[Athen] Braille Display Drivers, Win10 Updates and JAWS

[Deborah Armstrong]

I agree with the idea that if your users use JAWS, you are going to get the best support using their own "focus" displays.

I also haven't encountered this issue, but I'm wondering if you tried at some point to set up Braille support for Narrator.  I tried that on an old computer running Windows 10 and every update tended to mess up Braille display drivers for NVDA. So maybe that might be the cause of your issue. Microsoft says the Narrator stuff is still in Beta and it uses Brltty which was originally written in Linux. Once you install Braille support for Narrator, Microsoft is clear that you will have trouble using Braille with other screen readers.  I was willing to put up with the trouble for experimentation purposes, but I wouldn't install Braille support for narrator in a lab situation.

--Debee



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Travis Roth
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 6:53 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Braille Display Drivers, Win10 Updates and JAWS

I've not seen that issue with Focus displays or Handy Tech displays.
Frankly it sounds a bit odd. Have you inquired of HumanWare or Freedom Scientific perhaps they have an updated driver?
Many displays are moving more towards the universal driver though it's hard to keep track of which displays use what.
The other somewhat obvious answer to your recommendation question is if you are using JAWS, Focus displays are always supported the best by JAWS. That does not mean they are my favorite displays overall, but they likely will give you the least driver issues.
Travis


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Gregg, Tomas A
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 8:42 AM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Braille Display Drivers, Win10 Updates and JAWS

Greetings,

I am in the research phase of looking for a new braille display to use in our office. Part of the reason for this is our current Humanware Brailliant BI40 (purchased back in 2013) braille display drivers get destroyed each time during Windows Updates on Patch Tuesdays. This means once a month I have to repair/re-install the drivers in order for the braille display to be recognized by JAWS.

Has anyone else experienced this issue with their braille display, Windows 10 and JAWS 2018 or 2019? Are there any braille displays that people recommend that don't have this problem with Windows 10 and JAWS?

Sincerely,

Tomas


Senior User Support Specialist
Assistive Technology and Accessibility Centers (ATAC) - Indiana University
togregg at iu.edu<mailto:togregg at iu.edu>
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