tim@maths.tcd.ie (Timothy Murphy) (02/22/91)
A friend asked me: Does anybody use TeX to transcribe mathematics into braille math ? I must admit I'd never heard of Braille math, although I suppose it's obvious something of the kind must exist. (Several great mathematicians have been blind, perhaps the best known being the Soviet mathematician Lev Pontrjagin.) But I'd be interested to learn on any use of TeX with Braille, particularly in conjunction with mathematics. -- Timothy Murphy e-mail: tim@maths.tcd.ie
teexdwu@ioe.lon.ac.uk (DOMINIK WUJASTYK) (02/23/91)
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
delaunay@irisa.fr (Christophe Delaunay) (02/26/91)
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
raman@elli.cs.cornell.edu (T. V. Raman) (02/26/91)
In article <1991Feb25.170722.4504@irisa.fr> delaunay@irisa.fr (Christophe Delaunay) writes: >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 Could you send me more information about the files you speak of? What exactly can these files generate given a complicated tex document? Does it generate simple grade 1 Braille, or does it know about grade 2 contractions etc? I would be interested in any information people could give me about this or any related subject. I use a talking terminal to interact with my computer, and also Braille for class notes, but personally use Braille very little. --Raman | T.V.Raman | | 311 Sage Hall Ex:5-7626 || 4155 Upson Hall Ex:5-5565 | | Email: raman@macomb.tn.cornell.edu || raman@cs.cornell.edu | | Centre for Applied Mathematics || Department of Computer Science |