Welcome to Notey. This manual will walk you through building your device hardware, installing and setting up software, key commands to opporate Notey and offer troubleshooting tips.
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Notey device built, and programmed by Drew Weber
Twitter @_IllegallyBlind
Software release version 1.02
March seven 2023
What is Notey:
Notey is a small and sleek note taker which runs on Windows11.
Notey uses JAWS 2023 to run it’s sub operating system which has been programmed to allow all commands, easy input through the Orbit Writer Keyboard.
Notey offers Braille In and Speech out.
Hardware: building Notey
Some equipment is expected that you may have in your personal inventory.
60 watt USB C charging station. This will charge Notey’s battery and power Notey if you don’t want to drain the battery. If you don’t have one, I suggest,
60 watt capable USB C to USB C cable.
a USB keyboard, must be usb not Bluetooth, it may be wireless USB with a dongle or wired.
a pare of wired headphones, with an eighth inch plug.
A license for the latest version of JAWS. The sub operating system is programmed via JAWS scripting. At this time NVDA or another screen reader will not suffice.
At the time of this writing Noteys hardware can be built for
With the use of mainstream, nonaccessible battery:
If you don’t have JAWS annual license
$530
If you do have JAWS annual license
$430.00
If you have both JAWS license and Orbit Writer keyboard
$330.00
Price with accessible battery purchased from A.T Guys:
If you don’t currently have JAWS annual license
$580
If you currently have JAWS annual license
$480.00
If you currently have both JAWS license and Orbit Writer keyboard
$380.00
What you will need to purchase in all cases:
to build the hardware together.
This is the computer or brain of Notey.
Either the nonaccessible mainstream
or,
The pricing difference in batteries is $50.
This is Noteys power while on the go or not plugged into A/C power.
COSOOS 3-Pack Short USB C to USB-C Cables 60W (10in/26cm) Nylon Braided Fast Charging Syncing Type C
for power/charging.
for power and data to the Orbit Writer.
These cables fit snugly behind the unit and are not in the way of other connections.
What you may need to purchase
Orbit Writer Braille Keyboard Smartphone Companion, 6-key Input : A. T. Guys
A pack of braille dots. These are in no way mandatory, and the larger round dots allow for placing feet on the bottom of the battery to hold fast to services. If you don’t have them, Notey will slide.
JAWS downloaded to a USB flash drive. This will help you install it without having to use Narrator to download it off the web. You would of course need another Internet connected PC and Flash drive
A note about batteries:
Which one should you choose?
I originally purchased the non-accessible battery pack listed above as the power rating on it would for sure work. The accessible pack is listed at 18 watts output, while the mini PC claims that it takes 28 watts. There are a lot of variables to think about. I can say, that the accessible battery will not allow an overload of power. I have tried it with a device that would draw more power and it doesn’t even try to work, which is good. The Mini PC I have WIFI and Bluetooth enabled, the Orbit writer connected via USB as well as a wireless keyboard dongle. It powers, works fine, doesn’t get warmer than normal. The battery does not get hot. I have ran it for hours and it doesn’t shut down or fail. I have tested a WD HD not solid state and the Apogee Mic and the accessible battery powers everything fine. When you start plugging more devices in that draw more power, microphones, flash drives, external hard disks etc. now we have more power draw off of the PC, which may cause the battery to shutdown. If you use the non-accessible option, I have scripts built in to help calculate the battery, but they can’t be 100% accurate. Same reasoning, you may get 6 hours when you just use the device as a note taker but when you have more power draw, less hours that you may not account for. It’s a dog gone gamble I know. If you have the money to purchase two, one now and one later, and believe you will be using external devices that may draw more power, then I’d say go with the non-accessible option. If you are just taking notes or using the device with the Orbit writer, you should be good to start with the accessible option. I like knowing how much battery is left.
Please note!!! With the accessible battery option, you can not, check battery status when Notey is on, drawing power from the battery. The battery will disconnect, Notey hard shutdown, not good, the battery will give you it’s power status, then allow power to Notey again and you will have to reboot.
Shut Notey down, before checking battery power status.
Lets unbox the PC and battery and make sure they feel right not scratched up or broken.
Lets setup the PC before we build Notey to make sure it works.
We can also plug in the battery if we have a available 60 watt USB C charger to make sure it holds it’s charge. We will plug in the battery via a USB C cable on the battery to charge.
Mini PC orientation:
The mini PC has feet on the bottom of it. On the top there is a label and ridges going across the top of the device.
The front right side will have a power button.
The Ethernet port will be at the back left.
To the right will be the USB C power port.
to the right will be the HDMI port.
to the right of the next small square, will be the headset jack, and above this will be the micro SD slot near the roof of the case.
