Oxford Concise English & Chinese Dictionary for Palm OS

Instruction Manual

version 2.1

Designed, developed and distributed by Pleco Software

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. System Requirements
  3. Installation
  4. Interfaces
  5. Searching
  6. Customization
  7. Flashcards
  8. MakeDict and custom dictionaries
  9. Lists of Abbreviations
  10. Ordering
  11. Version History
  12. Software License

A word on accuracy...

Due to the difficulties of Chinese-to-Chinese text conversion and the limitations of the Palm platform, certain characters in this dictionary may not display properly on your handheld. This is particularly true in the case of traditional characters, where additional simplified-to-traditional character conversions have been made beyond those in the print version of the dictionary and these conversions have not been verified by Oxford University Press. While we've attempted to minimize the number of such errors, because of the lingering possibility of inaccuracies PLECO SOFTWARE AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO WARRANTY AS TO THE ACCURACY OF THIS DICTIONARY PRODUCT OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE; if you're negotiating a nuclear missile treaty we suggest you find another reference (or better yet, three). If you do find any inaccuracies in this dictionary, we'd love it if you'd let us know about them so that we can correct them in future editions.

Introduction

Thanks for trying out or purchasing the Oxford Concise English & Chinese Dictionary for Palm OS. We've put a lot of effort into making this a product we'd use ourselves (in fact, some of us actually do), and we hope that you'll find it similarly useful.

We plan to keep improving this product as time goes on, so we appreciate your complaints, suggestions, and bug reports at feedback@pleco.com.

Technical support can be obtained by writing support@pleco.com.

For ordering information, see the end of this document (jump there directly by clicking here).

System Requirements

The dictionary should work on any Palm OS handheld with 2 MB or more of RAM running Palm OS version 3.0 or later, including Palm OS 5, though some features may be unavailable on machines with 4 MB or less and 8 MB or more is ideal. Every Palm OS handheld is slightly different, though, and we strongly recommend trying out the demo version of our product to make certain you're satisfied with its performance on your particular device before making your purchase. While we have striven to make our product run as well as possible on the full spectrum of Palm OS handhelds, there may be a few features which don't work perfectly on some devices.

The only widely available Palm OS handheld we know of that doesn't have enough free memory to install the basic configuration of a Chinese-English dictionary with handwriting recognition is the original Palm Zire (the Zire 21 and Zire 71 both have plenty of memory) - pretty much any other handheld available these days should work.

Since the dictionary does not modify itself or any of its own data files, it should have no difficulty functioning in the Palm's Flash RAM if you're using software like FlashPro or JackFlash; however, because the dictionary database files are each larger than the available flash memory on most Palm handhelds, this is of little practical use for now.

The dictionary includes full support for Virtual File System (VFS) memory expansion cards, including SD cards and Memory Sticks, and should also work with most Springboard flash memory devices for Handspring Visor systems. It also includes support for high resolution displays on HandEra 330 and high-resolution Sony Clie and Palm handhelds. Our VFS support does not extend to the handwriting recognition data files, which must be installed in RAM.

Please note that the memory requirements for the full version of the dictionary are significantly larger than those for the demo version, so it's important to make certain that your handheld has enough free RAM to accommodate the full version of the dictionary before making your purchase. You can check the amount of free RAM on your handheld in the Applications screen; tap on the silkscreen icon with a picture of a house on it, then tap on the one below it to bring up the menu bar, then tap "Info" and look at the "Free Space" section of the screen. However, all of these files except for the handwriting recognition ones can be stored on a VFS memory card if you have one available, though we recommend that you have at least 200K of extra RAM available if you're running the dictionary with a lot of files on a VFS card.

Memory Requirements (full version)
Basic Application (full version with all features enabled and the 14K Chars file) 179K
Chinese to English Dictionary (including the optional 47K Pinyin Accelerator file) 1396K
English to Chinese Dictionary 1334K
Simplified Chinese handwriting recognition 272K
Simplified Chinese font (12x12 low-res) 120K
Simplified Chinese font (24x24 hi-res) 492K
Simplified Chinese radical table 18K
Traditional Chinese handwriting recognition 290K
Traditional Chinese font(12x12 low-res) 120K
Traditional Chinese font (24x24 hi-res) 479K
Traditional Chinese radical table 19K
Sample Configurations
English-Chinese dictionary with one font file 1543K
Chinese-English dictionary with one font and radical table 1575K
Chinese-English dictionary with one font, radical table and handwriting recognition 1864K
Full install, with traditional and simplified character support and handwriting recognition along with both dictionaries 3585K
Full install plus high resolution fonts 4555K

Installation

There are two different ways to install the dictionary to your handheld:

Here's an outline of the installation procedure. If you're an experienced Palm user, you can skip this part and read the description below for an explanation of which files to install.

