Freedom Scientific Braille Blazer Owner'S Manual Download

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Braille Blazer

The Portable Embosser

Owner’s Manual

December 2002

440102-001 Rev. A

Summary of Contents for Braille Blazer

Page 1: ...Braille Blazer The Portable Embosser Owner s Manual December 2002 440102 001 Rev A...

Page 2: ...formation in this document is subject to change without notice No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any means electronic or mechanical for any purpose without th...

Page 3: ...r 3 Touring the Blazer 4 Connecting the Blazer to Your Computer 7 Parallel Connection 7 Serial Connection 8 Handling the Paper 10 Loading the Paper 10 Setting Top of Form 12 Brailling a File 14 Prepar...

Page 4: ...Introduction 18 Printing Mode and Menu Mode 18 Configuration Menus 19 Appendix Commonly Asked Questions 40 440102 001 Rev A...

Page 5: ...mize many of the Blazer s features through its various configuration menus These menus are all audible through the Blazer s built in speech synthesizer In addition the speech synthesizer can be used w...

Page 6: ...Lite 40 or Braille Lite 2000 models use either the special serial cable that comes with the device to connect to the Blazer s serial port or use a standard parallel cable to connect to the Blazer s p...

Page 7: ...access program that supports the Braille n Speak as a speech synthesizer Most screen access programs have a driver for the Braille n Speak So you should be able to direct your screen access program to...

Page 8: ...nt the side closest to you run your hand along the top of the Blazer to the right side Now move toward the back of the Blazer along the top right side About halfway toward the back are three buttons T...

Page 9: ...ord into this A C connector to power up your Blazer About an inch to the left of the AC power connector find the parallel port that connects the Blazer to the parallel port on a computer a Braille Lit...

Page 10: ...Starting from the front side of the Blazer the side closest to you first notice the bar that runs across the width of the Blazer from left to right This is the platen It rests on a flat metal plate a...

Page 11: ...s a ridge around the rectangular opening where it mates with the housing of the Centronix connector The parallel port on the Blazer is located on the backside of the unit about an inch to the left of...

Page 12: ...y because it can only go into the port one way So if you re having trouble you may have the connector upside down Turn it around and try again Once the serial connector is snugly connected to the seri...

Page 13: ...b Here are the settings you need to check Baud rate 9600 Parity None Data bits 8 Stop bits 1 Handshaking Software If telecommunications settings match on your computer and the Blazer everything should...

Page 14: ...paper narrower than 8 5 inches But we ll first look at how to load standard size paper You can load paper into the Blazer whether the machine is on or off Since this is our first time out we ll start...

Page 15: ...narrower than 8 5 inch wide into the Blazer you need to unlock one of the paper guides on the tractor mechanism and move it toward the other paper guide so that the distance between the two paper gui...

Page 16: ...n the paper guides Once you re sure the paper is flat close the cover of the paper guide and lock it back in place before doing anything else You re now ready to turn on the Blazer Setting Top of Form...

Page 17: ...thin your word processor or Braille translation software If you have your top margin set to 0 the Blazer assumes you want it to start Brailling immediately below the perforation Usually this also mean...

Page 18: ...set of commands But here are some important things to keep in mind before you try to Braille a file If you want the Blazer to Braille your document in Grade 2 Braille you must run it through your Brai...

Page 19: ...receive any data at all Press the on line key to make the Blazer be able to receive data again The on line key is also useful if you want to stop the Blazer from Brailling the file you just sent to i...

Page 20: ...ne feed key the paper moves one line out the back of the machine As you continue to press the line feed key more of the last page that was Brailled emerges for you to read Once you re satisfied about...

Page 21: ...advance This curved rocker like key is midway on the left side of the top of the Blazer To pull the paper out toward the back of the Blazer hold down the back end of the paper advance key that is the...

Page 22: ...e Blazer is ready to print a document When you are in menu mode the Blazer is ready to accept your changes to its settings for a variety of things like its ports its built in speech synthesizer and it...

Page 23: ...hich port the Blazer uses to interface its built in speech synthesizer with a computer This menu also lets you change the Blazer s speech synthesizer s pitch voice rate etc Printer Configuration menu...

