Help Please! I need help trying to get the STENOBOARD TO EMULATE AN ACTUAL STENO MACHINE.

[karmaisab777]

Hello all,

My name is Cherri.  I e-mailed the Stenoboard's owner a long time ago regarding this, but he never responded.  I have downloaded Plover and the Arduino software, but I need help with the Stenoboard.  I am eager to start practicing steno.  I have no desire to use it as a NKRO keyboard.  I bought it because I thought I could get it to emulate a steno machine.   I read the Stenoboard manual, but I don't understand a lot of the lingo (change key mappings,etc.) Plus it looks like it may be coding language.

 I am VERY NEW  to all of this, so I have no idea what I'm doing. Ha ha.  When I see the stenotype machine selections in the drop down menu in Plover, I don't know where to go from there.  Will I have to download professional stenotype software to get the Stenoboard to emulate a real steno machine?

Sorry if I seem clueless, it's only because I really am :)

Cherri

[Mirabai Knight]

If you want to use the StenoBoard with commercial software such as
Eclipse or Case Catalyst, you'll have to put it into PR or TX protocol
mode. Instructions are listed in the manual.

But since it sounds like you want to use StenoBoard with Plover, using
it in its default (NKRO) mode is fine. Just set Plover to "NKRO
keyboard" protocol, and use the StenoBoard to write into any text
editor.

[Harvey]

It seems like it would be useful to put it into PR or TX mode because then you don't need to put Plover into NKRO mode, making it so you can use both the StenoBoard and the normal keyboard. That would let you switch between them as you need to. That's what I do with my student writer. I was hitting Enter on my keyboard before I learned about the R-R chord.

[Alan Aversa]

The Stenoboard manual tells you how to do this:

To change communication protocol, you can use the following commands:
Fn1 + PH-PB     NKRO Keyboard emulation mode (default)
Fn1 + PH-G     Gemini PR protocol mode
Fn1 + PH-B     TX Bolt protocol mode

(The Fn1 key is the upper leftmost key.)

[Karma]

Yes. I read this in the manual, but if I don't know what Gemini PR and TX Bolt means; this is like reading Japanese to me. I don't own any of these kinds of machines.  So I set the Stenoboard machine to Gemini PR protocol mode, but it's says "Gemini PR not attached." 

Cherri

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[Mirabai Knight]

Try getting it to work in nkro mode first, just so you know it's
assembled properly. Does the LED light up when you plug it into the
USB port?

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[Karma]

Hello,

It works in NKRO mode and the LED lights up when plugged in. ALL I WANT IT TO DO IS EMULATE AN ACTUAL STENO MACHINE SO I CAN START PRACTICING and learning correct form. I don't want to use it as an NKRO keyboard.

Thanks,
Cherri

[Mirabai Knight]

It emulates a steno machine regardless of what mode it's in. If Plover
is set to nkro and StenoBoard is set to nkro, you should be able to
write in steno and get English translations. What's not working in
that configuration?

[Karma]

I'm not at home with the machine right now, but when I press PB simultaneously, it's supposed to show "N" on the screen, right? If I press EU simultaneously, isn't an "I" supposed to show up on my computer? Well, it doesn't show that. That's what I thought "emulating a steno machine" meant.

Cherri

[Mirabai Knight]

Did you press the red "P" so that it turns green?

Also, if you press PB simultaneously, it won't show "N". It'll show
"an". If you want "N", you'd have to press TPH*P.

EU will show "I", though.

[Karma]

Yes,

I make sure the "P" is green first. I guess maybe I'm confused and getting ahead of myself. If I press "EU" and something else besides an "I" shows up on the screen, I guess I don't know where to go from there.

Tomorrow when I'm at home with the Stenoboard, I will play around with it for awhile and use the suggestions. If I am still having trouble, I will try to get a screenshot of what I am experiencing.


Thanks so much,
Cherri

[Ian Dawson]

It does sound as if you've not got Plover running. 

When the stenoboard is in NKRO mode it's acting like a normal qwerty keyboard, outputting normal qwerty characters.  

Without Plover running, EU will come out as the characters VB (I think). However, when you run Plover, the program converts the qwerty keyboard characters into steno, so at that point the output becomes EU. Does that make sense?

Ian

[Ian Dawson]

It does sound as if you've not got Plover running. 

When the stenoboard is in NKRO mode it's acting like a normal qwerty keyboard, outputting normal qwerty characters.  

Without Plover running, EU will come out as the characters VB (I think). However, when you run Plover, the program converts the qwerty keyboard characters into steno, so at that point the output becomes EU. Does that make sense?

Ian

On Friday, 22 May 2015, Karma <karmai...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Paul Beaudet]

Cherri,

The firmware on the device actually needs to be change to do what you want (Default to TX or PR), as described in the Original Post. This does require changing one line of code and re-uploading the firmware with the Arduino IDE. The manual says to install the Arduino IDE without explaining what it's used for, even indicating firmware magically installs itself by waiting. Not the case. If you're still working on this I can tell you which line and how to upload. There should be some macros / keyshortcuts to switch to those modes. I can see this now after seeing the manual and looking at the code more closely, but the default will still be NKRO after the board is powered off and back on. Meaning the switch will not be a persistent change. Switching the default mode needs to be done in code. (one line, not hard with help)

In all cases of "operation modes" the board needs to work in conjunction with the Plover software in order to output real time steno. Should work in any of the modes. Which I think you understand, but from the dialog here it is hard to tell if Plover is working for you. Which if that is the case, is a completely separate issue from the OP. You may have one problem, you may have two. 

Where are you at with this issue?