To the right of this will be the USB C Data jack.
as we turn the corner and come down the right side of the device, there is 3 USB A ports.
I am not sure what the small slot is on the left side of the device it may be a Kensington lock to cable lock the device.
Plug in the Mini PC either to a 60 watt power source via USB C or with the included power adapter.
Plug in your headphones/headset to the eighth inch headset jack.
Plug in your USB keyboard.
Hit the power button on the front of the PC. You don’t have to hold the button in for any length of time. Give the computer around 1 minute or less you should hear the Windows 11 start chime. At this point you may press control+windows+enter
to launch Microsoft Narrator.
You will use tab, and alt+tab to get through the dialogues. These are the standard Windows 11 setup dialogues. If you are not familiar with Narrator, it is not as verbose as JAWS and you may need to take some time to figure out where you are in the setup process.
You will choose your Wifi
Your language
country
Keyboard selection.
There are times that you can skip the option.
It is pretty straight forward.
At the end of the process you may come to repetitive speech that says, “Just a moment”.
You may need to wait about 10 minutes, but you should end up on the taskbar with Windows setup. If you don’t, you may need to go through the small Narrator setup process, and then will be able to allow Windows to take focus.
Now plugin your Flash drive with JAWS on it.
Hit Windows+r to enable the run dialogue
type
d:
and hit enter
if D isn’t the correct drive letter try
e:
f:
g:
though I don’t think you will need to go that far.
When the drive comes up, you should find your JAWS setup package, select it with an arrow key, and hit enter to launch it. The UAC user account control box will pop up and you will hear a small ding. You will need to give the computer a few seconds to allow you to interact with the box through Narrator. You may try alt+y to bypass this box and allow the JAWS setup package to start.
As you have narrator running the JAWS setup package may not use it’s talking installer, in which case you may use narrators speech to walk through the process.
After the setup process completes, you may be asked to restart the computer.
JAWS may not launch at the log on screen. You may need to launch Narrator again with Control+windows+enter, and the JAWS startup wizard should present itself after Windows has fully loaded.
Additional Windows setup:
configuring the front power button to shutdown:
This will properly shutdown the computer if we get into a bind and don’t have JAWS and don’t have a QWERTY keyboard available.
Hit the Windows logo key. The search should pop up.
type
control
the option for Control Panel should pop up. When focus is on this hit enter to launch the control panel.
Once Control panel launches you may be in another search box. with Win11 JAWS is struggling to read this every time, so if you are not in search, alt+f4 and then repeat the above steps to launch control panel again.
Once you are in the control panel search, type,
power.
Tab down to
Change what the power buttons do,
and hit enter on the link.
In the dialogue that pops up, tab to
When I press the power button: (Plugged in) Combo box
Choose,
Shutdown.
Tab to,
When I press the sleep button: (Plugged in) Combo box
Choose,
nothing.
tab to the,
save changes button
and hit enter.
Alt+f4 out of the control panel, yes we are just going to get back in but we need the search again.
Now we are going to change some advance power settings so that USB doesn’t sleep on us which causes us to lose access to Notey after 20 minutes of inactivity.
Hit the Windows logo key. The search should pop up.
type
control
the option for Control Panel should pop up. When focus is on this hit enter to launch the control panel.
Once Control panel launches you may be in another search box. with Win11 JAWS is struggling to read this every time, so if you are not in search, alt+f4 and then repeat the above steps to launch control panel again.
Once you are in the control panel search, type,
power.
Tab down to
Power options
hit enter.
Tab down a ways until you reach,
Change plan settings for the Balanced (recommended) plan Link
hit enter.
tab down until you reach,
Change advanced power settings
hit enter.
tab down to
SettingsTV Tree view
left arrow until everything is closed and you are at
Hard disk Closed
Down arrow until you reach
USB settings Closed
right arrow to expand this.
down arrow to reach
USB selective suspend setting Closed
right arrow to expand this.
down arrow to
setting enabled,
right arrow on this to open the combo box an then up arrow to disabled.
tab to apply and hit space
then shifttab to ok and hit space.
We now want to set HJ pad as the default for rtf files.
Hit the Windows logo key to invoke the start menu.
a search box should come up.
Type
Control
the option that should be first, should be control pannel.
Hit enter.
This Windows update on my side, did fix the search box being reported by JAWS within the control pannel.
Type in the search box,
File type.
Tab down until you reach
Change the file type associated with a file extension Link
hit enter.
Tab down until you reach
Choose defaults by file type, more button.
Hit enter.
You will land on the
Choose defaults by file type;Set defaults for file types Search for a file type Edit
Within the edit box type
rtf
down arrow. You won’t hear anything.
Tabbing should land you on a button that shares the application associated with this file type, the spoken message will end with:
Choose a default Button
Hit space on this button.
tab down to the list box. As you down arrow you may come to
more options
you can hit enter on this. You want to come to
Choose an app on your PC Link
Hit enter on this link.
