PDA Recomendations - Pelco

[badr]

- Palm that you buy in China have built-in CJKOS.

- No, you do not need CJKOS to run pleco. It works fine without it

[gato]

Yes, it would be a good idea to get CKJOS anyway. You'll need it to read Chinese e-text, which is a fine thing to do on the Palm.

You should also get TealDoc, which a document reader that works well with PlecoDict's "instant access" feature.

http://www.tealpoint.com/

With instant access, you can get definitions while you read by highlighting the words. You can also from there add the new words into your flashcard list.

The next version of PlecoDict is supposed to come with its own document reader, but its release is still probably a few months off.

See http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/7989-pleco-update-chinese-chinese-license

[roddy]

I find the Documents to Go package which comes with Palm PDAs works fine with Plecodict's instant access, so I never use Tealdoc now

[doumeizhen]

What if I want to write things outside of the little pop-up writey screen "笔".. is this possible? If so, how? Can I use it to write things in my calendar as well or only pleco?

(standard apology/warning of "sorry, I don't know computers" is from hereon in always always always included )

[roddy]

Press and hold the 笔 icon in your toolbar. Choose any option other than 'Full'. Then use the arrow icon to collapse / expand the handwriting input panel. While collapsed you can write anywhere on the screen.

Pressing and holding the relevant icons also allows you to move the radical and list tables around, and doing the same with the text size one allows you to set text size independently for the main panel and the list.

You can only use this handwriting recognition within Pleco, as it's only licensed that way. PenPower is an alternative program that you can use anywhere, and it comes installed as standard on China-bought palms.

[griz326]

#1 - The only problem I have with my Palm TX is a future concern: the battery is not user replaceable.

#2 - There's talk of a linux based OS for the Palm that will provide true multi-tasking. Last I heard...it is not yet ready for prime time.

[adrianlondon]

I'm sure by the time the battery in my Palm TX is dead there'll be someone out there who hsa put up a web page with detailed photos showing how to do it ;)

[mikelove]

There's talk of a linux based OS for the Palm that will provide true multi-tasking. Last I heard...it is not yet ready for prime time.

It's not ready yet, but it'll supposedly be delivered to licensees by the end of the year, and reports so far are pretty favorable:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/8921/access-linux-platform-at-linuxworld-sf/

From what's printed there and what we've heard on the Palm developer mailing lists, it looks like it should be able to run our software quite smoothly from the get-go; we're hoping to get our hands on a test version soon to verify this. And though the Palm OS Cobalt fiasco has gotten a lot of developers (including us) to roll out Windows Mobile alternatives, there seems to be quite a lot of enthusiasm about this new release. At the very least we're hoping it'll claim enough of the market to keep us from having to do a Symbian version (which would be an insanely complicated not to mention very expensive port).

[crow610]

The Dell Axim series has a removeable battery.

If you are willing to pay about 100USD more, you could also get a Dell Axim low end and probably even be able to have it shipped to room by ordering on Dell's China site. I have the x51V which is over kill for those just wanting to run Pleco. The best part is the ability to multi task if you want to both listen to music and use Pleco. If I am wrong about playing music in the background please correct me since I have never owned a Palm device.

[roddy]

You can play music in the background with Palms, though it tends to break up if you are doing anything processor-intensive - notably dictionary searches.

[crow610]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Roddy.