by Michael Whapples
I am pleased to announce the release of BrailleBlaster 3.0.0. This major version bump is to indicate BrailleBlaster reaching a new milestone in its life as it becomes open-source under the GNU Public License. With new packaging bringing automatic updates and Linux AARCH64 support, as well as many improvements and bug fixes we recommend all users to upgrade. As usual you can get BrailleBlaster from the BrailleBlaster website. For full details of what has changed please see the below release notes.
Unfortunately for Mac users, we do not currently have a release for you, this will be coming soon.
BrailleBlaster 3.0.0, March 26, 2025
Welcome to BrailleBlaster 3.0.0. With this release BrailleBlaster is open-source and is now released under the GNU Public License (GPL). This license change now means that users will have the freedom to make modifications to the software and they can contribute back to the project to improve things for the whole BrailleBlaster community. Whilst making the license change, we also took the opportunity to redo our build and packaging process. This should make it easier for us to produce new releases, will offer better user experience and automatic updates as well as better compatibility with some security software. Unfortunately it does mean, if you have BrailleBlaster.2.1 installed you should uninstall that before installing BrailleBlaster 3.0.0. As usual there have been a number of other improvements and bug fixes as well, so review the below release notes for full details.
License and packaging
- BrailleBlaster now under the GNU Public License V3 (GPL3).
- Users who use the installer options will now get automatic updates happening in the background.
- Fixed some issues when using BrailleBlaster with some security software, such as quicker start up when using certain VPN tools.
- Packages available for Linux AARCH64 systems such as the BTSpeak and RaspberryPi.
Math enhancements
- Now able to paste math equations from other websites and sources. Do not have to highlight the equation and click on Math Translation Toggle. Now use Ctrl+Shift+M to paste Math from another source.
- Nemeth Code Change Indicators are working when the translation settings are set accordingly and when Math translation toggle is used.
- Fixed issue when typing a line of text on first line of document then entering on a second line using the ASCII Math Hub, the first line of text stays on first line and second line is the inserted ASCII math.
- Following UEB Guidelines for Technical Materials The blank line is working in the Spatial Math Editor for UEB Matrices.
UI enhancements
- Issue with Braille Preview not working when using some .xml files has been fixed.
- A Disable Status Bar Item is available in the Settings Menu tab.
- Status bar cell information indicates which view the cursor is in whether it is in the Print view (Text) or Braille View.
- The ability to add Unicode Braille is now an option. When you highlight the braille in the braille view and right click, there is an option to Copy in Unicode.
- Selecting all or Ctrl+A will highlight text in the text fields now in both the Ascii Math Hub and Correct Translation dialogs.
Translation enhancements
- EBAE Profile has been added to the Translation settings profiles.
- Uncontracted change translation is correct. No grade 1 indicators when the translation is changed to uncontracted. Single letter contractions changing to whole uncontracted words do not show a grade 1 indicator.
- The Contraction Relaxer in Tools has been added.
Other improvements and bug fixes
- When attempting to emboss a brf which does not fit on the paper, an alert window appears that is titled “Document larger than embosser paper.” The window either allows the user to continue with the process or to stop to avoid any embossing issues or problems.
- Nimas files opens without the presence of the Default style at the top
- The backspace key causing an error when you press on it and erase text or when you press on it when Braillblaster is first loaded is functioning normally.
- Other various bug fixes and performance improvements.