 <CR>
Do you want pause on form feed? N <CR>
Do you want auto line feed? N <CR>
Do you want a set up sequence for this printer? Y
<CR>
control-I X (space) E control-I 255 N <CR>
<CR> <CR> <CR> (8 spaces) <ESC> 9 <CR>
<CR> <ESC> T <DEL>
PostScript Driver
Enter printer slot: # <CR>
Enter printer class: A <CR>
Apple LaserWriter PostScript Driver
Enter font size: 16 (or whatever) <CR>
Enter line spacing: 20 (or whatever) <CR>
Enter carriage width: 68 (or whatever) <CR>
Enter form length: 32 (or whatever) <CR>
Do you want pause on form feed? N <CR>
Do you want auto line feed? N <CR>
Do you want a set up sequence for this printer? N
<CR>
Dipner Dots Embossed
Printer slot: # <CR>
Printer class: B <CR>
Brailler type: 12 <CR>
This means Dipner Dots embossed.
Is that what you want? Y <CR>
Enter carriage width: 40 <CR> (or whatever)
Enter form length: 25 <CR> (or whatever)
Do you want pause on form feed? N <CR>
Do you want auto linefeed? N <CR>
What character are you using? <period> <CR>
Do you want a set up sequence for this printer? N
<CR>
Printed Braille Dots
<ESC> Q <ESC> T <zero> 8
Equipment Requirements
Fundamental Concepts
Installing the Hardware
Check for Recognition
PR#6 <CR>
unidentified card
in slot 7, then use option R to force BEX to recognize the Sider.
Formatting the Sider
PR#6 <CR>
Now turn on the Sider. After a few pauses, the
installation program gives you some informational screens. Press
<CR> to move through these screens.
Is this Sider 1 or 2?
Answer 1. You would only answer 2 if you had a SECOND Sider. BEX only
supports one Sider. Next the program asks: Is this a 10MB or 20MB
disk?
Answer appropriately.
GO <CR>
The initialization begins. This takes from 30 to 60
minutes (depending on the size of your Sider).
Copying BEX onto the Sider
Copy Files
Source slot => 6
Drive => 1
Volume => 0
Destination Slot => 7
Drive => 1
Volume => 2
Filename? = <CR>
Do you want prompting? N
Insert Disks. Press <ESC> to return to the
UNLOCK HELLO DOS <CR>
NEW <CR>
10 PRINT CHR$(4);"RUN HELLO,V2"<CR>
SAVE HELLO DOS <CR>
RUN <CR>
Setting Up the BEX Configuration
extended disk system,
answer Yes. Here is a sample dialogue:
Do you have an extended disk system? Y <CR>
Virtual drive 1 is for the Main disk program disk.
For virtual drive 1
Enter slot: 7 <CR>
Sider Hard Disk
How many volumes: 48 <CR>
For virtual drive 49
Enter slot: 6 <CR>
Enter drive: 1 <CR>
For virtual drive 50
Enter slot: 6 <CR>
For virtual drive 51
Enter slot: 0 <CR>
Boot side volume: 2 <CR>
Main side volume: 3 <CR>
Using the Sider
18TEST
to the
chapter prompt for +
followed by a drive number
followed by a carriage return. You are then prompted for the final drive
number. For example:
Page Menu: W
Whole disk catalog
Which drive: +8 <CR>
through: 13 <CR>
(the computer lists the BEX chapters in volumes 8
through 13)
Page Menu: W
Whole disk catalog
Which drive: &8 <CR>
through: 11 <CR> L
(the computer lists the BEX chapters in volumes 8
through 11 beeping
Chapter: CAT <CR>
Chapter CAT now contains the list of BEX chapters on
volumes 8 through 11.
Operating System Differences