Express Activity 1: Setting Up and Getting to Know Your Monarch

Expanded Core Curriculum Mastering the Monarch
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Now that you have set up your Monarch, connected it to Wi-Fi, and adjusted basic settings, it’s time to reflect on your first impressions and expectations before diving into specific applications. This discussion will help you consider how the Monarch fits into your work with students or clients preparing for competitive integrated employment (CIE) or currently working in CIE settings.

Discussion Prompt

In your post, reflect on the following:

Your First Impressions: What were your initial thoughts when setting up the Monarch? Were there any surprises, challenges, or features that stood out to you?

Your Expectations: How do you expect the Monarch to help your students or clients as they build skills for employment, education, or daily life?

Your Priorities: Which feature(s) do you want to explore first? What do you think will be most beneficial in preparing individuals for independence in a professional or learning environment?

Optional Extension

If you have worked with other refreshable braille displays before, how does the Monarch compare in terms of setup and ease of use?

This discussion will set the stage for your journey with the Monarch, helping you think critically about introducing it to students and clients as they prepare for or navigate CIE settings. Let’s start exploring together!

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Setting up the Monarch was, unsurprisingly, similar to setting up a phone or tablet. I think the startup tutorial will help new users to develop basic interaction and navigation skills quickly. I noticed the following.

  • The time zone was set to GMT by default. This is appropriate, as Monarchs are distributed around the world. I changed the time zone in Android Settings → System. After reviewing the training modules, I noticed time zone configuration wasn’t discussed; perhaps it could be included in a future revision.
  • After completing the setup, I started to work with the User Guide app. The Quick Start instructions suggest it’s based on the book reading app, but this doesn’t appear to be the case - at least in software version 1.2. The list of commands given in the context-sensitive help suggests it may be a Web view (i.e., a Web browser engine embedded in the app). I couldn’t find a search function to find text either in the entire User Guide or in the current section. If it doesn’t exist, perhaps a search feature could be considered in the future. Perhaps some documentation of the User Guide app would be helpful, as this is the first app that users who are accustomed to reading documentation would probably try after completing the setup. For example, after following a link to a specific section of the User Guide, it turned out that the best way to return to the beginning of the entire document to review the table of contents again was to use the Back button or Space with E. This wasn’t obvious in advance, but, once discovered, definitely helped with navigation.

In general, I think the Monarch is well documented with the Quick Start, the User Guide and the online training modules, and this should help new users to gain proficiency. The User Guide can be downloaded from the APH Web site, so it may be easier to start by reading it on another device before transitioning to using the User Guide app on the Monarch itself. This is what I did, but after completing the setup, I wanted to start using the Monarch to read its own documentation.

My next priorities include continuing to read the documentation, setting up book reading by connecting to Bookshare, and perhaps exploring the tactile viewer more or the text editing capabilities.

Setting up the Monarch is more complex than configuring other familiar braille displays. However, my braille displays have all been either simple displays or what some refer to as “smart” displays with only basic applications installed. I once used a braille notetaker briefly as part of my work, but only for a few hours, and the setup had already been done. However, I’ve configured phones and tablets (iOS and Android) before, and this made the Monarch’s setup process easier. Having used a Monarch briefly last year also helped, of course.

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I was very excited to get this device on Saturday, but I figured I would let it rest and for me to grill out a steak and baked potato on my charcoal grill. I let the unit charge all night and got up and worked with the device Sunday.

I turned it on and was able to follow the tutorial. I goofed on my password for my WiFi. I am not use to Computer Braille, so the exclamation point threw me. Also, I am an iOS guy, so Android is a bit new to me, especially being it’s been 15 years since I touched it last.

I took a gander at the unser’s manual to look up what the exclaimation point was, and it’s dots 2-3-4-6 in case someone is reading this and wants to know. I deleted my wi-fi after digging around the settings to find out how to edit my password. it’s not that obvious on how to do this. Anyway, I got it corrected, then upgraded to 1.2.

After that was done, I fiddled with setting the time. I thought my WiFi would set it on its own, but it didn’t figure on the GMT time zone being automatically selected. After that was fixed, I decided to set my preferred Braille tables and voice. I chose Taylor. I would have liked to test a voice before actually downloading it, but I already heard Taylor elsewhere, and I knew that was the one I wanted.

I intend to try out the Braille Learning tables. My wife is wanting to get back into using Braille, and she hasn’t really touched it for the last 30 years. I would like to see how these Braille learning tables work before showing them off.

As for what I want to do for CIE, I think I want to use this device more in various settings before I can say for sure.

