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THE DUXBURY BRAILLE EDITOR (EDGAR, A PAGE-ORIENTED EDITOR) AND EDGAR EXPLORER MSDOS (IBM PC) VERSION USER'S OVERVIEW Document No. ds-ak5b1 First Release: May 11, 1990 by Joseph E. Sullivan and Peter J. Sullivan for Duxbury Systems, Inc. 435 King St., P.O. Box 1504 Littleton, Massachusetts 01460 USA tel: 508-486-9766 fax: 508-486-9712 Copyright 1990 Duxbury Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved 2 EDGAR OVERVIEW ABSTRACT This is a user's overview of Edgar, a braille editor for computers compatible with the IBM PC and running under the MSDOS operating system. Edgar is a software package that permits the user to edit braille documents shown as simulated braille on the screen, using standard braille keying technique, with the final form of the document always directly visible -- i.e. strictly "what you see is what you get." Edgar can be used stand-alone or in conjunction with the Duxbury Braille Translator, a separate software package suitable for converting and formatting print information to equivalent braille, or vice versa. The following topics are discussed: notices product purpose and general description hardware and software requirements other prerequisites installation getting started--an exercise brailler setup guidelines embossing on your brailler brailler configuration support appendix A--ASCII-braille equivalents appendix B--Hints on embossing problems appendix C--History and acknowledgements NOTICES Information in this and other documents with this product is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Duxbury Systems, Inc. Duxbury Systems assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear, other than to provide corrected information in response to inquiry. The software described in this document is furnished under a license or other agreement, or software copyright law, and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such agreements or provisions of such law. Unless explicitly indicated on invoice or other agreement, software is licensed for a single user, on a single CPU (computer), at any one time. PRODUCT PURPOSE AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION Edgar is an application program that allows on-screen editing of braille documents in the style that has generally come to be called WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). That style will have particular appeal to sighted persons who are knowledgeable in, or learning, braille coding and formatting. Edgar can be used EDGAR OVERVIEW 3 to create entire documents from the beginning, or to review and perhaps alter documents produced by the Duxbury Braille Translator, a separate application program that automates conversion of documents from print form to braille form. (As a special feature, Edgar itself incorporates convenient on-screen translation facilities, in both directions between print and braille.) Because the simulated braille display uses graphic screen modes, we do not believe that Edgar in its present form is well suited for use by blind persons using currently available braille- or speech-based adaptive devices for access to the computer. (However, it is quite possible to use a braille-based adaptive device to edit the same files as Edgar edits. Ironically enough, this is most likely to work well if an ordinary ASCII-based "print" editor, such as Microsoft's EDLIN, Solution Systems' BRIEF(tm), HFK Software's QWERTY(tm), or Quicksoft's PC- WRITE(tm), is used.) For persons with low vision who use screen- enlargement techniques for access, it should be just as possible to use Edgar as any other graphics-oriented software. A separate version of Edgar, called Edgar Explorer, is essentially identical in operation -- even editing is allowed on a "what if" basis -- but ultimately does not allow actual alteration or creation of files. It is thus in a sense a "demo" version of Edgar, and indeed that is one of its main reasons for being. The Explorer version allows prospective Edgar users to check out not only Edgar's facilities, but also their existing keyboard -- that is, whether it will be necessary to obtain a replacement keyboard in order to do 6-dot braille keying. But beyond serving as a demo for Edgar, Edgar Explorer is also useful in its own right for several purposes. One obvious application is to preview braille documents, such as are produced by the Duxbury Translator or other means, onscreen. Thanks to searching and other rapid-access facilities, such previewing can be much more convenient than proofreading of paper braille. Another important application is to help sighted persons learn about braille. For this purpose, Edgar's ability to translate between print and braille, onscreen, are particularly valuable to novice transcribers and persons who are simply interested in knowing more about braille. (Braille is a subject worthy of your interest: in this day of "instant obsolescence," it is notable that Louis Braille's technology, though developed early in the nineteenth century, remains vital as the preeminent system of reading for blind persons.) HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS This software is designed to run on any IBM PC or compatible computer running MSDOS (or PCDOS) version 2.00 or higher, with at least 512K of memory, and having at least one floppy disk drive 4 EDGAR OVERVIEW (to hold the distribution disk during installation) and one other disk drive with at least 360Kb free (to hold the working copy of the software). The latter would preferably be a "hard disk", though it could be a second floppy disk. The monitor (screen) in use must have graphics capability: CGA or hardware CGA emulation, Hercules, EGA or VGA. If your system has none of these, it is possible in most instances to add graphics by means of an add-in board and/or a new monitor. Consult with the vendor from whom you purchased your computer system, or any reputable dealer in computer hardware. Depending on what you already have, CGA or Hercules is the usually the least expensive, while VGA has the best visual appeal and performance. Most likely, the keyboard that you're already using with your PC- compatible computer will work just fine for the 6-dot "chorded" keying typically used for braille character entry. However, a very few types do not have the appropriate internal logic to allow for this, and in such cases there is no way for software to overcome the limitation. One fairly reliable test for such a keyboard is, at the DOS prompt, to press the s, d, f, j, k and l keys all simultaneously and release. If all 6 characters are echoed to the screen (in any order), your keyboard is quite probably all