DBT for MS-Windows Product History

Version/Build Entered (Released)

DBT 10.7 SR1 / 2009-3-18 (2009-6-5)

Here is a list of what's new since DBT 10.7:

Win 7DBT works on Windows 7 with the same issues DBT experiences with Vista.
Swedish Flag Swedish encoding of braille documents has been added.
French Flag French fonts have been renamed to be compatible with DBT’s Word importer. Versions of the fonts shipped with DBT 10.7 were not being recognized for purposes of reading in braille text marked up to avoid “double translation”.
French Flag A new French encoding for braille documents, “French Chiffres”, has been added. The standard “French” braille encoding for braille documents has been modified to match updated standards; the older encoding is now called “French 6 points”. (These changes are in display.cpt.)
French Flag Revised French documentation, and revised French DBT and Word templates. These changes should affect only those who use adaptations to DBT developed at AVH for use in producing French braille.
Translators Translation improvements have been made to these tables:
Flag of the United States English/American (literary and textbook templates) -- Both American tables have been updated to conform to new rules regarding partially-emphasized words, and for improved handling of Greek letters within English context. A new "variation" code has been added to permit entering fractions more conveniently using a simple slash, e.g. 1/2 for one-half, when appropriate (as in cookbooks).
Egypt FlagUnited Arab Emirates Flag Arabic -- Additional Unicode characters are now supported, as well as the standard "Arabic" page.
Bulgarian Flag Bulgarian -- (Minor update only.)
Greek Flag Modern Greek -- Additional Unicode characters, as well as the standard basic "Greek" page, are now supported. The Nemeth Code is now supported for mathematics.
Flag of the United Kingdom English/British -- Corrections and improvements were made to the logic for inserting clarifying parentheses into algebraic fractions. The handling of mixed numbers imported from LaTeX documents was corrected. Other corrections affected the handling of certain apostrophe-letter endings in grade 1, embedded German, and other miscellaneous situations.
Flag of the United Nations English/Unified -- These tables were extensively updated to conform more closely to the latest transcriber rules for capitalization, shortform usage, lower-sign contraction usage, and other miscellaneous matters. A new pair of commands, [ucs] ... [uce], have been provided to allow manual control of capital passage extent when desired.
French Flag French/Unified -- The treatment of apostrophe (') has been corrected in [cz;f] mode. Certain capital passage and double-sign issues have also been addressed.
Croatian Flag Croatian -- (Internal update only -- no functional change.)
kazakistan Flag Kazakh -- Arabic script (as well as Cyrillic script) is now accepted as input.
Malaysian Flag Malay -- The logic for contraction usage has been extensively updated.
Norwegian Flag Norwegian -- The logic for contraction usage has been improved, and the treatment of comma within numbers corrected. Support for contracted English embedded within Norwegian has been removed, as such text is normally uncontracted.
Russian Flag Russian -- Arabic script (as well as Cyrillic script) is now accepted as input.
Ukrainian Flag Ukrainian -- Arabic script (as well as Cyrillic script) is now accepted as input.
EmbossersImprovements have been made for these embossers:
Tiger All supported Tiger models: DBT has been updated to meet the requirements of the latest drivers from ViewPlus. (However, we are not adding to DBT 10.7 SR1 support for any Tiger embosser models not supported by DBT 10.7.)
Tiger Tiger Pro Ink: ink placement has been corrected; ink placement, font choice and font size can also be adjusted, though this presently requires registry “tinkering”.
VP Duo VersaPoint Duo: graphics support improved.
PED-30 PED-30 plate embossers: more “handshaking” options have been added, and the inclusion of a blank “last side” when there are an odd number of sides to emboss has been suppressed, saving the operator loading a plate at the end of a job only to see it come through without any embossing.
Thiel Thiel Beta X-3: additional paper sizes are now supported.
Gemini A defect in interline print output on Gemini embossers has been corrected.
ImportDBT’s Word importer will support use of the Math12 font. This change is in wrduni.txt, along with myriad other changes geared toward future support of new languages, as in chitab.txt.


DBT 10.7 / 2008-5-20 (2008-06-23)

Here is a list of what's new since DBT 10.6 SR4:

Direct imports of math in Word documents with MathType 5 or 6 installed

DBT's Word importer supports importation of mathematical expressions created with either MathType or Equation Editor. It does *not* support math typed directly into the text. That will still come in as it always has.

The importer requires that either MathType 6 or MathType 5 be installed and activated. They can be installed anywhere (i.e. they do not need to be installed within the DBT folder). MathType is a powerful interactive tool for Windows and Macintosh that lets you create mathematical notation for word processing, web pages, desktop publishing, presentations, and for TeX, LaTeX, and MathML documents. DBT's importing of MathType expression works only with Microsoft Word files.

