Orbit Reader 40 USB Connection Modes for Different Screen Readers

By emassey, 6 November, 2024

Forum
Assistive Technology

I have recently gotten my Orbit Reader 40 back from repair, so I have been trying to get it working with all the screen readers I use. It supports three USB modes: HID Orbit, HID Braille, and Serial, and it also supports Vario Ultra emulation with a separate setting. Here are my results so far. Vario Ultra emulation is disabled unless stated otherwise.

  • MacOS VoiceOver (MacOS Sequoia 15.0.1): works with HID Braille only
  • JAWS 2025 on Windows 11 (latest dev build): works with HID Orbit only
  • NVDA 2024.4 on Windows 11 (latest dev build): works with HID Braille only
  • BRLTTY 6.6 on Arch Linux (kernel 6.11.6): works with HID Orbit only
  • Narrator on latest Windows 11 dev build: I have not gotten it to work at all. I have tried all three modes with and without Vario Ultra emulation, with both Baum and HumanWare as the display manufacturer, and nothing worked. This could be because Narrator uses BRLTTY 6.4.4, and Orbit Reader 40 support may have been added later.

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