Page 24: ...issuing another command If you press a key sequence while the Blazer is speaking a prompt or message it simply jumps to speaking its next prompt or message Here s how to move through the menus while y...

Page 25: ...peech synthesizer sounds You can change the synthesizer s volume speech rate pitch and more Here s how it works Enter the Speech Configuration menu by pressing the three keys on the right side of the...

Page 26: ...end a document from your computer to the Blazer s parallel port the Blazer should not speak the contents of the document When you enter the Speech configuration menu the Blazer says Port serial To cha...

Page 27: ...ice Since this setting only has two options you can toggle between them by pressing Enter Off makes the Blazer s speech synthesizer sound more robotic On makes it rise and fall more naturally as it sp...

Page 28: ...a louder or softer voice Once you hear the volume you want exit menu mode or press the Skip or Back up key to work with another setting Changing the Tone of the Voice Enter the Speech configuration me...

Page 29: ...u move to another setting move to another menu or exit menu mode altogether Changing the Port When you enter the Printer configuration menu the first setting you can change is the Port Whichever port...

Page 30: ...ns of your document on the Blazer it no longer lets you adjust the bottom margin It s usually better to adjust margins from within your word processor But if you do want to adjust the margins from the...

Page 31: ...gin setting The Blazer says Top margin 0 active which is the default This is literally the top edge of the paper To change the top margin press Enter The Blazer lets you adjust the top margin up to 10...

Page 32: ...ler lengths can be used for making Braille labels The middle lengths might be best for index cards And the longer lengths serve well for more text intensive documents like class notes or letters Chang...

Page 33: ...stands how to Braille in a wide variety of languages Of course you must also since you have to produce the text on your word processor When you enter the Printer Configuration menu press Skip ten time...

Page 34: ...roperly to your Blazer However if you do need the Blazer to detect whether it s receiving linefeed characters here s what to do When you enter the Printer Configuration menu press Skip twelve times to...

Page 35: ...ration menu press Skip fifteen times to arrive at the Label Mode setting The Blazer says Label mode off active which is the default Should you want to turn it on simply press Enter Sideway Print Confi...

Page 36: ...to Braille sideways on the page you must turn on Sideway print and flip the platen bar Here s what to do When you enter the Sideway Print Configuration menu the Blazer says Sideways print off active...

Page 37: ...probably has extra blank lines in it to create white space which makes the document more legible for sighted readers Your Braille translation software should strip out all of these extra blank lines...

Page 38: ...same time The Blazer says Configuration Speech config Now press Skip the middle key three to bypass the Speech Configuration menu the Printer Configuration menu and the Sideway Print Configuration men...

Page 39: ...aking you ll only need to change data bits to 7 if the transmission requires Even parity When you enter the Serial Configuration menu press Skip once to arrive at the Bits Per Character setting The Bl...

Page 40: ...e handshake Service Menu The Service menu is really for the techies It has many options that most users won t care about at all So in this section we ll only cover four fundamental options you might w...

Page 41: ...the Braille Blazer You can test the Blazer to check whether it s Brailling properly Here s how Enter menu mode by pressing the three keys on the right side of the Blazer simultaneously the Blazer says...

Page 42: ...ide of the Blazer simultaneously The Blazer says Exit You re now back in printing mode ready to continue Brailling your own documents Checking the Blazer s Revision Date You can find out whether your...

Page 43: ...exit menu mode press the three keys on the right side of the Blazer simultaneously The Blazer says Exit You re now back in printing mode ready to continue Brailling your own documents 440102 001 Rev A...

Page 44: ...e of the platen bar is facing toward the back of the Blazer and make sure label mode is turned off from within the Printer Configuration menu When I Braille a document I get a blank page between every...

Page 45: ...onfiguration menu Left margin 0 Right margin 34 Top margin 0 Lines per page 0 Word wrap Off 5 I m trying to use the Blazer as a speech synthesizer with my computer but it doesn t talk There are severa...

Page 46: ...s Speech Configuration menu and the parallel port active in the Blazer s Printer Configuration menu The Blazer is not skipping blank lines as my document is Brailled Make sure to turn on Auto Linefee...

Page 47: ...440102 001 Rev A 43...

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