Use Your Regular Keyboard As A Perkins Braille Keyboard
After Robert Menzel posted his ControllerMate setup for Morse Code Input to a computer I asked him, only half seriously, if he would be able to use ControllerMate to make a regular keyboard emulate a Perkins Braille style chording keyboard.
Evidently he has far too much free time, because he’s now produced a setup for Keyboard Braille! His setup uses the keys F S D J K L for dots 1 through 6, and the regular space bar. It understands Grade 1 Braille only - no contractions or shorthand included as that would make the setup hugely more complicated.
Please note that neither Robert nor I are braille users, if there are mistakes in what he’s done it’s probably because I suggested the wrong reference materials for him. Constructive criticism and suggestions will be happily received, and Robert is eager to know if anybody is interested in using this on a day to day basis and would like changes or improvements. You can leave comments here or email him over at his blog.
I know that the vast majority of blind people, braille users or not, learn to touch-type on a regular keyboard which is a far more efficient way of input. But there are some people for whom chording braille input is the best solution, so it’s good to know there’s a way to accomplish it without expensive hardware. Remember, though, you will need the ControllerMate software to use this.
This system would not be difficult to adapt to use a setup with any 6 switches as input, if anybody uses such a system and wants a hand with the adapting let Robert or me know.
Website: Keyboard Braille
- Ricky Buchanan
Surely it would be easier to download the free Perky Duck braille emulation software from Duxbury Systems. It remaps the keys and allows you to display in braille font, simbraille font, and regular text.
http://www.duxburysystems.com/product2.asp?product=Perky%20Duck&level=free&action=pur
@Passante: I didn’t know about the Perky Duck software - thank you for the tip! Do you use it? I’d love to know some more about it.
I came across this article and the ControllerMate while looking for a solution to implement single handed chording input with a regular keyboard or external numeric keypad (think FrogPad, EkaPad). I was wondering if anybody knows of such software (preferrably cross-platform or with binaries for different platforms)?
Simple remapping with OS specific tools almost works (Ukelele for OS X, for example), but the dead key setup is kind of difficult. Ideas?
Hi, I am trying to install the perky duck from duxburysystems.com but my computer keeps on saying that it doesn’t support the classic environment. I am using Mac 10.6 version. Hope somebody can help me figure it out.
THanks!
@Mayleen: Perky Duck is very old software and it’s just not possible to run it on a OS X 10.6 computer because Duxbury Systems haven’t updated it. Sorry I can’t help you with that.
I am frustrated- I just changed over to MAC and am currently using Perky DUck to complete studies in the Braille Transcription Course. I was hoping to get rid of my PC, but I don’t want to quit the course.
@Mayleen - if you have Bootcamp on your mac, you can boot into Windows and use PerkyDuck there. It’s a great program, and I dearly wish they’d make an OSX compatible version. The closest I’ve been able to find for mac is Dot to Dot, but the files are not saved in standard .brl format.