right, whereas if some are missing there is probably a problem. If you already have Edgar or Edgar Explorer, then an even better test is simply to try using it; the symptom of a problem is that braille characters with larger numbers of dots (e.g. the full cell composed by pressing the 6 keys mentioned above) show up with some of the dots missing. If you should encounter this problem, we suggest obtaining one of the popular replacement keyboards made by Northgate Computers; we have tested the "102" model and found it to work well both for this purpose and as a general keyboard, and we further understand that all their models use similar internal logic. The file named EDGARNEW.DOC, on the distribution disk, may contain additional information on this subject; e.g. possibly other brand-specific data. For actual embossing, a brailler, with suitable cabling to one of the serial or parallel ports of your computer, is required. OTHER PREREQUISITES A user's knowledge of the MSDOS operating system, or at least the assistance of a person with such knowledge, is a prerequisite to use of this manual and the software itself. For example, the reader is assumed to understand such concepts as "disk", "file", "directory", "device", "serial port", "parallel port", "prompt", and "batch file", and operations such as formatting disks, copying disks and files, deleting and renaming files, etc. The documentation that comes with MSDOS covers all these subjects in EDGAR OVERVIEW 5 a reference format; there are also many sources, such as books, courses, and interactive programs, that adopt a more tutorial style. In general, if you are going to work with more than one program under MSDOS (and, as mentioned above, Edgar can be used in conjunction with other software), you will find it well worth your while to master the rudiments of MSDOS itself, as that is the "glue" that underlies and binds together all the software you use. Incidentally, it is NOT necessary for our purposes to understand certain technical facilities of MSDOS, notably BASIC, LINK, DEBUG, nor EDLIN. INSTALLATION For maximum safety, a complete copy of the distribution disk(s) should be made and stored in a safe place. Duxbury's copyright notice, as on the original disks, should also be included on the labels of the copies. The distribution file EDGARNEW.DOC contains a list of all the distribution files, and possibly other up-to-date information supplementing or superseding this document. It's a good idea to print it out or read it on the screen before proceeding further. For the sake of being specific, we'll assume from here on that you wish to install on drive C, in a directory named DUXBURY, and that the floppy drive to hold the distribution disk is A. If any of these items are different on your system, then of course you will need to substitute accordingly in the directions and examples given. INSTALLATION FOR USAGE WITH THE DUXBURY TRANSLATOR If you have not already installed the Translator, then do so first. Then, place the Edgar distribution disk on the floppy drive, make the existing Duxbury installation directory current, and copy all the EDGAR*.E* and *.DXR files (if any) from the distribution disk. For example: c: cd \duxbury copy a:edgar*.e* copy a:*.dxr Next, check that the DXC.* files on the Edgar distribution disk are newer than the like-named ones in your Duxbury environment (which is likely). You would do this by viewing the dates in the directory, e.g. via the commands: dir dxc.* 6 EDGAR OVERVIEW dir a:dxc.* If the Edgar distribution files are older, then you would omit this next step; otherwise copy the DXC.* files, e.g.: copy a:dxc.e* That's really all that's required, though you may also wish to examine the dates on other Edgar distribution files and, if they are newer than existing files of the same name or no corresponding older file exists, then you may update them with the newer version EXCEPT for the case where your Duxbury Translator version is 7;2 or older (i.e. was last updated prior to March 1988). In that case you should not update *.OCT files as the new format is not compatible with the older Translator. In such a case, it is naturally best to obtain an update for the Translator itself -- which we suggest be done once per year. Nevertheless, it is possible to use Edgar on the formatted braille files produced by even the oldest Translator systems; just use the GENL.OCT that came with your Translator (not a newer one if your Translator is version 7;2 or older) to generate the formatted braille (BRF) files. When using Edgar in conjunction with the Translator, you will probably find it most convenient to work in the same directory in which you do your text editing and translation work -- perhaps "MYWORK", as discussed in the Translator documentation. It is quite possible to work in the installation (DUXBURY) directory itself, but as also discussed in that documentation, it is usually better to keep your own files separate from distribution files. INSTALLATION FOR STAND-ALONE USAGE Select the target disk for installation, make a directory on it, preferably named DUXBURY, and make that the current directory. Place the Edgar distribution disk on a floppy disk drive and copy all the files from the distribution disk to the current directory. For example: c: cd \ md duxbury cd duxbury copy a:*.* That's all that's absolutely required, if you wish to do your own work in the DUXBURY directory itself. It's better, though, at the EDGAR OVERVIEW 7 expense of somewhat complicating the installation process, to set up so that you can operate in some other directory, say something like MYWORK. That way, you avoid mixing your files with Edgar distribution files, which can possibly lead to some confusion and other problems later on. To work in some other directory, you must have C:\DUXBURY in the current PATH, and an environment variable called DUXSPEC set to C:\DUXBURY\ (note the terminating backslash). You can do this with appropriate statements in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory of your boot-up disk, e.g.: set path=c:\duxbury;c:\ set duxspec=c:\duxbury\ which you can insert with any ASCII editor. If you are not familiar with procedures for doing this, you can, as mentioned, omit this step until you can enlist the aid of someone knowledgeable in this aspect of system setup -- but in the interim you will have to work within the DUXBURY directory itself. Incidentally, in the unlikely event that you encounter error messages suggesting that too many files are open, you should check that there is a CONFIG.SYS file also in the root directory of the boot-up disk, and that it contains a line reading files=20 or a number larger