brltty

Braille display daemon for console access

TLDR

Start brltty daemon

$ brltty

Start with specific braille driver

$ brltty -b [driver]

Start with specific device

$ brltty -d [usb:]

Run in foreground (no daemon)

$ brltty -n

Use specific text table

$ brltty -t [en-us-g2]

Enable speech support

$ brltty -e

Set verbosity level

$ brltty -v [5]

Display help

$ brltty -h

brltty is a background daemon that provides access to the Linux/Unix console for blind users via refreshable braille displays. It drives the braille display and provides complete screen review functionality with some speech capability.The daemon supports connections via serial port, USB, or Bluetooth and works with dozens of braille display models.

PARAMETERS

-b driver

Braille display driver code

-d device

Device specification (usb:, bluetooth:, serial port)

-t table

Text translation table

-c table

Contraction table

-e

Enable speech support

-s driver

Speech synthesizer driver

-n

Run in foreground (no daemonize)

-f file

Configuration file path

-v level

Verbosity level (0-9)

-l level

Log level

-V

Print version information

-h

Display help summary

CONFIGURATION

Default configuration file is /etc/brltty.conf. Text tables are stored in /etc/brltty/Text/. The device specification format is qualifier:data with defaults of usb:,bluetooth:.

INSTALL

sudo apt install brltty

sudo dnf install brltty

sudo pacman -S brltty

sudo apk add brltty

sudo zypper install brltty

nix profile install nixpkgs#brltty

CAVEATS

Must be run as root or with appropriate permissions for device access. The braille display must be connected and powered on before starting. Supports 70+ braille display models from various manufacturers.