Mac OS X, ProCAT Flash, and a Keyspan Adapter

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Hello!

After some arm twisting by Mirabai (well, okay ... so all it *really* took was a quick "Hey, Glen! Mac version over here!" post on Facebook), I finally downloaded and installed the Mac version of Plover on my MacBook Pro.  I then installed the Mac driver for my Keyspan adapter -- which, for some reason, my Mac *INSISTS* is some sort of modem -- then set my Flash to Baron Transcriptor X mode and hooked everything up.

Unfortunately, there is a paucity of instructions on what to do next.  Plover insists that whatever I'm using has to be Bluetooth, and there's nothing I can do to change that.

The Mac installation instructions basically say "Click here to download the DMG (say "Disk Image")," and after that, you're on your own -- unless I'm missing something obvious.

I did read about that whole business of downloading VirtualBox, but I already have VMWare Fusion with a copy of Eclipse installed therein.  I am trying to avoid having to open *any* Windows programs, so VirtualBox is not the solution I am searching for.

Any pointers on what to do next?

Thanks .....

[Rob]

Hi,
 

... then set my Flash to Baron Transcriptor X mode and hooked everything up.

Did you use the realtime cable? If you omit it, the OS will quite probably not recognise your machine.

Also, open a command line and enter the following.

ls /dev/cu.*

Does the Keyspan adapter appear there?

Rob

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Hi, Rob.

After a few typos, I finally managed to get the command to work properly ... here's what's in there:

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Modem        /dev/cu.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync

I don't have Bluetooth on, though.  Turning it on and selecting "Set Up Bluetooth Device" gives me a window in which a perpetual search is in progress.

Wrote a couple words on my writer, but it's still not being seen in the Bluetooth Device setup window.

--gdw

[Mirabai Knight]

I'm confused about why you're using Bluetooth. Have you tried just
using the serial cable and connecting that way? Not that it shouldn't
work via Bluetooth, but if you have a USB-to-Serial converter, that's
simpler to troubleshoot.

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Hi, Mirabai.

I don't want to use Bluetooth; Plover only gives me the option to use Bluetooth when I click the Configure button.  It says "/dev/cu.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync" in what looks to be a list ... but there's nothing else in the list ....

--gdw

[Hesky Fisher]

Hi Glen,

Plover is looking for all the serial ports on your computer and it seems that all it can find is the bluetooth, which is not helpful. When the serial adapter is plugged in, something should show up in the /dev directory that represents this serial port. The fact that there is nothing there other than the bluetooth endpoints while the adapter is plugged in is a problem.

Do you know the serial number of your adapter? Which version of the operating system are you using? Maybe there is a newer version of the drivers? Looking online it seems that there can be certain compatibility issues:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4209106?start=0&tstart=0

Hesky

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[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Hi, Hesky.

I have the same serial adapter you linked to! Fortunately, I have not upgraded to Lion or Mountain Lion, so it *should* still work.

I notice there's some commands listed in the discussion on the Apple forum; I'll try those when I get home and see what happens then.

Wish me luck!

--gdw

[Hesky Fisher]

Glen,

Did you have any more luck?

Hesky

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Hi, Hesky.

My apologies for the delay in updating everybody.  That said, a (slight) correction.

The USB-serial device mentioned in the Unix snipped in the link you posted was actually two different devices -- and yes, I have both of them.  One of them, the USA28x, is designed so that someone with a modern Mac can use one of the old printers Apple used to make.  Picked up a nice Apple Color StyleWriter 2400 a few years back for ten bucks ... so naturally, I have that USB-serial adapter to make it work.

The other one that works as a PC serial device is the USA-19h device barely mentioned in that Unix snippet.

I did a search on Apple's forums for the USA-19h Keyspan adapter, and I found a link to this page:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20061109133825654

... and on that page was this small bit of AppleScript code:

tell application "Terminal"
  do script with command "screen /dev/tty.KeySerial1"
  set number of rows of window 1 to 100
  set number of columns of window 1 to 80
  set background color of window 1 to "black"
  set normal text color of window 1 to "green"
  set custom title of window 1 to "SerialOut"
end tell

I pasted that code into the AppleScript Editor (check your Utilities folder, my fellow Mac-users) with my 
Keyspan adapter attached and ran the code ... and the light on my adapter began to blink.

Big change! 

