Abstract R&D

A-Lex English Dictionary - $10.50

A-Lex is an English electronic dictionary for Palm OS® . The dictionary is based on the WordNet lexical database.

• High quality and quantity of word definitions based on the WordNet lexical database actively edited by linguistic experts. Over 146,000 headwords and 200,000 high quality definitions.
• Voice synthesis capability. Unique and useful feature for learning pronunciation of English words.
• Word relation database. This includes synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms, hyponyms, holonyms, and meronyms relations. The most extensive word relation database categorized by individual definitions with ~400,000 relations. This is the easiest-to-use and the most comprehensive thesaurus.
• Antonym database.
• Usage examples to illustrate word usage.
• Optional Kenyon and Knott style pronunciation database for the 73,000 more common entries.
• Capable of mark-and-lookup (cross-reference) on any word displayed on the screen. Combined with history lookup browsing, this makes learning the meaning of words a matter for few taps.
• Auto-complete mode lookup allows looking up a word without spelling it completely and browsing closely related words.
• Manual browse mode allows looking for words with wildcard pattern. This is great for looking up a word when only part of its spelling is certain. This is a superior replacement for spellchecker or spelling corrector. It is also great for solving crossword puzzles.
• Recognize the base form of words from their common inflections. Words don't always appear in their base form. This is an important feature many dictionary products lack.
• Support direct access of memory cards using Palm OS® VFS facility. This capability allows one to choose between storing the dictionary database in the high performance of the system RAM and the memory expansion cards.
• Look-up history. Remember the last 50 unique words looked up. Browse buttons are supplied to allow quick browsing of recent looked up words.
• Favorite word list. Allow users to add and remove favorite words to and from the list.
• DA Launcher or pop-up version that makes one-tap-lookup possible on any displayed English word in ANY Palm OS® application without exiting the application. This feature is very powerful and convenient when used with electronic text readers.
• Can beam or send word entries to local or remote Memo.

Download A-Lex files.

For purchasing information click here.

Illustrated Feature Highlights

A-Lex 2.6 Download

If you are upgrading your A-Lex, please check the update history before downloading. Please back up the older version of A-Lex, in case you want to restore to the older version. A-Lex 2.5 or later requires new registration code.

Please note that this version only works with late Palm devices (e.g. Treo 650, 700p, 680, TX, etc.) that support HTML library. For the older devices, please use A-Lex 2.4.

Users with Windows PC should use the .exe installer. Users with other types of PC or who prefer installing from memory card should use the .prc installer.

Please select one of the following downloads that is more suitable for you.

• Installer executable for Windows. (6.5MB, last updated: 3/28/2007). Run the installer on your Windows machine and perform a HotSync.
• Installer executable for Palm (6.2 MB, last updated: 3/28/2007) Install or download this .prc file to your Palm device via HotSync or memory card reader or over the air and launch the installer. Make sure you have enough memory for the installer package and A-Lex program files.

Petit version of A-Lex

If you prefer a minimal installation to conserve memory and storage space, please download one of following packages. The minimal installation does not have phonetic spelling, synonym database and speech synthesis feature. You can always install the full package later to add these features.

• Minimal installer executable for Windows. (4.2MB, last updated: 3/28/2007).
• Minimal installer executable for Palm (3.9MB, last updated: 3/28/2007)

Simple Text (2.4) version of A-Lex

This version is no longer necessary. Please use version 2.6, which will work for either HTML or text version automatically.

For purchasing information click here.

• 2.4 Installer executable for Windows. (6.48MB, last updated: 7/17/2006). Run the installer on your Windows machine and perform a HotSync.
• 2.4 Installer executable for Palm (6.19 MB, last updated: 7/17/2006) Install or download this .prc file to your Palm device via HotSync or memory card reader or over the air and launch the installer. Make sure you have enough memory for the installer package and A-Lex program files.

Requirements

• Palm OS® 3.1 or newer.
• About 5.3 MB of combined RAM and/or memory card storage is required to install the basic A-Lex.

Installation

Installer executables are provided starting with A-Lex 2.4. Manual install is not necessary. The following manual installation instruction is for older versions and for users who prefer installing the files manually.

Use Install Tool utility to install both the .pdb (alexdb.pdb and alexaux1.pdb) and .prc (alex.prc) files by performing HotSync® operation. Registered version requires the installation of a key (.pdb) file or code, which will be sent to you upon registration. Be sure install the same version of .pdb and .prc. Avoid mixing them from different downloads.

If you would like to lookup word relations like synonyms and antonyms, install the word relation database alexsyn.zip listed in the downloading section above. A-Lex will automatically recognize the presence of the word relation database.