Updated BANA translation

English/American: The BANA 2007 updates have been implemented (see http://www.brailleauthority.org/update07.html), notably including the two-cell slash, the use of the termination sign instead of hyphen to signal the end of the effect of the double capital sign, and other updated rules and added symbols. A control ("[big]") was added to provide for enlarged enclosure symbols in Nemeth Code.

Updated BAUK translation

A facility has been added to enable "locking" of the grade of translation, primarily to facilitate production of texts entirely in grade 1 despite the presence of [g2] in the text or within styles. See LOCK Grade 1 or 2 for more details.

Updated UEB (Unified English Braille) Translation

English/UEB: Transcription rule decisions of the UEB Committee through January 2008 have been implemented, including those affecting the treatment of shortform words and lower signs, and the extent of grade 1 word mode when initiated by a number. The braille-to-print UEB tables have been revised to construct appropriate print (.dxp) file encoding for most math structures and certain symbols, thereby replacing some of the "double-brace" notation typically used for indicators, etc. when translating from braille to print.

NEW Pharma EBU/EC translation and template - EBU Pharma

At the time of writing (March 2008) the European Braille Union (EBU) have been discussing a proposed common/standard Pharmaceutical Braille code with European Braille Authorities to be used exclusively on medicinal packaging throughout Europe. See http://www.euroblind.org/fichiersGB/pharma.htm for more details.

For more up to date information concerning the production of Pharma Braille labels, etc., you may wish to contact our U.K. distributor http://www.techno-vision.co.uk.

NEW Esperanto translation and template.

"Esperanto is a language, but not of any country or ethnic group: it is a neutral, international language." For more details about the Esperanto language please see http://www.esperanto.net/info/index_en.html.

Updated French translation

French/Unified: The print-to-braille tables have been updated to conform more closely to the new French mathematics code. The braille-to-print tables have been updated to include common computer and currency symbols.

Support added for Enabling Technologies new Romeo Pro 50LE

At the time of writing (March 2008) Enabling Technologies Inc were in the process of manufacturing a dedicated labelling embosser. Limited to 24 cells maximum width, the output is approximately 40% faster than a standard Romeo Pro.

DBT 10.7 includes additional form depths for this embosser from 0.5 inches to 4 inches in depth in increments of 0.25 of an inch.


10.6 Service Release 4 / 2007-7-19 (2007-11-30)

Here is a list of what's new since DBT 10.6:

What's new in SR4

What was new in SR2 + SR3

These were not generally released.


10.6 Service Release 1 / 2007-2-21 (2007-2-28)

Featured Improvements

Editing Improvements

Translation and Formatting Improvements

Documentation Improvements

GOODFEEL Integration Improvements

Embosser Support Improvements

Improvements for Microsoft Word

Improvements for Scientific Notebook

JAWS Script Improvements

Braille-Build Improvements

Miscellaneous Improvements


DBT Version 10.6 / 2006-7-27 (2006-8-15)

New Features in DBT 10.6

Updated Translations

The following language translation tables have been added or substantially updated:

(Some of these have been included in service packs for DBT 10.5)

Additional Interfaces

Still More Improvements


10.5 Service Release 2 / 2005-8-18 (2005-9-1)

Corrects problems with and enhances DBT 10.5


10.5 Service Release 1 / 2004-8-23 (2004-12-1)

Corrects problems with and enhances DBT 10.5


10.5 / 2004-8-23 (2004-9-2)

Min Sys Req: Windows 98 or higher, 50 MB free hard drive space

Enhanced Installation:

User Interface:

Updates:

Embossing:

File Import:

Internationalization:

New Languages:

Folding:

Vertical Page Alignment:

Templates:

New DBT & Word Template:

Customized Word - DBT Mapping Files:

Table of Contents Generator:

Mouse Wheel:


10.4 / 2002-5-31

Min Sys Req: Windows 95 or higher, 25 MB free hard drive space


10.4 / 2002-4-16 (2002-5-9)

Min Sys Req: Windows 95 or higher, 25 MB free hard drive space


10.3 / 2001-1-9 (2001-1-26)

Min Sys Req: Windows 95 or higher, 25 MB free hard drive space


Fall 1999, last edition of MS-DOS version of DBT. Click here for the release history of DBT for MS-DOS


10;2e / 1999-6-4 (1999-6-7)

Min Sys Req: Windows 95 or higher, 25 MB free hard drive space


10;2d / 1999-3-11 (1999-3-15)


10;2 / 1998-8-13 (1998-8-18)


10;2 / 1998-2-3 (1998-2-18)


10;2 / 1997-11-26 (1997-12-1)


10;2 / 1997-10-27 (1997-10-28)


10;1 / 1997-4-8 (1997-4-9)

10;1 / 1997-3-13 (1997-3-14)

10;1 / 1996-10-2 (1996-10-2)

10;1 / 1995-12-29 (1996-8-8)


10;1 / 1995-12-29 (1995-12-29)


10;1 / 1995-9-29 (1995-10-2)


10;1 / 1995-9-8 (1995-9-11)

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