than 20. Generally, you would check for this while setting up the AUTOEXEC.BAT file as mentioned, but again you can defer this step if you prefer. GETTING STARTED--AN EXERCISE First, get into the "working" directory you will normally use for editing, as discussed in the installation directions -- either DUXBURY itself or MYWORK or whatever you've named it. For example: c: cd \ md mywork cd mywork or perhaps: c: cd \ cd duxbury 8 EDGAR OVERVIEW Then, copy the file LINCOLN.BRF from the distribution disk, e.g.: copy a:lincoln.brf Then give the command: edgar lincoln.brf new.brf If you get a message to the effect that the system configuration is inadequate, then you should follow the steps suggested in the message and repeat the above command until, assuming you have the minimum system requirements, you see a screen containing many dots and some other information. (With Edgar Explorer, a "welcome" box will overlay the dot display; please read the information thereon and press Enter to clear the box.) The dots on the screen are, of course, a representation of braille -- "simulated braille", to use the accepted term. Specifically, the braille we are looking at corresponds to the first file mentioned on the EDGAR command line, namely LINCOLN.BRF . You may note there are large and small dots; the large ones represent raised dots in the basic 3 dots deep by 2 dots wide braille matrix (called a "cell"); the small ones represent the positions of dots that are not raised. The unraised dot positions are sometimes useful to "see" so that you can more easily count blank cells and more quickly distinguish certain braille characters from others. The display of these small dots can be toggled on and off; to do this, enter the command Alt-s (hold the Alt key down and momentarily press the s, then releasing the Alt key). Try this a few times, leaving the screen in whatever mode you prefer; you may change it with Alt-s at any time. For the sake of those who may be just getting started on the subject of braille itself, it seems appropriate at this point to expend one paragraph on an introduction to the meaning of the braille; practicing transcribers may simply skip this material: By universal convention, the positions in a braille cell are numbered thus: 1 * * 4 2 * * 5 3 * * 6 Centered on the top line, you will note a word in braille that starts with a cell with dot 6 raised. That braille character EDGAR OVERVIEW 9 means that the following character is a capital. The next cell, with dot 1 raised, stands for the letter a, or actually A by virtue of the preceding capital sign. (This meaning is partly determined by context; the same dot-1 sign could, in another context, stand for the digit 1.) The next character, comprising dots 2, 5 and 6, here means the letter-group "dd"; it is called a "contraction" because it stands for more than one print letter. (Again, this same sign could mean other things in other contexts. Even within English literary usage, it could mean the dollar sign, the period (full stop), or the letter-group "dis". In other notation contexts such as mathematics or languages other than English, it could have still other meanings.) Next come four signs each here representing a single letter, viz.: 1-2-3-5 (r), 1-5 (e), 2-3-4 (s) and 2-3-4 (s). Thus the word, in English Braille, is "Address". The text is in fact the well-known "Gettysburg Address" of Abraham Lincoln. In addition to the dots themselves, you'll notice a cursor (heavy line) below the first cell on the top line of braille, and a "status line" above the braille. As you'd expect, the cursor represents your current "place" in the text. To move about, you can use the arrow keys on the keypad in the usual fashion. (Make sure "Num Lock" is off.) PgUp and PgDn keys also move up and down a page at a time. The Home and End keys move specially depending on whether they're struck once, twice or three times. One Home brings you to the beginning of the current line; two to the beginning of the current page; three to the beginning of the current file, i.e. back to where we started. Similarly, the End key can bring you to the end of the line, page, or file. In moving about, you'll notice that a page break is shown as a horizontal line on the screen, and that cursor simply skips over it. You may also notice that, after the last page break, the cursor can only be placed in one position, viz. at the very beginning of the empty line immediately following that last page break. This is a special location called the "end of file". Finally, you will probably observe that the cursor dims to a broken line when it is more than one position to the right of actual text on a given line; this means that that position does not actually correspond to a character, not even a space, in the underlying file. If you move to the right and keep moving, you'll notice that the window can "pan" beyond the usual 40-cell braille page width, up to a potential width of 80. That is because it is quite possible to set up for wider pages, and in any case to have longer lines, no matter what the current page width setting. For now, though, the page width is set to 40, because much brailling equipment supports that number; it only happens to coincide with the number 10 EDGAR OVERVIEW of cells that can be seen at once on the screen. Because it was formatted that way, LINCOLN.BRF also happens to have no lines with more than 40 embossed cells. However, it is important to note that there is nothing magic nor limiting about that number. If you would like some assistance reading the braille on a given line, you can at any time press Alt-q. This "query" command will cause a box to pop up with the line interpreted, normally, as English Braille. If you do this, you'll also notice a message appearing on the right of the status line telling you to press Enter (Return) when you are ready to resume editing; an asterisk (*) appears at the far right of that message to reinforce a general convention in Edgar: when an asterisk appears in that position, Edgar is waiting for you read and acknowledge a message before proceeding. Often, as here, the essential message is in a pop-up box; sometimes, though, the message is simply that on the status line itself. So, if at any time Edgar seems to "freeze" on you, check for a possible message with asterisk on the status line, and then press Return to proceed. To get just a bit ahead of ourselves, we'll list here the kinds of messages that can appear at the right on the status line. These are characterized by their terminating punctuation as follows: A period (.) ends a message that is simply informational, with no acknowledgement required; such messages simply remain