Someone later in that thread posted an addition to this code which allowed you to select your baud rate, 
so now my code looks like this:

tell application "Terminal"
	do script with command "screen /dev/tty.KeySerial1"
	set number of rows of window 1 to 100
	set number of columns of window 1 to 80
	set background color of window 1 to "black"
	set normal text color of window 1 to "green"
	set custom title of window 1 to "SerialOut"
	set baudList to {1200, 2400, 4800, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200, 230400}
	
	set baudRate to (choose from list baudList default items {9600})
	
	tell application "Terminal"
		
		set serialDevices to (do shell script "ls /dev/cu*")
		
		set theDeviceList to (paragraphs of serialDevices) as list
		
		set theDevice to (choose from list theDeviceList)
		
		do script "screen " & theDevice & " " & baudRate
		
		display dialog "To quit your terminal session type <ctrl-a> then <ctrl-\\>"
		
	end tell
end tell

Unfortunately, despite all of that (*and* running the Keyspan Serial Assistant), I can't seem to get Plover to see anything beyond the modem or PDA-Sync choices.

Then there's the problem of not knowing what to do if Plover were to actually *see* the adapter ....

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Some progress ....

I rebooted in an effort to exorcise my serial ports.  :o)

The good news:  When Iran the AppleScript mentioned in the last message and switched to the larger terminal window, I hit a few keys on my writer, and got ... well, something unreadable, so that's something.

Unfortunately, no matter what I did, Plover froze while I was trying to point it to the appropriate serial port.  Doesn't seem to like my Keyspan adapter.

--gdw

[Rob]

It seems like the Keyspan adapter is working, but instead of the /dev/cu.Keyserial1 name that Plover expects it generates a /dev/tty.Keyserial1. (It shows up on "ls /dev/tty.*" doesn't it?) You can try to appease Plover by executing the following command.

sudo ln -s /dev/tty.Keyserial1 /dev/cu.MyKeyserial1

You will be required to type your password, as you need superuser rights for this operation. It creates the file /dev/cu.MyKeyserial1 as a symbolic link to /dev/tty.Keyserial1. Now, /dev/cu.MyKeyserial1 should be selectable in Plover, and hopefully it will work, too.

If you don't need the symlink anymore, you can remove it with

sudo rm /dev/cu.MyKeyserial1

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Hi, Rob.

After getting some sleep after the last battle, I plugged in the adapter and ran the ls /dev/tty.* command.  Here is the result:

gdwarner$ ls /dev/tty.*
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem    /dev/tty.USA19Hfd13P1.1
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync

Made the symlink, but no matter what I plugged into Plover, it didn't seem to like it very much.

On the plus side, I did manage to get one of the terminal windows to display ... well, something as I was writing.  The characters it was showing indicated an incorrect Baud rate, so I checked to see what my Flash was communicating at and changed both the AppleScript and Plover to match (1200).  Restarted Plover, and ... it again complained about the settings.

Some progress, though!

--gdw

[Hesky Fisher]

In the advanced settings in plover, try typing in /dev/tty.USA19Hfd13P1.1 for the port. Leave the other settings at the default (baud etc.). See if that works.

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Did that, but no joy.

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Tried the new version.

The good news:  It sees my Keyspan adapter!

The bad news:  It doesn't seem to want to talk to any of my applications ... and while Plover is running, the green light on the adapter is a solid green (it should blink, right? It does when I quit Plover).

If I recall correctly, the baud rate is set to 1200, 8 bits, one stop bit, no parity, and the Use Timeout check box is checked, and the interval says 2.0.  The port for the Keyspan has this in it:

/dev/tty.USA19Hfd13P1.1

Are there any other USB-Serial adapters I can try?

On Thursday, May 16, 2013 12:38:52 AM UTC-7, gdwayn...@gmail.com wrote:

[Hesky Fisher]

Hi,

When Plover is set to TX Bolt the green light only means that plover can open the serial port. It should not blink.

Have you tried 9600 baud? 

With the adapter plugged in, open the configure dialog under TX Bolt and press "Scan". Can you please tell me all the items that appear there?

I don't know that the problem is with your adapter. It could be a driver issue or something else. This is the adapter that I use. It works well on windows and mac: http://www.usconverters.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=325

Hesky

--

[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

 Hi, Hesky.

 Changing the baud rate to ninety-six hundred baud did the trick! I don't know why I didn't think of that before.

Well, I did think of it before; just didn't actually do it.

 There are a few strokes that don't translate, however . . . like the one for cap next, for instance . . . and I'll have to figure out how to make that _"add to dictionary" stroke work . . .

 Good work, everyone!

 -- gdw

On Thursday, May 16, 2013 12:38:52 AM UTC-7, gdwayn...@gmail.com wrote:

[Hesky Fisher]

Hi,

I'm glad it's working now. 

If you're having trouble with any strokes then please send me the dictionary and tell me which strokes aren't working. Tell me what you expect those strokes to do and what they are actually doing and I will look into it.

