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Thread: Palmtop to run Pleco software

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    Palmtop to run Pleco software

    Hi all,

    Back with another mobile computing question. I don't know how many of you have tried to study Chinese, but if you have you'll know how fr*gging useless their 'alphabet' is - it consists of about 140 radicals ordered by stroke count which you have to try to identify in the character you're trying to look up, then you look up that radical under a character table, then if you're lucky you can look up the main character. Get the wrong radical or fail to recognise it (and there are several versions of each) and you go back to the beginning. Hopeless - it makes translation even more of a nightmare than it already is.

    The solution seems to be handwriting recognition - when you write a chinese character you do so in a perscribed order, top left to bottom right, outside to inside then finishing off, all of which makes character recognition a doddle. This is the reccomended software:

    http://www.pleco.com/

    Hardware requirements here:

    http://www.pleco.com/whichpda.html

    As you can see I'm going to need either a Palm or PocketPC tablet to run this. I'm not really into the whole PDA side of things - I've got a journal for that - so this is going to be used pretty much squarely as a dictionary.

    With that in mind could somebody please reccomend me some hardware to look for? I'd like one that takes SD cards as my laptop has a built in reader, and a big battery would be a big plus. I'm also told to look out for a 320x320/340 screen to make it easier to differentiate between the different strokes.

    Many thanks everyone!

    Quick PS - if this post is in the wrong forum apologies and please move it

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    Re: Palmtop to run Pleco software

    Guess you need to decide how much you want to spend...
    They suggest using a PDA made by PalmOne and specifically mention the TX and Treo's looking on eBuyer you can get the Treo 680 for £120 and it would be a phone for you as well meaning one less thing to carry around, if that is important.

    Alternatively look on ebay for a used TX or one of the compatible windows mobile units

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    Re: Palmtop to run Pleco software

    I'd like to spend as little as possible while getting the job done. I'm certainly not interested in using it as a phone - this is for the dictionary software only.

    Second hand is definately an option.

    I have no idea at all about PDAs - I'm really not interested in them, I've just been told that this is THE tool for learning Chinese, so a PDA it is. I have no idea what they go for, what OS they run, how long they've been on the market, who makes them... Total noob.

    Thanks for your help

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    Re: Palmtop to run Pleco software

    Hmm reading their site again they suggest a pocket Pc will run better than Palm Os with that in mind you just need to find one.

    Dell made some called the Axim X51 or HP's iPaq prettty much every model I would expect

    Just make sure it is running windows mobile 2003, 5 or 6.

    Checking eBay the Dells seem to sell for £70+
    The IPaqs are available form ~£30+ depending on model you will have to hunt trough them to make sure your looking at the right OS and screen resolution.

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    Re: Palmtop to run Pleco software

    Thanks for the advice.

    The PDAs you mentioned were all hideously expensive - I ended up with a new O2 XDA mini for around 70GPB. Installed the dictionary software and it's all good

    Cheers again,

    Adam

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