Small PPC Beta-Testing Request

[mikelove]

PlecoDict Beta 1 for Pocket PC is pretty well finished now, and we've just completed an upgrade to our online store to allow us to process Pocket PC orders (along with getting rid of that annoying bug that forced you to enter your name three times even if you weren't entering a shipping address), so all that remains is a few more days of polishing and tweaking before we unleash it on the world.

In the meantime, however, there's one thing we would actually like to test before we release Beta 1, and that is the new "PlecoCheck" utility. This handy little Pocket PC program verifies that your Pocket PC is running a new enough operating system to use PlecoDict and has enough free storage space to accommodate its data files, and also gives you the Device ID you'll need to place your order. We designed it mainly for the Device ID function, since unlike on Palm OS you can't simply enter your username but actually need a Device ID to order the software.

I've posted the utility in a .zip file at http://www.pleco.com/plecocheck.zip - there's no installer, so you need to copy the .exe file directly to your Pocket PC (connect it to your desktop PC, open the "Mobile Device" drive that appears in "My Computer", copy the file to that drive, then open it up on your Pocket PC in File Explorer). Just run it and it'll print out its results.

Assuming it runs correctly, the one thing we're especially interested in is the Device ID generator - if there's a glitch in that then we could have some customers unable to purchase the software on 9/1. So I would very much appreciate it if after running PlecoCheck you could send me an e-mail (mikelove@pleco.com) with your Device ID along with the brand and model of Pocket PC you're using. Please don't post your Device ID on the forum, as it could potentially be used to personally identify you.

Many, many thanks in advance for helping out with this.

 

[mikelove]

Link fixed, sorry for the mix-up.

 

[vrixon]

Device ID

Done - hope it helps the process - I waited until as late as I could on 1 Sep but it is still not there - perhaps in the morning before I go on the road ...

 

[vrixon]

ID Checker

I also meant to say the checker tells me I can run all versions of Pleco Dict for PPC.

 

[mikelove]

Yeah, sorry about that, we're located in the US so our September 1st is many people's September 2nd. We actually have a good reason for waiting: we're trying to keep ourselves from being completely overwhelmed by support e-mail, and this is a holiday weekend in the US, so if we wait until the end of the day a lot of people won't get around to trying out the software until Tuesday.

 

[mikelove]

Important note on this: it turns out there was a bug in the Device ID generator, one which we thankfully have now caught and fixed. So please DO NOT USE THE DEVICE ID FROM THIS VERSION OF PLECOCHECK to order PlecoDict - if you do, your keyfile probably won't work. There'll be a new version posted in a few hours, I've removed hte old one from the website in the meantime to prevent anyone else from getting an invalid ID.

 

[ShiDeLi]

First - Thank you so much for providing a PPC version! I was using Oxford on Hanspring 3.5 - so when you went to PlecoDict - it required OS4.0 and when my machine died I got a PPC- so I have waited all summer and now it is here!

Secondly - the demo version would not run from the SD (said it could not find any of the dictionaries - don't know if it is a bug or just something about my Ax 50) but anyway, when I decided to load it to built-in storage it ran fine. The PlecoCheck file I used worked fine. I purchased the upgrade and got the key file and it all runs fine. I have not tried putting the full version on the SD chip - just happy to have a dictionary I can access on my handheld again! But I will probably try putting it on the SD as you make improvements to the beta.

Question - does the keyfile have to remain on the MyDocuments folder once it is used to unlock the program?

Once again - Thank You!

 

[mikelove]

Thanks for the bug report. We've had several people tell us about this now, but thus far we haven't been able to track it down - we use an Axim here as one of our test systems and we're not seeing it on that. Could you tell me a little more about your configuration? How big is the SD card, do you have a CF card for your Axim as well, and are you running any third-party software other than PlecoDict? Does soft resetting your Axim help matters? Do you happen to remember which of the system Settings you've changed? And is this an English-language Axim or some other language?

The keyfile doesn't have to remain in My Documents, but actually it should be deleted automatically after PlecoDict unlocks itself; if it's not, you can certainly delete it manually.