I have set p NFB Newsline, Bookshare, and have even brought over some books in .brf from my Mantis Q40. I am finding that the lines are showing fully on one line, then the next line shows maybe 8 to 10 characters. I would like to see a way to make KeyBRF alter the lines where I can set them to 32 characters so it’s more of a smooth reading experience. I would also love to see NLS BARD support. I know Terminal mode is coming, as a release for JAWS is forthcoming. I also test iOS betas, so I am looking forward to terminal mode and future development with Terminal Mode for other operating systems. I have access to iOS, iPadOS, ChromeOS, and Windows. I have a FireTV, but don’t know how that will work.

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Background

I love technology, so the unboxing was tremendously exciting. I’d taken the hive course already, read the user guide, watched the snapshot videos, imagined myself holding, touching, reading Braille and typing on one.
But in working with my community college students, I know many are techno-phobic. This is also true of our professors, even those with a PHD. Reading instruction manuals is for them confusing; learning a new piece of tech is daunting and frightening. I mastered my first iPod in three days, my NLS eReader in 2 hours, and JAWS over several months.
So thinking about the Monarch, I know not everyone will gleefully follow the instructions, tap on the keys, try the point and click. They will wade slowly in to the ocean and at the first foaming wave, will back up towards the warm comforting sand. With surfboard in hand, I must gently guide them out beyond the breakers to show them how exhilarating sailing across the vast sea can become.

Initial thoughts:

“OOF, it’s bigger and heavier than I thought it would be!” But the button placement is so intuitive. Even before turning it on, I know what each of them does. (And I’m blind so I don’t have the advantages of pictures in the user guide; though I did cheat and had AI describe them to me!)
I agree about the multi-line Braille being revolutionary, but that is only going to be truly appreciated by those who struggled to master STEM with a single-line Braille display.

One issue:

The user guide instructs one to charge it for four hours before using it. So, as soon as I unwrapped the protective sleeve, I connected it to power, using my laptop’s USB power supply which was already plugged in at my desk. Because it was larger than I thought, I had to lean over it to make more room, so it would safely reside next to my laptop. It automatically booted up, displayed the butterfly and went in to language settings. In rearranging my stuff to make it fit, I inadvertently pressed the spacebar with my tummy!
Luckily, I’m a good Braille reader and was listening to the speech and realized I was about to change the system language. And because I’d used other Humanware devices, I knew to press Backspace to return to English and press Enter.
But this could have been a dreadful problem for a less savvy user. It should either not automatically boot when connected to power, or the user guide should warn one this will occur.

Surprises:

The quality of the tutorial is a welcome surprise. I had to crank up the volume and I did follow along in Braille, eager to adjust my profile so I could read Grade 2.
This thing is really big though; the user guide said almost 16 inches, but I think it’s closer to eighteen. I pulled out my sewing tape measure but forgot to actually do the measuring which I will do tonight. I had planned to take it to work this week, but I don’t think so. Dragging expensive, delicate equipment on public transportation is a bad idea. So I tossed my NLS eReader in my purse with the user guide and decided that was good enough for now.
I also notice that Braille is much less sharp than on my other displays, but the membrane is a necessary compromise. I have read many slightly squished Braille library books and this is no different. But new readers often tend to press hard on dots, and that’s going to make them especially hard to read on the Monarch.

Challenges:

I easily found All Apps and Settings, but that is because I’ve used humanware and android devices. Might have been an issue for someone new. However, it’s always fun when the first thing you have to type on a new keyboard is a wi-fi password. Mine is 31 characters long with lots of symbols because I’m married to a security geek. I used to be a software engineer, so thank goodness, I do know computer Braille. I feel sorry for most of those who do not. I could have cheated and plugged in a USB keyboard, but I’m stubborn; I won’t always have one handy!
Other humanware devices, the eReader, Stream 2 and 3, Brailliant and the new NLS talking book player all let you create a wi-fi configuration on a USB thumb drive. I still have VRWireless.xml handy and the later Wifi_config.txt, but there was no menu choice to import a wi-fi configuration. I believe this should be implemented, since Humanware has already written code to accomplish this.
It took a couple of tries, but I was finally connected. I found Key Updater and began the update.
After 46 per cent through the install it froze and made a loud noise which continued, and which I recorded if anyone at APH needs to hear it. I was afraid I’d “bricked” the thing, but I hadn’t. I held the power down for 20 seconds. Then I held power down again for about five seconds and it started up and I was able to happily examine the butterfly.
I tried updating again, and this time it went fine. It took forever, even though we have a very fast connection; my husband has an internet business. It had to reboot and install yet more updates; just like Windows!
But eventually, it was all done. The package had arrived late and I was so sleepy I could not remember how to get in to options to finally change my profile to grade 2. I searched the main menu and the All apps menu and couldn’t locate it.
I finally had to load the user guide, but unlike the user guide on most humanware devices, I didn’t seem to be able to jump by headings. I tried typing H, and wondered how to navigate by levels because I couldn’t remember reading anything about this. I tried searching, and couldn’t find that either. The user guide appeared not to display in Victor Reader but rather as a web page in its built-in browser. I was about to pull out my eReader, where I did have the user guide, but didn’t have to.
I finally got over my senior moment and remembered it was space with O. I set up my profile, and decided I wasn’t thinking straight and really needed to get to bed!