Hesky

--

[Mirabai Knight]

Hey, Glen! So glad you got it working! :'D

Here are my strokes for "cap next"

"KPA": "{^^}{-|}{^^}{-|}",
"KPA*": "{^ ^}{-|}",

KPA is cap next without a space, and KPA* is cap next with a space.

On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 1:34 AM, <gdwayn...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Hesky.

Wow, so many things aren't working, or just plain aren't being read,
it's almost like the original Plover dictionary is still active.

What I did was I took my Phoenix Theory dictionary and what I call my
"persistent job dictionary" (which is where all the non-theory strokes
go) and merged them together via digitalCAT's Dictionary Maintenance
program to create "Glenz_Uber." I'll compress a copy and attach it to
this message.

For instance, I just stroked HRE-T /-R to get the word "letter," and
it's showing that it's not in the dictionary, but I know it is, because
I can actually see it when I search through my copy of the dictionary on
digitalCAT's dictionary.

Hmm. I just checked, and I notice that neither my "e" or "u" letters are
working -- that is, the outlines E-RBGS and U-RBGS should give me a
small E and a small U, and both letters should stick to whatever comes
before or after it (prefix-suffix behavior).

What I get now is ERBGS and URBGS.

Similar behavior with the A. B. C. alphabet (and the same two letters!):
E-FPLT and U-FPLT should give me E. and U., but instead I get EFPLT
and UFPLT.

There are a few numbers that don't translate properly as well, I'll
save those for another time.

Mirabai, I copied the definitions you had for the cap strokes, but I
unfortunately included the quotes!

Oops.

Fixed it, though!

-- gdw

[Mirabai Knight]

At first glance, the problem seems to be that your dictionary, for some reason, hyphenates *after* the vowels, whereas the Plover dictionary inserts the hyphen after the O but before the E. I didn't think DigitalCAT did that, but maybe they've changed their specs? Weird. I've never seen a human stenographer put their hyphens there.

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Mirabai.

I suspect that this dictionary was originally from Stenograph's Case
Catalyst disk, from the dark days of RapidWrite Pro.

It either came as an .rtf directly from the CD, or someone at my old
school converted the CC dictionary to .rtf so I could use it with
digitalCAT.

Can't say for certain, though ....

--gdw

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[Hesky Fisher]

I've tracked the problem down to a bug in plover in how it reads DigitalCAT dictionaries. I have fixed it and plan to send out a release with this fix later tonight.

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[gdwayn...@gmail.com]

Nice work, Hesky!

Now, then  . . . I have a more difficult task for you -- but first, a (relatively short) story.

A few years back, I took a Case Catalyst class at my local ("local"being some 40 miles away) CR school. As part of that class, we had to put together a project for other members of the class to try. For my task, I chose the idea of using the Case Catalyst StenoKeys feature and dictionary along with a Word template to write TV/movie scripts . . . and I just happen to have the RTF version of that StenoKeys dictionary sitting on my hard drive right now!

You can see what the various entries in the dictionary are supposed to do here:

http://www.phoenixtheory.com/sites/default/files/Documentation_Case%20CATalyst%20StenoKeys%20v2.pdf

As for your difficult task, the StenoKeys dictionary handles things like turning on and off bold, Italics, etc. in a word processor. I'd like to be able to do all of that stuff as well -- including the commands where you can capitalize a word three our four words back, using the KPU-PB, KPAO, KPOEU, etc. strokes.

That StenoKeys dictionary should be a (fairly virgin) Case Catalyst dictionary, as that's where it started, and I haven't done much with it, except create a version for digitalCAT . . . so it should be fairly unsullied (in Stenograph parlance).

If this were a movie or a TV show from the sixties, this would be the part where the voice on the tape recorder tells you something like "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Hesky."

Fortunately, it's not -- but good luck  anyway!

--gdw

On Thursday, July 11, 2013 2:27:39 PM UTC-7, Hesky Fisher wrote:

I've tracked the problem down to a bug in plover in how it reads DigitalCAT dictionaries. I have fixed it and plan to send out a release with this fix later tonight.

On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 6:56 AM, Glen Warner <gdwayn...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Mirabai.

I suspect that this dictionary was originally from Stenograph's Case Catalyst disk, from the dark days of RapidWrite Pro.

It either came as an .rtf directly from the CD, or someone at my old school converted the CC dictionary to .rtf so I could use it with digitalCAT.

Can't say for certain, though ....

--gdw

On 7/10/13 3:36 PM, Mirabai Knight wrote:

At first glance, the problem seems to be that your dictionary, for some
reason, hyphenates *after* the vowels, whereas the Plover dictionary
inserts the hyphen after the O but before the E. I didn't think
DigitalCAT did that, but maybe they've changed their specs? Weird. I've
never seen a human stenographer put their hyphens there.

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