Dancing Dots
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Where Music Meets Technology for the blind
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Dancing Dots serves blind musicians and their educators through technology and training

Miscellaneous GOODFEEL Problems

Here is a list of known problems with GOODFEEL and ways of getting around these problems. We are currently testing fixes to most of these problems and will include them in future maintenance releases of GOODFEEL.

Brailler Problems (GOODFEEL 2.6 only!)

Problem

Even though your braille looks fine in a braille editor, sending your braille to your embosser from GOODFEEL does not produce the same braille. This occurs often on Windows XP and 2000 machines.

Solution

To set up GOODFEEL to braille right to your printer port using the Floppy/Special button on the What Do You Want to Do with Your Braille dialog:
  1. Go to Start | Programs | GOODFEEL | GOODFEEL Configuration File.
  2. Find the [Printer Config] section near the bottom of the file.
  3. Find the line that starts with FloppySpecial and change it to:
       FloppySpecial=LPT1
    for a brailler that is attached to LPT1.
    For a network printer use the embosser's network address; here's an example:
       FloppySpecial=\\EmbosserServer\Embosser
    If the FloppySpecial line doesn't exist then add it anywhere in the [Printer Config] section.
  4. Go to File | Save and then File | Exit.
  5. After this change, use the FloppySpecial button to send your braille output to your braille embosser instead of the Embosser button.
You might also need to check Suppress Windows printer warnings in the Embosser Setup dialog and then click on the Save as Defaults button.

Q. Our ViewPlus printer is producing braille music from GOODFEEL® with incorrect margins and jumbled Braille. How can we solve this problem?

A. Change the internal printer settings which is done through the firmware of your ViewPlus printer. Using the control panel on your ViewPlus, go into the printer properties, access the ‘Legacy Printer Settings’ tab, and make sure you set the appropriate paper size/margins for the paper you are using. Once you make these settings and applied them, the braille output from GOODFEEL should look fine. Note that the printer must be on to perform these changes, as you will hear a beep immediately upon applying the settings, indicating that the firmware has updated the changes.

Missing Lines at the End of the Braille Output (GOODFEEL 2.6 and Earlier!)

Description

Sometimes GOODFEEL leaves off the last few lines of the braille output. One easy way of detecting this problem is the absence of a double bar very close to the end of the braille. A plain double bar is dots 1,2,6 then dots 1,3 and a backward repeat double bar is dots 1,2,6 then dots 2,3.

Solutions

  • Make sure you aren't running our demo.
  • If you have an interpoint printer, you may have to press formfeed on your brailler before the last page will come out.
  • Reduce the number of lines per braille page by one or two in GOODFEEL's Embosser Setup dialog. This is a GOODFEEL bug that happens when only a little bit of the music is at the top of the last page so don't leave the number of lines per braille page at this reduced number.

Changing Your Braille Editor

To change the editor that is used to open GOODFEEL Output files:
  1. Find a .gf file on your computer. You can use Windows Explorer or the File Find or Search utility from the Start menu.
  2. Go to File | Open With... | Choose Program or for Windows 95 & 98 hold down the shift key, while pulling down the File menu and select Open With...
  3. In the Open With dialog, find the editor that you want and also check Always use this program to open this type of file. BrlView (the editor that is shipped with GOODFEEL) is in the GOODFEEL program folder which is probably C:\Program Files\DancingDots\GF2XX (use the latest version of GOODFEEL).
  4. In Windows 95 & 98 you should:
    • Go to Tools | Folder Options | File Types.
    • Find GOODFEEL Output File and select it.
    • Click on Advanced.
    • Double-click Open.
    • Edit the Application used to perform action: so that it has both parts enclosed in double-quotes and looks similar to:
         "C:\Program Files\DancingDots\GF260\BrlView.exe" "%1"
    • Close all the Windows by clicking on OK buttons.
    • If GOODFEEL doesn't open the file correctly go to Tools | Folder Options | File Types again, remove GOODFEEL Output File type and start this whole process over.

Brailling GOODFEEL Output Files

If there is a GOODFEEL output file that you want to braille and it was not made with your copy of GOODFEEL (for example, someone sent you a file or you downloaded one from the Internet), you can braille it using DOS or using a version of GOODFEEL on your computer.

Using DOS to Braille GOODFEEL Output Files

Simply copy the file to LPT1 assuming your brailler is hooked up to LPT1. If the file is from the Internet, you will need to save the file to your hard drive first.

Using GOODFEEL to Braille Files Made Somewhere Else

  1. Copy or save the file to C:\Program Files\DancingDots\GF26\Output. Depending on your version of GOODFEEL, the GF26 part of the previously specified path may be different.
  2. Start GOODFEEL and go to File | Edit/Reprint and double-click the file.
  3. A dialog will be opened that will allow you to Edit or Emboss the braille.

Brailling Chord Symbols with GOODFEEL

GOODFEEL doesn't braille chord symbols according to the braille music standards yet but you can have GOODFEEL braille the chord symbols in line with the music informally. Here are our recommendations:
  • Categorize the text as Other Text (GOODFEEL purposefully ignores text that is categorized as Chord Symbol).
  • Separate different parts by dashes except when changing from letters to numbers. Never use spaces.
  • Change the following:
    • flat symbols to 'fl'
    • sharp symbols to 'sh'
    • anything that means minor ('m' or '-') to 'mi'
    • anything that means major ('maj', 'M' or triangle) to 'ma'
    • anything that means diminished (circle) to 'dim'
    • anything that means half diminished (circle with a slash) to 'hd'
    • anything that means augmented (plus) to 'aug'
  • Here are some examples: C-mi7, D-fl-mi7-sus4, D/F-sh, F-hd, C-mi7(fl5), G7(fl5-fl9)
  • For help with chord symbols see Jazz Chord Symbol Chart

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