Expectations:

At last blind folks can participate in math study groups with peers. No longer is their pencil impairment a barrier. How I wished I could do my math homework with friends when I was in school; to sit and exchange ideas rather than struggle on my own to understand the steps to solve a problem. But my peers couldn’t read Braille and I couldn’t give them print. And if I used the Abacus, it was even worse, so foreign to my sighted teachers and classmates.
I know it will be an adventure to have my Braille-reading students use this to take exams. Right now they get double extended time, and I wonder if the Monarch will make it easier to absorb a complicated test question, especially if they use speech and Braille together. I know my learning disabled students do much better when usingK3000, the both see and hear the textbook, and even though I have no learning disability, I find listening to difficult material, and reading it right afterwards in Braille helps me solidify my understanding.

Priorities: what to learn first?

Definitely the Braille editor, so I can try working problems with multi-line Braille. It’s algebra, calculus and statistics that my students struggle with most. And my own math skills are atrocious, so I’ve already collected a variety of math textbooks to try working with.
I also want to try reading some technical books in the Victor Reader, though I’m a bit concerned about all those books from NLS that are hard-coded for forty-character lines. Probably reading books from bookshare will work better. My eReader is loaded up with mysteries and science fiction and I can of course also transfer a few to the Monarch.
E-Braille is certainly exciting but I know our college will not want to pay for it. And right now it’s basically vaporware. I hope APH converts a few STEM books in to E-Braille for us to try.

Most beneficial for preparing students:

The tactile graphics of course. Though what I’ve prepared so far from the TGL has been pretty simple; I have a PIAF machine. It will be interesting to compare what I have done on PIAF to what can be displayed/zoomed on the Monarch.
I just used the PIAF to put together the international phonetic alphabet for a linguistics student. It’s downloadable from BANA and it is nicely formatted for a 8.5-inch width, so if I can figure out how to get those pages on the Monarch, that would be 'way cool!

I also like that even if I give a student a PIAF I can first preview it on the Monarch and let them preview it to decide if it’s going to work for them. I wonder if I can train my sighted student workers to use Wing-It to make some graphics for us!
I will post more when I get back home and can continue to explore!
P.S. This post looks kind of weird! I think Hive’s implementation of Mark-down is adding something strange to each heading.

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Hi Jason,
I think the reason the setup may be possibly more difficult for some is that it’s part Humanware and part Android. I have several Android gizmos, so I was familiar with its settings and the notification shade. But iPads are so common in schools, so I’m suspecting iOS is more familiar; more blind folks have iPhones certainly.
I wonder why they didn’t just go ALL android or ALL humanware. But Keysoft is just a shell over Android, so maybe that’s why.
I agree with starting with bookshare, since Daisy will reflow much better than Braille originally intended for hardcopy embossing. It reminds me of the differences between PDF and epub for sighted users. Sightlings need to pan back and forth to read a PDF on a tablet too! That’s why epub was invented. I wonder if the Monarch can open epub; will have to try that tonight. Wouldn’t it be cool if an image in an epub file would automatically become a tactile graphic? But that would take some serious AI to auto-convert a visual image to a tactile that would actually make sense to a tactile user.
I also agree with you about the user guide, but I wasn’t operating on all cylinders last night because the package didn’t show up until 8 PM! Still, I don’t understand why they did not just put it in Victor reader. But having it in a web view probably makes it easier for most sighted folks who will be reading it with a monitor. I think I should have more carefully studied the documentation on the web browser, but I was going to leave that for last, since I want to focus on how much it can help my students (and me!) with math and STEM. I have a variety of statistics images I’m eager to try on it, so I’ll keep using the user guide I saved on my PC and NLS eReader and not worry about trying to figure out how to read it on the Monarch yet. Yes, they definitely need to make it more intuitive to read it on the Monarch.