  1. Delete the demo/old version. Delete any demo version of the dictionary from your handheld completely before installing the full version. To delete software on a Palm OS handheld, go the Applications screen, open up the menu bar (tap on the menu icon at the bottom left corner of your Palm's display) and choose "Delete...", then select the file you want to delete and press the "Delete..." button. Regardless of whether you're deleting the demo or an older version of the dictionary, deleting any file with a name beginning in "Oxford" should be sufficient to clear any demo or outdated versions off of your Palm.
  2. Check free memory. See the system requirements section for info on this. If your handheld doesn't have enough free memory to install the dictionary, try deleting some programs you're no longer using or install a smaller configuration of the dictionary.
  3. Download the dictionary. Your order confirmation or update announcement e-mail will contain information on where to download the dictionary installer program or the archive containing the dictionary data files for manual installation. If you're running Windows and are inexperienced at installing Palm software, we strongly recommend that you use the installer program. If you choose to go with a manual installation, make sure that you download the appropriate file for your computer system.
  4. Extract the dictionary to a folder. This only applies if you're NOT using the installer program. The dictionary is comprised of several dozen different data files, but to make it easier to download we've bundled these files into a single archive file that you can extract to a folder on your hard drive. On Windows or Mac OS you should be able to simply double-click on the downloaded archive file to extract its contents to a folder on your hard disk; on Unix or Linux you'll want to use unzip or another file decompression utility.
  5. Install the dictionary. How you do this varies based on whether you're using the installer program or whether you're installing files manually.
    Installer: Simply run the installer program you downloaded (which is a Windows executable file) and follow the onscreen instructions to select files to install.
    Manual installation: See the list below to see which files are associated with each one of the dictionary's features. Double-click on each file for each feature you want to install; this will add it to a queue of files to be installed to your handheld. You can also queue up files for installation by dragging them to the "Install Tool" window. When you've finished queuing up files for installation, HotSync your handheld with your computer and the files will automatically copy over.
    Also, due to a bug in Palm Desktop for Windows, you may get an error message "File does not exist" when trying to install some of the dictionary data files; this is because the pathname of the file (directory path plus filename) is too long for Palm Desktop to handle. To fix this, simply copy all of the files you wish to install to the c:\ directory of your hard drive and double-click on them or drag them to the Install Tool window from there. Once you've successfully installed the files onto your handheld, you can delete them from the c:\ directory.
  6. If you want to install some files to an external flash memory card (SD or Memory Stick), open up the "Install Tool" window (which will pop up automatically with a manual installation, and can also be accessed with the Install button in Palm Desktop). Click on the "Change Destination" button and that will allow you to designate some files for installation to your flash memory card. The files can also be copied over directly from RAM, if you prefer. You can configure which directories on your memory card the dictionary will search for files in the "Options" screen; the defaults are /PALM/Launcher and /PALM/Programs/Oxford. Copying the files over by a HotSync will automatically place them in the /PALM/Launcher directory. Note that YOU CANNOT INSTALL THE HANDWRITING RECOGNITION DATA FILES TO A FLASH MEMORY CARD - the handwriting recognition software can only run properly with its files in RAM. All other files, however, should be able to be run from a flash memory card without problems, though some (particularly custom dictionaries) may run very slowly.
  7. Enter serial number. The first time you run the dictionary you'll be prompted for a serial number; this is supplied in your order confirmation or update announcement e-mail. If your serial number doesn't work, e-mail support@pleco.com with the "HotSync Username" and "RegCode ID" from the serial number entry screen and we'll generate a new number for you based on those.

File Listing

Here's a list of which files are associated with each of the dictionary's features.

Dictionary Program

(required!)

