WinDisk Version 1.0 October, 2000 Overview: The WinDisk program lets common versions of the Windows operating system support Blazie Engineering note-takers. It causes "Windows Explorer" and "My Computer" to see your note-taker as a logged Windows disk drive. Once installed, WinDisk queries the note-taker for file and folder information and displays it in standard format on the PC. You can then copy and paste files in either direction with standard Windows key strokes. Additionally, WinDisk provides a one step back-up and restore feature for the entire file and folder system of the note-taker. System Requirements: PC running Windows 9x, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows ME Blazie Engineering note-taker running September 20, 2000 software or later Serial cable to connect note-taker to PC Files: Included on the WinDisk program disk are the following files: WinDisk.exe The installation program Windisk.doc MS Word documentation file Windisk.txt Plain text documentation file Installing WinDisk on the PC: To install WinDisk, follow the setup wizard installation. When you insert the WinDisk CD into your CD drive, the install wizard will run. If you have JAWS loaded, the entire installation process will be speech accessible. Installation Notes: The installation program creates the folder c:\windisk on the hard drive by default. It is recommended that the default folder path be used; this avoids confusion if technical support is required. Preparing the note-taker for use with WinDisk: WinDisk controls all aspects of the file transfer from the PC keyboard. It requires only proper configuration settings and initialization on the note-taker. Only note-takers with firmware revisions of September 20, 2000 or later contain full support for WinDisk version 1.0. If you have not yet purchased the 2000 update, contact Freedom Scientific at 1 800 444-4443. Follow these steps to setup the note-taker: 1. Connect the note-taker to the PC serial port using a standard Blazie Engineering serial cable. 2. Enter the status menu and set the following serial parameters: 38,400 baud no parity 8 data bits 1 stop bit hardware handshaking 3. Exit the status menu. 4. Then from any file, type o chord w chord. If using a QWERTY keyboard those strokes are F 9, alt w. The note-taker will speak, "WinDisk mode, press z chord or escape to abort." The note-taker is now setup to communicate with the PC. Using the program: Once the note-taker is connected and initialized for WinDisk, start either Windows Explorer or My Computer. Note: if another program is using the same serial port, either exit that program or command the program to free up the serial port. For specific notes on using WinDisk and JAWS concurrently, see the section on that topic at the end of this document. WinDisk is integrated into Windows Explorer and My Computer. Therefore, simply starting either of these programs automatically starts WinDisk. The view from Windows Explorer: If WinDisk has been installed on the PC, a new entry appears within level two of the tree view of Windows Explorer named Blazie Engineering Note-taker. The Freedom Scientific icon marks this text label. Opening this level of the tree causes a list of all folders in the note-taker to be displayed at level three. It may take several seconds for this level of the tree to appear. The folders will be listed alphabetically, and each folder name will be followed by either the letter R or F in parenthesis. This indicates whether the folder contains RAM or flash files. Note: even when the note-taker is set to all files mode, a minimum of two folders appears here, Ram Startup and Flash Startup. To view the files within a folder, simply highlight the desired folder in the tree and view the files in the list view of Windows Explorer. While exploring the folders and files of the note-taker, the title bar will read something like the following: Exploring - Blazie R:\ram startup The R: denotes the folder is RAM, and Blazie in the title prevents confusion with another drive on the machine that might be labeled R:. The view from My Computer If WinDisk has been installed on the PC, a new entry appears in the opening list of My Computer named Blazie Engineering Note-taker. The Freedom Scientific icon marks this text label. Opening this entry will produce a new list displaying all the folders in the note-taker. It may take several seconds for this new list to appear. The folders will be listed alphabetically, and each folder name will be followed by either the letter R or F in parenthesis. This indicates whether the folder contains RAM or flash files. Note: even when the note-taker is set to all files mode, a minimum of two folders appears here, Ram Startup and Flash Startup. To view the files within a folder, select the desired folder and open it; a new list will appear displaying the files. While navigating the folders and files of the note-taker, the title bar will read something like the following: Blazie R:\ram startup The R: denotes the folder is RAM, and Blazie in the title prevents confusion with another drive on the machine that might be labeled R:. Trouble Shooting: When communication cannot be established with the note-taker for one reason or another, WinDisk may either freeze the PC or display the message, "Unknown note-taker type." If the PC freezes, or if this message is encountered, try the following steps: 1. Ensure that no other application is using the serial port. 2. Ensure that the cable is plugged into both the PC and the note-taker. 3. Ensure that the serial settings in the status menu of the note-taker match those prescribed above. Specifically, make sure you are set to 38400 Baud on the note-taker. 4. Ensure that the note-taker is on, and in WinDisk mode, invoked with o chord, w chord. This is F9, alt + w on the TNS and TLT. The PC will react to the note-taker in much the same way it does to the floppy drive or CD ROM drive. To prevent complications, make sure the note-taker is ready and in WinDisk mode prior to navigating to the "Blazie Engineering Note-taker" item. Additionally, keep the note-taker connected and in WinDisk mode until either Explorer is closed, or until a different device is highlighted in the program, such as hard drive. Available Commands: Copy and paste files from any note-taker folder to any PC folder (note: cut is not available). Copy and paste files from any PC folder to any note-taker folder (note: cut is not available). Backup the entire note-taker file and folder system onto the PC. Restore on the note-taker the entire file and folder system from the backup set on the PC. Copy and Paste from the note-taker to the PC: WinDisk supports the standard Windows keyboard commands for copying files from the note-taker to the PC. Use control + c and control + v, or access these commands through the context or edit menus. Shift + F10 may be used to access the context menu, or on a 104 keyboard, the Windows context menu key, usually the third key to the right of the spacebar, may be used. The note-taker reacts in the usual fashion by speaking the file name as it is sent, and on the Braille Lite, displaying status information of the progress of the file transfer on the Braille display. Note: in version 1.0, drag and drop is not supported. Additionally, copying and pasting of an entire note-taker folder by selecting the folder name is not supported. Entire folders may be copied from the note-taker to the PC by selecting and copying all the files in the files list view of the folder with the standard select all command, control + a. Use standard Windows commands to copy and paste files from the PC to the note-taker. Again, the note-taker reacts in the usual fashion by speaking and displaying the name of the file being received and displaying file transfer progress information on the Braille display. Drag and drop is not supported in this version. Backing up the note-taker: To create a complete backup set of all files and folders in the note-taker, simply type control + b, or access either the edit or context menu when viewing files in the note-taker and choose backup. B is the hot key for backup in these menus. Once selected, the backup process will commence and progress to completion. WinDisk keeps track of the folder from which each file was saved and remembers if the file was in RAM or flash memory. By default WinDisk stores the files in a folder named backup, one level below the WinDisk folder. This will be c:\windisk\backup if WinDisk was installed on drive C and if the default folder name of WinDisk was used. Version 1.0 of WinDisk provides for a single backup set only. If a backup set has previously been created, creating a new backup set without either deleting or renaming the old backup set will create unsatisfactory results. If a backup folder already exists in the WinDisk folder, one must either delete this backup folder or rename it prior to creating a new backup. If renaming or deleting of the existing WinDisk backup folder is not done prior to starting a new backup, files may be duplicated or destroyed! Restoring the note-taker: In the restore process, WinDisk rebuilds the note-taker file and folder system as necessary to restore the note-taker to the same condition it was in when the backup was created. For example, if a complete initialization of the note-taker has been performed erasing all files and folders in the unit, the restore process will rebuild the folder system and transfer all files into the appropriate folders automatically during the process. This command is intended to be used after the unit has been initialized erasing all file and folder names. It is vitally important to understand that the restore process will erase files on the note-taker that have the same name as the files being restored from the PC. For example, if WinDisk is restoring the file phone.brl, but the note-taker still has a file named phone.brl inside it, the phone.brl inside the note-taker is deleted and replaced with the copy being restored from the PC. To restore the note-taker, type control + r, or access either the edit or context menu while viewing the note-taker files and select restore. R is the hot key. The process will progress to completion automatically. Note: if using a Braille Lite as a Braille display in speech box mode, exit speech box mode before using WinDisk. If using Braille Lite or Type Lite as display with JAWS: The default Baud rate for WinDisk is 38400, but the default for JAWS is 9600. To avoid the need to change Baud rates in the Braille Lite all the time, we recommend simply adjusting the Baud rate setting in the JFW.ini file and rebooting the computer. to make that change: 1. Using My Computer, locate the folder of the running JAWS. 2. Press the letter j until JFW.ini is found. 3. Press return and the .ini file will be opened using Note Pad. Be careful not to add any extra key strokes here. If unsure, just close without saving and reload. 4. Press down arrow until the section of the file concerning the Braille Lite is located. 5. Where it says 9600, change the number to 38400. 6. Save the revised file. 7. Reboot the computer. The system is now set to run JAWS at 38400 baud, but this setting needs to be changed on the note-taker. WinDisk also requires hardware handshaking. One can leave hardware handshaking on for work with JAWS and the Braille display. Contact Information: Freedom Scientific Blind Low Vision Group, Hardware Division 2850 SE Market Place Stuart, FL 34997 Sales: (800) 444-4443 or (727) 803-8000 Sales FAX: (727) 803-8001 Technical support: (561) 223-6443 Technical Support FAX: (561) 223-6413 E-mail: notetakers@freedomscientific.com World Wide Web site: http://www.freedomscientific.com