This will invoke a standard open with dialogue box. If you are using the suggested, JAWS 2023, You may select, copy, and paste the following path into the file name edit box of this dialogue.
C:\Program Files\Freedom Scientific\JAWS\2023\HJPAD.exe
hit enter.
If there is a save, or ok button that you now have, hit enter on this to save your settings.
Once you pare a Bluetooth device with your Notey, you will have to manually tell Windows to connect to it. Lets change it so it’s automatic. This is extremely helpful if you need to listen to speech with Airpotd or other BT headphones and you don’t have wired headphones with you.
To enable Bluetooth to auto connect to your BT audio device,
go to run and type
services.msc
hit enter.
In the dialogue that appears,
tab down to the list view and type Blue. This works because of first letter navigation.
on each of the following,
Bluetooth Audio Gateway Service
Hit your applications key
up arrow to properties and hit enter
Tab to startup type and up arrow to automatic.
Tab down to apply,
hit space.
then shift+tab to ok.
hit space.
on,
Bluetooth Support Service
Hit your applications key
up arrow to properties and hit enter
Tab to startup type and up arrow to automatic.
Tab down to apply,
hit space.
then shift+tab to ok.
hit space.
Software installations
To make Notey fully functional you will need to download and install the following software’s.
We are using Winamp version 5.9.1.
It is normal for the Winamp installer to fail and ask you to download Direct X and give you a URL.
After JAWS reads the UrL.
Hit Insert+space and then,
h
to launch the JAWS Speech history dialogue.
Up arrow until JAWS reads the URL
hit home.
use standard selection/copy commands to copy only the UrL no spaces.
shift+right arrow to select.
control+c to copy.
Hit windows+r
to bring up the run dialogue.
Hit control+v to paste
hit enter to launch the web page.
find and Download the installer and run it.
Then finish the Winamp installer, it will say it failed. Run it again.
We are using Spotify version 1.2.6.863.
This is for Mail. We are using Thunderbird version 102.8.0 (1).
Now we are ready to install the sub operating system
which will allow you easy control of Notey through the Orbit Writer keyboard.
Sub Operating System installation
Download and open the
Notey1.0.zip
Inside you should have the following folders
Notey
Scripts
Copy the Notey folder to your c drive.
while focus is on the folder in the zip archive, press
control+c
type Windows+r and type
c:
enter
hit control+v
if you are asked if you want to continue, choose yes, or continue.
You should now have a folder on your C drive called
Notey
When you open this folder by hitting enter on it you should have two sub folders inside,
Notes
SystemFiles
The Notes folder should be empty, this is where your notes will be stored.
The SystemFiles folder should contain the following list of files
Calculator
Calendar
HJPadLaunchCDrive
LaunchDDrive
LaunchEDrive
MicrosoftEdge
NoteName
Notes
NoteyCommandsNoteyUserManual
Recorder
silent
Spotify
Thunderbird
Winamp
winusb.sys
You don’t need to worry about what they all do, just as long as they are all there.
Now lets install the scripts.
Go back to the
Notey1.0.zip
Inside you should have the following folders
Notey
Scripts
Go into the Scripts folder, which should contain two folders
Files to import directly into JAWSSettings
JAWS settings to modify
Go into the
Files to import directly into JAWSSettings
folder and hit
control+a
then
control+c to copy.
now press
Insert+j to bring up the JAWS dialogue
Press alt+u to invoke the utilities menu
press x to invoke, Utilities folderPress e until JAWS reports
Explore my settings
press enter
The title of this window should be
ENU
which is the language folder.
press
control+v to paste the script files.
Verify that you have the following new files now in the ENU folder
HJPAD.JKM
HJPAD.jsb
HJPAD.JSDMicrosoft.WindowsSoundRecorder!App.JSB
Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder!App.JSD
Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder!App.JKM
msedge.JKM
msedge.jsb
msedge.JSD
notepad.JKM
notepad.jsb
notepad.JSD
Notey.JKM
Notey.jsb
Notey.JSD
NoteyVoiceAndSoundSettings.JKM
NoteyVoiceAndSoundSettings.jsb
NoteyVoiceAndSoundSettings.JSD
shutdownux.jsb
Spotify.JKM
Spotify.jsb
Spotify.JSD
Thunderbird.JKM
Thunderbird.jsb
Thunderbird.JSD
winamp.JKM
winamp.jsb
winamp.JSD
Lets now shutdown and restart JAWS before we move onto the next step.
Insert+f4 to bring up the Quit JAWS dialogue.
Enter.
Now type
windows+m to move to the desktop.
hit
j
hit
enter
After a moment JAWS should launch and speak.