Choose one and only one:

Oxford Dict.prc - full version

Oxford Dict Minimal.prc - reduced version, with no flashcards or handwriting recognition support

Oxford Dict Minimal SC.prc - reduced version, with no flashcards and only simplified character handwriting recognition

Oxford Dict Minimal TC.prc - reduced version, with no flashcards and only traditional character handwriting recognition

Character Conversion File

(required, unless you're using the built-in low resolution font files and no others)

Oxford Chars.pdb
Chinese to English Dictionary

Install all of these:

Oxford Database C-E.pdb

Oxford Index C-E.pdb

Oxford Table C-E.pdb

Optional: (required for alphabetically-ordered Pinyin search)

Oxford PY Accelerator C-E.pdb

English to Chinese Dictionary

Install all of these:

Oxford Database E-C.pdb

Oxford Table E-C.pdb

Simplified Character Font

Choose one or more:

Oxford Font SC 12.pdb - low-resolution font file, works on all Palm OS handhelds

Oxford Font SC 16.pdb - medium-resolution font file, only works on HandEra 330 devices

Oxford Font SC 24.pdb - high-resolution font file, works on all Palm OS handhelds through the "Magnify Characters" feature and also works as the main display font on high-resolution devices

Traditional Character Font

Choose one or more:

Oxford Font TC 12.pdb - low-resolution font file, works on all Palm OS handhelds

Oxford Font TC 16.pdb - medium-resolution font file, only works on HandEra 330 devices

Oxford Font TC 24.pdb - high-resolution font file, works on all Palm OS handhelds through the "Magnify Characters" feature and also works as the main display font on high-resolution devices

Simplified Character Radical Table Oxford Radical SC.pdb
Traditional Character Radical Table Oxford Radical TC.pdb
Simplified Character Handwriting Recognition

Install all of these:

Oxford HWR SC 1.pdb

Oxford HWR SC 2.pdb

Oxford HWR SC 3.pdb

Oxford HWR SC 4.pdb

Oxford HWR SC 5.pdb

Traditional Character Handwriting Recognition

Install all of these:

Oxford HWR TC 1.pdb

Oxford HWR TC 2.pdb

Oxford HWR TC 3.pdb

Oxford HWR TC 4.pdb

Oxford HWR TC 5.pdb

 

Interfaces

Lookup View When you first open the dictionary, you'll be presented with a form that looks like this:

List View looks and functions very much like an expanded version of the Entry List from Lookup View. It allows you to rapidly scroll through all of the entries in the dictionary:

To exit List Mode, simply double-click on an entry to return to Lookup Mode and bring up that entry.

List Viewing Modes

Choosing the "Switch List View Mode" menu command or toolbar button allows you to change the order in which dictionary entries are displayed in the Entry List, and also allows you to change the way that Pinyin searches are conducted in the built-in Oxford dictionaries.

There are three different list viewing modes, though some of these may not be available in some dictionaries.

Entry Mode is the default. In this mode, entries in the Entry List are displayed sorted by their starting character, much like in the print-version Oxford dictionary. Pinyin search will function in the standard Pinyin Search mode.

In Pinyin Mode, entries are sorted alphabetically by Pinyin romanization, without regard to tone numbers. Pinyin search will function in the Alphabetical Pinyin Search mode.

In Character Mode, only the first entry for each starting character will be displayed (though the list will still be sorted by Pinyin); this allows you to rapidly scan through the list of characters in the dictionary. Searches behave like in Entry Mode, and entering a multisyllable word will bring you back into Entry Mode.

The icon on the "Switch List View Mode" toolbar button will inform you which mode you're currently in.

Instant Access

Version 2.0 of the dictionary now includes a feature called Instant Access that allows you to instantly bring up the dictionary to look up a word in almost any Palm OS application.

There are two ways to use the Instant Access feature. If your handheld is running Palm OS version 3.5 or later, the easiest method is to use the Command Bar. First, check the "Enable Command Bar Access" box in the Options screen to enable this feature. Then, highlight a piece of text in an application on your Palm (like the Memo Pad or a document viewer). Next, draw the Command Stroke in your handheld's Graffiti area like you would a letter of the alphabet; this is a line drawn from the bottom-left to the top-right, sort of like the second stroke in an 'X'. Finally, click on the icon that looks like this: to bring up the dictionary with the selected text in the Input Field.

Alternately, you can also bring up the dictionary in Instant Access mode by installing "Oxford Instant Access DA.prc" and using a DA launcher program to run it. This works just like the Command Bar icon, you highlight a piece of text and launch the DA to bring up the dictionary with the text selected.

