Transferring files on Brailliant BI 20/40x braille display with Mac

By TheBlindGuy07, 13 September, 2025

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Edit: The original post was about macFUSE not compatible as of writing with Tahoe. But although I managed to install macFUSE on my Sequoia partition (from the github download link) and the Humanware software, and everything seems to be okay, after multiple reboots I am unable to see the OSFUSE drive in my sidebar and transfer files onto my display. Using the original cable with dongle didn't help either. Anyn help will be appreciated.
Hi,
This is such a specific issue that I decided to create another thread.
Basically, Humanware make mtp on BI 20x and 40x accessible on the mac with two layers of software, first with their sort of driver I guess to access the actual hardware, which does work, and then to access the actual file system, they use macFUSE, which is wild IMO and I have enough knowledge to somehow grasp what's happening under the hood. Anyways, both softwares are necessary to be able to transfer file onto the display via usb with macOS. According to the github project, macFUSE uses kernel extension, and as such is probably more sensitive to major upgrades.
This is to tell everyone that if for some reason transferring files on the braille display with direct connection instead of usb (40x) or microsd (20x) is critical to you, and that you don't have a windows machine nearby, don't upgrade to Tahoe until macFUSE is compatible with macOS 26.
Or :) wait my green light.
HTH

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Comments

By TheBlindGuy07 on Friday, September 19, 2025 - 03:48

I don't see my braille display in the Finder's sidebar. I have the latest version of macOS as well as the BI 40X.
I'll report to Humanware and let you know.

By Brian on Friday, September 19, 2025 - 04:32

Dear TheBlindGuy07,

Technology does not like you.

Sincerely,

Brian

PS Might I recommend the Abacus? I hear those are pretty solid devices. 😇

By Vila on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 - 09:29

Hi, TheBlindGuy07.

Do you know if there is any news regarding this topic?
I have installed version 5.1.3 of macFUSE on my MAC with Tahoe and I can see the HumanWare folder in the finder but it is empty.
The OSFUSE drive does not appear.

Thank you.

Vila

By TheBlindGuy07 on Monday, April 6, 2026 - 18:34

Sorry I was busy.
I am currently drafting the email to send to HW and I'll also link this thread there.
FYI the max I could ever get was a folder humanware device showing up in my home directory in finder, but none of the actual BI file system content, media transfer protocol on of course.
Tried with all possible combination of macos final versions sequoia, tahoe and macfuse. With different usb cables too just for the sake of testing of course.

By TheBlindGuy07 on Monday, April 6, 2026 - 19:12

Here's the answer I got. IMO, not bad at all. I understand that (KEXTs) was announced end of support around 2020. Plus after the CrowdStrike debacle we are very happy if kernel extensions are unpopular now. Not to mention the privacy nightmares of kernel level anti cheats on windows.
[CASE:1011345] - Contact Form
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting HumanWare.
We have recently become aware that some Brailliant BI 40X users are experiencing difficulties connecting their device to the Mac file transfer application, MacFUSE.
While MacFUSE has been a commonly used third-party solution for enabling Mass Storage transfer on macOS, it was never officially supported by Apple. Additionally, we have received reports that MacFUSE is being deprecated, making ongoing support increasingly difficult. As a result, HumanWare is unable to provide support for MacFUSE and will begin exploring alternative solutions.
In the meantime, we recommend using the external drive port available on your Brailliant BI 40X as an alternative file transfer method. We understand that this may not always be the most convenient option, and we appreciate your patience as we work toward a better solution.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Kind regards,
The HumanWare Team

By Mathieu on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 - 09:09

Hi TheBlindGuy07, Vila, and everyone following this,

Short version: I'm building something to make the Brailliant show up in the Finder without macFUSE in the loop, the groundwork already works, and I need a handful of technically comfortable people with models other than a BI 40X to help me confirm it holds up. This is not a release announcement — there is nothing for the general reader to install today.

First, a correction to HumanWare's reply

They wrote that "MacFUSE is being deprecated". That isn't accurate. macFUSE 5.3.3 shipped on 4 July 2026, it is actively maintained, and its FSKit backend now runs supported file systems entirely in user space on macOS 26 — no recovery mode, no kernel extension. What Apple deprecated is kernel extensions in general, and macFUSE has already moved past that.

So macFUSE isn't the problem here.

The problem is the stack, not the tool

Reaching the display today means a HumanWare driver, plus macFUSE, plus a mounted volume. If any link fails you get exactly what Vila described: a HumanWare folder that exists but is empty, and no OSXFUSE drive. Three moving parts, and a failure that doesn't tell you which one broke.

So I went at it from the other end: remove the layers rather than repair them.

Transferring a file over MTP doesn't require mounting a volume at all. MTP runs entirely in user space over USB, and libmtp talks to the display directly — no driver, no mount layer, nothing to fall out of step with a macOS update.

That part is done, and it works. On my BI 40X:

  • listing, reading and writing files at about 16 MB/s (a 29.5 MB file in under two seconds)
  • accented filenames survive intact (libmtp silently mangles them unless the process locale is forced to UTF-8)
  • both storage areas are reachable — internal memory and a USB stick in the display's own host port. On my unit that stick held 2.5 GB nothing else exposed.

The Finder layer then sits on top of that, and it can be done without a kext: either Apple's File Provider Extension (the mechanism behind iCloud Drive and Dropbox) or FSKit, which is what macFUSE itself now uses on macOS 26. That is the actual goal. The MTP work sits underneath it unchanged.

Why I'm posting now rather than when it's finished

Because building the Finder layer on top of assumptions would be a mistake, and right now I have exactly one data point: a BI 40X on firmware 2.6.0.

Nothing in the code is tied to a specific model — device detection is generic, based on the USB interface declaring itself as MTP — so a BI 20X, Mantis Q40 or Chameleon 20 should behave identically. But "should" isn't "does", and I would rather find out now than after designing around a wrong assumption.

What I'm looking for

A few people who:

  • have a Brailliant that isn't a BI 40X (a BI 20X especially, or a Mantis Q40 / Chameleon 20)
  • are comfortable running a command in Terminal and pasting the output back
  • don't mind that this is a rough diagnostic tool, not a polished app

To be clear about what it is: a command-line tool, and it will stay that way. It's the instrument I use to probe the protocol, not something I intend to hand to general users. The polished result, if this works out, is the Finder integration.

The check itself is read-only: it reports your model, firmware, storage areas and free space, and changes nothing on the display. There's an optional file transfer test too, but you would choose the file.

It isn't code-signed yet, so macOS will complain on first launch — which is precisely why I'm asking for people who won't be thrown by that.

If that's you, reply here and I'll get in touch. And if you'd rather just follow along, I'll report back in this thread either way — including if it turns out some models don't cooperate.