MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Pocketbook Basic 3- problem with dictionaries.

rkomar · 06-24-2017, 12:07 PM

The .pbi files are package files containing dictionaries or text-to-speech files for installing on the devices. They are not dictionary files themselves.

You need to get PocketBook's program for converting dictionaries to their proprietary format. It's a Windows-based program that reads dictionaries in common formats (like .dict) and creates the .dic file that works on the devices. They don't seem to be offering it anymore for recent devices, but you can still see the link on the Support page for old devices (e.g. PocketBook 902). Look for the DictionaryConverter link there, or search this forum for some versions that were uploaded here years ago.

How much you have to do after that depends on what language the dictionary is for. The converter requires that three data files be provided: collates.txt (providing conversions between characters and character order for sorting), keyboard.txt (providing the layout of keyboard to be used for that language), and morphems.txt (providing rules for converting words into the root form for more successful lookups). If your dictionary is in English or Russian, you can use the three files provided with the converter. Otherwise, you will have to look around this site to see if anyone uploaded them previously, or create them yourself. The collates.txt file isn't hard to create, and the keyboard.txt file can usually be found on the device itself in some form. The morphems.txt file is the difficult one to get right. You can leave it empty at first, and then add to it afterwards when you know everything else is correct.

Once your dictionary is ready, you just copy it to the /system/dictionaries/ folder via USB and the applications should see it (you may also have to select it in the system configuration menu for dictionaries).

All this is to create dictionaries that will work with the device's native reading applications. Some third-party applications will work with common dictionary formats (I believe koreader does this), so if you can get that working, you may not have to convert the dictionary at all.

06-24-2017, 12:07 PM	#2
rkomar Wizard Posts: 3,058 Karma: 18821071 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633	The .pbi files are package files containing dictionaries or text-to-speech files for installing on the devices. They are not dictionary files themselves. You need to get PocketBook's program for converting dictionaries to their proprietary format. It's a Windows-based program that reads dictionaries in common formats (like .dict) and creates the .dic file that works on the devices. They don't seem to be offering it anymore for recent devices, but you can still see the link on the Support page for old devices (e.g. PocketBook 902). Look for the DictionaryConverter link there, or search this forum for some versions that were uploaded here years ago. How much you have to do after that depends on what language the dictionary is for. The converter requires that three data files be provided: collates.txt (providing conversions between characters and character order for sorting), keyboard.txt (providing the layout of keyboard to be used for that language), and morphems.txt (providing rules for converting words into the root form for more successful lookups). If your dictionary is in English or Russian, you can use the three files provided with the converter. Otherwise, you will have to look around this site to see if anyone uploaded them previously, or create them yourself. The collates.txt file isn't hard to create, and the keyboard.txt file can usually be found on the device itself in some form. The morphems.txt file is the difficult one to get right. You can leave it empty at first, and then add to it afterwards when you know everything else is correct. Once your dictionary is ready, you just copy it to the /system/dictionaries/ folder via USB and the applications should see it (you may also have to select it in the system configuration menu for dictionaries). All this is to create dictionaries that will work with the device's native reading applications. Some third-party applications will work with common dictionary formats (I believe koreader does this), so if you can get that working, you may not have to convert the dictionary at all.