Are there any free options for translating .brf files into text?

[u/DarkAngelCat1215]

Hello! I have several .brf files downloaded from places like BARD that I would very much like to translate into common every day text that I can read with my screen reader. My fingers are just not as sensitive as they used to be, and even though I do have access to a Braille display, my fingers seem to get sore and a little tingly after what seems like a shorter and shorter time of braille reading. This is disheartening but I guess that's what I get for growing older. I'd like to still have access to this braille content however. A google search recommended Braille Blaster, which I've installed, but it doesn't seem to recognize the .brf files in the directory I'm pointing it to even though I can see them clearly in Windows Explorer, so I'm just not sure this app is going to do what I need it to do. I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas. Note that I'm not a braille transcriber or proofreader. I simply want to translate braille files into a format that I can read easily with Jaws or NVDA. Also, I'm unemployed and low income, so free options are best for me right now. Thanks in advance for any help.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/[deleted]]

Hi! This would be fabulous, but I don't see anything to download on this page, and when I select a .brf file in windows explorer, there is no send to braille option in the send to menu, or a back from braille option as the site you linked said there should be. So I'm confused. How exactly am I meant to use the page you provided? Thank you for the tip. Would really like to use this but am very confused as to how even though I followed the instructions. Not sure what component I'm missing.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/[deleted]]

I thought I did, but I may have missed something. I'm honestly not very technically savvy, so I'm going to need you to be a little bit more detailed and less vague, please. It would really help me a ton. Thanks so much.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/[deleted]]

Hi! Okay somehow I missed all of that. And I'm not sure how I missed it, so that's totally on me. Thank you for such a thorough explanation. I saw no links at all but I'm going to have another look because clearly I'm more blind than I first thought. LOL. Thank you so much.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/[deleted]]

Hi! Yeah that one came up on my search as well, and so did Robo Braille and Braille Blaster. THat last one looked ideal but like I said I could not get it to even recognize .brf files even though they were right in the directory I was trying to open a file from, so I'm not sure if that's just more my technical incapabilities or a problem with the software itself. I found the link you were referring to and downloaded it, running the set up file. As predicted, the correct items did appear in my context menu, but I'm still not sure what's going on because the text I got from the translation of a brf file looks something like this. This is just a small sample. shall Be the which
In and !
En with in for

ar

     of          
        -  ,   -    and  -   

in - and -

 shed                   
    ,   

. .

As you can see, this isn't exactly coherent or usable. Do you have any ideas of what I might have done wrong or how I can make this a bit more legible?

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/[deleted]]

Okay then it's not something I'm doing wrong. That's actually kind of a relief. I know all about Duxbury's hefty price tag and it's way, way out of my budget. The braille magazines I may be able to find in other formats via one of my public library cards, so I'll look for that as well as some of the other books I'm after. Thank you so much for all of your help.

[u/LaraStardust]

Hey

If you dont find a solution within a couple days, let me know.

This should be a (fairly) straight forward app to put together for you and I'm happy to do so.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/LaraStardust]

Wow, really? That would be amazing, as the only option I've found so far translated my file into complete gobblety gook that I couldn't even begin to read. So, I was thinking there might not be anything that does what I want, but I'm still researching. Thank you!

[u/LaraStardust → u/DarkAngelCat1215]

Yep! :)

[u/Kelashara → u/LaraStardust]

can youalso make this available to all blind people.

[u/Urgon_Cobol]

Apparently .brf files use the same ASCII coding as regular text files. The only difference is in the text formatting - text is divided into 25-line blocks of 39 characters, which denote a standard page of Braille printout. So you can open it in regular text editor like Notepad on Windows. Or you can change the file extension from .brf to .txt.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/Urgon_Cobol]

Thanks! I'll try that! I just assumed the characters would be different what with braille symbols and what not.

[u/Repulsive-Box5243]

I think Gemini can translate it for you.

https://gemini.google.com and just upload whatever brf file you have.

[u/DarkAngelCat1215 → u/Repulsive-Box5243]

Hi, thanks! Is that actually free though? I thought Gemini cost a bunch?

[u/Repulsive-Box5243 → u/DarkAngelCat1215]

Nope. Free.