Now we want to navigate back to the
Notey1.0.zip
archive and head into the
JAWS settings to modify
folder.
Select it with an arrow key and press enter on the folder to open it.
Select the last of two files called
default-jss
hit enter to launch it. It is a text file which will launch in Notepad.
Select all within the file, which is just one line, by hitting control+A
Copy with Control+c
Now we want to launch the JAWS script manager with insert+0.
Once the Script manager has launched hit
control+shift+d to launch the default Script file
JAWS should report Shared default dot jss.
Now we want to hit control+end to go to the bottom of the file.
Make sure you are on a blank line below EndScript.
Lets setup a test script, that we just need so as to create the default key map file and compile properly.
Hit Control+e to launch the New Script dialogue
You will land in the script name edit box. Type
Test
and tab
You will land on the
Can be attached to Key check box not checked
hit space to check this
Tab 4 times until you reach the
Assign to Hot Key
edit box and hit Control+shift+t
tab to ok and hit space
You should land within the body of the script below the Script name and above the End Script line.
Hit Control+end to go to the end of the file, and if need be hit enter to place a blank line below EndScript.
Now Paste, with Control+v the line you copied from the
default-jss
file.
You should see
EndScript ()
Use “Notey.jsb”
as the last two lines of your script file.
Hit Control+s to compile and save. You should hear a ding and hear the message, Compile complete.
hit control+f4 to close the script file, but not close the Script manager.
Now we need to copy the Orbit Writer Braille keys into our Keymap.
Navigate back to the
Notey1.0.zip
archive and head back into the
JAWS settings to modify
folder.
Select the first of two files called
Default-jkm
and hit enter on it.
Hit Control+a to select all in the file, and
control+c to copy to your clipboard.
Now alt+tab back to your Script manager.
Hit control+o,
the Open user file dialogue box should pop up.
Tab and hit the letter,
k
to set focus on and select Keymap files .jkm.
ShiftTab 1 time to land in the file name box and type
Default
hit enter.
JAWS should report
UserDefault.jkm
Hit control+home to get to the top of the file
if you are not on a blank line, hit
enter
and then
control+home again.
Hit control+v to paste the copied text.
Hit control+home again.
You should now see the following in your file
[OR20 Keys]
Braille Dots 1 4 6 Chord=CalculateBattery
Braille Down=BrailleDownArrow
Braille Up=BrailleUpArrow
Braille Left=BrailleLeftArrow
Braille Right=BrailleRight
Braille Select=BrailleEnterSelect
Braille Dots 1 2 4 5 6 Chord=ReadToEnd
Braille Dots 1 3 5 6 Chord=ExitAltF4
Braille Dots 2 3 4 5 Chord=SayTime
Braille Dot 7 Chord=BrailleApplicationsKey
Braille Dot 8 Chord=BrailleAltTab
Braille Dots 7 8 Chord=BrailleSayTitle
Braille Dots 1 3 5 Chord=OpenNote
Braille Dots 1 3 4 5 Chord=NewNote
Braille Dots 1 3 4 Chord=NoteyMenu
Braille Dots 1 3 4 6 Chord=MinimiseAllApps
Braille Dots 1 2 3 4 Chord=PlayFolderInWinamp
Braille Dots 2 4 5 6 Chord=WindowList
Braille Dots 3 4 5 Chord=SoundSettings
Braille Dots 1 2 3 4 6 Chord=FileExplorer
Braille Dots 2 3 4 Chord=Save
Braille Dots 1 2 3 4 5 Chord=CueInWinamp
Braille Dots 1 2 4 5 Chord=DriveLauncher
Braille Dots 2 3 Chord=SelectPreviousWord
Braille Dots 5 6 Chord=SelectNextWord
Braille Dots 1 3 Chord=SelectPreviousLine
Braille Dots 4 6 Chord=SelectNextLine
Braille Dots 1 2 3 5 6 Chord=SelectionEnd
Braille Dots 2 3 4 5 6 Chord=SelectionStart
Braille Dots 1 5 Chord=ClipboardCommands
Braille Dots 2 3 4 6 Chord=BrailleSelectAll
Braille Dots 1 2 3 6 Chord=Paste
Braille Dots 1 3 6 Chord=Undo
Braille Dots 1 3 4 5 6 Chord=OtherSymbols
Braille Dots 1 2 4 Chord=JAWSFind
Braille Dots 1 2 5 Chord=HelpMenu
Hit control+s to save. You will not hear a ding or spoken message.
Hit alt+f4 to close the script manager.
If you have anything else open, alt+tab to it and alt+f4 out of each window until nothing is open.
Hit
windows+d to go to your desktop.
Alt+f4 to go to the shutdown dialogue.
You may hear music and a spoken message from JAWS when at this window.
