Pleco 2.0 final Hardware requirements

[F_Kal]

Hello,
I'm well aware that Pleco 2.0 is still at a Beta stage, but I couldn't help myself wondering about the final requirements of the new version of Plecodict. Considering I'm interested in a Linguist/Complete version, what is the minimum wm5 hardware that can run it? I have an old HP rx1950 wm5 PDA, that is slow by it's womb and the free RAM is around 9-10MBs after reboot. The internal memory is even more limited, with few basic programs installed about 10-15MBs free, so I've been wondering if I can load it with the new pleco... If my system is *enough* you think it will be working or "barely make it"? If it's short of the requirements, what are they expected to be?

I understand that they are not easy to be fixed by now but any help could be appreciated since I'd like to know if I am to purchase 1.0 with the prospect of switching to 2.0 as soon as it's released!
Thank you for your time

P.S if this question has been answered elsewhere, buhaoyisi, I failed to see it!

 

[ipsi]

Free RAM sounds like it should be OK. The tricky bit is do you have a memory card of some form? If not, then it's not going to be anywhere even close to enough. You will probably need 1-2MB of Internal Memory, and about 400-500MB of storage on a card (or internal memory, I suppose, but there's not actually anything out there with that much internal storage at the moment). Probably be close to 500MB.

If you've got enough free space on a storage card, then you'll be fine, I think.

 

[F_Kal]

Yeah of course I have endless memory card capacity!
My concern was about the files needed to be installed *in* the device. But it's good to know about the ram footprint and that it only needs that little from my -limited- device's internal memory
Thanks a lot for replying!

P.S just for the record, what's the expected RAM footprint?

 

[mikelove]

The internal storage memory requirement should only be a few MB (say 5) - the application and handwriting recognizer library are the only two files that have to go in there, and those take up about 3 MB, but to minimize the possibility of data corruption we're also going to continue to recommend that flashcard and user dictionary files be stored internally and that's another 2 MB or so assuming a reasonably large (10,000 card) flashcard pool.

As far as *program* memory, i.e. RAM that's used while the software is running (which on Pocket PCs is separate from internal storage memory), that's probably about another 5 MB give-or-take; most of that goes to caching data from expansion cards, though, and that can be reduced with only a modest decrease in speed, so if the people start reporting issues with Windows Mobile giving them low-on-program-memory warnings we may add a checkbox option that shrinks the size of the cache.

 

[F_Kal]

That could be useful! Thanks (again) for replying!

 

[Macca]

I can't wait for this thing to be released. Any idea of when it might happen?

I'm dying here... with all these new characters I'm learning I'm starting to have trouble on the tricky ones with unusual stroke orders.... bring on 2.0!

 

[mikelove]

Few more weeks for Beta 4, finished version will depend on the response to said beta. Sorry I can't be much more specific than that

 

[plecoUser]

Hi All,

Is there any further clarification around exactly how big the memory card will need to be to run pleco 2, presuming the absolute minimum amount of files are copied onto the device memory itself?

I also have an HP rx1950 (bought second hand purely to run pleco) and I know I'll need to buy a bigger SD card, but how big? Can I get away with a 512MB card without issues? They are so cheap!

Cheers!

 

[mikelove]

Right now the full set of data files including all audio clocks in at 464 MB, though there may be a few more MB in the end since we're still tweaking the dictionaries a bit. So it should be possible to just barely squeeze everything onto a 512 MB card, though given the likelihood of our licensing/releasing more dictionaries (or other disk-space-consuming upgrades) I'd still recommend paying a bit extra for a 1 GB card.

 

[plecoUser]

Cheers, Mike.
I just checked the price of 1GB SD cards here and found out they are super cheap ($11) so I don't think it will be an issue anyway. Seems like the cost of these things has more than halved in the last 6 months (!)

Bring on Pleco 2.0!

 

[radioman]

Mike,

In preparation for version 2, I am looking at my version 1 install. I thought I installed it per your directions, with most all going to the memory card except for the main app, and 2 handwriting files. (I thought that should be a few meg at most).

When I look at the "Info" size readout off the palm main screens, it shows "PlecoDict" at 21982K under "device" (not the memory card).

I have been running this way for a while, and it works, but I do not have a whole lot of room left on the main device (a Tungsten E2 @32M).

Is this just a function of how the Palm loads your program or did I inadvertently load extra files in the device that could have been loaded to the memory card?

Any insights appreciated.

Ed.

 

[mikelove]

Hmm... did you check the "Install to Card if Present" box in the Automated installer? If not, it would have put all of the font files in main memory (slight speed increase that way), so that might explain the extra space usage. You can use FileZ to move those fonts (PlecoDict Font...) to the /Palm/Launcher directory on your memory card if you want to save some space.

 

[radioman]

Mike -

Just saw this. Yes, with only 32Meg Ram, I need the headroom, and in prep for Pleco II. I'm back in Dalian, so really looking forward to the upgrade. Bring it on.. and thanks again.

Ed.

 

[cming]

Hi Mike,

I have several older handhelds which won't meet the requirements for Pleco 2.0, which I am looking at giving away to my students after Pleco 2.0 is released.

Will the current version of Pleco still be available once 2.0 is released?

Regards

cming

 

[daniu]

Hi!

Does PD2 really have higher Hardware requirements than PD1? Memory should be a solvable problem ...

regards
Daniel

 

[mikelove]

Yes, it needs Palm OS 5 for performance reasons - flashcards and user dictionaries are unusably slow on a 68k processor, and even dictionary searches are barely acceptable. Really the faster the better, too, the case for the TX over the E2 is a lot stronger for 2.0 than it was for 1.0. A few very old OS 5 models may also be problematic because they have such limited heap memory, though there are utilities available that can expand that for you, and audio may not work correctly on the original Tungsten T due to some severe bugs in Palm's sampled audio system implementation on that.

 

[daniu]

Hi!

Ah - so basically that applies to Palm ...

I think I should not get any problems with my Dell Axim X51V

best regards
Daniel

 

[mikelove]

No, pretty much all Pocket PCs should be fine performance-wise; things may drag a bit on the old 200 MHz WM2003 models, but it should still be plenty usable, and in general should actually feel a bit faster than the old version thanks to our no longer using Pocket IE to render definitions.

 

[cming]

Hi Mike,

I guess the above didn't really answer my question - the older handhelds don't currently have Pleco installed (and yes, the memory slots are either limited, or not expandable - hence why I'm giving them away), so I wanted to know will it still be possible to purchase the older version of Pleco once 2.0 is released?

Regards
cming

 

[mikelove]

We do plan to keep 1.0 around/available on Palm OS, but we'll probably be discontinuing it completely on Pocket PC.