In either case, when you're finished using Instant Access, you can return to the application you were previously in by pressing any of your Palm's hardware application buttons or by choosing the "Quit" command from the Dict menu or toolbar.

Please note that due to technical constraints, many of the dictionary's features, such as handwriting and radical input and flashcards, are disabled in Instant Access mode. Also note that Instant Access may not be able to copy out the selected text in some applications (and will instead bring up the dictionary with the Input Field empty) due to the way these applications handle text; these include applications with proprietary text display systems like WordSmith.

Menu and Toolbar Commands

To access the menu bar on most Palm OS handhelds, tap on the Menu button at the lower left corner of the silk screened Graffiti area, which is located right below your handheld's display.

For information on how to customize the toolbar, see the Customize Toolbar section below.

Dict:

Switch Languages Switch between the English to Chinese and Chinese to English sets of dictionaries.
Switch Dictionaries Cycle through individual dictionaries for a given language. Also, if any text in the current entry is selected, it is copied to the Input Field.
Switch Character Sets Switch between Traditional and Simplified characters.
Switch View Switch between Lookup View and List View.
Switch List View Mode Switch list viewing modes; see the section List Viewing Modes for details.
  Options... Bring up the Options screen.
  Customize Toolbar... Bring up the Customize Toolbar screen.
  Manage Dictionaries... Bring up the Manage Dictionaries screen.
Quit Quits the program (mostly useful in Instant Access mode).

Edit:

Cut Copies the selected text to the clipboard, and, if the text is in an editable field, deletes it.
Copy Copies the selected text to the clipboard, without deleting it.
Paste Inserts the clipboard's contents into the current (editable) field.
Clear Clears the contents of the Input Field.
Radical Input... Brings up the Radical Input screen.
Handwritten Input... Bring up the Handwritten Input screen.
Copy to Input Field Copies the currently selected text into the Input Field and looks it up. This is just like the "Switch Dictionaries" command, except that you stay in the same dictionary with this command. If no text is selected, clears the Input Field.

Flashcards:

  New Flashcard Session... Brings up the New Flashcard Session screen.
  Manage Lists... Brings up the Manage Lists screen.
Add to List Adds the currently displayed dictionary entry to the current flashcard list.

Help:

Help... Brings up a screen with a shortened version of these instructions.
Ordering Info... Brings up a screen with ordering info for this program (demo version only). This includes your HotSync username and RegCode ID.
About Oxford E & C Dict Brings up the standard program About Box with copyright and version info.

Other Toolbar Buttons:

Enable Chinese Display Enables or disables the built-in Chinese display system.

 

Searching

To look up a word in the Chinese to English dictionary, enter it into the input field using pinyin, the handwriting or radical input or an external OS.

Pinyin Search

For pinyin input, you enter characters just like you would in a standard Chinese OS; you can indicate tones with numbers at the end of words, like "ci2dian3", or you can enter words without tones, like "cidian". For syllables with the silent "qingsheng" tone such as "de" and "a" and "me" and "ba", use tone number 5. Separate confusing syllables with spaces or apostrophes, like xi'an or xi an (this lets us distinguish xi'an from the single syllable xian).

By default, when you enter a multi-syllable pinyin word, the dictionary will give you a list of every possible match; for example,

Here, the user has entered "hanyu". Since it's unclear whether this is referring to "han2yuan1", the entry shown, or "han4yu3", "Chinese Language", the dictionary displays both in the Entry List. Click on an entry in the list to jump to that point in the dictionary. If you want to return to the matching list after you've jumped to an entry, click in the Input Field.

One important thing to note, though, is that the dictionary will only display the FIRST match for a given starting character. For example:

Even though "jiy" might have also matched (ji1yuan4) or (ji1yu2), the Entry List only displays the first match under each initial character. If you don't see the word you want listed, click on the word whose first character matches the word you're looking for and the word you're looking for should appear a few characters below it.

Alphabetical Pinyin Search

If you install the "Oxford PY Accelerator C-E.pdb" file and check the "Always search Pinyin alphabetically" box in the Options screen, entering a Pinyin word will result in a display like this:

Now, the dictionary is sorted alphabetically by Pinyin romanization (without regard for tone numbers), instead of by character; hence, "ni3hao3" appears right above "ni2hong2deng1". As before, you can use tone numbers, spaces, and apostrophes to enter Pinyin syllables. Using the previous example, when you typed in "hanyu", the word "han4yu3" would show up first, but the next word in the list at the right of the display would be "han2yuan1", since "hanyuan" comes after "hanyu" alphabetically even though numerically "han4" comes after "han2".