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Hey William,
You know I never thought of setting the time. Thanks for reminding me and I’ll do it tonight. My ancient Android phone automatically sets the time when I move between time zones, and it no longer connects to cellular, as it has no Sim card, just wi-fi. And it’s running Android 6 or 7 I think. I use it more as a tablet. So I wonder why the Monarch couldn’t have auto-set the time and known my time zone from my location. Maybe I have to set my location, or maybe it’s because it has no GPS. But my PC has no GPS and it auto-sets the time zone. Curious!
Regarding you charging it; for you it didn’t turn on automatically? It did for me.
Regarding bookshare: I agree. Daisy will reflow no matter the size of your display. So many of my students who started with bookshare had to use BRF which made navigation so difficult, so I’m glad we are seeing more displays that can do daisy Braille!
I’ll be really curious to see what you do with yours. I don’t think they will have a terminal mode right away, unfortunately. If it is marketed mainly to K-12 (because they can get it on federal quota) there will be less need. Most of the blind students I get these days have very limited knowledge of using Windows or the Mac because they used Braille note-takers for everything. I don’t agree that this is good but it’s a reality. And here in California the department of rehab tends to want to buy iPads for blind students instead of computers. But that’s off-topic.
In my original post, I forgot to mention that I was disappointed with the About dialog. It did say I was running Android 13, but I could find no About for Keysoft, to tell me if I’d successfully updated. It did say all updates were applied, but I would have been more re-assured to see an actual version number. Then again I was getting pretty sleepy at the end and no longer had a firm grasp in the obvious!

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The unboxing and initial setup were successful. The included Braille guide and quick guided tutorial proved helpful in getting started. I was surprised by the machine’s larger-than-expected size. While the buttons are easy to recall, their spread-out placement isn’t ideal; I’d prefer them to be more clustered. My next steps are to practice the zoom function while exploreing the available images. I’m also interested in learning if it’s possible to create custom tactile images of objects for exploration. Furthermore, I wonder if there’s a setting to have text appear at the bottom of the membrane when writing documents, allowing it to wrap and move upwards as I type.
I’m Daniel Martinez, from Texas.

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Apparently software is under development that can convert BRF files to the recently proposed eBraille format, which doesn’t impose a fixed line length, as it’s based on EPUB, but provides translated braille. As I recall, Duxbury Systems was said to be working on the problem.

I am also interested in the forthcoming braille terminal mode. I have Linux, macOS, Windows and iOS available here, so I can work with whichever screen readers support it as they release updates. David Woodbridge of HumanWare Australia noted in a podcast that NVDA support was on the way; Apple hasn’t made any announcement yet. Linux support is likely, assuming that the required technical details are disclosed to the software developers. ChromeOS uses BRLTTY, the same braille display tool familiar to Linux users, so that should follow in due course if BRLTTY starts to support the Monarch. Based on what I’ve read, ChromeOS is popular in primary and secondary education, and this may help to motivate BRLTTY development.

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Difficulty reading braille on the surface of the membrane was the cause of complaint for one participant in a recent mailing list discussion, but no one else has so far reported this as a problem in any of the online conversations in which I’ve participated. The cell components are reportedly very sensitive to contaminants as the User Guide states, hence the protection is justified as you acknowledge. I worry that the Monarch - especially the display components - will pose a difficult maintenance and repair challenge for whoever provides the hardware support. On the other hand, conventional piezoelectric braille display cell technology has definitely posed maintenance difficulties and it hasn’t been as reliable as I would like. The most reliable braille display I own dates from 2005, and it’s still functioning perfectly, having had its battery replaced and cells cleaned twice over the years. Newer piezoelectric displays have been less reliable for me. I take due care and keep my hands clean.

The Monarch I received didn’t start until it was fully charged and I held the power button. I tried to start it after first connecting the charger, but it didn’t respond - perhaps the battery was completely flat. None of my braille displays can operate without a charged battery, so perhaps the Monarch is similar.

I think learning to read and understand documentation is an important skill for students to cultivate. I learned to do it in childhood, and this skill has served well since then. I find documentation, practice and community all to be invaluable in learning to make effective use of technology.

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Like many of you, my initial surprise was at the size and weight of the device. I knew it would be big but it was still surprising how heavy and large it is. For students wanting to take this back and forth to school, I do wonder how possible that will be along with hte rest of items students have to carry. I could not have carried this around with me during high school and college. That being said, maybe the expectation is to keep it more stationery in a math or science lab.