Find restart in the combo box, and hit enter to Restart the computer.
When the computer restarts it will have transported into Notey. JAWS should now report,
Notey ready. Press dots 1,2,5 chord for help menu. You may need to press dots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 chord to enable Typing. JAWS.
Hardware build:
Unbox the battery. Open the Velcro strips.
The Velcro strips have adhesive tape on both sides, Both peace’s of Velcro are adhesed together for each strip you pull out of the box. Before removing the protector for the adhesive, you should pull the Velcro apart. Place your thumb on one edge of the strip, and the rest of your remaining fingers on the other edge. Work your thumb in-between the two peace’s of Velcro, as it starts to come apart you can pull the peace’s apart. It may take a bit of force as the Velcro is heavy duty.
You will have two peace’s of Velcro with adhesive protectors on each side.
One peace of Velcro is rough the other is smoother.
Lets work our way from the bottom of the project to the top.
Place the battery so that the button is at the upper right edge, so that the smaller USB C port is to the right of the button at the top right corner of the battery, so as you move your finger from the top of the battery down the right side thee USB A port is under the USB C port.
Now feel the top larger service of the battery. It will be some what smooth. Feel how much space you have. You want the Velcro to be at the center/middle of the battery.
Take the rough Velcro and leave the adhesive protector on. Place it on top of the battery, Velcro side up, and make sure you can control it with your fingers to work it to the middle. it may be a good idea to have your fingers at each end, and make it taunt, this will come in handy later after you take the adhesive off to not have bubbles or hills in the Velcro, making sure that all of the adhesive will be against the battery.
Pick up the Velcro, and place it back down on the battery a few times, figure out how to place it flat in the middle of the battery as straight as you can.
When you feel like you’ve trained yourself, peal the adhesive protector off, and do your best not to touch the adhesive. The Velcro will be much thinner without the adhesive off and may not work as you would expect in your hands. Place the Velcro rough side up with the adhesive against the top of the battery. Make sure it is straight with no bubbles or hills against the battery. If it is, press it down for about 10 seconds with the palm of your hand and hold it.
You want to get this in one shot. You don’t want to peal it off the battery and try again. I don’t know how the adhesive will last if you do this multiple times, nor do I know if the battery service may peal.
Now put the battery aside.
Now unbox the Mini PC.
Mini PC orientation:
The mini PC has feet on the bottom of it. On the top there is a label and ridges going across the top of the device.
The front right side will have a power button.
The Ethernet port will be at the back left.
To the right will be the USB C power port.
to the right will be the HDMI port.
to the right of the next small square, will be the headset jack, and above this will be the micro SD slot near the roof of the case.
To the right of this will be the USB C Data jack.
as we turn the corner and come down the right side of the device, there is 3 USB A ports.
I am not sure what the small slot is on the left side of the device it may be a Kensington lock to cable lock the device.
We want to place the smoothed Velcro strip onto the bottom of the mini PC.
Lets flip the PC over so that the feet are facing the sealing the top.
We want to work with the smoothed Velcro strip, much like we did with the strip we adheased to the battery.
Take the smoothed Velcro and leave the adhesive protector on. Place it on top of the PC, , Velcro side up, and make sure you can control it with your fingers to work it to the middle. it may be a good idea to have your fingers at each end, and make it taunt, this will come in handy later after you take the adhesive off to not have bubbles or hills in the Velcro, making sure that all of the adhesive will be against the PC.
Pick up the Velcro, and place it back down on the PC a few times, figure out how to place it flat in the middle of the PC as straight as you can.
When you feel like you’ve trained yourself, peal the adhesive protector off, and do your best not to touch the adhesive. The Velcro will be much thinner without the adhesive and may not work as you would expect in your hands. Place the Velcro smoothed side up with the adhesive against the bottom of the PC. Make sure it is straight with no bubbles or hills against the PC. If it is, press it down for about 10 seconds with the palm of your hand and hold it.
You want to get this in one shot. You don’t want to peal it off the PC and try again. I don’t know how the adhesive will last if you do this multiple times, nor do I know if the PC service may peal.
Now flip the PC right side up and lets grab another strip of Velcro.
The Velcro strips have adhesive tape on both sides, Both peace’s of Velcro are adhesed together for each strip you pull out of the box. Before removing the protector for the adhesive, you should pull the Velcro apart. Place your thumb on one edge of the strip, and the rest of your remaining fingers on the other edge. Work your thumb in-between the two peace’s of Velcro, as it starts to come apart you can pull the peace’s apart. It may take a bit of force as the Velcro is heavy duty.
You will have two peace’s of Velcro with adhesive protectors on each side.
One peace of Velcro is rough the other is smoother.
We want to adhese the next peace of rough Velcro on the top of the PC.