until removed or overwritten by subsequent operations. An ellipsis (...) identifies transitory messages explaining an ongoing operation (e.g. "searching ..."), which are removed when the operation finishes. These are somewhat redundant with the "wait" indicator, described below. Messages ending with colon (:) indicate that Edgar is waiting for a "choice" type response, e.g. for you to press a digit or letter selecting a displayed menu item. Usually Enter and Esc (Escape) are permitted choices, corresponding to "no choice", i.e. "leave this menu". Finally, as already described, messages ending with asterisk (*) require Enter as an acknowledgment. After trying Alt-q a few times, we are ready to try entering some braille. Press End End End to go to the end of the file, place your fingers in the touch-typing "home row" position, and press simultaneously any combination of the keys s, d, f, j, k and l (corresponding to dots 3, 2, 1, 4, 5 and 6 respectively, i.e. to the customary fingering on Perkins and similar braille keyboards). There will be a brief pause with "Making a new page ..." displayed on the status line; then your braille character will appear and the cursor will move to accept the next. Thereafter you can enter characters rapidly, using the space bar for spaces. Don't worry for now whether the braille is "real" or not; just enter a series of "words", using various combinations of dots, punctuated with spaces and running to a line or two, to get the feel of it. Backspace can be used to back up and correct EDGAR OVERVIEW 11 if you wish. Naturally, you can use Alt-q at any time to "read" the braille you've written; the results may be educational, amusing, or both. If you'd like some help producing real English braille, just enter Alt-t. This "translate" command will put up a window, into which you can type a short English sentence or phrase as ordinary print text. (For now, it would be better to avoid mathematics, statements in computer programming languages, diagrams, etc. Not that any real harm can be done, but the results may or may not be "real" in braille terms.) When you press Enter, the material will be translated to contracted (grade 2) English braille, and the resulting string of braille characters will be entered into the working file just as if you had keyed them directly. In the process of entering the braille, whether by direct keying or by translation, you may observe that words "wrap" when they would otherwise cause a line to exceed the page width setting, which as discussed above is currently at 40. You may also hear a bell (beep) as you approach the right edge, in case you wish to hyphenate or otherwise control line endings more directly. (Entering Return takes you to the next line, as you'd expect.) As you get down further on the page, whether by entering text or simply by using the arrow keys, you will also see a page number already present in the braille at the far right just above the page break line. That number was placed there during the "Making new page" operation implicitly invoked by starting to enter text at the original end of file. Place the cursor at the beginning of the line containing the page number. Again, enter some braille text. You will observe that the page number itself remains stationary even though text is being placed ahead of it. Moreover, when you reach the point where text would intrude on the first of the three spaces required (by customary braille formatting rules) before the number, word-wrap occurs to a newly-created page, all automatically. Thus far, the bulk of the editing we've been doing, especially text entry, has been in what we call "soft mode" editing. That is, Edgar is helping with the final placement of entered material, so that the desired page dimensions (and other settings for margins, headers, footers, etc., which we have not yet discussed) are honored. That type of editing is most convenient for the bulk of your text entry, as it lets you concentrate on getting the main text right instead of constantly fiddling with formatting details -- while nevertheless preserving the WYSIWYG principle. Soft editing contrasts with "hard mode" editing, in which you directly control the placement of each character, including line and page breaks, and Edgar simply obeys your instructions. This hard or soft mode of editing can be determined implicitly or explicitly. As we have seen, basic text entry is 12 EDGAR OVERVIEW usually implicitly in soft mode. However, this is a function of position. To see this, use the arrow keys to position at one of the characters comprising the braille page number to the right of the last line before the page break. Look at the status line; near its center you should notice that a lowercase "h" appears, where usually there is a space. That means that, by virtue of being positioned over a page number (or header or footer, or outside the current margins or in other words anywhere other than in ordinary running text), hard mode editing is implicitly in effect for insert and delete operations. To see this, enter one or more braille characters. Instead of wrapping, the text you enter will stay where it is and anything to the right is pushed further to the right. Incidentally, because the page number is no longer correctly positioned with respect to the existing page width setting, it would not be treated as a page number for subsequent purposes, until the correct position is reestablished. Hard mode editing is sometimes desirable in the body of the text as well as in headings, page numbers, etc. When you wish to force that mode explicitly, enter Alt-a. You will see a capital "H" where the "h" mentioned above would appear, and until you enter another Alt-a, text inserting and deletes will be done in hard mode regardless of position. Beyond basic inserts and deletes, most of the more complex editing commands are, in effect, done in hard mode regardless of the cursor position or the Alt-a setting. For example, global replacement of a string of characters by a different-length string could cause disruption of the desired format in such a way that you would have to go back and "fix things up". There are some reformatting commands to aid in such fixing up, but in keeping with the WYSIWYG philosophy you would have to participate in the process. The time has come to describe more thoroughly the various items that can appear on the status line above the braille: 1. First, obviously, comes the name of the file we are working on, in this case LINCOLN.BRF . Note that if we had used a longer path name, perhaps including a drive designation and one or more directories to address the file, only the simple name would, nevertheless, appear here. (You can get a box displaying the full name, as well as Edgar's current version information, with the command Alt-v.) 2. Next comes a triplet of numbers that, as you've probably already noticed, constantly display our current (cursor) position in terms of page, line and column within the file. It is possible, incidentally, to declare a page number other than 1 as starting a file, though of course 1 is the usual setting. EDGAR OVERVIEW 13 3. Next comes an indicator that shows as either caret ( ^ ) or crosshatch ( # ), corresponding to insert or overstrike mode. Insert mode is normal, and what we've been using up to now. You toggle between insert and overstrike mode by the command Alt-i. As you would expect, overstrike mode simply causes entered text to replace existing characters rather than to be inserted ahead of them. 4. Next comes the hard/soft editing mode indicator, which shows blank, h or H as discussed above. 