best way to produce .brl files on the Mac?

By Justin Harris, 13 July, 2022

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

Hello,
I may have asked this around here before, but can't remember, and if I did ask, I didn't find a solution that met my needs.
I am looking for a way to produce .brl files in Spanish for use on the Orbit 20. The 20 plus can do regular text files, but the 20 standard can not. It has to be .brl or .brf files. I have tried several things, none of which have worked as needed or expected.
1. I've used a Windows program called Biblos, but literally every capital letter and every accented letter comes out wrong. Not sure if it is doing those in Computer Braille or if it is just an error in the tables they are using, but it's definitely a problem.
2. I have tried creating a document in either Pages or Text Edit and then paired my iPad to the Orbit, but then at the worst possible time, I kept getting random spaces that would break up words. This is for a Bible class I have to teach every few weeks, and so of course I review my material many times, and never had any problems until it was actually time to present, and then stuff started going wrong. So, while doing things this way is nice because iOS and iPad OS can handle translation to Braille, and their tables are correct, and I don't have to go back in and correct every single capital letter or accented letter, it still hasn't worked since I have had the issue with the random spaces.
So, are there any apps for Mac OS or iOS that can produce accurate and reliable Spanish Braille? I don't need any fancy formatting, since this is not being embossed but just used on the Orbit itself.
Any help would be much appreciated, as I want to improve my presentation, and if I continue to use Biblos, and have to spend time doing all those corrections, it messes with my time actually studying the lesson. If I continue to use either pages or text edit, and get the random spaces, mid presentation, that also throws me for a loop. Either way I am not giving the kind of delivery I want to give and am capable of. I need my tech to be a help, not a hinderance.

Options

Comments

By Greg Wocher on Thursday, July 21, 2022 - 18:59

Hello,
You might want to look at braille blaster from APH. It is a free program on both mac and windows. It might be able to do what you are wanting.

By Justin Harris on Thursday, July 21, 2022 - 18:59

Hi there,
I've looked at it, but it does not do real Spanish Braille, but rather English grade 1, with dot 4 before an accented letter. I need the full Spanish Braille table. Thanks for the suggestion though.