My initial setup of my monarch did not go smoothly but tech support was great in helping me. I did plug it in as soon as I got it and it immediately booted but got stuck on the startup screen prior to the butterfly being displayed. I tried powering it off and on a few times and eventually, the “starting keysoft” message flashed on the display continuously. Even after a full charge, it was doing this so with the help of tech support, I hooked it up to a visual monitor with an HDMI chord and put it in android recovery mode to put it back to factory settings. Once this was successfully done, thankfully it booted normally. The display was a bit buggy during the recovery mode activation and I ended up asking my sighted husband for help in making sure the correct item was selected to factory reset it. Interestingly, we could not get recovery mode to activate without hooking it up to a visual monitor. I do think this should be changed and there should be an easier way to reset the device to factory settings if something like this happens for a new user.

In terms of learning the device, although the box included a braille quickstart guide, it would’ve really been helpful to have included a few keystrokes, like accessibility volume control, setting the date as others mentioned, and other basic functions. I had to look in the key command summary which I had previously downloaded to find the accessibility volume keystroke. This also could’ve been included in the startup tutorial. I did love the tutorial, I thought it was fun, engaging, and although I already knew all the basic concepts it was teaching, I thought it’d be great for students or for sighted teachers learning how to use the device.

While exploring the language profiles, it asks you to pick a voice and mentions you can download new voices in the key updater app. But I do not see a way to delete a voice once downloaded. I now have an extra voice downloaded which I ended up not liking but don’t have a way of freeing up space and deleting it. I agree that it would be really helpful to listen to a sample of each voice rather than just see the name of each one before wasting storage space on downloading it.

I have used humanware products in the past but I think it could be confusing for people to have two separate menus and key commands for keysoft options and android options. I agree that not having a way of looking up computer braille symbols makes typing in passwords for wifi a lot more difficult. Thankfully my password was easier but I generally don’t know most punctuation in computer braille.

The update to the latest keysoft version did take a while even though I also have fast internet. However, the update went smoothly thankfully.

I did try reading the user guide on the device and agree it would be nice to more easily navigate it. I do feel like there are things missing from the user guide like setting the time, voice profiles and managing voices, and possibly other things I haven’t noticed yet.

I am excited to learn more about reading pdf files. I did already try importing a family history visual that we use in genetics in a pdf format but unfortunatley the diagram was not really readable even when zoomed in. I am not very good at reading tactile graphics however. I have had fun exploring the TGIL and wish I had someone to help give me context when looking at tactile graphics since I was never taught this as a student.

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I do think it’s interesting you mention how the braille feels underneath the membrane. This was a surprise to me as well even though I knew a membrane was involved. Overall, I can read the braille fine but do think sometimes the spacing looks a bit funky as well as the “softness” of the dots. Younger students may have more trouble reading this more due to the spacing and if they are used to reading braille on paper or other displays, this will feel very different.

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Hi Deborah,

Glad to see you here!

I plugged my Monarch into a surge protector. I’m guessing your laptop wanted to make it boot up.

In the Victor Reader, Bookshare has a choice of either epub or daisy3. I like epub. A hint for you, well, a couple:

Press space plus H for context sensitive help. This will give you an explanation of the screen you are on and some keystrokes.

Press space plus T to get a table of contents. I find this to be better when viewing NFB Newsline content. When trying to navigate with headings, I am finding pressing dot 2 for heading 2 appears to skip some articles. I love the concept of navigating by heading with the braille dot equivalent of the heading number. Dot 1 for heading 1, dot 6 for heading 6.

Someone mentioned a mailing list. Do we have one for the Monarch? If so, what is the information to subscribe?

Happy flying!

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I’ve been thinking about portability as well. I suspect the Monarch is lighter than a Perkins brailler, which I struggled at times to carry in primary and early secondary school. It’s undoubtedly smaller and lighter than my first laptop computer (1990). At least a student or professional is unlikely to need to carry embossed braille volumes alongside it.

I also have the practical question whether it will fit into my backpack. I’ll find out when the need arises.

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I had the same problem last night with my Monarch. It was fully charged, had worked the night before but wouldn’t boot. I had to hold power for 20 seconds and then finally it did start Keysoft but took a long time. Seems like it should make some sound or show some cascading dots to show the operating system is still loading – an equivalent of the Windows hourglass.
I also found what I think is a serious bug in the User Guide app. Each time you pan down, speech reads the first few lines of the text that was previously on the Braille display, not the text that has now appeared due to panning. Plus not everything is read, so if you don’t know Braille, it’s not possible to read that user guide with speech.
The standard Victor keystroke Space with G doesn’t read anything either.
Also there’s the web browser keystrokes for moving among headings, and though dots 1 2 and 3 … work for moving to their respective heading levels, the letter h doesn’t move to the next heading. The Enter with O moves to the next section, but you have to issue that command to get there; you cannot go there by panning or by trying to figure out what the next heading is.
The Help screens for the user guide – same help screens as in the web browser – are great, but a new user might need a reminder at the top of the user guide to press Chord-H to read that help.
Honestly, you should not need to get help to read a user guide. It should simply be there and so easy to navigate that no help is necessary.
All and all, I think this user guide is very poorly implemented. It is very easy to find and read the user guide on other humanware products for example, the VR Streams, Brailliant and NLS eReader.

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I also am a Linux user, and a Windows tech in my job. The APH newsletter I got this morning says Freedom is working on multi-line support for the Monarch, so I’m also looking forward to that.
Was it your experience that though the software is a bit glitchy, reading multi-line Braille is really fun? I pretended I didn’t know Braille to test out the user guide, but turned the speech off after that, and found it super neat to read and pan, read and pan, my fingers just flying along. The membrane didn’t bother me at all, though I noted in a previous post it could be an issue for a new learner. However it’s a blessing in disguise, because that index card with a friend’s phone number that gets squashed in your pocket will be easy for a new reader to still read, after working with the somewhat fainter dots on the Monarch!
Anyway, I was so excited about the fluidity of the reading experience that I downloaded several things from bookshare, really enjoying its implementation of my reading list and also that when I assign books to students they will have access to that reading list as well. The epub support seems very good and the reading experience was completely fluid.
I’m taking comparative politics, and I downloaded that textbook and read my assigned chapter. Worked great and I could read much faster on the Monarch than on a single-line display.
My next experiment is to begin doing math, though I am supposed for Express activity 2 to begin working with the tactile graphics.

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I agree, I’m hoping the terminal mode becomes available soon! Of course I will need to buy a JAWS update to get that I expect. I do also use my iphone to read and reply to medical record questions from patients and would love to be able to do this with the monarch as I think proofreading will be much easier! My husband works at Apple and is on the braille team and altough he can’t tell me much due to Apple’s “secrets,” I do know they are aware and are working on it as well. I sadly don’t have a bookshare membership so haven’t tried downloading any books.

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Yeah, bookshare has gotten expensive. But if you take even a P.E. class you are considered a student and can get a free membership that way.

Also check with your regional library; some of them are giving out bookshare membrships to patrons.

I imported some epub files I got from the local public library and could read them fine as well.

I suspect adults and college students will want a terminal mode to connect to computers, and students in K12 and their teachers will be happier using it in a stand-alone mode.

If you read patient records you might find 32 cells to be somewhat confining as you will loos a lot of spatial information. I find that’s true looking at student records with Braille displays I’ve used.

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I’m also very impressed with the reading experience, which is so much better than being confined to a single line and having to use navigation buttons so often. I read scholarly books and journal articles frequently. Reading, writing and editing text are a large component of what I do personally and professionally. I wish this had been available when I proofread my Ph.D. thesis, a slow task on a single-line display.

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Hey @Jason - If you’re on Facebook, check out the Monarch Users Group. Several folks have shared recommendations for backpacks that fit the Monarch there! I’ve found it fits well in my travel backpack from target.

