From f7511d5f66f01fc451747b24e79f3ada7a3af9af Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samuel Thibault Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:54:51 -0700 Subject: Basic braille screen reader support This adds a minimalistic braille screen reader support. This is meant to be used by blind people e.g. on boot failures or when / cannot be mounted etc and thus the userland screen readers can not work. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix exports] Signed-off-by: Samuel Thibault Cc: Jiri Kosina Cc: Dmitry Torokhov Acked-by: Alan Cox Cc: Randy Dunlap Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds --- Documentation/braille-console.txt | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt | 5 +++++ 2 files changed, 39 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/braille-console.txt (limited to 'Documentation') diff --git a/Documentation/braille-console.txt b/Documentation/braille-console.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..000b0fbdc10 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/braille-console.txt @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ + Linux Braille Console + +To get early boot messages on a braille device (before userspace screen +readers can start), you first need to compile the support for the usual serial +console (see serial-console.txt), and for braille device (in Device Drivers - +Accessibility). + +Then you need to specify a console=brl, option on the kernel command line, the +format is: + + console=brl,serial_options... + +where serial_options... are the same as described in serial-console.txt + +So for instance you can use console=brl,ttyS0 if the braille device is connected +to the first serial port, and console=brl,ttyS0,115200 to override the baud rate +to 115200, etc. + +By default, the braille device will just show the last kernel message (console +mode). To review previous messages, press the Insert key to switch to the VT +review mode. In review mode, the arrow keys permit to browse in the VT content, +page up/down keys go at the top/bottom of the screen, and the home key goes back +to the cursor, hence providing very basic screen reviewing facility. + +Sound feedback can be obtained by adding the braille_console.sound=1 kernel +parameter. + +For simplicity, only one braille console can be enabled, other uses of +console=brl,... will be discarded. Also note that it does not interfere with +the console selection mecanism described in serial-console.txt + +For now, only the VisioBraille device is supported. + +Samuel Thibault diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt index 3ce193f8656..0ba0861b5d1 100644 --- a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt +++ b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt @@ -496,6 +496,11 @@ and is between 256 and 4096 characters. It is defined in the file switching to the matching ttyS device later. The options are the same as for ttyS, above. + If the device connected to the port is not a TTY but a braille + device, prepend "brl," before the device type, for instance + console=brl,ttyS0 + For now, only VisioBraille is supported. + earlycon= [KNL] Output early console device and options. uart[8250],io,[,options] uart[8250],mmio,[,options] -- cgit v1.2.3