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Braille editor / braille translation software trouble shooting-X

General information concerning braille editors

A Braille editor has generally two principal approaches in which they function:


- The Braille editor acts as the master for page setup and formatting (it overrides braille settings such as character/line, lines/page and margins). The braille editor in this case will send esc sequences as a temporary override  to the embosser for setup when embossing a file.

Link for more information on Embosser Setup with esc sequences. It is recommended that as long as your paper format exists in Duxbury, or your chosen braille editor, than you shall select the embosser model and firmware version in setup.

Otherwise:
- In the case where the braille embosser acts as the master;  the page format (characters/line, lines/page) must be set exactly the same for both the braille editor and the embosser.

Confirm your current page format on the V4 embosser by pressing HELP+OFF and for V3 embossers by pressing the VALUE key. 

For most editors this is the case when no specific embosser is selected in the setup, this is typically named Generic, Universal etc. Link to Duxbury Embosser setup - Generic  . Here you may receive different error codes from the embosser when the settings do no match in the embosser and the braille editor. 

Index printer driver or other drivers

Most braille editors use Index Braille driver 6 which may be downloaded the from Index website free of charge. Important advantages is the plug and play installation, which is fully tested to support all Index embosser models. For some braille editors and tactile graphical editors, you may need to use  their own printer drivers. 

How to find out if the print file is correct

In a number of cases the user may print out from the braille editor and the printout is not what is expected. It is like a black box braille editor->printer driver-> embosser and the result is "my printer is not working". However the fault is most probably caused by the following:

- incorrect paper size set in the braille editor or embosser. Duxbury has a strange way of defining paper sizes, the equivalence to Index defined paper sizes may be seen at the following Getting started with Duxbury 11.1. SR4.

- incorrect page format; the page format setting in the braille editor and embosser must be identical if ran as a generic or universal Index embosser meaning an unspecified embosser is selected. In the braille editor if a specific embosser is selected.

- The firmware version of the embosser and the software revision of the braille editor do not correspond. Simply upgrade your embosser and braille editor to latest software/firmware versions available, see respective web sites for latest releases. Upgrade V4 1.3.x and higher, Upgrade V4 1.1.x via SD card, Upgrade V3 via Embosser Utility. 

- To make the print file visible, set the braille editor to print to file. In Duxbury this is done in Global/General/ Output options - select "write to file". In ibprint you will select the box next to "emboss to file." In other editors this is done by tagging the "print to file" in the printout window. After this is selected the print file will be saved on you computer typically with the extension *.ebf or *.prn. To evaluate the file please open it in an editor. The easiest way is to manually change the extension to *.txt and open it in Notepad.

- Check the formatting of the braille file in respect to your settings such as characters/line, lines/page and form feed sign. In this stage you have to count characters and lines and compare with the expected braille page format.

- Check the esc sequence in the header of the print file. See following file sample:

NOTE EXAMPLE:
 
esc,DBT0,TD0,PN0,DP4,LS50,TM0,BI4,CH27,LP28;
odt#b;braille installation
odt#db;braille1 the open office
.....

The first line may seem cryptic but includes the most important information of your print file as the letter describe a setting and the number represents the value of that setting, for example:
BT0 = the Index Braille table is used, also called MIT braille table
TD0= 2.5 mm braille cell is used
PN0= no page numbering is made by the embosser
DP4= Duplexing no 4 is selected which it is newspaper format
LS50 = line spacing 5.0 mm, normal line spacing
TM0 = no top margin
BI4 = no binding margin
CH31 = 27 characters per line
LP28 = 28 lines per page
You may find complete information at Interface Protocol V4 2012 or Interface Protocol V3.

Support from Index Braille

Please send an email to support@indexbraille.com (no copies to direct email addresses), the support mail will be handled by an issue handling system where you will receive a request number and will be contacted of the progress in solving support issues.
The following information should be included to enable high quality factory support in relation to printing / embossing issues.

- Embosser serial number
- Firmware version
- Braille editor brand name and version number
- A copy of the print file
- A photo or an embossed sample with the issue clearly marked

LInk to Index Braille contact form and select support.