Chinese Character Search

Handwritten Input:

Selecting the Handwritten Input menu item or toolbar button brings up this screen:

To input a handwritten Chinese character, simply draw it in the large box at the lower-right corner of the screen. You can separate your strokes or write in cursive. Stroke order is very important for making this character recognizer work properly; if you're uncertain as to how stroke order works, here are the four basic rules:

  1. Draw characters from top to bottom.
  2. Draw characters from left to right. This usually comes after top-to-bottom in priority, so that in a character like , you would draw the left part from top to bottom and then the right part from top to bottom.
  3. Draw horizontal strokes before vertical strokes, except that usually in a character with many horizontal strokes intersected by one vertical stroke (like "qing" above) you draw all but the bottom horizontal stroke, then the vertical stroke, and then finish off with that last horizontal stroke.
  4. Draw from the outside to the inside, except that in characters like , where you don't really have one form enclosing another, you draw the center stroke before the outside ones (inside to outside).

You can find more complete information on stroke order at http://www.zhongwen.com/shufa/ (among many other places) and there's a site with stroke order demonstrations for many characters at http://www.usc.edu/dept/ealc/chinese/newweb/character_page.html.

Once you've drawn your character, click the Recognize button. Up to 10 potential matches will appear in the top half of the screen. You can click on one to enter it into the dictionary's input field, press Cancel to abort your search, or draw the character again and press Recognize to make another attempt at recognizing it. If the "Magnify characters when tapped" option is enabled in the Options screen, tapping and holding down the pen on a character will bring up a magnified version of that character.

The character set switch button located to the right of the Clear button will allow you to quickly switch between Simplified and Traditional characters; you must have the handwriting recognition and font files for both sets of characters installed in order for this to work. Tapping this button will not switch between Simplified and Traditional characters in the main dictionary window; it will only affect the handwriting input screen.

Radical Input:

Selecting the Radical Input menu item or toolbar button brings up this screen:

On the left is a list of radicals, and on the right is a list of characters which contain the selected radical. The popup menus at the top of each list allow you to select the number of strokes in the character or radical you're looking up; with characters, the stroke count is EXCLUDING the strokes in the radical. To look up a character, select the appropriate radical from the list at left, and then locate the character you want in the list at right. Finally, press Enter to enter the selected character into the dictionary's input field.

Enabling the "Delete non-matching characters" option in the Options screen and choosing "Single" deletion mode will cause both of these input methods to clear out the Input Field before entering a new character.

English Search

For the English to Chinese dictionary, simply enter a word in English using your handheld's built-in Keyboard or Graffiti system (or another external method of your choosing). For compound words like "airport", the dictionary will search through the entry for the first part of the word (in this case, "air") and then scroll to and highlight the word you're looking for. This also works for phrase input.

The dictionary display will update "live" as you enter a word, so once you've completed enough of the word to cause it to jump to the correct entry, you don't need to continue entering it.

 

Customization

Options Screen

Choosing "Options..." from the Dict menu will bring up a screen that looks like this:

Search /PALM/Launcher for DB's: If your handheld has a flash memory expansion card installed, selecting this option will cause the dictionary to search the /PALM/Launcher directory on startup for dictionary databases. /PALM/Launcher is the default directory where files are installed after a HotSync or the Palm application launcher's "Copy" command.

Search ______: Causes the dictionary to search an additional flash memory card directory of your choosing on startup. The dictionary will start up faster if it's only searching one location on startup instead of two, so it's best to only check this box or the previous one and not both. Also, if you have a lot of other databases in the /PALM/Launcher directory the dictionary will start up faster if you put its files in another directory like /PALM/Programs/Oxford instead.

Search VFS for custom dict indexes: Causes the dictionary to search the above memory card directories for custom dictionary index files; otherwise these files can only be accessed from RAM. This is extremely slow right now and you should probably leave it turned off.

Enable Chinese Display: Enables the dictionary's built-in Chinese character display system. With this option turned off, the dictionary will output text in GB or Big5 character codes (depending on whether it's in Simplified or Traditional Mode) that are readable with an external Chinese OS like CJKOS, ChineseOS or PalmDragon, or on a Chinese-localized handheld. With this option turned on, the dictionary will use its built-in font files to display Chinese text.

