Beta 1 Bug Reporting

[mikelove]

For this release, we're really only looking for reports on the following things:

- Conflicts with / damage to other parts of the system; if your Palm or Pocket PC gets generally screwed up by running Pleco, or some specific piece of software stops working, we'd definitely like to know about that.

- Unable to load at all, or completely unusable on your handheld.

- Corrupted / lost flashcard data, especially on Palm where we're still working out some kinks in our SQLite implementation.

- Issues with purchased dictionaries/features/etc failing to unlock, or un-purchased items being usable in spite of the fact that they're supposed to be locked.

For anything else, make a note of it and let us know if it's still around in a later beta (after we open things up to a wider variety of bug reports).

No formal bug report form, but please include the following information in any report:

- Type / model of your Palm or Pocket PC
- Firmware version, if available
- Cellular carrier, if applicable
- Type / size of memory expansion card, if any
- Free memory available (internal and on the card)
- Names of any system extensions / Chinese OSes installed

Please check the Known Issues thread before reporting any bugs. Thanks!

 

[ipsi]

Ok, I've done what I think you meant when you said "To get magnification working (kind of), go to the Search Navigation panel in Preferences and set Character Info to come up when the definition text is tapped.", but selecting the headword causes a soft reset, and I can't find any other way to get the character info up. Or indeed double-tapping the definition text (which is what I selected).

All the headwords are magnified, which I don't like.

Trying to use Radical Input causes a soft reset.

I also can't have both 1.3 and 2.0B1 installed at the same time. When I look at the main screen on my 680, I see only one app called PlecoDict, and that's 2.0.

It also doesn't seem to like searching on my 680... . In that, it won't search until I change the dictionary. Or otherwise cause the screen to be refreshed.

The push-and-hold for selection dictionaries doesn't work.

EDIT: Soft reset while trying to resize scratch box.

EDIT: Stroke-order flashcards don't work. At all. It comes up with a screen briefly and then just goes back to the main flashcard menu. Did you forget to include the character info file?

EDIT: Resizing the search results list caused it do disappear. Selecting the 表 button to get it back caused a soft reset.

EDIT: The 入 button does nothing. What's it supposed to do?

EDIT: Can't change between Traditional and Simplified Characters. Where is this supposed to be done from? (Note: This applies to viewing)

So it kinda works, but quite badly, I reckon. It's not actually usable in it's current state for much at all really. While I can put it with some stuff missing, I'm quite miffed that I can't access the stroke order.

EDIT: To sum, the most important thing I can't do is access the Stroke Order diagrams. At all. Can anyone with a PPC version access them? Or even another Palm user? Also, the near-total inability to search. Not cool.

 

[Alexis]

Thanks for the effort to get the beta out!

I have a Tungsten T3. I copied over the contents of "encodings" "palmapps" "palmfonts" "palmhwr" over to my tungsten. I put the contents of "dictionaries" and "audio" onto my memory card.

When I try to start up plecoDict, i get the following error:

Bitmap68K.c,Line:2573,
Unknown
HighDensityDispatch
request:21

There is a "Reset" button, but it does not work, have to do a 'soft' reset with the button on the back.

Graphically, on the top left of my screen there are 3 squares. The two on the left are very light blue, and the 3rd one from the left is a dark teal green with a thick black outline. There seems to be a cursor (dark black vertical line) on the next row.

Any ideas?

 

[Alexis]

There is a "Reset" button, but it does not work, have to do a 'soft' reset with the button on the back.

Oh, regarding my last post, the soft "reset" button actually does work, but I'm sure that's immaterial.

 

[ipsi]

I suspect you've copied over the wrong font files, just from the sound of it. Delete 22 and 48, see if that works. If not, delete 12 and 15. If not, then I've got no idea

 

[gato]

I also can't have both 1.3 and 2.0B1 installed at the same time. When I look at the main screen on my 680, I see only one app called PlecoDict, and that's 2.0.

Yup. I think installing 2.0 is currently overwriting the old Pleco. Maybe the file names need to be changed?

- Flashcard import does not seem to be working. After I fill out the filename and hit the "start" button, nothing seems to happen. I know the filename entered is correct because if I enter a wrong filename, it'll tell me "file not found."