5. Next comes an indicator always showing either a right- or left-leaning line, i.e. / or \ . This tells us whether the current page is considered a right-hand or left-hand page. This can be important when composing for double-sided (interpoint) braille, if the formatting details such as placement of page numbers, usage of headings, etc. are different for the right and left (front and back) pages. Usually, odd-numbered pages are right-hand and even-numbered ones are left-hand, but that parity can be reversed if necessary. 6. Next comes the overlength indicator. Normally blank, this indicator shows as a long vertical line if the current page is too long (i.e. has too many lines) for the current depth setting. Likewise, the indicator shows a long horizontal line if the current line is longer than the current page width setting. If both overlength conditions apply, the indicator will show both lines superimposed. 7. Sometimes overlaying items 3 through 6, the word "wait" may appear momentarily, or sometimes for longer periods, as operations of unpredictable duration are carried out. 8. Finally, as was already discussed, a short message area appears to the right of the status line. We have seen several ways to move about the file by direct positioning -- right one character, up one page, etc. -- and there's even a command we haven't seen yet that allows you to specify directly the page and line you want to go to. Often, though, you will know only that some particular material may be present but not just where it is, so you will want to search for it by its content. Further, you may want certain instances of a particular string of characters to be replaced by some other string, perhaps of a different length. These needs are met by search and search-replace operations. Edgar's commands in those categories are generally similar to those found in most editors; we'll try just a few. Let us say we are interested in finding all uses of the word "we" in Lincoln's text. Being uncontracted, that word consists simply 14 EDGAR OVERVIEW of the two braille letters. Use Home Home Home to return to the beginning of the file. Press the F5 key to initiate a search. A window should pop up, permitting entry of a "search string". Key in the braille characters for 'w' and 'e', that is dots 2-4-5-6 (d-j-k-l) and 1-5 (f-k) respectively. Note: if you prefer, it's possible here and elsewhere to enter braille characters by their ASCII equivalents instead of the dot patterns. The full table of equivalents is given in Appendix A. In this case, we'd do this by pressing and holding either Shift key while pressing W and then E. The equivalent braille characters will appear in the window. Note that this is NOT true "translation" but merely another way of keying braille characters on a one-for-one basis. (Note also that "Caps Lock" is NOT, for this purpose, equivalent to holding down a shift key.) If you make an error in entering material in this or similar pop- up windows, you can use backspace to make corrections. When the braille "we" has been entered correctly, press Enter. The cursor should jump partway down the screen, to the first instance of that word. For subsequent instances without re-keying the search string, press Shift-F5. It is also possible to search backwards from the current position (Alt-F5), after which Shift- F5 would find additional instances going in a backwards direction. Replace operations (F6) work similarly, except that a second window is put up so that you can specify the string to replace instances of the search string. For each instance, you can then opt to allow the replacement or not, to quit further searching, or to go ahead and globally replace subsequent instances without asking. There are also variants for backwards direction (Alt-F6) and repeating the previous substitution (Shift-F6). You may wonder whether it's possible to specify search or replacement strings by "lifting" something already in the file buffer, perhaps as the result of a translation operation. Indeed it is, but first we'll have to introduce the operations related "block marking" and the "scrap buffer". With the cursor anywhere in the body of the text, press Alt-m to "mark" that point. The cell over the cursor should appear in inverse video. Then, move the cursor elsewhere -- a few words, lines or even pages away, in either direction. One end of an inverse-video block should remain at the point where we entered Alt-m and the other should follow the cursor. The block thus enclosed can be used for several purposes, one of the most important being to copy the enclosed text to the "scrap buffer". To do this, press the " + " key on the keypad (not the one on the EDGAR OVERVIEW 15 top row of keys). The block reverts to normal video; the mark has been "lifted". The scrap buffer now contains a copy of the text in the formerly marked block. (If we had used the " - " key in the keypad instead of the " + ", the text would have disappeared from the file buffer. This is one of the ways that large blocks of text, even to several pages, can be moved about.) From scrap, it can be copied to any of several places, or to all of them, as the copy in scrap is not lost until it is overwritten by something else. If, for example, we move someplace in the file and press the Ins (insert) key, a full copy of the material will be inserted right there; the operation can be repeated elsewhere if desired. It is also possible, to return to the question posed above, to copy the scrap to the search or replacement strings. The relevant command is Alt-equals (by pressing Alt and the " = " on the top row). That command brings up menu windows to allow you to select the source (in this case "scrap") and destination (in this case "search" or "replacement") strings for copying. Copying is carried out subject to some obvious limitations, principally length as a search string cannot be as long as the scrap buffer. After copying, if you then give an F5 or F6 command, you will find that the desired text has become the default (proposed) search or replacement string. At this point, you may have almost forgotten that another file, viz. NEW.BRF , was mentioned on the Edgar command line. In this instance that is a file not yet in existence, i.e. it is similar to documents you may be composing from the beginning. At any one moment, Edgar has a current list of open files (edit buffers). This list is accessed in round-robin fashion. To step to the next buffer in the list, enter the command Alt-n. In this case that next buffer will of course be NEW.BRF and, as you'd expect, it appears initially completely empty. Perhaps you don't want NEW.BRF to have the same 25 by 40 dimensions as LINCOLN.BRF . Now you can set the dimensions and other formatting parameters at any time, but it is usually best to do so before entering any text, so even the very first page is constructed according to the desired format specifications. To do this, enter the command Alt-f. You will see a menu asking about the category of setting; from there submenus allow a number of individual items to be set. You may find it instructive just to browse up and down these menus, with or without changing anything. You will find that you can select any of the four page corners for the braille page number, and similarly place a print page number (to allow cross-reference to an original print document) in one of the other three; you can specify the text of running headings and footings; you can independently specify the usage of headings and footings, and the corner for the page 16 EDGAR OVERVIEW number(s), on left and right pages, and so on. When you finish the format specifications for NEW.BRF (which won't affect those for LINCOLN.BRF ), leave the menus brought up by the Alt-f and then enter some text. As before, a new page will be created to your size specifications, the text will appear, and so on. To illustrate another important use of the scrap buffer, at some point press the insert (Ins) key; you will see the text, taken a while ago from LINCOLN.BRF , now copied into this file. By now, users of Solution Systems' popular BRIEF editor will have noticed that many (though not all) of the commands are the same for similar functions. This is in part so that users of both products will find it easy to go back and forth between them, as no doubt will be a common occurrence in many braille production environments; in particular we wish to avoid the situation where a common keystroke command has a relatively minor effect in one and a large and very different effect in the other. Yet, it must be borne in mind that the parallels can go only so deep, given their very different primary domains -formatted pages of braille vs. structured lines of print. Almost last but far from least, we suggest you take some time to become acquainted with the on-line help command, invoked by the Alt-h key. In hierarchial fashion, this facility provides an on- line reference manual for all Edgar's commands (and also for certain other categories of information). When you do look through it, you'll find that in this tutorial exercise we haven't even mentioned a number of commands, including some whole categories, notably those for setting and working with special margins (useful for outline formats, poetry, etc.), tabulation (for material in columns), and reformatting aids (for renumbering pages, readjusting paragraphs after deletions and insertions, declaring print page breaks, etc.). These are probably best learned as the need for them arises; just keep in mind that they are there and that Alt-h is the key to learning how to work with them. Before we leave this example, we might say just a bit more about the multiple files (buffers) being worked on. We got to NEW.BRF by pressing Alt-n; another Alt-n would bring us back to LINCOLN.BRF , and so on in circular fashion. Another, often more convenient way to select a current buffer is to use Alt-b; the complete current list will be displayed and all you need to do is highlight one and press Enter to enter it. Trying it now, we'll see the two familiar files listed, and can pick either one to enter. It is also possible, subject to memory limitations, to add files, whether old or new, to the list, i.e. to select them for editing. To do this, enter Alt-e. You will be asked for the name of the EDGAR OVERVIEW 17 file; that file will then be opened for editing just as if it were on the EDGAR command line. Incidentally, when referring on the command line to existing files , wildcards (e.g. x*.brf ) can be used; otherwise, i.e. in this Alt-e command and in any case where new files are named, specific individual file names must be used. Just as one can add files individually to the buffer list, it is also possible to remove them individually, as long as at least one remains. The remove-file command is given by the Ctrl-minus key, using the "-" on the top row of keys. However, it is more often the case that you'll want to close out all open files at once, returning to the operating system (MSDOS). You do this with the exit command, Alt-x, which you should use now. If you have changed any files, as we have here, you will see one or more special displays upon giving the exit command. What you will see depends upon whether you are running Edgar itself, i.e. the full editor, or Edgar Explorer. In the full editor, the displays tell you that the original of your file(s), or more precisely those that existed before and that you have changed during the edit session, are being backed up to a special directory called \EDGARBAK . Actually, if you had been working with larger files, you might well have seen such messages displayed briefly at almost any point during the edit session itself. To understand what's happening, you can imagine that Edgar saves up your editing work in memory for as long as it can, and then writes to the actual file when it can no longer hold more changes, or when you call for the file to be closed. Before changing the actual file, Edgar makes a copy of the file in its original (pre-session) form. The copy is placed in a special directory so it can have the same name yet not conflict with the file itself. In Edgar Explorer, the final display simply reminds you that, being incapable of altering the braille files, the program can proceed no further and so must exit. Any preexisting files will remain as they were. Some important cautions are in order, and more easily conveyed now that the actual treatment of files has been discussed. As you bring in files for editing, you should keep in mind that Edgar will be making a full copy of each file to \EDGARBAK -- as well as overwriting the original (and in the process possibly making it larger). If it cannot succeed in carrying out these operations fully, Edgar's current design leans towards preservation of the original, if necessary at the expense of the work that you've put in making changes. Simply running out of disk space, as well as the hardware and software "crashes" that any system is subject to at any time, can mean an abrupt stop with no way to save your new 18 EDGAR OVERVIEW work. So, to be safe, make sure before you start that your disk(s) have enough free space to receive your altered files plus a copy of the original, and in any case exit every once in a while -- whenever you reach a point where you couldn't bear to do the work over -- in order to provide, in effect, a backup "checkpoint." Even beyond this, the standard precautions for protecting valuable data -- backing up files to separate media, rotating these periodically off-premises, etc. -- are strongly advised. BRAILLER SETUP GUIDELINES If you do not have a physical brailler, or are using the Edgar Explorer version, this and the following sections on physical output do not apply to you and may be skipped. If you have already set up a brailler for use with the Duxbury Translator, you can skip over this section. Make a note of all your brailler's settings, and favor the following choices where they are available: (1) Select "U.S.A" or "North American" code (perhaps called "language") for braille equivalence. (2) Turn OFF any "grade 1" or other "translation" options that do not preserve a strict one-for-one equivalence. (On some setup menus, you might do this by selecting "computer braille".) (3) Turn OFF any "word wrap" or "auto wraparound" option. (4) Turn OFF any "auto carriage return" option. (5) Turn OFF any "auto line feed" option. (6) Set the page depth (in lines per page) and width (in cells per line) at their maximum available values, or at least as great as the size of the pages you wish to generate. (7) Select 6 dots per cell. (8) If the connection is serial, turn ON any XON/XOFF option and turn any DTR option to HANDSHAKE or constant HIGH. EMBOSSING ON YOUR BRAILLER You send output to your brailler by invoking, from the DOS command line, utility programs or batch files that in effect send your formatted braille (BRF) file to the brailler, in the process adding whatever special controls may be required by the particular brailler. Make sure the brailler is connected and "on line" and give the command BRFOUT followed by the name of the BRF file you want to emboss, leaving off the extension part of the name, e.g. for a first test: brfout lincoln EDGAR OVERVIEW 19 You will then be asked for the destination of the output; you would usually enter either the serial (COM) or parallel (LPT) port specification corresponding to your brailler. If for example it is hooked up to serial port COM2 and is set for 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit, you would use: COM2:9600,N,8,1 Or if it is hooked up to parallel port LPT1 you would use: LPT1 If you want on-line help when asked this question about destination, you can "enquire" for such help by entering Ctrl-e plus Enter; that is, hold down the "Ctrl" key and press the "e" key, then release both and press the "Enter" (Return) key. More information about the nature of the question will be displayed on the screen, and the question will then be repeated. This is a general characteristic of Duxbury programs and batch files when used in this question-and-answer fashion, and the question posed to you starts with a hyphen (-) character. You will next be asked how many copies you want; just press Enter for one copy. Next you are queried as to whether you want single sheet feeding; press Enter for the usual case (no) or, if you must feed pages one by one into your brailler, press y and then Enter. The final question is whether you want particular page- selections; just press Enter for all pages. The brailler should emboss a few pages. (If you have selected single-sheet option, you will need to press Enter before the first and each subsequent page.) If possible, check for correct content and format. If there are problems, it's probable that some aspect of the brailler configuration needs to be re-done, which we will address next. BRAILLER CONFIGURATION If you had any problems with brailling the previous examples, it may be necessary to repeat the setup for your brailler, using the utility MOCTAB (Modify Output Control TABle). This particular operation may most conveniently be carried out within the DUXBURY directory itself; for example: c: cd \duxbury moctab When it asks for the name of the output control table (OCT file) to read in, you can use Ctrl/e to ask for help (as during the 20 EDGAR OVERVIEW installation), and a list of possibilities will appear. In addition to those, you could select the table that is customized to represent your particular brailler, namely brlr.oct if you only wish to correct minor aspects of a nearly-correct configuration. At the "OCT file to write" prompt you should naturally name brlr.oct (or just press Enter as that is the default). Then, return to your working directory and try the embossing operation again. The cycle may be repeated as often as desired. If problems persist, check Appendix B for further information, or see SUPPORT below. SUPPORT We are glad to hear from customers; if you have any problem or question, just call us at the number given on the cover of this manual, between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern time any business day. Usually, we'll be able to help you right then, but sometimes it may be necessary to get back to you the next business day, or to arrange for assistance from elsewhere, so please allow yourself enough time. Even people familiar with both computers and braille should allow time for some learning, and some trials and errors with short and simple documents, before planning time-critical production of long and complex ones. EDGAR OVERVIEW 21 Appendix A: ASCII-Braille Equivalents The following is the table of ASCII-braille equivalents, commonly implemented in North American braille devices and used as a code for braille within the Duxbury Braille Editor (Edgar). This one-for-one code also forms the basis for the Computer Braille Code (CBC) defined by the Braille Authority of North America (BANA). CBC differs from this code primarily in that CBC uses the 456 braille cell as a prefix rather than simply to mean underscore, as it does here. The cell consisting of no dots corresponds to the space character. The other 63 possible cells correspond to characters as listed, following the traditional grouping of braille characters. Dot numbers are given first, followed by a colon, then the single-character print equivalent (or possibly its name, in the braille version of this manual). Lower and upper case letters are interchangeable in the print. 