Take the rough Velcro and leave the adhesive protector on. Place it on top of the PC, , Velcro side up, and make sure you can control it with your fingers to work it to the middle. it may be a good idea to have your fingers at each end, and make it taunt, this will come in handy later after you take the adhesive off to not have bubbles or hills in the Velcro, making sure that all of the adhesive will be against the PC.
Pick up the Velcro, and place it back down on the PC a few times, figure out how to place it flat in the middle of the PC as straight as you can.
When you feel like you’ve trained yourself, peal the adhesive protector off, and do your best not to touch the adhesive. The Velcro will be much thinner without the adhesive and may not work as you would expect in your hands. Place the Velcro rough side up with the adhesive against the bottom of the PC. Make sure it is straight with no bubbles or hills against the PC. If it is, press it down for about 10 seconds with the palm of your hand and hold it.
You want to get this in one shot. You don’t want to peal it off the PC and try again. I don’t know how the adhesive will last if you do this multiple times, nor do I know if the PC service may peal.
put the mini PC aside.
Now we want to adhese the next peace of smoothed Velcro on the bottom of the orbit writer.
Unbox the Orbit writer if need be.
The top of the device will have the 8 Braille in, arrow keys and select button.
The bottom will have four feet and a label.
Flip the orbit writer over so it is long ways left to right, feet up.
Place the front of the orbit writer against your chest vs flat down on the table, this way you have better control of it and it can’t slide.
Take the smoothed Velcro and leave the adhesive protector on. Place it on top of the bottom of the Orbit Writer, , Velcro side up, and make sure you can control it with your fingers to work it to the middle. it may be a good idea to have your fingers at each end, and make it taunt, this will come in handy later after you take the adhesive off to not have bubbles or hills in the Velcro, making sure that all of the adhesive will be against the Orbit Writer.
Pick up the Velcro, and place it back down on the Orbit Writer a few times, figure out how to place it flat in the middle of the Orbit Writer as straight as you can.
When you feel like you’ve trained yourself, peal the adhesive protector off, and do your best not to touch the adhesive. The Velcro will be much thinner without the adhesive and may not work as you would expect in your hands. Place the Velcro smoothed side up with the adhesive against the bottom of the Orbit Writer. Make sure it is straight with no bubbles or hills against the Orbit writer. If it is, press it down for about 10 seconds with the palm of your hand and hold it.
You want to get this in one shot. You don’t want to peal it off the Orbit Writer and try again. I don’t know how the adhesive will last if you do this multiple times, nor do I know if the \Orbit Writer service may peal.
Before we go any further, please place all parts to your project aside for 4 hours to let the adhesive setup.
Once the time has passed, put the battery in front of you, Velcro side up, USB C port on the right side as explained above.
Pick up the Mini PC with your thumbs on the top and your third and fourth fingers on both hands going in on the edges long ways. Feel where the edge of the square of the Velcro is so that you can orientate it straight to place it on top of the battery. Bring your hands to the top of the battery and start to lower the PC, your fingers between them. Feel the edges of the square of the Velcro on the battery, line both peace’s up. Pull your fingers from under the PC and lower the PC to the battery
. Now feel under the PC as much as you can, it’s not as long as the battery but the Velcro peace’s should mostly match up. You shouldn’t feel the Velcro on the battery start to come up the edges of the PC. If you do, pull apart and try again.
Once you get things as straight as you can, grab your Orbit writer. In the same way fit it to the PC.
Now feel your device, bottom to top the edges. Meet Notey.
When ever you pick up Notey, pick it up by the bottom, the battery. Though you will notice you can pick it up by the PC, it’s not smart, though I’ve tested over a table and it is strong enough to hold.
Now lets make our connections.
Find your two 10 inch cables. USB C to C, and A to Micro B.
Lets connect our Orbit writer to the PC. This cable goes into the left side of the Orbit Writer Micro USB B with the two pins facing up.
Take this cable around the back of the PC to the right side. Lets connect it to the middle USB A port.
Now lets connect the power leads. Connect one end of the USB cable into the USB C connection to the right of the Ethernet port on the PC.
Rap around to the right side of the battery and connect into the USB C port.
Notey has power, and you may hear a slight high pitch wine from the PC.
Turn on the Orbit Writer by pressing and holding the up and down arrow keys. You will feel a small haptic vibration.
Power up the PC with a quick press of the front right button.
It should take 15 seconds to boot into Windows.
Now lets connect the Orbit Writer with JAWS. These steps are pulled directly from the Orbit Writer users guide.
- Press Space + Right Arrow + Dot 6 to activate the USB channel on the Orbit Writer
- When connecting Orbit Writer to JAWS by USB, it must be set to use the Orbit-HID protocol by pressing Select + Dots 1 3 5 7.
- Insert + J to bring up the JAWS menu.