- Handwriting recognition-based entry doesn't seem to trigger a search for some reason. The characters entered through handwriting recognition is displayed with wrong background/foreground color so that it is only visible if you highlight it.

 

[ipsi]

File Names really do need to be changed, it seems. I've edited my post with a number of things I've noticed that seem to be bugs...

Gato: I think you'll find very little triggers a search... At least, nothing does for me...

 

[gato]

I think you'll find very little triggers a search... At least, nothing does for me...

Pinyin-based search does work for me, though. However, I use the handwriting search more often.

 

[mikelove]

Oops, turns out there are several missing files in the installation archive. Yikes... Stroke order database, for one thing; that's up now at http://www.pleco.com/beta/pd2b1stroke.zip. Character Info database is also missing, that's at http://www.pleco.com/beta/pd2b1unihan.zip.

On the 1.0/2.0 conflict: silly oversight on our part. I've posted a fix for that at http://www.pleco.com/beta/pd2b1enginefix.zip - this replaces the PlecoDict.prc file in the original distribution (I'll update the complete package with this and the missing databases tomorrow) and will allow you to have the old version installed at the same time. So install this and reinstall the old 1.0 PlecoDict.prc and the two versions should play nicely with each other.

ipsi: headword magnification will be able to be turned off once we get that preference working. Not sure about the radical input issue - are you sure the database file is installed correctly? Try it again once you've installed the Character Info database too.

Tap-hold dictionary selection not working is something we're aware of, as are the issues with screen refresh and scratch box resizing. For the stroke order flashcards, make sure you've got some single-character cards (and not from the Standard Dictionary since it doesn't seem to like those for stroke order); the stroke order sessions will currently only test on those. The 入 button toggles the on-screen input palette open and closed on devices with screens large enough to accommodate both that and the entry list at the same time.

Alexis - not sure what the issue is here... could be something with the fonts, but more likely we just overlooked some sort of conflict with the T3's OS... hopefully we'll have a fix for that in a few days.

gato - try import with a PalmDoc file (do a Google search for MakeDocW if you need help making those) and you should have better luck.

 

[ipsi]

Ok, sweet. I can now access the stroke order screen. Radical input on the 680 still resets the device. Still can't test myself on stroke order, despite having only one flashcard (么) from the Oxford Dictionary. It just looks like it's about to start and then goes back to the main flashcard screen, with no messages or anything. What do I need to reinstall to have 1.3 working again? Just the 1.3 Pleco PRC file?

 

[gato]

What do I need to reinstall to have 1.3 working again? Just the 1.3 Pleco PRC file?

Yes, just the PlecoDict.prc, I believe. 1.03 seems to be working for me again.

 

[mikelove]

(yes, I am indeed up early after such a late night)

I've posted a hastily-assembled fix for the radical and T3/TH55 HighDensityDispatch errors; it's at http://www.pleco.com/beta/pd2b1a-engine.zip. Let me know if this helps...

For the stroke order sessions not starting, try this: do a search of the Oxford or ABC dictionary, enter a common Pinyin syllable (like shi), and scroll through the list adding 10 or 20 of those single-character entries to your flashcards. Then, go back in and start a stroke order session, making sure to turn all of the category / card filtering / scoring options off (just in case the problem has something to do with them rather than the stroke order system). That should give it enough cards to draw from that it actually loads / tests you on one.

 

[roddy]

I'm going to have to chime in as a 'completely unusable' I'm afraid. I've got all the essential files (the updated pleco engine app, abc + nwp, all encodings, fonts 22, 28 and 48 and handwriting files) on my TX, but tragically at this point the lovely pleco icon is functioning as no more than a handily located soft reset button. No error message, no interface at all, it just restarts.

I have already tried: moving everything bar the engine and handwriting to the SD card. Shutting down CJKOS. Deleting or turning off anything I could think of that might be running in the background. Reinstalling. Prayer. Crystals.

It's a TX with up-to-date firmware. Showing 44.4MB of space free (this is with everything in internal memory. I have CJKOS and PowerDigi (souped up digitizer calibrator) installed, but have turned both off.

Now here's the 'interesting bit' - when I tried to delete the new pleco engine I was told it couldn't delete it. However, both applications have now disappeared and when I look via Filez the dictionary applications and flashcard files are notably absent. I've reinstalled the 1.03 engine, but it's claiming no dictionary files present. I should have back-ups of the flashcards (have done nothing but hotsync for the last hour :mrgreen:

I'd ignore me unless I'm not the only one seeing this kind of thing, but if you happen to have any ideas off the top of your head . . .