A-Lex Instant Lookup (Desk Accessory - DA)

A-Lex DA version will lookup the definition of a target English word from any Palm OS® application. A-Lex DA is functionally identical to the regular A-Lex except the DA version can be launched by the DA Launcher in a pop-up window from other Palm applications. A target word can be a marked selection, the word containing the cursor or a focused field. If there is no marking, the word to the left of the cursor will be looked up. If no marking, no focus, or no English text selection, A-Lex DA will still be launched and waiting for user to input an English headword. A-Lex DA requires installations of free third party software. See DA Launcher Desk Accessory section on how to install and use DA Launcher

For purchasing information click here.

Download A-Lex files.

No copy-and-paste, no exiting from application. Easy to use. Just mark and tap and the large 146,000+ words high quality English dictionary is instantly accessible.

• Instant lookup with one tap from ANY Palm application.
• Palm OS dictionary based on the WordNet lexical database.
• Fast lookup speed.
• Support direct access of memory cards: SD, MMC, Sony Memory Stick, Handspring Flash Module, etc.
• Remember the last 50 unique words looked up and one-tap browsing of the look-up history chain.
• Support the latest Palm OS 5.1
• Responsive customer support.

The unregistered version will periodically remind (or 'nag') users to register. See Registration section for registration detail. An unregistered version is free, full-featured and has a 30-day duration .

WordNet is an academic linguistic semantic database for English language. It shares with conventional dictionary in that it does an excellent job in defining English words and phrases. It also organizes the words in a network relationship. Word taxonomy or hierarchy information was developed. It differs from conventional dictionary that it does not provide pronunciation (A-Lex supplements this deficit with its own pronunciation resources), etymology information, and it does not seem to contain much archaic or obsolete words. WordNet is only interested in nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The overlooked parts of speech are very small part of English language and they are usually very well known words and therefore this omission does not significantly affect the usefulness of the dictionary.

A-Lex is based on WordNet with the following exceptions:

• (1) Headwords start with non-alphabet was removed.
• (2) Long headword entries were truncated. (These were mostly phrases and organization names much longer than the screen width of a Palm OS® PDA.
• (3) Word hierarchy or network relationship information was not included.

The main motivation for above exemptions was to keep the database at a manageable size. If the storage space on Palm OS® devices become more ample and/or there is a strong demand for these exempted information, Abstract can put these information back in its database.

As noted in the previous section, A-Lex uses WordNet database, which does not have pronunciation data. A-Lex has added pronunciations or phonetic spellings for about 73,000 entries. The phonetic symbols used are of Kenyon and Knott style, which is an American style phonetic system. The main reasons we adopted the phonetic system are its prevalence in the international community and its prominence in American linguistic world. Please note that most of the modern American dictionaries use Kenyon and Knott pronunciation style without using its phonetic symbol set.

For the uninitiated, the symbols may seem unfamiliar. The best way to get used to the symbols is by looking up words with familiar pronunciations or use the reference map feature provided by the Abstract's software - just tap the phonetic display.

WordNet has over 146,000 entries and over 200,000 definitions and A-Lex has phonetic spellings for about 73,000 entries. The entries without spelling roughly fall into the following categories:

• Proper names - people and place names. Many foreign words are involved in this category.
• Phrases - words in phrases can be looked up and they may have phonetic spellings.
• Inflected words - the word stem may give helpful clue on the pronunciation.
• Rare words.

The main reason A-Lex does not have phonetic spellings for all WordNet database is the difficulty to acquire such pronunciations. Abstract will attempt to acquire more pronunciations over time.

The English speech extension adds the voice synthesis capability to Abstract's dictionary product. The feature is very popular for people learning English as a second language.

Abstract developed the unique capability of doing voice synthesis on relative primitive audio chip built in typical PDA. Most other voice synthesis requires special chip(s) designed to synthesize voice. This is one of the reasons that you won't see too many speech products on open platform PDA devices. Abstract's speech technology is also unique in that its speech quality can be improved without bound if given more memory. Of course, the improvement requires more work but it can be done relatively easily. This cannot be said about most of the other speech products. Current speech quality is a tradeoff between memory usage and the acceptability of the voice quality.

The speech extension requires Palm OS 5.2 Sound Manager or Sony Yamaha Pa1lib sound support and compatible hardware. It also requires A-Lex pronunciation database. The speech extension itself can be downloaded. Read the readme.txt for installation instructions.

The Mandarin Chinese Speech extension has also been added. (Last updated 1/20/05.)This package synthesizes Mandarin Chinese. The hardware requirement is identical to English synthesis. Click the link above, follow the instructions and install the package. Mandarin Chinese can usually be synthesized by marking a Chinese text and tapping the Speak button of the dictionary software.

The inherent problem of synthesizing a Chinese sound is that there often are more than one possible way to pronounce a Chinese character, depending on the context or the usage. Abstract's Chinese synthesis tries to synthesize depending on the context. It is best to install the optional Chinese phonetic database, where various pronunciations of a Chinese character are illustrated.

List of Palm devices supporting OS 5.2 Sound Manager:

• Zire 71
• Tungsten C
• or newer devices.

