Extra 'status' cells are available in some displays to provide additional information such as the row and column co-ordinates of the cursors screen position. The number of braille cells in a display can vary. A full size display is 80 cells long which matches the character width of a word processor screen. The cheaper or portable devices use these smaller 20 and 40 cell displays. Multi-line, full page and graphical displays are currently undergoing development as engineering prototypes.
Braille displays are often combined with other hardware and software to make up an integrated unit.
For instance braille displays are connected to PCs to serve as the display unit, and many units incorporate speech output of the screen prompts. Picture Small, light refreshable 40 cell braille display which can be used with standard PC laptops and desktop systems. Contains 6 buttons for command combinations, output ports provide standard serial output with parallel connections available through an optional interface. Notetaker memory of up to 512 bytes. This portable braille display has twin satellite keypad, double touch cursors, three status cells and activation of speech feedback from the braille display.