Dictionary for Sony PRS500/5 (autorun from SD card)

[Alexander Turcic]

Excellent, Clemens! Looking forward to try it out.

[davidw89]

Would a 2GB SD card be enough?

You mentioned that your dictionary needs to be a txt file..could someone share their dictionary then (an open source one maybe)?

Oh and how do i install this? Just dump it into my SD card?

[Clemenseken]

Originally Posted by davidw89

Would a 2GB SD card be enough?

more than enough: I am doing the developping on a 16MB card...

You mentioned that your dictionary needs to be a txt file. could someone share their dictionary then (an open source one maybe)?

There are three example dictionaries included in the zip-file plus two links to freedict sites...

Oh and how do i install this? Just dump it into my SD card?

as described in the first post: just copy the unzipped folder "Sony Reader" onto your SD card. When you insert that the autorun function will start automatically.

[Clemenseken]

I will post the new version of DictioLauncher (0.7b) in a few minutes in post #1 of this thread.

[Clemenseken]

(Re: see Title)

[davidw89]

I am going to buy a SD card just for you ..I'll let you know how it goes this week.

[tamwub]

I'm considering to buy some eInk device with dictionary support.
Could anybody provide me more info about how this Dictionary app is working for Sony 505?

Is it possible to translate some word in text already opened on screen now by selecting this word? Like it is done on cyBook.

Or it just need user to start Dict application, enter word to translate manually by typing it somehow and get translation?

[Clemenseken]

Originally Posted by tamwub

Is it possible to translate some word in text already opened on screen now by selecting this word? Like it is done on cyBook.
Or it just need user to start Dict application, enter word to translate manually by typing it somehow and get translation?

The answer is rather your second idea: You have to type at least the beginning of a word on an onscreen keyboard (as far as it makes it unique: "antic" will get you anticipate; one "scroll" down anticipation...)
(But don't you have to do some joystick movements on a cyBook, too?)

The program starts automatically the moment you insert the SD card – which is the main drawback so far (in version 0.7b you must do this for every new search). I don't know if that can be worked around (>internal memory) later on, yet.

I wrote "DictioLauncher" and am working on improvements, though. (My application is no commercial project. At least so far.) And you have to look for dictionaries yourself; three freedict ones are included as examples.

Obviously I am not an objective judge for "DictioLauncher's" qualities...

[lisak]

Impressive work, Clemenseken. I have a question, however: would there be a possibility to change the dictionary file format from txt to something more effective from the point of searching (flat file db or something like that)? I put together a thesaurus for english, which has approx. 14MB (large, I know...) and it works very fine when I search for word from the beginning of the alphabet. But if I look for something starting with 'z', it tooks approx. 2-3 minutes to get there...

Maybe it would be benefitial to implement at least some kind of heuristic based on the fact that the dictionary file is ordered alphabeticaly (which is, I think, a reasonable prerequisition which can be fulfilled very simply by sort-ing the file before uploading) and based on that perform an interval-based split search. I don't know the inner workings of your program, but maybe there is a way how to speed-up the search...?

[Clemenseken]

Originally Posted by lisak

... would there be a possibility to change the dictionary file format ... to something more effective ... flat file db or something...?
I put together a thesaurus for english ... 14MB ... starting with 'z' it took approx. 2-3 minutes to get there...

There is certainly a way to speed up search in such large files (again: I had not thought of such requirements... Thanx for your feedback!). I'll look into this ...

As to formats like "db" I must say that I'm only a free-time programmer.
If someone "in the know" reads this request and gives me a hint (or even some small example code...) as to how to access "db" files I'd be willing to give it a try!

[lisak]

The one I used to in my previous project to some extent was BerkeleyDB, but again - I still haven't looked properly at the work of igorsk & others so I don't know the platform limitations and BerkeleyDB might be a little overkill here.

SQLite is another option which is quite widely used in embedded systems (think iPod/iPhone), but I don't have any personal experience with that.

Anyway, thanks for the reply and consideration of the suggestion!

[Clemenseken]

Hi!
...while I did not yet have time to look into SQLite (and/or its complexity) I'd like to mention that I found a solution for model 505's landscape keyboard – theoretically...
I noticed that the "landscape mode" of the PRSs will work automatically also with autorun-apps (like Sudoku and DictioLauncher; holding the "size" button does it even here!) and needs not to be invoked by some clever source code.
BUT:
all cutouts in the XML file have to be adapted to that behaviour. That seems to be feasible but difficile. I'll see to that this coming week ( => version 0.8 ?!)...
Clemens

[spooky69]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but I've been looking pretty hard for an simple English dictionary to use and can't seem to find one that would work with this. Most of what I'm finding is simply word lists, which doesn't provide any usefulness for actually defining English words, which would easily be the most desired feature for me. Once again, sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but if somebody could post a compatible dictionary file that would serve as a straightforward English dictionary then I'd be very grateful.

Anyway, I really do like this a lot, from what I've seen. I just got an SD card recently and I'm really glad that I can use it for this purpose. The keyboard is brilliant, though if I remember correctly isn't it set up in a qwerty configuration? It seems like we should have the option to have the letters listed from A-Z instead of resembling a regular keyboard, especially since 505 readers are using the keyboard at a 90 degree angle. I realize that you already have the two versions with the letters at different rotations, but I really wouldn't mind a third version that has the letters in the order of the English alphabet going downward in columns (or possibly in rows, depending on what works better). Better yet, if you could create an editable text file with configuration options or simple control program that would allow users to tweak the keyboard layout themselves (including columns-vs.-rows for an A-Z format) then you'd only have to give people one version of that program for the 505.

I really do appreciate the work you've put into this and it seems like the perfect solution to the dictionary issue. Thanks again!

[Clemenseken]

Originally Posted by spooky69

[...]The keyboard ..., though if I remember correctly isn't it set up in a qwerty configuration? It seems like we should have the option to have the letters listed from A-Z instead of resembling a regular keyboard, especially since 505 readers are using the keyboard at a 90 degree angle. I realize that you already have the two versions with the letters at different rotations [...]

Well, a third keyboard layout certainly is doable. (I'd just have to edit a Photoshop file and push around some letters.) I'll note that idea for a version 0.8/9!

Better yet, if you could create an editable text file with configuration options or simple control program that would allow users to tweak the keyboard layout themselves [...]

This one is more complicated. The screen graphics are prepared as PNG files from which "cutouts" are set in an XML file. In theory all letters from the keyboard could be defined as "skin ids"; which would mean at least 10 rows which would have to be requested from the user then inserted into program source code...
I'm afraid that would lead to much confusion for users (and maybe me while developping it?). But I will keep the idea in my mind.

I really do appreciate the work you've put into this and it seems like the perfect solution to the dictionary issue. Thanks again!

I am glad you like the work so far - and told me so

As to your first question about English dictionaries I think this may not be the right thread.
I am German and use my DictioLauncher mainly for reading Italian and now and then for English words. But I just need a translation...
When you use "Advanced Search" on this site and look for "dictinary" ONLY in title and "Search Forums" "Sony Portable Reader" you'll get some threads (apart from "mine") that discuss this topic, I think.

Have a nice evening / good day! Clemens

[spooky69]

Cool, thanks for the quick reply! Once again I really appreciate the effort you put into creating this, and it's great that you're so open to feedback for future versions. I'll be interested in seeing what happens with the next version!