List of Sony Clie devices supporting Yamaha Pa1lib (according to Sony documentation):

• PEG-T400/T415/T425
• PEG-T600C/T615C/T625C
• PEG-NR70/NR70V
• PEG-T650C/T665C/T675C
• PEG-SJ33
• PEG-NX60/PEG-NX70V
• PEG-NZ90
• PEG-TG50
• or newer devices

But be aware of the following limitations of the speech capability:

• It is very difficult to synthesize high quality human voice without using a bunch of memory. The current synthesis quality of the speech extension is a fairly modest tradeoff. As we indicated above, it there is strong demand for higher quality with larger voice database, Abstract can move into that direction quickly. Feel free to let us know your feeling about the quality and memory usage tradeoff.
• It is best to use the feature in conjunction of the phonetic spelling. Don't worry. You won't ever speak like a machine. It is actually physically impossible to duplicate the flaws.
• "Typos" in the phonetic spelling can lead to strange pronunciation. Please let us know any errors in the phonetic spelling.
• Voice is synthesized on phonetic spelling. Not all entries of A-Lex dictionary have phonetic spelling. See the phonetic database section for more information.
• This feature is unlikely to be very helpful to native speakers of English.

There are various memory cards on various Palm OS® devices. There have various restrictions and limitations. And in most cases the software WILL run somewhat slower on memory cards. (On Visor's Flash Module the difference is not very noticeable.)

All the latest versions of Abstract's software can access memory card data directly using Palm OS® VFS facility. However, the speed is noticeably slower because the media and the nature of dictionary data access. If the memory card speed is too slow, you might consider storing parts or all of the software database files (.pdb files) in the PDA memory.

If you want Abstract software to access its dictionary data on memory card, you need to put the files in /PALM/Launcher directory of the memory card. Program file (.prc file) can also be stored in this directory so it can be launched by Palm OS® program launcher.

The simplest way is, of course, to keep of the files on the primary (or internal) memory. This is obviously the safest and the most efficient way to do it. The advent of PDA devices with 16 MB system memory make this the choice more practical every day. In any case, it is usually not necessary to store the program files (.prc files) on memory since they are relatively small.

Flash modules by Handspring and Hagiwara make the memory in the modules appears as part of regular internal memory. They do not require memory manager or special access by software.

Since all Abstract software support VFS, using third party memory manager like PowerRun and PiDirect is unnecessary and sometimes these memory manager can cause problems. It is our recommendation that third party memory managers should be avoided.

It is not within the scope of this page to discuss individual memory card and memory manager in detail. Please read and follow their instructions carefully. Bear in mind Abstract's software are known to work on all these cards.

If you do not have enough main memory to store all database files, please note the following to get the best performance out of you software:

• Always install your program (.prc) in PDA main memory. They are not very large so they shouldn't cause any storage pressure. For speech .prc's, they HAVE TO BE in the memory main memory because they are launched by other programs. Yinghan and Hanying cross-reference also launch each other. If you use cross-reference feature with these 2 programs, they have be installed in the main memory. Note that this requirement does not apply to the database files (.pdb files).
• If possible, put the primary dictionary database in the main memory in have better performance in retrieving dictionary data. For A-Lex, alexdb.pdb is the main database files.
• If you plan to install the speech extension, the sound database is a good candidate for memory card since it is only accessed during synthesis.

Software upgrades usually involve the installation of new executables (.prc files) only. The release note or the readme.htm file should indicate whether any database (.pdb files) reinstallation is available or required.

Be aware of the following when upgrading:

• If you installed DA (or Instant Lookup) version, make sure you upgrade both .prc files.
• Some upgrades are not downward compatible. This means that if you decided to back out the upgrade, you will have to perform a soft reset before running the older version again. The version release note should indicate whether the upgrade is downward compatible.
• If your registration is within 6 months, you can request for free registration code upgrade via e-mail if the new version requires a different code.
• If your registration is older than 6 months, be aware that the new version may require an upgrade registration.
• We do not keep older versions of our software. If there is any reason that you might revert back to the older version, make sure you have a copy of the older version's installation files before upgrading.

You need to purchase a registration from a vendor or Abstract to use the full feature set of a Abstract's software without nagging. See below for purchasing information. You also need to send us your user id so we can generate the proper key file or code for you. Install the key file and your copy of Abstract software will recognize the registration. A registration also entitles you free upgrades up to 6 months from the time of your registration purchase. Click here for detail purchasing info.

Two frequent problems with key files or codes are: (1) Unmatched letter cases and white spaces and (2) incompatible software version. Key generation scheme can change over time. Upgrading software may require getting a new key.

Abstract Contact Info:

E-mail: inq@absrand.com
Mailing Address: 120 Village Square #37, Orinda, CA 94563
Google Discussion Group for A-Lex: http://groups.google.com/group/a-lex-for-palm.