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PageBlaster Release Notes

Firmware 2021-10-26

Improvements to the BrailleApp and embosser

  • Liblouis 3.18.0 is now used for text-to-braille translation.​
  • Extended previewing option from USB
    • Index Print Formatted documents can now be previewed and embossed from a USB device.
  • Remote support speech sentences
    • Sentences for enabling and disabling remote support are now available to be localized.
  • New preview functionality​
    • Shortcuts have been added to the preview window. Functions like Exit, Save, Save as, Edit mode, Flip label can be now triggered via keyboard combinations.
  • BrailleApp localization
    • Russian and Polish languages have been added to the supported list.
    • Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Hebrew, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish translations have been updated.
    • New translations have been added for various languages, like Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Indonesian, Italian, Malaysian, Mexican, Spanish and Turkish.
    • Information box with translator credits, company name and translation date has been added.
    • User manuals for several languages have been uploaded on the BrailleApp.
  • Speech translation improvements
    • Arabic, German, Finnish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Czech translations have been updated.
    • ​Translation adjustments have been made for five languages (Arabic, Danish, French, Mexican and Spanish).​
  • New BrailleApp functionalities
    • .txt extension is now compatible with the embosser. The user can preview and also emboss these files.
    • System keys have been added to the BrailleApp’s preview. Page up and down can be used to turn pages, Home and End can be used to spring up and down on the current page.
    • Ribbon width is now available to set in the label editor if the embosser is compatible with printing on tractor-feed paper.
    • New way to select braille manuals. Browsing between files is now possible.
  • New embosser setting
    • Hammer impact level can now be set from the embosser menu. Values are Normal and High. High is selected as default value
  • New embosser manuals
    • ​Finnish, French, German, Italian and Mexican braille manuals have been added.

New functionality

  • Polish and Russian languages are now supported by the BrailleApp. The language can be selected on the Settings page.
  • Portuguese and Polish translations were added.
  • Index Print Formatted documents (ipf) can now be previewed from a USB device. Until now this was not possible and a warning was raised.
  • Temporary parameters are no longer saved into Braille Ready Formats. This file type can only be embossed with Index Braille table, in contrary, the user will be informed and guided accordingly.
  • Speech sentences for remote support state are available to be localized.
  • Manual to be printed during a production test has been replaced with the old manual file.
  • New shortcuts for preview buttons. All functionalities (Exit, Save, Save as, Edit mode and more others) inside a preview window are now triggerable via shortcuts.
  • Paper length is now checked by the sensors when embossing pages. This will eliminate mistakes when wrong paper is selected.
  • New Finnish, French, German, Italian and Mexican braille manuals have been included in the embosser.
  • New version of LibLouis has been added to the embosser. Features and tables from the version 3.18.0 are now available.
  • BrailleApp translations for Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Hebrew, Swedish have been updated.
  • Arabic, German, Finnish, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, Czech translations have been updated.
  • Hammer impact level can now be set from the embosser menu. Values are Normal and High. High is selected as default value.
  • .txt document file format has been added. The embosser now allows .txt extension also to be embossed and previewed. Support of text document is only in the BrailleApp, it is currently not available with idB.
  • Preview text navigation key shortcuts have been added to the BrailleApp. The user now can use system keys to navigate between the pages (using page up and down keyboard buttons) and Home, End to jump to the top and bottom of the current page.
  • BrailleApp translations have been added for Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Indonesian, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Malaysian and Mexican languages.
  • Information box has been added to the BrailleApp settings with the credits of the translator, translation date and company name.
  • A new parameter is available to set when printing labels on tractor-feed paper. The user can now adjust ribbon width in millimeters on the BrailleApp.
  • A new way to select Braille manuals has been added. The user can now preview the manuals before printing.
  • Fixed speech translations for Danish, French, Spanish, Mexican and Arabic have been added.
  • Separate sentences have been created for printing speed and speech volume.
  • Sentence for changing impact level has been reformulated.
  • Speech sentence and voice have been changed for Swedish (1996) LibLouis table browsing.
  • Changed file to be embossed on long run production test. The embosser will now look after the recently updated braille manual file.
  • Text mode will be completely inaccessible while edit mode is active in the BrailleApp’s preview.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug that didn’t permit printing docx files with spaces in their name directly from the USB memory stick.
  • Fixed column validation for the embosser layout.
  • Fixed bug that raised an error when trying to save static configuration of the network when an IPv6 nameserver is used.
  • Fixed bug that raised parameter error message when printing labels if adjustment to linespacing is active but lines on a page are exceeded.
  • Fixed bug that caused Braille Ready Format (brf) couldn`t be sent to print from the preview page when the correct braille table is used.
  • Fixed bug that caused BrailleApp’s preview shortcuts to not work when reentering the editor.
  • Braille Ready Formats are exclusively embossed using Index Braille legacy braille table. In contrary, the user will be warned accordingly. Files saved as .brf from BrailleApp contain by default the above mentioned braille table.
  • Unexpected braille character 13 (representing a page break) during a printing session has been removed.
  • Fixed bug that triggered “paper length failure” message when using narrow paper. Calculation for length value now takes in consideration the load orientation.
  • Fixed bug that caused failure when printing files directly without previewing them. The problem concerned various document types (ipf, dxb, epub).
  • BrailleBox will no longer load next paper when printing is done.
  • Print range option will be deactivated whilst volume printing is active.
  • Fixed bug that caused “Empty braille” LED to be always on.
  • Fixed bug that caused layout number two to be unavailable on Fanfold-D.
  • Fixed bug that caused paper jam in BrailleBox.
  • Bug that occurred when using an invalid/user modified layout backup, has been fixed. The embosser will now do an automatic validation before loading them.
  • Fixed bug that caused printing twice the same document while embossing from BrailleApp.
  • Removed duplicate sentence for “failed to remove paper from printer”.
  • Fixed bug that caused the remote support to enter in a restart loop. This was mostly noticeable by hearing multiple times “Remote support enabled.”
  • Fixed bug that caused a transparency counter error.

Hotfix 2021-10-18

  • The braille cell dots now change to the value described in the corresponding braille table while using the BT parameter.
  • Fixed a bug where the alt text was missing when embossing a “.docx” document.
  • Fixed a bug where multiple embossers get the same IP address on a Wi-Fi connection.
  • Fixed a bug where the embosser locks when canceling a printing document by pressing OFF and then FEED.

Firmware Upgrade Instructions

Firmware upgrade from Internet (wired or Wi-Fi network connection):

  • press MENU on the control panel of the PageBlaster embosser
  • key down to User service and press OK
  • key down to Firmware update and press OK
  • select Firmware upgrade from internet by pressing OK
  • latest firmware is now installed, this process takes 1-10 minutes and is completed when the printer restarts.

Firmware upgrade from USB memory:

  • save the latest firmware file to a USB memory stick
  • place the USB memory stick in the USB host port of the embosser
  • press MENU on the control panel
  • key down to User service and press OK
  • key down to Firmware update and press OK
  • key down to Firmware upgrade from USB memory stick and press OK
  • latest firmware is now installed, this process takes 1-10 minutes and are completed with the printer restarts.