Hi, Stacey and List,
There are several ways to write unicode characters using the BN QWERTY. I
will describe three quick ways.
You may or may not know this, but each unicode character is assigned a
specific number. The numbers for the Spanish lower-case acute accented
letters are:
a 0225. e 0233. i 0237. n tilde 0241. o 0243. u 250.
Inverted Exclamation mark 0161.
Inverted question mark 0191.
First Method: Uses BN QT keyboard:
1. Press function x.
2. Type the number assigned for the character. For example, the lower-case a
acute is 0225.
3. Press enter.
Second method: Uses external usb keyboard:
1. Connect an external keyboard that has a number pad to the BN.
2. Turn on numlock.
3. Hold down the alt key and press the number assigned to the character you
want without the 0. For example, hold down the alt key and press 225 to
write an a acute.
This method may seem more cumbersome because you need to use an external
keyboard, but you don't have to type function x before you type the
character and you don't have to typ a 0. You don't have to press the enter
key. You can still use the built-in qwerty keyboard so if you need to use
the function key, you can do it.
Method 3: Uses home row of the built-in qwerty keyboard as braille style
keyboard:
1. Go to the braille options menu. Select the Spanish computer braille table
as your computer braille table. This method won't work with the U.S. table.
2. When you are back in your document, press control g then type the letter
c to change your keyboard entry from qwerty to computer braille.
3. Type the unicode characters using the computer braille symbols.
The braille dots for the lower-case Spanish letters are:
a 123568. e 23468. i 348. n tilde 124568. o 3468. u 234568.
Inverted exclamation mark 2358.
Inverted question mark 258.
Note: Dot 8 is the semicolon key. Dot 7 is the a key.
The advantage of method 3 is you can write the unicode characters using one
keystroke. The disadvantage is you must write all of the document in
computer braille using the home row so you don't have to change grades back
and forth. If you already know the 6 dot symbols U.S. braille uses for the
Spanish symbols, then all you have to do is add dot 8. That makes the
learning curve much easier. But if you don't know them, then method 1 or 2
might be best.
If you need to know the assignments for the upper-case letters, let me know.
I don't remember Spanish using any upper-case accented letters, but it's
been many years since I've studied Spanish.
All of these methods are faster than searching through the unicode tables to
find the symbol. They are also faster than assigning macros for the unicode
characters and invoking a macro.
One more disadvantage of method 3 is the Spanish computer braille table uses
different numbers than the U.S. computer braille. Personally, I prefer
reading lower-cell numbers to the weird upper-cell arrangement of the
Spanish numbers.
If you choose to keep the U.S. computer braille as your default computer
braille table, then you will need to assign dots for the symbols. If you
don't, you'll see a blank cell when you write a unicode symbol or you will
see $ch followed by a description of the character. I can tell you how to do
this in another post.
I hope this isn't too confusing.
Terri Amateur Radio call sign KF6CA.
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