What is New in MegaDots 2.3

MegaDots 2.3 has a Windows Installation Program

Installation is much easier. Here are the key details:

• Make sure you have Administrative Privileges before you install MegaDots 2.3. If you don't, the installation will fail, and the error message will not explain the problem.
• Default installation is to c:\Program Files\mega23
• You specify the default directory where MegaDots files are stored. The default is c:\Megawork.
• Installation requires the CD-ROM or executable file and a password. You no longer need a floppy disk for a license disk.
• If you do not have the correct serial number, password combination, the demo MegaDots is installed instead.
• The installation process copies personalized files from c:\mega to the new directory
• Two desktop icons are installed (for using MegaDots with and without speech)
• Five icons are added to the Duxbury folder in the Programs portion of the Start Menu: two for MegaDots, one for MegaDots documentation, one for Command Line and one for Embossit 2.0 (see below)
• The installation registers .meg files as MegaDots files for Windows. Thus you can click on a .meg file in Windows Explorer, and Windows opens the file in the MegaDots application.
• The icons are designed to open MegaDots so that your working directory is c:\megawork (or the alternative directory that you specified).
• Installation is designed for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP.
• Be aware that the installation program no longer puts the MegaDots program directory in the standard path. If the user runs MegaDots from the DOS Command line, this is something you should do manually. See path in the Reference Manual and Chapter 19 (MegaDots at the Command Line).
• The installation program copies in the driver programs from Index for use with the recent Index embossers. These are installed in c:\Program Files\mega23\Drivers\Index AB (see the Interface Guide for more information about installing Index embossers).

MegaDots Documentation

MegaDots Documentation in html is now installed onto your hard drive in the directory c:\Program Files\mega23\docs. Anytime you need any information, you can press Control-escape Programs, Duxbury, MegaDots Documentation.

The entire User Manual, entire Reference Manual, and the entire Interface Guide are available as Word Files from the html Menu. You can use the Word copies to print out in your choice of fonts.

The entire User Manual, entire Reference Manual, and the entire Interface Guide are available as the top three choices when you press F11 within the MegaDots editor. You can produce these in braille very easily from within MegaDots.

The old program Megaman has been eliminated, since there are better ways to access the MegaDots documentation.

See printer.meg for a reference to inkprint printers that are compatible with MegaDots. This helps modernize the list of supported inkprint printers.

MegaDots contains Embossit 2.0

Embossit 2.0 uses the machinery of DBT 10.5 to emboss braille ready files. You can call Embossit from Start Menu, Programs, Duxbury. Or you can emboss using Embossit from within MegaDots. Since Embossit knows how to drive Tiger embossers, how to drive USB ports, and how to locate Windows devices, this greatly enhances MegaDot's ability to keep up with modern embossing systems. Embossit also comes with very good documentation on how to deal with Embossing problems. For information on using Embossit 2.0, see Chapter 5.

MegaDots contains MegaPrn

MegaPrn is a program that can take output designed for output and re-direct it to a Windows device. MegaPrn can be used for either braille or inkprint output. Again, this gives you the ability to output to USB and other devices without needing an MS-DOS driver for your USB port.

MegaDots contains MegaMath and Beginner Braille

MegaDots 2.3 always comes with these features built in. You can read about them in the menu of documentation.

MegaDots 2.3 comes with chemistry symbols built into MegaMath.

Using Nemeth translation, the long dash (----) and right arrow symbols and plural abbreviations like "VCRs" now translate properly into braille.

Some items are easier to find in the Math items list, such as the Long division sign.

MegaDots has new fixes for British Braille

MegaDots' British translation of words has been modified to conform with new 2004 British rules. For example, the (ness) contraction is now allowed in "lioness."

MegaDots now supports the new British rules for Italics.

MegaDots supports the rules for a caps passage, including the use of contractions for "to," "by," and "into" within a caps passage.