Left-handed Pen Input Dialog: Enabling this causes the pen stroke input section of the Handwriting Input screen to be placed at the left of the display instead of at the right, making things easier for left-handed users.

Magnify characters when tapped: With this option enabled, tapping on any Chinese character in Lookup View, List View or a flashcard session will pop up a window with a zoomed-in version of the character. In order for this to work, you must have the high-resolution font files (SC 24 and/or or TC 24) installed.

Preload dictionaries on startup: Selecting this option will make startup slightly slower but will avoid a slowdown the first time you access each dictionary. In most cases, this slowdown is very minor and it's best to leave this option turned off.

Search all dicts on mismatch: With this option enabled, if the dictionary cannot locate a match for a word in the current dictionary, it will search through all of the other built-in and custom dictionaries for the current language setting (Chinese-English or English-Chinese) for a match.

Enable Command Bar Access: Enable use of the Command Bar to bring up the dictionary in Instant Access mode from within almost any application. See the Instant Access section for details.

Always search Pinyin alphabetically: With this option enabled, whenever you enter a Pinyin search term in the built-in Chinese to English dictionary, the dictionary will automatically switch into the Pinyin list viewing mode and use Alphabetical pinyin searching.

Delete non-matching characters: Enable this option if you want the dictionary to delete characters from the Input Field when a match can't be found for the current input. Checking this box will bring up a pop-up list for "Character Handling"; this allows you to choose how the dictionary deletes Chinese characters when a match can't be found. Single mode will clear the Input Field whenever you enter a new character using Radical or Handwritten input; Double mode will delete the last character in the Input Field first when a match can't be found, and Reverse will delete the first character in the Input Field first, useful when you're searching for a compound word that's not in the dictionary since it lets you quickly look up what each component character of the word means.

Customize Toolbar

Choosing "Customize Toolbar..." from the Dict menu will bring up this screen:

The buttons in the toolbar are numbered from left to right; select the feature you want to associate with each one and press OK to save the new setting.

Manage Dictionaries

Choosing "Manage Dictionaries..." from the Dict menu bring up this screen:

This allows you to change the order in which various dictionaries appear in the Dictionary List; you can move them up or down as you see fit.

 

Flashcards

As of version 2.0, the dictionary now includes a built-in flashcard system. It works with both single characters and compound words, English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English, and allows you to save time by creating flashcards directly from dictionary entries instead of entering them by hand.

In order to access the flashcard system, you'll need to access your handheld's menu bar; to bring up the menu bar, tap on the menu icon at the bottom left corner of your handheld's Graffiti area (the input space below the display and above the hardware buttons). On some devices the menu icon may be located on a small button bar at the bottom of your handheld's screen, or on a hardware button located near it. Consult your user manual for details.

Creating and Editing Lists

There are two ways to add words to a flashcard list. You can either add them to the list directly from dictionary entries using the "Add to Word List" command (in the Flashcards menu or optionally on the toolbar), or you can add them in the Manage Cards screen with the Add button.

Selecting "Manage Lists..." from the Flashcards menu will bring up the Manage Lists screen:

This is the main interface for editing and creating lists of flashcards. The left box lists all of the lists currently in memory: the list displayed in bold text is the default list and is where new words will be added with the "Add to List" menu command.

New...: Create a new list.

Delete...: Delete the selected list.

Rename...: Rename the selected list.

Import...: Import a list from a file in your handheld's memory.

Export...: Export a list to a file in your handheld's memory.

These two features are useful for sharing lists with other users; you can export a list to a file, give that file to another user and then they can import it on their device. Make certain that the person you're giving a list to has the same set of dictionaries installed as you do; otherwise, they won't be able to view flashcards that reference entries in those dictionaries.

Exported word lists will be copied to the Backup folder in your Palm Desktop user directory the next time you HotSync.

Make Default: Make the selected list the default list.

Edit: Brings up the Manage Cards screen, where you can edit the contents of each list:

The two pop-up menus at the top of this screen allow you to select word lists to edit or copy entries between. The buttons work as follows:

Add: Creates a new custom flashcard in the left list and brings up the custom card editing screen:

You can edit the text in the Entry, Pinyin, and Definition fields in this screen. The Pen and Radical input buttons allow you to input Chinese characters; external Chinese input systems like CJKOS should also work. Press the "Done" button when you're finished creating your new card.

