I can probably provide any information or directions needed to validate books for bookshare on a braille note of any type, but it is necessary to unpack any book you download from bookshare, so only braille notes with the bookshare unpack utility can be used without the need of a computer. It is pretty rare for a BRF file to end up in the list of books for validation, so I suspect the BRF refered to might have come from the collection and should not require validating. Either way it should not be garbled, so either the braille note has a problem, the download and opening procedure had a problem, or the file does. I could download and check the file if the name of the book had been given. It is very hard to provide tech support when no details are given. :-)
In order to validate a book on the braille note you would connect to the Internet and go to www.bookshare.org. Press l until you get to a log in link and press enter. When the page loads press space with dots 4-6 until you reach the user name or E-mail address field. Fill it in and press space with dots 4-6, tab on a QT? Fill in your passwork and hit enter to activate the submit button. Now if you have been registered as a bookshare volunteer you will be brought to the volunteer home page. On this page there is a link called "step 1 download" which you use to load the page listing all the books awaiting validation. It takes forever for that page to load so patience is required. There is a combo-box on that page that will allow you to choose the file format you want to find a book in. BRF files are of course ideal to work with on a braille note, but of course there aren't many and you can validate books in RTF just fine. That is the file format of the majority of books that need validation. Pick a title and press enter on it's download link. This will open a page with all the information for that book, and the page will also have a link that says "download "book title" for review" Press enter on that if you decide you really do want to work on that book. The file you download will be a zip file, which technically is not supported by the braille note, but there is a work-around. Once the book is downloaded you will need to rename it with the .bks extention instead of the zip extention. Now go to the book reader and choose the book that now has a .bks extention. You will be prompted for a password, but just leave it blank. I would choose to save the extracted file without opening it in the bookreader, since you really want to edit it not just read it. Now go to the word processor and open the unpacked file, which will be either a BRF or an RTF. Of course you will know what you downloaded. If it is a BRF keep it as a braille document, and if it is an RTF do not translate it in to braille. Translating files just causes translation errors and a big mess that won't be appreciated by anybody. :-) It is okay to make the book a keysoft file as long as you remember to convert it back to it's original file type before uploading it to bookshare. For instructions on what to do with the file for validation or how to upload it when you are finished send another E-mmail asking for directions and I or someone else on the bookshare list can respond. I hope that helps. People on the braille note list have asked how to get books from bookshare for free, well becoming a volunteer and working for your membership is the way to do it. Of course, the amount of work it takes can hardly be called getting something for nothing, but you can choose whether to spend time or money on your subscription. :-) I choose to spend time, since i enjoy adding to the collection. Sarah Van Oosterwijck Assistive Technology Trainer http://home.earthlink.net/~netentity ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
