===========================
DicEngRus v1.7 - readme.txt
===========================

Copyright (C) Andrey Levichev, 2002
homepage: http://pages.prodigy.net/avl
email: avl@prodigy.net


Contents
--------

1. Description
2. Requirements
3. Installation
4. Using DicEngRus
5. License info
6. Comments and bug reporting


1. Description
--------------

DicEngRus is the biggest and the most comprehensive English-Russian
dictionary for Palm compatible pocket computers.

Features:

* convenient user interface with minimum number of taps required to
  look up words
* high database compression ratio
* quick word lookup
* two main dictionaries
* additional dictionaries are available
* comprehensive translations with many different word meanings
* utility to create custom dictionaries
* support for multiple dictionaries for any language (not only for
  English-Russian)

Main dictionaries:

English/Russian - Mueller7tr
	Mueller's English-Russian dictionary 7th edition, 46000 words,
	with transcriptions, occupies 2373K of memory.

English/Russian - Mueller24
	Mueller's English-Russian dictionary 24th edition, 67000 words,
	without transcriptions, occupies 2828K of memory.

Additional dictionaries:

English/Russian - Lingvo6 small
	English-Russian dictionary from Lingvo6, 83700 words,
	occupies 2947K of memory.

English/Estonian - Indrek Hein
	English/Estonian dictionary by Indrek Hein, 64000 words, occupies
	795K of memory, contributed by Priit Mustasaar (mac@mtb.ee).


2. Requirements
---------------

* Palm compatible pocket computer with 8 megabytes of memory
* PalmOS 3.0 or newer
* Russian language support.

There are two programs that allow you to read and enter information in
Russian: PiLoc (http://www.penreader.com/trynow_palm.htm) and CyrHack
(http://www.enlight.ru/pilot/cyrhack).


3. Installation
---------------

Three files must be installed:

* The program - DicEngRus.prc
* Compression library - SysZLib.prc
* One of the dictionaries, for example "EngRus - Mueller7tr.pdb".


4. Using DicEngRus
------------------

There are two ways to translate a word:

1. Enter a word in the input field at the bottom of the screen. List
   of words will be scrolling to the position that matches the word
   you are typing. To get a translation, tap "Find" button or enter a
   new line stoke.

2. Scroll to a word using a scroll bar, then tap it to get a
   translation.

In the translation mode, the field where you entered the word and the
"Find" button are not hidden. You can type another word or you can
switch back to the list mode (using "Switch View" button in the upper-
right corner of the screen). When you start typing a new word in the
translation mode, it automatically switches to the list mode.

List mode is more convenient to use, because you don't need to type
the whole word. Usually after typing first three or four letters, the
word is shown on the screen and you can translate it by tapping with a
pen.

Since version 1.6 you can switch between several dictionaries. You can
load dictionaries into Palm's memory and select 'Choose dictionary...'
command from the main menu.

Using MAKEDIC - utility to create your own dictionaries:

Source file for the dictionary is a simple text file, it contains one
word per line. The format is - word$translation. Sample dictionary is
included (sample_dic.txt). The input file must be sorted in a right
way.

To create a pdb file, type makedic mydic.txt in the command prompt.
You can also specify block size after filename. Block size is a number
of words in one independently compressed chunk of data. The default
value is 500 words. Increasing block size reduces the total size of
the dictionary but a delay when looking up a word may be longer.


5. License info
---------------

This program is freeware. This means you can use and distribute it
freely, without any charge. However commercial distribution of the
program in any form without prior written permission of the author is
strictly prohibited. The program is provided "as is" without express
or implied warranty. Use it at your own risk. The author accepts no
liability for any damage/loss of business that this product may cause.
By using this program you accept the terms of this license agreement.


6. Comments and bug reporting
-----------------------------

If you have any comments, please send them to avl@prodigy.net. If you
are reporting a bug, please include a detailed report about conditions
which lead to the bug.

Latest updates can be found at: http://pages.prodigy.net/avl
