I am using an Orbit Reader 20 with my Mac and am getting a bit confused when trying to use its Perkins keys to enter text. I initially thought it was a bug but now I'm wondering if I'm just not understanding what is going on.
Once I connect the Orbit, it seems to work. So I open up Text Edit and start typing on the Orbit. As I do this, VoiceOver speaks what I am typing. I am also using a regular bluetooth keyboard and am listening using my Air Pods.
But I've noticed that what the Orbit is showing doesn't match what I hear when I use my other keyboard to review the text. And if I type on the keyboard, it doesn't appear on the Orbit. If it gets like this, I can do things like VO+M to browse menus, or go into Safari and try to read content and the Orbit seems not to notice.
It feels like there is some sort of buffering going on, which might make sense if it wasn't for VoiceOver speaking every key I press on the Orbit.
Can anyone explain what is going on? Is this normal?
I don't think I had this problem until I started trying to type on the Orbit.
Comments
Have been through this
I was typing in TextEdit and my Focus kept showing content that I was typing much earlier. I had to stop VO and re-enable it again to get braille mirror speech.
UEB
It occurred to me that recently I have switched from 8 dot to UEB. I don't remember the problem happening before but I wasn't using the Perkins keys that much then. Next time it happens I will switch back to 8 dot and see if the problem goes away.
@Maldalain - thanks, it's good to know I'm not alone. I was restarting VO a bit and that did seem to help.
Figured it out
I haven't really played much with typing since my original post, but I have now finally figured it out.
In VO Utility, under Braille then translation I found the option "Translate after:" which is set to "typing whitespace"". The other option is after a delay.
This makes sense as when I press space I find that the text is synchronised between what my normal keyboard sees and what my Orbit thinks is there.
I dug around the commands and found that pressing dots 4, 5 and space is assigned to "translate braille". If I press them, then it will immediately cause what I have typed to be displayed in the text box.
It's probably one of those things that most braille users don't even think about but it is quite confusing when you don't know what you are doing. Also probably a consequence of using both a braille display and a regular qwerty together.