brailler is software that you can put onto a Raspberry Pi to make a hand-held controller that will interpret an alphabetical English text file into a Braille output, as well as interpret a Braille input into an alphabetical English text file.
In the likely event you do not have a Braille controller, you can also use this software as a wrapper for the LibLouis library. Read plaintext alphabetical files into braille on your console. Practice writing braille into alphabetical English.
Here is the example schematic for a Braille interface. Note that the motors are outputs and the pushbuttons are inputs. This is connected in the same manner as written in the program.
make cli
runs the app in the consolemake braille
runs the app in the Braille mode (for use with the Raspberry Pi)make fastbraille
runs the app in the Braille mode but does not check pip requirementsmake test
runs the pytestmake coverage
runs the pytest and checks how much code has been testedEnsure your device has the following packages, using apt
or equivalent installer:
sudo apt-get install autoconf m4 libtool perl pkg-config
mkdir louis
cd louis
git clone https://github.com/liblouis/liblouis.git
git tag
git checkout v3.13.0
git branch -l
cd liblouis/
sudo ./autogen.sh
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo /sbin/ldconfig -v
The following command should now work in terminal:
echo this is a test sentence | lou_translate unicode.dis,en-ueb-g2.ctb
Ensure your device has the following packages, using apt
or equivalent:
sudo apt install python3-distutils
cd ~/Documents/LibLouis/liblouis-.../python
sudo python3 setup.py install
The following python snippet should now work, demonstrating a successful installation:
import louis
a_test = louis.translate(['unicode.dis', 'en-ueb-g2.ctb'], "a test string")
print(a_test[0])
More information on the available methods and their parameters is found in liblouis.../python/init.py
apt
or equivalent:
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-env
mkdir brailler
cd brailler
git clone https://github.com/callumfrance/brailler.git
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 -m venv venv
If you want to run this program as the first thing that happens when you power on a Raspberry Pi device (as intended), you can do the following. Note that this advice applies to the Raspbian Lite (console view, not desktop view).
First, edit the raspi-config
to not require a login.
Next, you need to edit the file rc.local
. Ensure that the exit condition, if
present, is removed or commented out, and add the following line to the bottom
of the file:
(cd home/pi/brailler && make Braille)
This will run program, provided that the directory you have installed it in is
home/pi/brailler/
.