Techstravaganza

Reading Books on the Mantis Q40, Wednesday, Oct 21, 2026

Written by

Macara

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Hello Techstravaganza friends,

Have a listen to today’s tutorial of reading books and documents on the Mantis Q40 at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0x6xl7HjpI7rKHDvp40tH2

Show Notes

Mantis Q40 Overview: Audio Output and Hardware

Siena introduced the Mantis Q40 and clarified a key hardware characteristic regarding audio output.

  • Details
    • Siena: Explained that the Mantis Q40 does not have a functional built-in speaker; audio must be routed through a Bluetooth-connected device such as headphones, a speaker, or a Bluetooth-capable mixer.
    • Ali: Asked for clarification on whether the Mantis has built-in speakers.
    • Siena: Noted that while a speaker location was mentioned, no tactile evidence of one was found, and it may be reserved for future use.
    • Siena: Contrasted this with the Brailliant BI40X, which does have a built-in speaker and similar functionality.
    • Siena: Demonstrated connecting the Mantis to her Bluetooth-capable mixer to route audio through her wired headset.
  • Conclusion
    • The Mantis Q40 requires an external Bluetooth audio source for audio playback.
    • The Brailliant BI40X includes a built-in speaker and is otherwise functionally similar.

Mantis Q40 Main Menu Navigation

Siena walked through the main menu of the Mantis Q40, identifying key sections.

  • Details
    • Siena: Demonstrated navigating the main menu using the down arrow key, identifying the following sections: Editor (Braille editor), Terminal (for use as a Braille display with computers/phones), Library (for reading downloaded books), File Manager, Calculator, and Date and Time.
  • Conclusion
    • The Mantis Q40 main menu provides access to editing, file management, library, terminal, and utility functions.

Creating and Saving a Document in the Braille Editor

Siena demonstrated how to create, type, and save a document using the Mantis Q40’s built-in Braille editor.

  • Details
    • Siena: Navigated to the Editor from the main menu and selected “Create File.”
    • Siena: Typed two sentences — “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” and “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party” — noting the good key travel of the Mantis keyboard.
    • Siena: Saved the file using Ctrl+S, named it “Techstravaganza Test Document on the Mantis Q40,” and confirmed it was saved to internal storage under /documents.
    • Siena: Noted that typing echo was set to off, so the text-to-speech did not read each character as typed, but the document could be read back afterward.
    • Siena: Demonstrated reading the saved document back via the Braille display and text-to-speech.
  • Conclusion
    • Documents can be created, named, and saved to internal storage directly on the Mantis Q40.
    • The file was successfully retrieved and read back from the File Manager.

Accessing and Reading Files from External USB Storage

Siena demonstrated how to transfer files from a computer to an external hard drive and then read them on the Mantis Q40.

  • Details
    • Siena: Connected a WD My Passport external hard drive to her Mac and copied her choir lyrics folder (containing Word .docx files) onto it.
    • Siena: Ejected the drive from the Mac and connected it to the Mantis via USB adapter; the Mantis announced “USB inserted.”
    • Siena: Navigated to the USB drive in the File Manager and located the choir lyrics folder.
    • Siena: Noted that macOS creates hidden “dot underscore” phantom files on external drives, which appear in the Mantis file manager and must be deleted manually one at a time using the Delete key and confirming deletion.
    • Siena: Demonstrated opening and reading a Word (.docx) file — “That’s Amore” — directly on the Mantis, with the text-to-speech reading the lyrics line by line.
    • Siena: Also opened “Calendar Girl.docx” as a second example.
    • Siena: Explained that she always requests Word files from her choir director (Claudette) so they can be read on the Mantis, in Google Docs, LibreOffice, or printed via her Braille printer.
    • Siena: Demonstrated copying the choir lyrics folder from the USB drive to the Mantis’s internal storage using Ctrl+C and then pasting into the storage directory.
    • Siena: Confirmed that after ejecting the USB drive, the choir lyrics folder remained accessible on internal storage.
  • Conclusion
    • The Mantis Q40 can read Word (.docx) files from both USB external storage and internal storage.
    • Files can be copied from USB to internal storage directly on the device.
    • macOS-generated phantom files must be deleted manually from the Mantis file manager.

Reading PDF Files on the Mantis Q40

Siena tested the Mantis Q40’s ability to read PDF documents, using two different PDF manuals as examples.

  • Details
    • Siena: Copied two PDF files onto the external hard drive — a MIDI Plus Mini Engine USB manual and a Yamaha PSR-E473 manual — into a folder called “PDF Documents.”
    • Siena: Connected the drive to the Mantis and navigated to the PDF files.
    • Siena: Opened the MIDI Plus manual; after a brief loading period, the Mantis successfully read the document, including the product description and specifications.
    • Siena: Attempted to open the longer PSR-E473 manual; the Mantis displayed “Loading” for an extended period and did not complete loading within the allotted time, so Siena cancelled.
    • Siena: Noted that longer PDF documents take significantly more time to load on the Mantis.
  • Conclusion
    • The Mantis Q40 can read accessible PDF files, but loading time increases with document length.
    • Shorter PDFs load successfully; very long PDFs may time out or require patience.

