An app like perky duck?

By Brian Giles, 13 December, 2024

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello all,

I'm working on a Braille certification. I know you can use Perky Duck to basically emulate a good ol Perkins Brailler, so none of the symbols you input get translated, so it's like a virtual piece of Braille paper. It's only on Windows and Mac though.

I was looking at laptops as a suggestion for Santa to bring me, but there's so many options that are really overwhelming, never mind figuring out what OS/screen reader to use. Theoretically at least, I could just do most of what I would need on my iPhone with a BT keyboard. It's certainly fast enough! If I went with a PC, I'd have to learn Windows 11 and probably pay for 365, which is yet another sub. No thanks. lol I could go with an MBA which has iWork which is free (yes, I know it's not MS Word), but then there's the growing narrative that VoiceOver has stagnated on macos.

I also thought about upgrading my Braille display to something with an onboard editor, like a Brailliant or Orbit Reader, but I don'tthink that will do what I need either.

I want to just use my iPhone if I can. Any suggestions?

Options

Comments

By Brian on Friday, December 13, 2024 - 16:39

Hi there,

Would Braille Screen Input, BSI, updated as of iOS 18, meet your needs?

By Brian Giles on Friday, December 13, 2024 - 16:39

AFAIK, BSI wouldn't work because text gets translated as soon as you enter a space. Essentially, I just need the raw dot numbers of the cells I'm inputting i.e. typing 1-2-3-5 would give me exactly that when entering the dots for the letter R. At least, that's how I think a friend who has used perky duck explained it to me. I also think it has its own file type that it saves to. BSI would be awesome though since I use it all the time, but I don't think there's a way to make your inputs not be insta translated.

By Orlando on Friday, December 13, 2024 - 16:39

Braille Blaster and Braille 2000 are windows/Mac programs that Braille transcribers use. I work in a school district with transcribers and these are the programs that they use. You can find info about them on YouTube. American Printing House has some other programs as well. I have not encountered any apps for IOS though. American printing house can be found at aph.org
Hope this helps.

By jim pickens on Friday, December 13, 2024 - 16:39

there's the braille dot patterns table, you can get it in setings, this might do what you want, here is an example
⠹ ⠊⠎ ⠁⠝ ⠑⠭⠁⠍⠏⠇⠑ ⠾ ⠃⠗⠇ ⠙⠕⠞ ⠏⠁⠞⠞⠻⠝⠎