Installation and Setup

Install or upgrade the Cytrence Kiwi application on your host computer.

Downloading the Cytrence Kiwi Application

Please download the Cytrence Kiwi application suitable for your operating system from the official Cytrence website https://www.cytrence.com. Ensure to select the correct version for your platform. If the downloaded installer is in a zipped format, you will need to unzip it before proceeding.

Installation Instructions for Cytrence Kiwi Application

Windows:

• The installer is provided as an MSI file. Double-click the MSI file to begin the installation process.

• Follow the on-screen instructions to accept the End-User License Agreement (EULA) and proceed with the installation.

• Administrator rights are not required for the installation.

• The application will be installed in the following directory: %LocalAppData%/Cytrence.

macOS:

• The installer is provided as a PKG file. Double-click the PKG file to initiate the installation process.

• Follow the on-screen instructions to accept the End-User License Agreement (EULA) and continue with the installation.

• When prompted, enter your password to authorize the installation process to complete.

• The application will be installed in the /Applications directory.

Ubuntu Linux:

• The installer is provided as a DEB file.

• Open a terminal and navigate to the directory containing the downloaded .deb file.

• Run the following command to begin the installation:

sudo dpkg -i cytrence-kiwi_<version>_amd64.deb

Replace `<version>` with the actual version number of the downloaded file.

• When prompted, enter your password to authorize the installation.

• Follow the on-screen prompts to accept the End-User License Agreement (EULA) and complete the installation.

• The application will be installed in the /opt/cytrence directory.

Post-Installation Setup

For users on Ubuntu Linux, you need to run the command below to enable the Cytrence Kiwi application to access the Kiwi device:

Run this command to add current user to group dialout, then restart the host computer:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
sudo reboot

For users of Ubuntu Linux 22.04, there is a known conflict between product IDs used by a Braille screen reader and the USB to serial converter chip used in the Kiwi. To ensure the Cytrence Kiwi application can recognize the Kiwi device plugged in, you must run the following command to uninstall the "brltty" package.

Unplug and plug in the Kiwi device after running the command.

sudo apt remove brltty

Note: This step is not necessary for users of Ubuntu Linux 24.04.

Upgrade Instructions for Cytrence Kiwi Application

To update the application to a new version, follow the same process as installing the new version. Before you start the installation, make sure there are no running instances of the Cytrence Kiwi application.

For Windows users, if you encounter the following error during the upgrade, close any running instances of Cytrence Kiwi and click "Retry":