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So I spent most of yesterday playing with the Monarch and taking random notes. My internet was out due to a tree trimmer accidentally cutting the fiber cable, but that meant I couldn’t do my regular remote at home work, and since I’d downloaded many files to the Monarch, I had a chance to explore. I am saving most of my comments about the tactile graphics viewer for Express activity 2, especially because I want to download more graphics first. And I’m here in the office today where I can collect PDF files from all the PIAF images I’ve prepared for students.
Here, then are my random notes taken while I was exploring:
A few more notes: I managed to crash KeyBrf four times in one hour. I typed in a paragraph, and tried to select two sentences to move it somewhere. At that point it crashed.
I went to the app switcher and ensured nothing was running. a few things were, so I closed them all.
Tried it again, same problem.
This time I closed all apps and opened KeyBRF fresh because it had been open last time. But it happened again. It was just a normal fifteen-line paragraph with literary UEB.
I do type fast, so maybe that’s the issue. I am making almost no mistakes on this keyboard, whereas I still cannot type on the focus or Varioultra without making many mistakes. So that’s good. But regular crashing is not.
I remember the early Brailliants had the same problem; KeyBRF was very fragile and would regularly crash when you attempted to select text.
I’m now taking minutes for a zoom meeting and using KeyWord. And I have the host recording it, just in case this Monarch crashes in KeyWord too! Nothing Does seem to have an auto-save which would be good or a recover file option.
I used to be a software engineer; I know fixing bugs is really hard. But a product will live in the closet if its interface is inconsistent or unreliable.
I notice in the file manager that it’s somewhat confusing to determine where the focus is because the lefthand column has the symbol for folders which is the same and is right beside the indicator for the focus.
And when I do Select or select all in file manager and KeyBRF, I’m sometimes not seeing dots 7 and 8 appear to show me what is selected. Speech also doesn’t say a file or folder or text is selected when you move over it. But I rebooted and now it does show what’s selected so I’ll have to test more to figure out what makes this occur.
Point and click takes some getting used to as I always used cursor routing buttons. But I’m getting the hang of it.
In File manager, when I look at my USB drive, I still see all these Android specific files, even though they were not originally on that drive: Alarms, Audiobooks, DCIM, Documents, Downloads, Movies, music, notifications, pictures, podcasts, recordings, ringtones – this is confusing as if lots of leftovers from Android are still hanging around. This tablet cannot take pictures, for example, so why is there a DCIM folder? And are people going to watch movies on it?
Also if you want to simply select the contents of a flash drive (select all) you cannot because all these Android phantom folders are being shown. So you have to select every folder or file individually, if you have a lot of files in the USB drive’s root directory.
I did do a select all, and copied my files from my USB drive to a folderr on the Monarch I created named Import. And sure enough, all those Android-specific folders came right along with my own files. When I put my USB flash drive back in to my PC all those empty Android folders had been copied on the USB flash drive!
The backspace does not move back to the previous folder in file manager and unlike the Brailliant or eReader there is no back button. There is also not a “back” on the context menu. Yet backspace moves through the files and through the menus backwards. I have to remember it is Chord E sometimes and backspace if you are just backing up at the same level.
And no Exit on the context menus either. Yes you can do space with E, but why cannot an “exit” choice be part of every menu? Not all our users will memorize the plethora of keystrokes!
If you are in an empty folder, the Braille displays “no items” which is not intuitive. Rather it should show the current file path, and then Folder is empty, which would be much clearer.
Because there is enough screen real estate, there’s never a reason to show only one line of Braille with a non-intuitive message.
For example \storage\documents\homework on the first line and then “folder is empty” or the list of files following that path on the first line. And doing a point and click on the pathname could also move back to the parent folder, or like Apache folders, there could always be a link (point and click element) for parent directory.
Without a pathname at the top of the screen, it can be difficult to know where you are in the file structure.
The “Move to” is not the way that finder or Windows explorer work, so if we want our students to be able to manage files on computers, they really should be doing cut and paste.
When I select an epub book in File manager, I get “Please Wait” but nothing ever happens. Shouldn’t it import to Victor Reader automatically?
The same occurred when I selected the Treasure Island E-Braille book. It said “please wait” and I waited, and waited, but it never imported.
When I select an NLS Braille zipped book, and the zip folder opens and I press enter on the BOPF file which contains the book’s metadata, it says “cannot open file”. Should that not also be imported to Victor Reader?
If I select one of the BRF volumes, the same thing occurs, and in both cases the error message is read with speech but not shown in Braille.
The extra step to unzip and/or import is something that a user-friendly interface should not require from users, especially beginners. With computers, you select a file and the relevant application opens automatically or you are prompted to choose an application.
I was able to open BRF files that were not in a zip directory fine, and I appreciated having a standard “open with” dialog.
I was glad APH had provided a shortcut list in BRF which opened fine in KeyBrf. However like the History of APH Braille file which I found in the samples folder, it is formatted for embossing on a 40-character line. KeyBRF or Victor Reader with Braille should auto-format a BRF to fit the screen and remove blank lines and extra spaces, but include the leading spaces for paragraphs and this could be a user option. Braille reflow on BARD mobile and the eReader works similarly and is quite helpful for reading.
The Monarch Shortcut Cheat Sheet which was an accessible PDF did open but in the tactile viewer.