To add a word from a dictionary to a flashcard list, choose the "Add to List" command from the Flashcards menu; this adds the currently displayed word to the default flashcard list.

Edit: Allows you to edit the contents of the selected card. For custom flashcards, this brings up the custom card editing screen described above. For words copied from dictionaries, this brings up the following screen:

At present, you cannot edit dictionary entries on your handheld, but you can use this screen to highlight a particular part of the definition portion of an entry that you want to display. Select some text and press the "Copy selection to card" button to change the definition portion of the card to the selected text. Pressing this button with no text selected will copy the entire definition to the card. Press the "Done" button when finished.

Copy: Allows you to copy entries between the two lists.

Copy All: Copies all of the entries from the right list to the left list.

Move Up/Dn: Moves entries up or down in the left list.

Reviewing and Testing

Choosing "New Flashcard Session" from the Flashcards menu will bring up this screen:

This is the main interface for reviewing and testing yourself on your list of flashcards. Choose "Review" if you want to review your flashcards without testing yourself on them, otherwise choose "Test". Check the "Random Order" box if you want the order of the flashcards to be randomized. Under "Word Lists" check the box next to each word list that you want to review or test yourself on.

The "Show" section is only visible in Test mode: this allows you to choose which portion of each flashcard will be initially visible before you tap the Reveal button.

Click Start to begin testing or reviewing flashcards. The following screens are from Test mode; Review mode is very similar except that the top right button is replaced by two arrows that allow you to cycle through the list of flashcards (which you can also do using the scroll buttons on your handheld).

When a flashcard first comes up, it looks like this:

This is with the "Word" box in the New Flashcard Session screen checked and the other two boxes unchecked. You can write your guess as to the meaning of the word in the box at the bottom of the screen; click on the eraser button to clear the box's contents. Once you've made your guess, tap on the button at the top-right corner of the screen or press the up or down scroll button to reveal the entire flashcard:

Tap the check or X button at the top right corner of the screen depending on whether your answer was correct or incorrect. You can also press the up scroll button for correct or the down scroll button for incorrect. The big X at the bottom of the screen exits the flashcard session, so make sure that you don't confuse it with the top X button.

At the end of your testing session, a dialog will pop up telling you what percentage of the cards you answered correctly.

MakeDict and custom dictionaries

You can create custom add-on dictionaries using the MakeDict application, which is downloadable from our website. See the included readme file for details on how to use MakeDict. A custom dictionary consists of two files; a database file and an index file (the index file's name will always begin with IDX_); both of these need to be installed to your handheld in order to use the dictionary. To install files like these to your Palm, simply double-click on each file and it will be queued up to install the next time you HotSync your Palm with your desktop computer.

At present, the VFS implementation for custom dictionaries is very very slow, so we strongly recommend that you leave custom dictionaries in RAM and don't copy them to an external flash memory card (SD or MMC or CF or Memory Stick). If you do move the files to a flash memory card, please make sure that you preserve the file names from your desktop computer; we strongly recommend that you copy them over to your card directly using HotSync rather than copying them from RAM, as some file management software (particularly application launcher programs like SilverScreen, LauncherX, MegaLauncher et al) tend to corrupt file names when copying files from RAM to an external memory card. Also, please note that the "Search VFS for custom dict indexes" option must be enabled in order for the dictionary to read custom dictionary files from an external memory card.

List of Abbreviations

Chinese-English

Parts of speech in the C-E dictionary are enclosed in round brackets. Abbreviations for the various parts of speech are given as follows:

Usage notes are enclosed in angled brackets and abbreviated like this:

English-Chinese

 

Ordering

If you'd like to buy the full version of our product, go to http://www.pleco.com/store/. You'll need to give us your HotSync username (available by choosing the "Order..." command from the Help menu in the demo version) so that we can generate your unique serial number. The cost is $49.95, and includes all updates within the current major version number (i.e., everything through version 2.99, if we choose to offer one). We usually offer more major updates for free as well, for example 2.0 was a free upgrade from 1.0, but this policy is subject to change, and we may be forced to charge for an upgrade if we choose to add a new feature that requires us to pay additional royalties or other per-copy fees to some third party.

Before ordering, we strongly urge you to test the demo version of the dictionary with any Palm OS device or configuration you wish to run it on. While we've tested our product extensively on a wide variety of Palm OS handhelds, we cannot guarantee that it will run on every supported configuration, and once we've issued a serial number WE CANNOT OFFER A REFUND unless the product fails to function on your machine and we're unable to get it working properly for you (this is more clearly specified in the Software License below).

