June 2025 BT Speak Update Release Notes
Introduction
Blazie Technologies would like to thank you for installing the June 2025 update for your BT Speak. The primary change for this update is a streamlined menu system which is easier to use, understand, navigate and memorize. We have also made many improvements to BT Speak’s Braille support. Please note that this update may take longer than usual to install, as we are installing a new set of updated Braille translation tables.
Quick Instructions for Updating Your BT Speak
Ensure that your BT Speak is connected to a Wi-Fi network and that your battery level is at 40% or higher.
Type O-Chord for the Options menu.
Type O for Operating System.
Type S for System Administration.
Type U to Check for Updates.
Your BT Speak should tell you that a new update is available and will ask if you’d like to install it. Press the letter Y to begin the installation. The BT Speak will download and install the update. Please note that this update may take a bit longer than usual to install, as we are installing the latest Braille translation tables.
Once BT Speak restarts, you will be able to start enjoying the new update.
Newer and Streamlined Menus
The Development and Design team have been working to streamline the BT Speak’s menu system. We have streamlined the BT Speak’s menus so that the names of items are easier to understand, memorize, navigate and use. Shortcuts are also less verbose. the recently added Menu Search facility (available from the Options Menu followed by the slash dots 3-4 from most menus) should assist in adapting to the improved menu layout. Below is a detailed description covering all of the changes and updates.
General Changes
If no custom help is available for a menu when pressing h-chord, generic help on menu navigation is presented. The help information has been slightly edited for clarity.
We removed the redundant wording “shortcut is” from menu items. As an example, when you move to the Settings menu, you will just hear “Settings, s” instead of “Settings, Shortcut is S”.
An audio walk-through demonstrating the streamlined menus is available from the Welcome Screen as well as in the Audio Demos and Walk-throughs menu from the help system, which you can access by typing o-chord, followed by h, and selecting Guides and tutorials.
The Getting Started Guide and the User’s Manual have both been updated to reflect the streamlined menus
Information about the streamlined Menus are planned for the Getting Started Audio Tutorial but are not yet completed. Information about each streamlined menu is listed below.
Menu Tree
Options Menu
Help Topics: hSearch Menus: /Applications: aSettings: s. File Browser: fCalculator: cStopwatch: w Say Date: d Say Time: t BT Speak Management: m User Menu: u Voice Command: v Info About This BT Speak: i Battery level: b
Notes
We have chosen to retained / (dots 3-4) for search in menus. Other than Media controls, this is the only symbol now used as a menu shortcut.
We have removed the Manage Files item from the Options Menu, but it is still available from the File Browser. From within the file browser, pressing m switches to the Manage Files mode.
The Operating System and System Administration menus have been merged and changed to BT Speak Management, with m as its shortcut.
The Stopwatch shortcut is now w
The global hotkey to get the stopwatch or count down timer reading (dots 3-4-5-6-8-Chord) is unchanged.
Wi-Fi Administration is expanded and moved to the Settings Menu and titled Wi-Fi Menu
Added “say” before Time and Date options, to avoid confusion about setting time and date
Renamed “About This Device” to “Info About This BT Speak”, shortcut is i.
In “Info About this BT Speak” output, Renamed “Local IP Address” and moved “External IP Address” into the output.
Options > Settings Menu
Braille: BSpeech: sAudio: aWi-Fi: wBluetooth: tClock: cGoogle: gStatus Indicator, vibrate or tones: iOne-Handed Mode: 1Personalize This BT Speak: p
Notes
Wifi and Bluetooth have been moved to the Settings Menu, Bluetooth shortcut is t.
Bluetooth Administration Menu title has been Changed to Bluetooth Menu.
Moved Wikipedia Language into the Wikipedia menu.
Assigned OneHanded Mode an easy to enter shortcut, ‘1’
Relocated and Renamed Customize this BT Speak to Personalize This BT Speak
Added Reset Speech to Defaults as first item in the Speech Settings menu
Options > Settings > Audio Settings Menu
Master Volume Softer: sMaster Volume Louder: lChange Output Device: cReset Volume: vReset Output Device: oRestart Audio Service: rMicrophone Volume Down: dMicrophone Volume Up: uChange Recording Format: f
Notes
Changed audio shortcuts which were formerly symbols to letters, e.g. l for Louder, s for Softer, u for Up, d for Down
Options > Settings > Personalize this BT Speak
Change the Owner’s Name: oChange the Password: pView the Password Hint: hChange the Locale: lChange the hostname/Device Name: n
Options > BT Speak Management Menu
Eject Removable Storage: jCheck For BT Speak Updates: uCheck for Desktop Program Updates: pMake Help and Documentation Zip File: hMake Public Volume: vBackup BT Speak Settings: kRestore BT Speak Settings: eRegister Maintenance Contract: mRestart BT Speak: rShut Down BT Speak: sAdvanced BT Speak Management: aLanguage and Country Tools: l
Notes
Removed Tools Menu and moved its contents to this menu.
The option to create a zip of help files is renamed for clarity and moved here
Moved and renamed Create third Partition to Make Public Volume
Renamed Localization Tools to Language and Country Tools and moved here
When choosing the option to register a maintenance contract, you will be asked to enter your contract order number. This order number is mentioned in the email that you received from us after ordering your BT Speak’s maintenance contract. Enter the five-digit order number, followed by enter. If you entered the correct order number, you will be told that your BT Speak is now protected with a maintenance contract.
All technical options have been relocated to Advanced System Management or Personalize this BT Speak
Options > BT Speak Management > Advanced System Management Menu
Interactive Shell, Go to the Command Line: iReview Log Files: lSystem Services, Enable SSH and File Sharing: sReset Device: rRun Tests: t
Notes
Moved Power Status and CPU Temperature to Tests Menu
Moved Refresh Locale Definitions to Language and Country Tools
Added SSH and File Sharing hint to System Services item
removed System Maintenance Menu, Relocated some items and dropped others that were unnecessary.
Removed Change Log
Options > Applications Menu
Personal: pMedia: mReference: rWeb: wLibrary: lEducation: eGames: g
Notes
These categories are unchanged.
Improvements to Braille Support
We have updated the Liblouis Braille translator to version 3.33.
The users’ locale has been decoupled from the Computer Braille Table. This means that you can now choose which Computer Braille table you want to use, regardless of your locale setting. The Computer Braille Table defaults to U.S., but it can be changed in Settings > Braille > Change the Computer braille Table. Computer Braille is the table used for writing in text files.
We fixed a bug introduced in late 2024, where (based on your locale) an update to Brltty config resulted in various characters being inserted incorrectly in to literary Braille files, instead of using U.S. ASCII characters. Just as a basic example, if the user set their BT Speak with the U.K. locale, they would get incorrect braille characters for AR and the GH contractions. This resulted in symbols in Braille files that could not be correctly interpreted by Liblouis (our Braille translator), or correctly interpreted if the Braille file was copied off of the BT Speak for other purposes.
We have reformatted the Insert Time function so that U.S. Braille files speak the time meaningfully. We have not updated the tables, just addressed inserting the time as a special case. This also means that Braille Quick Notes now speak time and date properly. This has been addressed by using a dash in place of the colon and adding a number sign character before the minutes.
If you use the U.S. Literary Braille table with Markdown headings, the headings are now preserved when copying and pasting. The number sign characters will also speak properly if your punctuation level is set to some or above. Headings should also be preserved when you back translate your file to text using the translate menu from the file browser.
A number of corrections were made to the U.K. literary translation tables. This includes dots 3-4-5 (the AR sign), which is no longer back-translated into two slash characters. Other translation fixes for this U.K. Braille table include fixing end-of-word comma, semicolon colon and others. Also improved back translation rules for abbreviations such as about, according, because, before, behind, below, beneath, between, beyond, blind, friend & paid. We improved word translation accuracy from an error rate of 17% to about 1.5%. There are still significant remaining errors in the UK tables, so we recommend that customers switch to either the U.S. Braille table for a very similar code, that back translates better overall, but preferably UEB, which is the most accurate Liblouis option.
There is a new menu under Braille Settings ,“Computer Braille Table”, Currently it defines US English, UK English, German and Spanish.
Fixed a bug so “space”, “tab”, “unicode space”, “newline” and phonetic alphabetic words (e.g.: alpha, beta) are always spoken as text, and never translated as if they are braille (this bug didn’t affect US/AU locales).
When switching between Desktop and Braille files in Blazie mode using the normal method of all dots but dot 7/all dots but dot 8, the input Computer Braille table is updated appropriately when you switch. However, if you use Linux shortcuts (such as Control Alt F1/F7), the input table will not be updated.
Traditional Mode Has Been Renamed to Blazie Mode
The mode of operation formerly known as traditional mode has been renamed to Blazie mode. We have chosen this name because many of the applications in this mode, along with the menus, have been specifically designed and developed by Blazie Technologies. Your BT Speak will continue to start up in this mode. If you are working in desktop mode, pressing dots 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-chord now says “Blazie mode”. Our help files, getting started guide and the users’ manual have been updated to reflect this change.
Updated Users’ Manual
We have released the third edition of our users’ manual. This edition is more comprehensive and reflects the BT Speak’s newer menus. We have also updated many other sections, most notably regarding using the editor and the file browser. This makes the documentation more up to date with BT Speak’s newest features. You can read the newest edition of the manual on your BT Speak by going to Options, Help, Guides and Tutorials, the Users’ Manual. You can also download it from our Web site by going to our Guides and Media page.
Improved Experience When Connecting to a Wi-Fi Network
When connecting to a Wi-Fi network, BT Speak now automatically reads the prompt which asks for the Wi-Fi password. In previous updates, this prompt was not always being announced.
In the Wi-Fi menu, there is a new Wi-Fi Status option which presents the name of the Wi-Fi network you are connected to, its IP Address and other information.
The names of items in the Wi-fi menu have been updated for clarity.
Improvements to BT Learn
In BT Learn games, when you are prompted to translate a word into UEB, the spelling of the word is now spoken as part of the prompt. This helps clarify homonyms and other similar-sounding words without requiring an extra command.
French Canadian Language Locale Has Been Added
We have added the French Canadian locale to our growing list of supported languages. To switch to this locale, go to Options, Settings, Personalize This BT Speak, Change the Locale.
Concluding Remarks
Since your feedback is the driving force behind our updates, we’d love to receive your comments regarding features that you’d like to see or how we can improve existing features. Feel free to email your comments to info@blazie.net. You can also call us at (772) 214-1616. If you would like to participate in discussions with other customers, feel free to join our public support forum by emailing btspeak+subscribe@groups.io. The Blazie Technologies Team