Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!corton!irisa!delaunay
From: delaunay@irisa.fr (Christophe Delaunay)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: TeX and Braille
Summary: There exists something for text but I don't know anything for maths!
Keywords: braille.sty, braille.300pk, braille.tfm
Message-ID: <1991Feb25.170722.4504@irisa.fr>
Date: 25 Feb 91 17:07:22 GMT
References: <1991Feb21.163517.6563@maths.tcd.ie> <1991Feb22.201926.9560@ioe.lon.ac.uk>
Sender: news@irisa.fr
Organization: IRISA, Rennes (Fr)
Lines: 41

Hi!

In article <1991Feb22.201926.9560@ioe.lon.ac.uk> teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) writes:
>In article <1991Feb21.163517.6563@maths.tcd.ie> tim@maths.tcd.ie (Timothy Murphy) writes:
>>
>>A friend asked me:
>>Does anybody use TeX to transcribe mathematics into braille math ?
>>
>>But I'd be interested to learn on any use  of TeX with Braille,
>>particularly in conjunction with mathematics.
>
>There does exist a Braille font for TeX.  I think it is just PK files
>at 300 dpi, which may mean that it is derived from some other
>font format, not done in Metafont.  The bad news is that I can't 
>remember where I saw it.  It was a listserv in Germany, perhaps
>dhdurz1, but perhaps not.  Could anyone be more specific?
>
>As I recall, the font was not a math font, but text.
>
>Dominik

Sure.  I obtained this package from our local TeX specialist but I don't
know where he got it from.  The package he gave me is compounded of
three files: two font definition files and a ".sty" file for printing
the text in a correct Braille format.  Problem: The version I have
doesn't seem to translate LaTeX math symbols into Braille ones.  I'm
interested by this package to print LaTeX documents into Braille for me,
(I'm blind), and a small group of blind and non-blind people.
Personnally, I like LaTeX for making my document because, in "normal
cases", I don't have to worry a lot about my document presentation.  By
normal cases, I mean text documents and no slides, graphics or some
letters that need a special presentation.  It's much easier for me to
make nice looking documents with LaTeX than with other text processors
like troff, Word5 or Wordstar.  The Braille font will allow us to print
a same document either in Braille or in an ordinary format.  The
package I have seems just fine for us because we don't often need math
fonts.  The problem is that I couldn't experiment it yet because we
have a Braille printer but we are looking for a PC!  I was told that we
may have one soon.

Christophe.  e-mail: delaunay@irisa.irisa.fr