And speaking of the tactile viewer it was very nice to have a whole samples directory to work with in the tactile viewer. That wasn’t mentioned in the user guide.
You can open multiple documents in Keyword which is great if you create print, but what if you are writing notes in a Braille file and want to keep your notes separate? What if you are using the multi-line display to work a math problem using KeyBrf as a scratch pad, and you want multiple pieces of “paper” available? And what if you want to write grade 3 Braille or music notation; you can of course, but KeyBrf should be feature-rich because Braille is a good thing.
Looks like I have to save or exit the current file before opening another one in KeyBRF.
KeyBRF needs a keystroke to move up or down by lines but remain in the same column. This would make it much easier to work a math problem or create any sort of tabular data.
KeyBRF can move the cursor by character with the usual chord dots 3 for left and chord dot 6 for right. But chord with dot 2 doesn’t move by word which is the convention for other Braille editors and chord with dot 5 doesn’t move one word right. Chord dot 4 moves down a line in help but not in the Braille editor and chord with dot one moves back a line in help but not in the Braille editor. These typical movements chord with dots 2 or five for word backwards and forwards and chord dots 1 or 4 for line backwards or forwards work just fine in KeyWord, but not in KeyBRF.
The cursor can be a little hard to feel in both editors, especially with the display being less sharp due to the membrane. Perhaps if it blinked or there was a “move to cursor” shortcut keystroke. I sometimes have a little trouble locating it.
Having a “music” volume control and an “accessibility” volume control might be great for an Android phone or tablet but it adds extra confusion here, since this is not a music player. And which of these two volumes do the hardware buttons for volume, control, anyway?
I spent some time opening and reading a Word doc for an early chapter in a calculus book and I could actually, amazingly understand the material. The book had been specially prepared for a JAWS user using the equation editor, and it displayed in Braille absolutely fine. It was wonderful to easily skim back and forth, to repeat a line I didn’t understand. My math skills are abysmal, but maybe that’s because I was trying to “get it” with just speech! Maybe differential equations aren’t really hard at all!
I tried to work a simple math problem in KeyBrf: 761 times 450. I wrote this in nemeth with the 761 above the 450.
Then as if using a Braille writer, I tried to get my cursor under the 0. I quickly learned that this “canvas” was not like a piece of paper. I created ten blank lines to enlarge my canvas, went back to the 450, positioned my finger on the zero, moved down a line and tried to point and click. Still no good. There have to be actual spaces in the text before the cursor can move there. Otherwise it just moves to the lefthand side on the line below and you have to space over to carefully align the numbers. I suppose this takes practice on a Brailler too, but I found it hard to do. The cursor half covers the dropped numerals of nemeth. And because the editor is in insert mode, as it should be, it’s hard to retain alignment of numbers.
We therefore either need to add features to KeyBRF or build a “math canvas” which behaves like using paper in a Braille writer. Ideally, you’d point to anywhere on your canvas, and begin entering Braille nemeth so you could maintain spatially the relationship between numbers.
I guess folks with more advanced math thinking ability could cope with trying to work math in this editor, but not me. Until this occurs, doing math will have to happen more in one’s head, something I find difficult. And with four busted Braille writers, I was really looking forward to have a point and click “math canvas” to work with, just as a person with a pencil operates.
I also found because the dots cannot refresh when I’m touching them, it is hard to line up columns of numbers, because you want to be touching the dots to check that you’ve spaced over far enough or that you need to backspace.
Of course letting KeyMath do the work of calculating for me was a whole lot easier. However in elementary school, I think you still have to work out the problems yourself. I don’t think I’m practicing long division on this thing!
When I look at File Info, both in Victor Reader and in KeyWord, Speech only reads a small portion of what’s displayed in Braille. Also when I open a Word file from File manager rather than in KeyWord, it isn’t defaulting to Read-only mode like the user guide claims. It does open in read-only mode if I open it from KeyWord.
I think having the speech consistently read everything is important if this is being marketed to those just learning Braille and having all those Braille learning tables included seems to imply that. Using the Help I see also that to read with speech you must navigate line by line with chord dot 4 for forward or chord dot 1 for back a line. Seems like speech should simply read the entire help screen, especially if the user was just learning Braille.
Perhaps there could be a setting to enable all speech or just have it read the focus. And in cases where speech reads an error message that doesn’t appear in Braille, I think that’s something too that has to be remedied.
Later: I got my minutes typed and formatted in KeyWord. I had to fix a few things in Microsoft Word but it was due to my newness in using the app, not due to the Monarch. KeyWord is really fun and easy to use, and it was nice to type my minutes while listening to the zoom meeting on my phone. I was also able to cut and paste between documents both in KeyWord and KeyBRF. I also pasted the expression list in to KeyBrf. Very, very nice!.
But now I tried to pull up Victor Reader from the main menu and it said “Please Wait” for the past five minutes.
I think it’s time to shut it down and continue another day.
Now some of the things I think are bugs could be just my lack of understanding or a shortcut I forgot. But I’m noting it all here, because I know you want us fully experimenting with the Monarch.
As a former software engineer I know about the concept of Use Cases, which guides coders in developing programs that respond to users’ expectations. I am hoping the coders here follow this valuable object oriented model.
I feel testing all this matters, because sighted teachers may not be fluent Braille users, whereas many of us “risers” are. I’m amazed how much better my comprehension is when reading multi-line Braille! I can read so fast and it is ever so fun!

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