perkins brail keyboard help

zapmaster

I have a blind friend who asked me to make a interface for him. A brail perkins keyboard to a pc.

I'm kinda stuck on how to talk to the pc and have the prop be seen as a 104 keyboard.

what are your ideas?

·

Kye

Shouldn't the keyboard already have a PC interface?

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Nyamekye,

zapmaster

sorry i will decribe in more detail. the perkins keyboard has 10 buttons that translate to the alphabet.

so 10 keys interfacing to the prop translating to the 104 keys.



but i wat the prop to look like a keyboard to the pc.

it is what the pc wants to see that i need to know.

Cluso99

Here is a spec. There are better descriptions. Just do a google search on PS2 keyboard specifications
http://www.computer-engineering.org/ps2protocol/

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TonyWaite

Hi Zapmaster,

Of course it would be perfectly possible to roll your own interface between your friend's
Brailler and a PC - but relatively difficult as you won't want to modify the mechanism of their
very expensive machine.

Googling around the subject, the easiest, fastest solution would be for them to buy something
like the BrailleKey/G2: as Kye suggests, there are already modern Braille keyboards with PC
input. These are about $400 in the States. Google 'BrailleKey' to compare prices etc.

Another alternative is to use an ordinary PC keyboard with six-key rollover and Braille
interface software that mimics a Brailler. Googling 'Braille mimic' will give plenty of options.

Some electronic engineers in India have made their own Brailler, with pushbutton input and a
PC interface. If Forum members have web access to the IEEE library, their paper is published
with the following hyperlink:

http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/UKSIM.2009.66

I did try to download this, but couldn't get the 'free' academic access to work for me!

Good luck,

T o n y

Post Edited (TonyWaite) : 4/8/2010 1:07:20 PM GMT