Re: R: IBM dictionaries

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from xywrite@xxxxxxxx Sun, 14 Nov 1999 16:28:33 +0100

Adriano, here's what I'm finding. These new DICtionaries are too big --
huge! -- to swap in and out of memory. The UD embedded command usually
just blows memory away on my machine, even with 4Mb maximum devoted to
EMS, and even if it references the currently-loaded DICtionary! Embedded
UDs like  are a no-no. You need to pick one DICtionary, and
stick with it in any one session; and it needs to be loaded at the _start_
of the program, via SETTINGS.DFL. To change DICtionaries, you first
change SETTINGS.DFL (the "df UD=MAGYAR" command), close XyWrite, then
re-launch. That works fine.

As for Auto-Check, I don't think that's designed for anything but
Microlytics. I never use it, the beep drives me crazy, so I don't have
any experience with it. Neither do I know whether batch spelling works --
frankly, I never use any of this spell check stuff, period. What I need
and use are thesauruses, and real dictionaries (mainly Random House
Unabridged, which works fantastically well with Xy4-DOS as long as you
have the right version, and also the O.E.D.). The best way to spell check
is to put your cursor on a word, and then call up a _real_ dictionary. If
it summons the right word, with the right definition, then you pass.

What attracts me mainly about these DICtionaries is their thesaurus
capability. That has always been the weakest aspect of the XyWrite
system. The one tool that writers and editors need more than any
other, IMO, is the thesaurus.

Anyway, there are limitations -- of memory, in this case. Gotta live with
them. Bye --



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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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