Re: NB 8 (Trial version)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Correo Fenda  on Fri, 14 Apr
2006 10:28:47 +0200


Sorry, I promised to investigate this, then forgot:

> By the way: is it possible to use with NB8 the great
> collection of IBM Lexam dictionaries you made available
> to us?

The answer, surprisingly, is: Yes! The bloody things work
now. They didn't before, but now they do. This is one of a
loooong list of things that I complained about to Siebert
several years ago (he shrugged at the time, but he
diligently wrote it down, so maybe he undertook to make them
work). Or, perhaps, Erickson just silently enabled them, who
knows.

You can download the dictionaries from a BSD "historic"
archive (IBM doesn't post them anymore):

http://cvsup.de.openbsd.org/historic/comp/os/os2/boulder/netscape/nsdicts/

You MUST obtain the PCLEXAM.DLL for Windows -- I ripped my
copy from EuroScript 7 (the German XyWin):
 http://holmgren.home.acedsl.com/pclexdll.zip
Locate it in NBWin's &root& dir (same dir as NOTABENE.EXE)

The prerequisites are pretty much the same as always. You
can set up PCLEX semi-permanently in NB.DFL, or "on the fly"
(using U2's PCLEX dictionary manager, frame PCLEXSPL a.k.a.
PS). Locate your DICtionaries all in one directory, and
point at that dir in NB.DFL with D[F] LX=D:\PATH\. Indicate
which DICtionary you'll be using (D[F] UD=ESPANA -- use the
FILENAME in CAPS sin .EXTension ".DIC"). Set the
OldMasticon VAriable to zero: D[F] OM=0. Altogether, you
might add lines like these to NB.DFL:
;
;Path to pcLeX dictionaries (with *trailing* backslash!)
DF LX=F:\PCLEX\
;
;Spelling Dictionary to Use (FILENAME sans .EXT)
DF UD=ESPANA
;
;Select PCLEX or Microlytics spellers
;OM=31 Microlytics; OM=0 PCLEXAM
;DF OM=31
DF OM=0
;
The spellers work regardless of the Expanded Memory Spec
setting in NBWin, so D[F] ZX=0 is unnecessary.

Make sure you are in Draft or Graphic views (not Expanded
[Show Codes]). Locate your cursor where you want to begin
spell-checking, then command:
 SPELL

You can't do a "live" swap of dictionaries within one
session, say FRANCAIS for ESPANA -- gotta relaunch NB. That
kills the whole multilingual document concept, which was a
large part of the purpose, but... (You might play with the
embedded  command, see if that does "live" swaps.)

BTW, you can swap any of the non-English Microlytics
dictionaries as DICT.SPL, and they work fine (with DEFAULT
OM=31), but -- again -- gotta relaunch NB to swap
dictionaries.

Glitches:
--------
Accented characters in proposed alternative words often
don't display correctly, due to the absence of 8bit ASCII-
ANSI translation. I think this may be one clue why NB-NYC
provides no Microlytics dictionaries other than US and UK --
they didn't know how, or didn't bother, to convert the
output of those non-English dicts from 850 to 1252 (such a
trivial exercise, too! aargh). One consequence is some
false hits (flags bad, when it really is good, because an
8bit char isn't 850). This really compromises the whole
scheme -- particularly painful when you consider that the
PCLEX spellers are so much better than Microlytics for
languages other than English.

AND, very unfortunately, the Thesaurus won't work with PCLEX
dictionaries! NB insists on using the US English thesaurus
(USENG.THS). Tout le monde writes in English, right? In
fact, I've never seen any Microlytics thesaurus other than
English -- if anyone has one, *please* let me know!