PlecoDict 2.0 on a VGA PPC

[caesartg]

Hi Mike

I remember you recommended avoiding VGA PPCs for their slow rendering of Chinese characters on such a big screen resolution. Do you think this will still be the case for Pleco 2, or will there be a fair amount of control over the UI's rendering?

I was thinking about maybe trying to get a cheap Ebay PPC to play with for a while before going for a more recent model when I'm earning a wage again. Do you still recommend the iPaq 4150? The resolution seems rather low for what I'm used to (320 x 480 on a TX - 4150 only has half at 240 x 320 = ugly characters???).

Cheers

Ben

 

[mikelove]

It should be a *little* faster, since we'll now be rendering Chinese using FreeType, which doesn't abjectly suck to the extent that Microsoft's built-in font renderer does. But rendering outline Chinese fonts is pretty computation-intensive regardless of what software you're using, and there are a number of other aspects of Pocket PCs that seem to be slowed down by running at VGA resolution, so until another generation or two of XScale processors come out I'd probably stick with 240x320.

Palm OS fonts are bitmaps, which are much faster to render, plus the graphics system on Palm OS in general imposes a lot less processor overhead than the one on Pocket PC, so this is why things run nice and quickly at 320x480 on Palm OS. Characters at 240x320 aren't ugly, they're just a little less detailed than on a high-res Palm.

 

[daniu]

Hi!

I think - if you like to have a high resolution for some reasons there is no point of not getting one. I guess most high-res PDAs also have high-frequ CPUs ... I have a Dell Axim X51V and am very happy with it. Maybe it would be faster with less pixels but it is definitely not annoying and I like the high-res display.
Many times people are astonished about the display. I am not saying that I need VGA to show off but when I look at other peoples displays I prefer my VGA

regards
Daniel

 

[caesartg]

Thanks Daniel - I'll definitely consider one of them.

Slightly off-topic, but hopefully Mike won't mind...

Daniel - how does Pleco 1 run on your Dell? If it has to display a large dictionary entry, do all the characters pop up very quickly? Is the font resizing good - large and clear? (I think all my Palm use is having a detrimental straining effect on my eyesight). Also, maybe a silly question, but if you switch the device off while it's running Plecodict and then later switch it back on to check something, is Plecodict running just as it was when you switched off and can you pretty instantly begin looking stuff up again, or is there some kind of loading delay/ boot-up? (hope not)

Thanks

Ben

 

[daniu]

hmmm ... probably I am not as demanding as you are ... after writing I feel I should also warn you -please do not feel offended - I can understand your points even though I cannot really help.

I never thought about most of your points. Besides the thing with turning off and on. There is a problem especially with flash-cards. Often times I cannot get out of flash-cards-sessions (and that might be after turning off and on) and quite some times Plecodict crashes and has to be restarted. But as I cannot find out why and in which circumstances this happens and I myself try to avoid high blood pressure and other things that might harm my body - so I just restart (Dell Axim 51V has 624Mhz so it does not take to long). I think with a OS programmed by MS you can never really tell the reason for hangers - so either you go for Linux or you live with it. (not to go for Linux and yet not live with it is not a solution ...)

But here in detail:

If it has to display a large dictionary entry, do all the characters pop up very quickly?

what would be a large dictionary entry - for example? I never experienced any delay but my chinese is very basic only.

Is the font resizing good - large and clear? (I think all my Palm use is having a detrimental straining effect on my eyesight).

hmmm - that's not really to be described quantitative so I think it does not make too much sense to talk about it, don't you think so. I'd say it is very good actually perfect. If you are from Germany you can come and see for yourself. I am from Stuttgart ;-)

Also, maybe a silly question, but if you switch the device off while it's running Plecodict and then later switch it back on to check something, is Plecodict running just as it was when you switched off and can you pretty instantly begin looking stuff up again, or is there some kind of loading delay/ boot-up? (hope not)

usually it works, but who knows. A couple of month there had been an update for Axim. For the same device the same software worked on some on some it didn't ... And I don't think that is Axim specific.

Hope that helped a bit.

regards
Daniel

 

[caesartg]

Thanks Daniel! - it's good to know the issues about Pleco's stability on the Dell. From what you've said it sounds like there are no issues with either the Dell displaying large entries (my Palm TX sometimes quite slowly displays a large entry, even though I've put dictionaries and files in main memory) or with the readability of the fonts (I.e. Your eyes aren't strained by reading them). When I can cobble the money together, I'll probably get myself one of these.

Cheers!

Ben

 

[vrixon]

Hi Ben, I used a HP 4700 and only gave it up because the battery compartment sucked. The screen was brilliant (but HP have dropped the model). If you can find one somewhere and are prepared to live with the dodgy battery housing (mine ended up taped on !) it is a very good option.

I am back on my original HP 2210 which is OK, but I mis the hi-res VGA screen - particularly when using Pleco in flashcard sessions.

 

[sfrrr]

Guys--I have both VGA and QVGA screens and, while both are sharp and clear, I far prefer the detail of a VGA icon or photo or character. I'd never give up VGA. I think PlecoDict looks much better in VGA--everything's sharp, I get more info on a page, it's easier to handwrite characters beause you get a larger space to write in. These are my observations, but I must admit that I haven't compared QVGA and VGA head to head, apples to apples.

FWIW

Sandra

 

[caesartg]

Vrixon, sfrrr - sorry for not replying, I must have accidentally switched notification off for this topic. Thanks for your contributions. I just ordered a refurbished Dell x50V to replace my T|X, so VGA here I come!