Access to the DOS Command Line

Previous version of MegaDots have documented going to the command line by pressing Alt-F10 inside of MegaDots. While this still works, it is not the best approach (though very handy when you are in MegaDots).

You can get into the command line by clicking on the Comamnd Line for MegaDots item in the Programs, Duxbury Group. If you do this, you will notice that the DOS window is full sized. This is appropriate for sighted persons. Blind persons using a speech program such as JAWS or Window-Eyes need to use the "window" sized screen. If the smaller screen is needed, right click on the icon, select properties, screen, and then click on the Window button (instead of full size).

New Style Sheet LIT-NLS

We have become aware of some differences between literary braille as recommended by BANA and NLS. These differences are largely reflected in the style sheets LITERARY.SS and LIT-NLS.SS. The LIT-NLS style sheet is like LITERARY except that it formats multi-level poetry and outlines as in Textbook Format. Preliminary page numbers in LIT-NLS resemble the preliminary page numbers in Textbook format.

Other Changes

• The demo version of MegaDots allows use of the Math translator (MegaMath). The demo version does not allow use of Beginner Braille menu, since Beginner Braille menu needs to save files (the major restriction of the demo).
• The long standing bug where you lose the cursor when MegaDots did a Windows operation (such as importing a Word file) has been eliminated.
• We have improved the JAWS script files for MegaDots to be more compatible with refreshable braille access and also work with JAWS version 6. There are other changes to make MegaDots work smoother with JAWS.
• We have made it possible for MegaDots to work with Window-Eyes. The Window-Eyes version 5.0 set files use the same hot keys that we have used with JAWS.
• We have added support for the German estset character. Enter as a Greek beta (Alt-G b). Outside of Nemeth, the translator will treat it like an estset if it follows a vowel. Otherwise, MegaDots treats it like a beta. When importing a Word file, the estset character becomes a beta in MegaDots, so these are handled automatically.
• We are now supporting the Euro character.
• We have improved the INS-GR macro for embedding a graphic in a MegaDots document and the system for handling the graphic material.
• The file type "Spacing same braille" has been renamed "Retain blank lines" to avoid confusion with the "Spacing same" paragraph style.
• The Reference Manual is now in one file (refman.meg) instead of being broken into 6 separate files.
• The MegaDots documentation no longer contains sales literature. If you want to learn about our products, check our web site.
• MegaDots now prefers to produce ready formatted files as BRF files instead of BFM files. This conforms to Duxbury DBT usage.
• MegaDots now recognizes braille fonts (fonts whose names contain "braille") and puts that text into "exact translation".
• The HTML importer has been improved to be able to handle accented and typographical characters stored in the UTF-8 format. MegaDots can now import UTF-8 textfiles if the textfiles are marked with the three byte "EF BB BF" UTF-8 header. The HTML importer now copes if there are HTML commands that are inside of other HTML commands.
• When you run a rules file, MegaDots does not tell you the percentage done quite so often. Doing so too often caused a crash if you were using JAWS.
• The Gap for Graphics bug in versions 2.1 and 2.2 has been fixed.
• We have discovered that the "Make Protect" feature does not work, and has not worked since July, 1999 due to changes in a complex routine that decides whether a page break can be placed at a particular location. We have introduced a feature so that if the environmental variable RNIB_PAGE is set to 1, the July 1999 code is substituted. Be careful, this may degrade some features in MegaDots.

Contact Information

• Duxbury Systems
• 270 Littleton Road, Unit 6
• Westford, MA 01886
• USA
• Sales: +1-978-692-3000
• Technical help: +1-978-692-3000, ext. 310
• Fax: +1-978-692-7912
• E-mail for sales and customer service: info@duxsys.com
• E-mail for technical help: megadots@duxsys.com
• Web: http://www.duxburysystems.com

Check our Web Site

The website http://www.duxburysystems.com has information about DBT and about MegaDots. Check it often for information about products from Duxbury Systems and other items of interest to you.