 

[roddy]

And a quick update - following the above, I deleted all files with 'pleco' in the name (there was a PlecoCommandBar one I couldn't get rid of - Instant Access?) and reinstalled. It now appears to be working - at least I've got to the interface.

 

[axisdev]

Any tips on improving rendering performance on windows mobil

I'm using a Dopod c858 (HTC Herald) (200mhz cpu), windows mobile 5.0. With pleco 2 beta, the rendering performance is -- really bad, it's almost impossible to scroll the list of words due to the rate of refresh. (And I'm currently overclocking my phone to about 270mhz).

Is there a setting I can switch somewhere that will improve this situation?

I installed all the files to my (trans flash micro sd) card.


thanks, and like everyone here we appreciate your diligent efforts!

 

[jugdish]

Not sure if the complete package that Mike is setting up today (day 2) is going to fix this, so I thought I'd pitch in. After installing 2.0 on my treo 650, I then lost v1. Following instructions (above) on how to get it back, I was able to get two icons again; but, when clicked, the v1 icon said it couldn't find the dictionaries. That problem I fixed by reinstalling the dictionaries to my SD card.
I've got a problem now, though, with the characters in my flashcards in v1 being tiny, so I'll look into experimenting with how to solve that.
Jiayou! It'll work!

 

[jugdish]

Update on the little-fonted flashcards. Re-installing the fonts from v1 solved that. The problem, by the way, was the same as when one doesn't have the "magnify characters in headword" box checked within test settings.
Now, though, the 2.0 side is all out of whack and unreadable. I'll bet that re-installing the 2.0 fonts and dicts would solve that, but I'm needing my flashcard program in v1 most right now.
Sorry if my postings are unhelpful. Here's my info:
Treo 650
2G SD card
CJKOS pre-installed

 

[Alexis]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the fix, I can now start up on my Tungsten T3!

A couple more issues for you:

1) I went to the pleco 2 beta order page and entered my Machine ID, but when I went to my orders, I couldn't find a keyfile associated with that Machine ID. I tried to re-install my older one, but did not unlock the demo mode.

2) Also, not a showstopper bug, but whenever I click on the 'speaker' icon to try to play audio for the character I get this machine gun noise (freaked out the cat!) and I have to do a soft reset to make it stop.

 

[Sarevok]

When I tried to start Pleco 2.0, it popped up a message telling me that no dictionary databases were installed and the program refused to start. I tried starting the thing once again just after closing the error message window without performing a reset of any kind and it ran quite happily. This bug seems to be occurring at random though, happened to me just once so far... Don't know if this is of any help. I am running it on iPAQ 2490, WM5...

 

[mikelove]

roddy - glad to hear that fixed it, though I'm not exactly sure why those files would have interfered with it - the way we designed it, 2.0 and 1.0 shouldn't even be able to see each other's data files.

axisdev - try this patched version: http://www.pleco.com/beta/pd2b1-monofont.zip - it disables anti-aliased font rendering and might be faster on your system. It didn't make much of a difference on ours, which is why we didn't release the initial beta with anti-aliasing turned off, but this sort of thing might vary from system to system. Also, try moving the font files (especially ZYSong) to internal memory and see if that speeds things up at all.

jugdish - have you tried putting the 1.0 and 2.0 fonts in different places (one set in internal, the other in external memory for example) and seeing if that helps matters?

Alexis - on #1, the keyfile would actually be on your 2.0 My Orders page, go back to that and reload and you should get your keyfile. On #2, this is happening because the audio files aren't unlocked and the software is trying to play the encrypted audio data, which is essentially random gibberish.

Sarevok - we've seen this occasionally here too, though we haven't yet managed to figure out why; our best guess so far is that Windows Mobile doesn't like to open too many files off of a storage card at the same time, the problem seems to go away (or at least occur much less often) when there are fewer Pleco files on there. We can easily combine the audio into 1 or 2 giant files for the Pocket PC version if it turns out that that fixes this, and a couple of the dictionaries / encoding tables / etc could be merged as well, as could the two PlecoPinyin fonts.