Organization
The unique combination of accessible software, a mainstream operating system, and custom braille
hardware is a technical revolution. It moves the blind user squarely into the mobile computing
community, affording her all the power and capabilities associated with it. With these tools comes some
complexity. It is the purpose of this documentation to organize the concepts necessary to effectively use
this device to its and your maximum potential.
The "Preliminaries" chapter familiarizes you with the location and function of the buttons and controls
on the device.
The "First Time Use" chapter guides you through the steps necessary to get the device charging, started,
and operational. It describes the way to always return to the Home screen, start apps, and open menus.
The "Networks and Connections" chapter describes how to connect to Wi-Fi hot spots, use the cellular
network, and display the screen on a TV.
After taking care of the basics and connections, it is time to step back and learn about other operating
system concepts. This chapter describes notifications, context menus, and other key concepts.
Each of the apps is next covered in its own chapter.
Finally, appendixes provide reference and supplemental documentation.
Assumptions
The documentation assumes some knowledge of braille. It often uses braille letters to represent
commands.
In addition to basic braille knowledge, you may wish to learn about computer braille. Computer braille
is a code that is necessary to enter Web addresses or other non-literary type text.
There is a computer braille code chart in
Appendix A
.
Nomenclature
This documentation refers to the device as Braille Plus. There are actually two models of the Braille
Plus. They are the Braille Plus 18, which includes an 18-cell braille display, and the Braille Plus, which
is audio only. With the exception of the braille display, these two units operate identically, and they are
both documented in these pages as simply Braille Plus. Where there are differences, they are pointed
out.
Keys
This documentation represents keys you may type by naming the key. The Menu key, for example, is
written "Menu."
When it takes several keys to make a command, such as those that include modifier keys like Alt+T, the
keys are separated with the "+" character. The first key is the modifier, so you press and hold it; then
while it is still depressed, press the other keys in the combination. So if this documentation says, Alt+T,
http://tech.aph.org/plus_doc.htm
