Braille displays in Virtual machines?

[Jen]

Hi,

In the past when running Vinux or Debian virtual machines the Braille
displays I was using would not display output from the VMs when I
switched to them. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

I was using VirtualBox at the time, and had this problem with a Pacmate
and AlvaBC680.

I had VirtualBox configured so my VM could detect and use USB devices
that I pluged in to the physical box. I also tried using Jaws and NVDA.

Also I used the standard Vinux Iso, rather than the special VM image.
What are the advantages to using the VM images and do they resolve this
particular problem?

Cheers,
Jen.

[Alex H.]

Hi Jen,

I don't currently have a display to test this with, but I've had
issues with getting pendrives and what-have-you to be recognized by
the Guest using VBox. I never resolved this though, as I just ended up
using shared folders between the machines but that's not much help in
the case of a Braille display.

What is the host OS (the OS that VirtualBox is installed on)?

Alex

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[Mobeen Iqbal]

Hi Jen. this is an issue we're trying to resolve. its experienced also
by people using virtual machines with VMWare, i'm glad to know its not
just VMWare that's affected but that you also experience the behaviour
on virtual box. could it then be a linux problem perhaps? if you're
switching from virtual box to vmware just in the hope that this issue
will be resolved, i'm afraid not... i just wish i had a braille display
to experiment with and atempt to resolve this!

Mo.

[Jen]

Hi Mo,
I thought it may be something to do with the host OS or screen-reader
not releasing the display. My Alva has a range of options for
connecting, so when I get some time I'll try connecting to host OS via
one interface, and specifying the other in the VMs Brltty.conf file.

Cheers,
Jen.

[Bardia Zakeri]

its same to me

[Tony Sales]

I think it will depend on whether the host OS and the virtual manager will make this connection  (as it is not a standard USB device) automatically - you probably have to confiure it - and I assume the host OS has to have the drivers to handle the device as well - in other words does it connect directly to the system or does it connect the VM to the software drivers on the host?

[mattias]

i use debian and vmware

debian as host

running win xp in vmware with braille with no problems

[Alex M]

I've had this trouble since August. I've only heard of one person who
had their braille display work with a virtual machine. This person
was running the older vmware player. I've been meaning to try and see
if this works for me but I just haven't gotten around to it. It
involves uninstalling my current version and installing the old one.
I'm worried I might have to reinstall all the vmware tools in my
virtual machines and that there may be some other issues so, I just
haven't done it.

I use a focus 40 and an 80 at times. It accepts input from it such as
panning and such. The cursor blinks on it too. The line is
completely blank though. Something is getting through though because
if you should unplug the device, right before it runs out of juice, it
will actually display the text Orca intended it to display for a split
second before the cells go to their resting positions. It's quite
strange and very frustrating. I suspect it has to do with how usb
devices are supported by VMware. It probably has no idea what to make
of a braille display since it plays the role of input and output
device at the same time. I have often wondered if someone who has a
touch screen would experience similar difficulties with it. Waht I
mean by a touch screen is a monitor that is also set up to receive
input from the user by being sensitive to what region of the screen is
touched and performing waht I guess would be the equivalent of a mouse
click on the item being touched. This screen would be present in
conjunction with a standard keyboard in order to actually reproduce
this error in an analogous manner.

Best regards,
Alex M

[Don Marang]

I do not have a braille display to experiment with.  But I will ask a few basic questions based on my knowledge of VMware Virtual Machines 

Are you certain that the USB port is connected to the Virtual Machine during power up?  It is my understanding that with a physical computer, Linux requires the braille display to be connected during power up.  Looking through the Hardware Settings for USB devices, there is no checkbox to have the device connected at power up.  There is a checkbox for "Automatically connect a new device".  This is not enough for Linux.  This may be why it works for Windows but not Linux.  Other devices, like serial ports and CD/DVD drives all have checkboxes for connect at power up. 

Has anybody asked this question on the VMware forums.  The last forum post I wrote got the attention of the Desktop Product Manager. 

Don Marang
Vinux Software Development Coordinator - vinuxproject.org
There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter.
-- Dean Kamen

[Mobeen Iqbal]

Hmm. the one thing that makes me wonder if its really vmware is the fact
that people are experiencing this with virtual box as well. how about
booting vinux, connecting the display, then rebooting vinux with it
connected and see if orca refreshes it? alternatively, start windows
with no screen reader running but the display plugged in. then go in to
vmware player, connect the device to the vm, start vinux and see if that
makes a difference? i'd try all this my self but i haven't got a display
to work with!

Mo.

[Mobeen Iqbal]

Hi Donn, i haven't asked this online yet unless someone else has? is there a specific person we should perhaps ask?

Mo.

[Don Marang]

I have the email for the Desktop Product Manager.  I will ask him directly about VMware support for braille displays for Linux.  However, first we should attempt asking through the normal channels and try the obvious. 

Since I have a VMware account for the forums, I can ask the question on the forums today. 

Don Marang
Vinux Software Development Coordinator - vinuxproject.org
There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter.
-- Dean Kamen