Problem importing flashcards

[gooldenwending]

I'm using a mac (10.4.7) and am wondering exactly how to import customized flashcards that I first edit on my computer. I'm using a Palm TX with an installed memory card.

So far I have made text files with .rtf .doc and .txt extensions with both TextEdit and Word and imported them to my memory card (the folder for the card shows up as DCIM). When I try to import I select Text File, GB-2312 (my entries are in simplified characters). The default file path when I go to import is /Palm/Launcher/flash.txt. I replace this with /dcim/vocab.--- (---=whatever the extension I'm using). This, for all I can tell, is the correct file path. Does it matter that I'm not typing the capital letters, that is DCIM (how do you do this on the TX?)?

When I use TextEdit something actually imports but it's not at all what I want ("rtfmacan/fonttblff/colortblr/marglma/... ..." with no characters anywhere to be found). The word docs, either DOC or TXT didn't seem to do anything.

Is there any way to actually accomplish my simple task: make the list on the computer (it's MUCH faster) and then import it to Pleco? Do I need to use another text editor? If so, any Mac friendly suggestions? Is there something in the Palm Desktop software that will work (I'm sorry, but Palm Desktop is a MESS).

I don't consider myself to be non-techy, but I'm new to palm and would appreciate detailed replies

Thank you.

 

[mikelove]

This sounds like a text encoding problem. At least with Word - with TextEdit the problem is that the file is being saved in RTF instead of text format (and PlecoDict can't read RTF). To fix this, open the file in TextEdit, select "Make Plain Text" from the "Format" menu, then go to File, Save As, and next to "Plain Text Encoding" select "Unicode (UTF- 8 )." (make sure it's UTF- 8 and not 16) Then, import that file into PlecoDict with UTF- 8 encoding selected and the flashcards should import successfully.

 

[gooldenwending]

Thanks for the quick reply I gotta say I tinkered around with this software today (Pleco) and it's great. This is gonna cut down the time I spend looking up words by at least half.

I made most flashcards I want right now directly on the TX today when I was waiting at an unbelievably long bank line. When I get back from the National Holiday here I'll tinker some more and get back to you if there's problems.


Oh, and if you are taking any advice still for 2.0:

I love the Chinese-Chinese dictionary that's in the plan. It's what I think is missing the most from the version I have. Can we also get a Classical Chinese dictionary (Chinese-Chinese) in the mix as well? The "gu hanyu changyong zidian" is pretty good and has both simplified and traditional character editions. That would eliminate almost all of the dictionaries I use regularly. And all in the palm of my hand. I love modern technology.

Oh, and I use a multi-function chinese-english dictionary in hardback. It's great for word like "hard working" (that is, words that are more than one word). Is there any way we could get a dictionary that allows for these kinds of entries in the original search directly instead of praying that in scrolling down from a headword (i.e., either "hard" or "working") we'll find what we're looking for or at least know if it's there or not?

Okay, okay, I know that's a lot. I just love this thing and want to go dictionary-less because I like to travel and study in coffee shops and whatnot.

Thanks again!

 

[mikelove]

You're very welcome!

Re your suggestions, a classical Chinese dictionary is something we might look into eventually but we'd like to see how sales of the one new Chinese-Chinese dictionary go before we consider licensing another one. Classical Chinese presents some unusual problems, too - for example, there would be a significant number of characters in a good Classical Chinese dictionary that aren't covered by our handwriting recognizer or font files. Not to mention the fact that many of the best classical Chinese dictionaries are quite old and likely don't exist in electronic format (and hence would need to be digitized, which can be pretty expensive).

Multi-word English phrases should be pretty well covered by our new full-text search feature; it supports multi-word phrases, so if you entered "hard working" it would quickly search the complete text of all of our dictionaries (C-E and E-C) for that phrase.

 

[gooldenwending]

awesome.

Well, Classical Chinese or not I'm definitely on the boat Glad to hear about the English and I'll definitely be signing up for the Chinese-Chinese. The new version sounds great.