Accessing CELA Audiobooks via the Library (Direct-to-Player)

Siena demonstrated how to access and listen to audiobooks from CELA (Centre for Equitable Library Access) using the Mantis Q40’s built-in Library and Online Services features.

  • Details
    • Siena: Navigated to the Library from the main menu, then to Online Services, and identified available services: Bookshare, NFB News, NLS Bard, Daisy Online, and CELA Direct-to-Player.
    • Siena: Showed that her CELA Direct-to-Player account was already configured and demonstrated how to add a new account via “Add Account.”
    • Siena: Accessed her CELA library, which contained “Sports Illustrated Hockey Talk” and “The King Kids, Everett and Willow at Number 39: A Journey in Navigating Legal Blindness.”
    • Siena: Demonstrated returning “Sports Illustrated Hockey Talk” to CELA using the Ctrl+M menu and “Return Book” option.
    • Siena: Opened “The King Kids” audiobook from the Book List and demonstrated playback, including navigating between sections using thumb keys and Alt+Arrow keys.
    • Siena: Noted that Ctrl+P pauses playback, and the spacebar or Enter resumes it.
    • Siena: Experienced occasional freezing of the Mantis during terminal mode transitions.
  • Conclusion
    • The Mantis Q40 supports CELA Direct-to-Player for downloading and listening to audiobooks.
    • Books must be borrowed via the CELA website and are then accessible through the Library menu on the device.
    • Navigation within audiobooks is available by section, heading, and bookmark.

CELA Website Outage and Alternative: Project Gutenberg EPUB Download

During the live session, the CELA website was offline for maintenance. Siena pivoted to demonstrating how to download a free EPUB book from Project Gutenberg and read it on the Mantis.

  • Details
    • Siena: Attempted to access the CELA website (celalibrary.ca) but encountered a maintenance notice stating all services, including Direct-to-Player, were temporarily offline.
    • Siena: Navigated to Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org) via Google Chrome and searched for “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri.
    • Siena: Downloaded the EPUB3 version of “Heidi,” renamed the file, and transferred it to the external hard drive in a new folder called “EPUB Books.”
    • Siena: Connected the drive to the Mantis and opened the EPUB file from the File Manager.
    • Siena: The Mantis successfully loaded and read the book, including the Project Gutenberg license text, introduction, table of contents, and chapter content.
    • Siena: Demonstrated navigating between sections using thumb keys and noted that image descriptions within the EPUB were present but limited in quality.
    • Siena: Also showed that the downloaded book appeared in the Mantis Book List under the USB drive.
  • Conclusion
    • The Mantis Q40 can read EPUB files from external USB storage.
    • Free public domain EPUB books can be sourced from Project Gutenberg as an alternative to CELA when the service is unavailable.

DropDeck Mac Issues and Mid-Session Recording Interruption

A mid-session audio disruption occurred when Siena needed to restart her mixer, causing the DropDeck recording to lose its audio source configuration.

  • Details
    • Siena: Had to restart her mixer mid-session, which disconnected the Bluetooth audio from the Mantis and disrupted the DropDeck source setup.
    • Siena: Noted there is currently no pause or stop function in DropDeck on Mac (only available on Windows), making it difficult to resume a recording cleanly.
    • Ali: Confirmed Audio Hijack captured the session and paused/resumed it in sync with Siena.
    • Siena: Decided to continue recording via Zoom and Audio Hijack only for the remainder of the session.
    • Ali: Mentioned that Fargo also exports session sets, providing another redundancy option.
  • Conclusion
    • The session recording was successfully maintained via Audio Hijack and Zoom despite the DropDeck interruption.
    • A follow-up with Tony (DropDeck developer) is needed to address the lack of a Mac pause/stop recording feature.

Closing Remarks and Session Wrap-Up

Siena concluded the tutorial and thanked attendees.

  • Details
    • Siena: Summarized that the Mantis Q40 (and similarly the Brailliant BI40X) are not merely Braille displays but powerful e-readers capable of handling Word documents, PDFs, EPUBs, and audiobooks.
    • Siena: Drew a parallel to the e-reader hype of the early-to-mid 2000s, suggesting the Mantis serves a similar dedicated reading purpose for the blind and low-vision community.
    • Siena: Announced the next session would be on Wednesday, October 28th.

Check out what’s coming up on Techstravaganza for the rest of the year at the following link: https://techstravaganza.ca/2026/10/20/whats-coming-up-on-techstravaganza-for-the-remainder-of-2026/

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