- Press Enter on Options.
- Down Arrow to Braille and press Enter.
- Tab to Add Braille Display and press Enter.
- Arrow Up or Down to Orbit Reader 20 and press Space to check the box and select it.
- Tab to the Next button and press Enter.
- Select USB.
- Tab to the Next button and press Enter.
- Select Orbit Reader 20 as a primary device.
- Tab to the Finish button and press Enter.
- Restart JAWS.
You should feel/hear two quick haptic vibrations from the Orbit Writer. Press a full cell chord and JAWS should report, “Typing mode enabled.”
Operating Notey.
You should always boot Notey in this order
make sure connections are made
turn on Orbit Writer
Turn on Notey’s computer.
If the Orbit writer isn’t booted before the computer you may not have Braille input.
Shutdown the computer with the front button.
Turn on Orbit Writer.
Reboot computer.
Notey has been developed to be easy to opporate from the Orbit Writer keyboard. There is one, Global main menu that will take you to anywhere. Press M Chord to bring up the menu. Drive through the menu and it’s sub menus with the arrows and select button between the Braille input keys.
Notey will announce,
“
Notey Main Menu. dialog
List1 List view
1OpenMostRecentlySavedNote
1 of 6
2NewNote
2 of 6
3OpenNotesFolder
3 of 6
4Media
4 of 6
5Utilities
5 of 6
6Settings
6 of 6
“
As you can already see, all of these options are self explanatory. What are in the last three submenus?
“
Media Submenu. dialog
List1 List view
1OpenSpotify
1 of 2
2OpenWinamp
2 of 2
“
Utilities Submenu. dialog
List1 List view
1Launch Internet
1 of 6
2Launch Mail
2 of 6
3Launch Calendar
3 of 6
4Launch Calculator
4 of 6
5Launch Sound Recorder
5 of 6
6LaunchWindowsMenus
6 of 6
“
6LaunchWindowsMenus
6 of 6
Access to Windows menus and dialogues. dialog
List1 List view
1Launch Start Menu
1 of 3
2LaunchRun
2 of 3
3LaunchWindowsXMenu
3 of 3
“
In the utilities sub menu,
the web browser launches Edge
Mail launches Thunderbird.
“
Settings Submenu. dialog
List1 List view
1ToggleAirPlainMode
1 of 3
2setupWiFiNetwork
2 of 3
3AddBlueToothDevice
3 of 3
“
When using items in the Network submenu, after activating an item, expect to drive through the dialogues with tab, dots, 4 5, chord
, shift+tab, dots, 1 2, chord, space, and enter, dot 8 chord.
When Brailing in a network key you will use grade1, computer Braille.
To get to an easy to use list of Other Symbols from anywhere, press
y chord.
“
Other Symbols Submenu. dialog
List1 List view
1Exclaim
1 of 7
2At
2 of 7
3Dollar
3 of 7
4percent
4 of 7
5Underscore
5 of 7
6LeftBrace
6 of 7
7RightBrace
7 of 7
“
These symbols may be easily typed into any edit field with this menu and will drop at the curser location.
Drive through the menu with the arrows and select
Braille in commands and what they do.
We’ll first list the global commands available from everywhere in Notey.
“
help menu: dots 1 2 5 chord
Notey Main Menu: Dots 1 3 4 Chord
Sound Settings: Braille Dots 3 4 5 Chord
Within the Sound settings the following commands are available.
System Volume Up: Dot 4 Chord
System Volume Down: Dot 1 Chord
JAWS Speech Rate Decrease: Dot 2 Chord
Jaws Speech Rate Increase: Dot 5 Chord
Soundcard Switch Previous: Dot 3 Chord
Soundcard Switch next: Dot 6 Chord
Access Soundcard List: Dots 2 3 4 Chord
Bluetooth Audio Device Selection: Dots 1 2 Chord
Audio Duck Toggle: Dots 1 4 5 Chord
Turn Off Speech: Dots 2 3 Chord
Turn On Speech: Dots 5 6 Chord
Exit Sound And Voice Settings: Dots 1 3 5 6 Chord
Say Title of currently focused application: Dots 7 8 Chord
Applications key: Dot 7 Chord
Window List: Braille Dots 2 4 5 6 Chord
Alt+Tab: Dot 8 Chord
Minimize All Apps: Dots 1 3 4 6 Chord
simulate pressing control+o: Dots 1 3 5 Chord
simulate pressing control+n: Dots 1 3 4 5 Chord
simulate pressing control+s: Dots 2 3 4 Chord
Exit: one time escape, twice quickly,Alt F4: Dots 1 3 5 6 Chord
Drive Launcher: Dots 1 2 4 5 Chord
Easily type Other Symbols, such as at, and more: Dots 1 3 4 5 6 Chord
JAWS Find: Dots 1 2 4 Chord
SayTime, press once. Twice quickly, say date: Dots 2 3 4 5 Chord
Move up and read the previous line: up arrow or dott 1 Chord
Move down and read the next line: down arrow, or dot4 Chord.
Read prior character and move left: left arrow or dot 3 Chord.
Read next character and move right: right arrow or Dot6 chord.
read by previous word: Dot 2 chord.
read by next word: Dot 5 chord.
Press enter: select button between the arrows, or dot 8.
Read from current position To End, or say all: Dots 1 2 4 5 6 Chord
Select All: Dots 2 3 4 6 Chord
Select Previous Word: Dots 2 3 Chord
Select Next Word: Dots 5 6 Chord
Select Previous Line: Dots 1 3 Chord
Select Next Line: raille Dots 4 6 Chord
Selection Start: Dots 2 3 4 5 6 Chord
Selection End: Dots 1 2 3 5 6 Chord
Copy, cut Clipboard Commands: Dots 1 5 Chord
Paste: Dots 1 2 3 6 Chord
Undo: Dots 1 3 6 Chord
Play Folder In Winamp: Dots 1 2 3 4 Chord
Cue InWinamp: Dots 1 2 3 4 5 Chord
File Explorer: Braille Dots 1 2 3 4 6 Chord
CalculateBattery: Braille Dots 1 4 6 Chord
“
Application specific commands:
Microsoft Edge:
“
Address Bar: Dots 1 4 5 Chord
“
Thunderbird:
“
Tab Down To TreeView: Dots 1 6 Chord
Send Mail: Dots 2 3 4 Chord
“
Spotify:
“
Previous Track: Left Arrow
Next Track: Right arro
Volume Down: Down arrow
Volume up: Up arrow
Pause: select (between the arrow keys)
Search Spotify streaming catalogue: S Chord
Dots 1 2 3 4 Chord: Play first. This works after you have selected an artist using Spotify web content.
Cycle through Repeat modes: dots 1 2 3 5 Chord.
Shuffle: dots 1 4 6 Chord
When reading through web content within spotify:
Read down a line: Dot 4 Chord
Read up a line: Dot 1 chord
Move by headings: h
JAWS Find: Braille Dots 1 2 4 Chord
press enter: dot 8
“
Winamp:
“
Previous Track: Left Arrow
Next Track: Right arro
Volume Down: Down arrow
Volume up: Up arrow
Pause: select (between the arrow keys)
play from stop: x
shuffle: s
repeat: r
Cycle through Winamp Windows: tab, 4 5 chord
“
Connecting to an already pared Bluetooth device:
Access the Voice And Sound Settings with a 3 4 5 Chord.
Hit a B chord, 1 2 chord to launch the Bluetooth settings. This will automatically drop you into the list of pared devices. If you have, for example, Apple Airpods, they may be the first in the list. Just down arrow, then up arrow to verify they are selected.
Hit tab, 4 5 chord,
hit enter, dot 8 to connect.
This is quite easy if you don’t have speech. Once you are pared and have speech you can easily use this dialogue to connect to a speaker etc.
Hit Z Chord twice to exit this dialogue.
What does the Z chord do?
This will in most instances, hit escape when you press it once,
alt+f4, when you hit it twice quickly.
Troubleshooting
I don’t have sound?
Make sure your wired Headphones are connected to Notey, or wireless BT headphones are connected.
My wired headphones are connected and audio randomly drops out?
This is normal. I don’t notice that this effects which Soundcard JAWS is running to,and it comes back after just a moment. I know it’s annoying. I don’t notice it at all with BT headphones.
My braille keyboard stopped working?
You should not pare the Orbit Writer with Microsoft Narrator, it will not work with JAWS. Verified with Freedom Scientific.
This will install another driver the Lib Louis for the Orbit Writer.
Uninstalling this driver won’t revert back to a working version with JAWS.
Included in the notey/system folder is a file called
winusb.sys
this has working Orbit Writer driver that you can use int the device manager to rollback the driver. Only use this as last case workaround please.
You should always boot Notey in this order
make sure connections are made
turn on Orbit Writer
Turn on Notey’s computer.
If the Orbit writer isn’t booted before the computer you may not have Braille input.
Shutdown the computer with the front button.
Turn on Orbit Writer.
Reboot computer.
Notey is warm?
This is normal. Notey shouldn’t run hot, but it does run warm.
Thank you for using Notey.
I hope this is a good cost solution for you and that the project serves you well.
Notey the notetaker. Build yours or get software updates. 
One response to “Notey User Manual V1.0.2”
All of the previous comments that were posted here have been moved to the new forum page.
Please use the forum when asking future questions/tech support. Thanks much all. 🙂
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