1st line (one or more of dots 1, 2, 4 and 5): 1: A 12: B 14: C 145: C 15: E 124: F 1245: G 125: H 24: I 245: J 2nd line (line 1 plus dot 3): 13: K 123: L 134: M 1345: N 135: O 1234: P 12345: Q 1235: R 234: S 2345: T 3rd line (line 1 plus dots 36): 136: U 1236: V 1346: X 13456: Y 1356: Z 12346: & 123456: = 12356: ( 2346: ! 23456: ) 4th line (line 1 plus dot 6): 16: * 126: < 146: % 1456: ? 156: : 1246: $ 12456: ] 1256: \ 246: [ 2456: W 5th line (line 1 "lowered"): 2: 1 23: 2 25: 3 256: 4 26: 5 235: 6 2356: 7 236: 8 35: 9 356: 0 6th line (dots 3, 4, 5, 6): 34: / 346: + 3456: # 345: > 3: ' 36: - 7th line (dots 4, 5, 6): 4: @ 45: ^ 456: _ 5: " 46: . 56: ; 6: , 22 EDGAR OVERVIEW Appendix B: Hints on Embossing Problems This appendix contains notes on troubleshooting and answers to common questions. 1. If the brailler will not print any braille, it is possible that (1) it is "off line", (2) its parallel/serial communication setting does not match the physical connection with the computer, (3) the cable connecting the brailler to the computer is inappropriate for the port configurations, or (4) you are directing the output to the wrong port. Your braille printer's documentation should help sort out the first three possibilities; you can research the fourth in your computer system manual or simply try naming various ports in turn. If sending to a serial port, a "time-out" complaint from the BRFOUT batch procedure (COPYX program) usually means that no device is connected; technically it means that the DSR line (DTR line for ports configured as DCE) is not high or handshaking. If you are at all unsure about these physical aspects of hookup, it may be wisest to seek technical assistance; in particular, be aware that connecting a serial device to a parallel port, or vice versa, can cause damage to your equipment. 2. If the brailler produces garbled braille with a serial connection, possibly the brailler's communications settings do not agree with the baud rate, etc. you specified. Change one or the other accordingly if they do not correspond. Be sure also that the brailler type you have selected at installation or via MOCTAB matches the one you are using. If applicable to your brailler, be sure that it is set for "North American" or "USA" code. 3. If the braille is good except for chunks missing here and there, most likely the problem is one of "handshaking." This can usually be corrected by setting your brailler to use "XON-XOFF" handshaking protocol, or "DTR" protocol, or both. You may need to refer to the documentation with your brailler for detailed instructions on how to do this. Some braillers, such as the older Triformation LED 120's, require special output timing, which is accomplished by using a particular baud rate and an output control table designed for that particular device; if you think that is the case, try configuring via MOCTAB again. 4. In general, review the brailler setup guidelines given in the main text if you notice minor and systematic format problems. For example, the brailler should be set for NO "auto line feed," as appropriate line feeds are sent by the output control. Otherwise, you're likely to get unwanted double spacing of lines. 5. On some braillers, when a line is filled to maximum width, the EDGAR OVERVIEW 23 brailler will in any case supply an extra line feed over and above that sent by the output control logic. The symptom in this case is skipped lines only after full ones. This problem can be eliminated by configuring the brailler via MOCTAB again, this time specifying that the brailler has this characteristic. If you prefer, you can also often get around the problem by setting the brailler itself to a wider page size than you actually use. 6. In similar manner, it can happen that the form feed at the end of a full page will be supplied by the brailler as well as by the output control logic. The symptom would be skipping of every other physical page. Again, a reconfiguration via MOCTAB is called for, or if you prefer you may be able to get around the problem by setting the brailler itself to a deeper page size than you actually use. So many environmental variations are possible, that the above hints and the regular documentation even taken together may leave you with a question or problem; in that case please contact us as mentioned under "Support" in the main text. Of course, we do not have on hand all brands and types of computers and braillers -- much less all versions of these, which, like our software, tend to be updated from time to time. So, everything that you can learn from manuals or experimentation will be helpful, and some support from other manufacturers also may be necessary. Most installations are not all that complicated, but even if yours is, bear in mind that, for simplicity and speed of braille production, proper setup is well worth the trouble. 24 EDGAR OVERVIEW History and Acknowledgements Duxbury Systems, Inc. was organized in 1975 in the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, and incorporated the following year. In July 1976, Duxbury installed the first Duxbury Braille Translator on a minicomputer at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in Toronto. Still Duxbury's principal product, different but operationally similar versions of the Translator now run on many kinds of computers, including the IBM PC, Digital Equipment's VAX, Unix, and the Apple Macintosh. Versions and supplements for mathematics and numerous other languages, including Arabic, French, Spanish and Swahili, have been developed and serve major braille producers worldwide. Edgar 1, a Page Oriented Editor, was released in January 1985. It first ran on CP/M and DEC RSTS-based systems, and was later ported to MSDOS and Unix. However, because Edgar 1 required a special terminal for displaying the braille, it was not widely marketed. Edgar 2, released in May 1990, overcame that difficulty by employing the graphics screens readily available on PC compatibles. Edgar 2 also improved greatly on its predecessor in many other respects. We gratefully acknowledge the continuing support of all our customers, not only in the form of patronage but also the all- important technical feedback that keeps us working on still more improvements.