In the demo version of the dictionary, you will only be able to access entries which start with the letter 'a' or 'b' (this applies to pinyin in the Chinese to English dictionary), you won't be able to access custom dictionary files, and you won't be able to input characters from the radical table or handwriting recognizer into the dictionary, though you will be able to try these input methods out separately.

Version History:

2.1

2.0.4

2.03a

2.0.3

2.0.2

2.0.1

2.0

1.2.1

1.2

1.1.1

1.1

1.0.2

1.0.1

1.0

Software License

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY. DO NOT PURCHASE OR USE THIS SOFTWARE IF YOU ARE UNWILLING TO ABIDE BY THE AGREEMENT BELOW.

Your use of this software is subject to the terms of the End User License Agreement listed below. While this is not a signed contract, no other instrument grants you a license to copy or use this software (on your Palm or elsewhere); therefore, by using this software you are indicating your acceptance of the following agreement.

For purposes of this agreement, 'Software' includes computer software and may also include associated media, printed material and online or electronic documentation. 'Palm OS system' refers to any real or emulated device capable of executing software written for Palm Computing's Palm OS operating system.

  1. Grant of License. Pleco Software hereby grants you a non-exclusive license to use this Software product on a single Palm OS system. You may maintain additional backup copies of the Software on machine-readable media so long as the Software is never used or installed on more than one Palm OS system at a time. You may not install or use the Software on any machine or network server which allows multiple users to use or access the Software at the same time. You may not loan, rent, lease, or in any other way distribute this Software to a third party. You may, however, permit another person to use your copy this Software on the single Palm OS system on which you are licensed to use it, so long as this person agrees to use it under the terms of this End User License Agreement and is not permitted to copy the Software to another Palm OS system or any machine-readable media. You may also permanently transfer all of your license rights in the Software to another party, provided that you retain no copies of the Software and that the other party agrees to accept the terms of this End User License Agreement.
  2. Limitations. You agree not to decompile, reverse-engineer, or disassemble this software, or make any other sort of alterations to it, which would, directly or indirectly through another software program, permit the circumvention of its registration and copy protection schemes or allow access to its proprietary data files. You may not distribute to any other person or entity any information (including but not limited to registration and serial numbers) which would permit such entity to circumvent the Software's registration and copy protection schemes or allow access to its proprietary data files.
  3. Limited Warranty. Pleco Software warrants that the Software will perform substantially and in accordance with the accompanying user documentation for a period of 180 days after the date of your receipt of the Software. This limited warranty is void if the failure of the Software has resulted from outside accidents, abuse or misapplications of the Software. In the event Pleco Software receives written notice from you of any defects in the software during the warranty period, Pleco Software shall, at its sole discretion, (i) replace the defective Software, (ii) refund you the full purchase price of the Software, (iii) supply within thirty days of such notice an updated version of the Software in which such defects have been removed, or (iv) advise you how to achieve substantially the same functionality with the Software as described in the documentation through a procedure different from that set forth in the documentation.
  4. Limitation of Liability. Pleco Software makes no other warranties, express or implied, regarding the Software, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. USE OF THIS DICTIONARY IS AT YOUR OWN RISK and Pleco Software does not make any guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained within it. In no event will Pleco Software be liable to you for any loss or damages that result from your use of the Software, even if Pleco Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Pleco Software's liability to you under any provision of this agreement exceed the amount actually paid by you for the Software. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for such damages, so the above limitations may not apply to you.
  5. Term and Termination. This End User License shall remain in effect until terminated. You may terminate this license at any time by destroying any and all copies of the Software, including the documentation and components thereof. This license will terminate immediately without notice if you should fail to comply with any provision of this License. Upon such termination, your right to use the Software shall be revoked and you will therefore be required to destroy any and all copies of the Software and related documentation and components.
  6. Controlling Law and Severability. This End User License Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of this License to be unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible by law and the remainder of this End User License Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
  7. Use of Personal Information. Pleco and its Licensors and suppliers shall have the right to use the information provided by you during your registration of this product for purposes of recordkeeping and, at your option, to inform you of product updates and releases. Pleco and its Licensors will not share your personal information with any third party without your express permission.
  8. Copyright and Trademark Notices: