What programs to get for Palm?

[Stefani]

Hello,

I tried posting this last night, but somehow it didn't post, so let me try it again, but I am sorry if this is double post.

I got myself a Palm TX as an early birthday present

I like to use it as a PDA, but also to learn Chinese. I am thinking of getting Plecodict, and maybe Supermemo (or is the 2.0 Plecodict will have the functionality of Supermemo?). Any other programs? I am a beginner and focusing more on the Conversation and reading (just started the reading part).

Thank you, xiè xie nǐ.

(using Pinyinput).

[OneEye]

Stefani,

I have some recommendations on my blog (link is in my sig) for tools on Palm, among other resources. I don't know about Plecodict because I haven't bought it (yet), but I doubt the flashcard program uses a spaced-repetition algorithm as sophisticated as Supermemo's. I may be wrong though.

[Xiao Kui]

I would choose Plecodict over Supermemo. Making Supermemo cards involves input, but since Pleco has a dictionary, you can make any entry into flashcard in a snap (ZH>EN)

I think there are plans to incorporate a repetition algorithm into Pleco 2 - i'm sure mikelove will correct me if i'm wrong . I don't think it will be exactly the same as Supermemo's, but I have used both programs (supermemo desktop version) and I find Pleco to be a lot quicker and user-friendly than Supermemo.

Even though the current Pleco lacks an algorithm for repetitions, I find the ranking system which advances cards in rank after a certain amt of correct responses to be adequate for effectively reviewing my cards. I can adjust the test,card,and rank settings and review any rank whenever I wanted. Sth that annoys me abt Supermemo is that if you miss a few days the cards you need to review really pile up - and i didn't find the SM mercy function very helpful in remedying this problem. Maybe I misunderstood the instructions and there are ways to resolve those concerns, but that just seems to led more credence to my complaint abt the non-user-friendliness of SM. Also Pleco works a lot better than SM for importing cards from ZDT (the Supermemo export for ZDT is still a little buggy but the Pleco export is like butter)

since I got Pleco I don't really even use Supermemo anymore - though I wish I knew how to import the 3000 flashcards I already made with SM into Pleco! I don't think you would have time to use both programs, so it's better to consider the pros and cons, pick one, and go with it!

[sthubbar]

How fortuitous, I just went to Zhongguancun yesterday to help a friend buy a new Palm Treo680. She has seen how much my Chinese has progressed using my Treo650 and so she has asked me to help her get setup to learn English. Here is the software that I consider essential.

Plecodict - enough said, awesome program, can't do without

(Supermemo - only if learning English, for learning Chinese use Plecodict)

Backupman - www.bitsnbolts.com the palm can still crash and mine has several times, this backup program is simple and rock solid. It has saved me more than once, including some full restores which work like a charm

PocketTunes - www.pockettunes.com - great mp3 program, highly recommended, comes standard on the Treo680 so my friend doesn't need it.

CJKOS - www.dyts.com - if your Palm doesn't already have this it is the standard to read and write characters on the Palm. Comes pre-installed on the Chinese version of Treo 650 and 680

TCPMP - Free video viewer. Works great, I have over 20 hours of my favorite movies that I often watch.

Filez - Freeware file browser great for cleaning up.

AdobeReader - Free reader for Acrobat files

LEDOFF - turns off blinking LED when you are staring at screen for hours on end.

OPTIONAL

VolumeCare - Great program for Treo that greatly increases volume, maybe not needed for you.

KeyGTime+ - Allow to see time with one key press

Documentstogo - comes built into Treo650 and 680, allows creating/viewing word/excel/powerpoint files.

CardExport - Allow to read SIM card through USB cable, reduces wear on SIM card being removed and inserted.

Games - There are tons of games for every person's desire and some very high quality ones.

Hope this helps give you some ideas. I use most everyone of the above programs on a daily basis.

[roddy]

From a Chinese learning point of view - Plecodict and CJKOS are the basic essentials. That will give you the dictionary, flashcards and the ability to read and write (via pinyin) in non-Plecodict applications and use Plecodict's Instant Lookup feature to quickly look up words you don't know in, say, webpages.

Things you might also want to consider are something like PenPower - a handwriting recognition program. This will let you handwrite characters outside of Plecodict. Plecodict's handwriting recognition is excellent, but only works inside of Plecodict. You can't use it to, for example, write an email or a memo.

Also, don't forget you've got an audio function on there - you might want to load up with any mp3 lessons you've already got, or look at ways of getting podcasts onto your TX automatically - then you can have them playing in the background as you frantically look up new vocab you hear in Plecodict and add the useful ones to a flashcard list.

I wish I knew how to import the 3000 flashcards I already made with SM into Pleco!

If you can get the cards out of SM in a text format it should be possible, even if you need to do a bunch of find and replaces to get them into a format Plecodict can eat - maybe start a new topic and someone should be able to help you. If not I suspect it's the kind of thing Mike Love would be happy to take a look at.

[Stefani]

Thank you for your replies. You are very helpful

I would choose Plecodict over Supermemo. Making Supermemo cards involves input, but since Pleco has a dictionary, you can make any entry into flashcard in a snap (ZH>EN)

Xiao Kui, thanks a lot. That is a great point. I don't have a lot of time as it is.

OneEye, I like your blog. I may follow it one day (I am taking 3 Chinese classes in the next 5 weeks, so it will have to wait until October).

Sthubbar, wow, that is quite a comprehensive list. Thank you.

Roddy, that sounds good, I'll start with Plecodict and CJKOS, and then later when I am a little better at the Hanzi I'll consider Penpower or something like it.

If anyone has more input, please feel free to add

[mikelove]

Re Xiao Kui's earlier post: yes, we are indeed putting a repetition-spacing algorithm into Pleco 2.0. It's somewhat similar to an older version of SuperMemo in that it tracks spacing independently for each card and maintains a "difficulty factor" that affects future spacing changes, but unlike SuperMemo there's also an "aggressiveness" setting that lets you manually adjust the degree to which it changes the intervals after each review session. Plus, you can instantly adjust the ratio of "points" on a card's score to days between repetitions, so if you find yourself with a lot of extra work piled up you can temporarily extend the spacing that way until you're caught up.

(some of this may change based on beta-version feedback, though, we're waiting to see what people think of it)

[Stefani]

My Palm TX arrived, and I bought Plecodict Professional. I am eagerly waiting Plecodict 2.0 I am considering getting CJKOS so my Pimsleur's Transcript doesn't all show up with ???

Xie xie!

[gato]

Yes, you need to install CJKOS to view Chinese characters (outside of PlecoDict) on your Palm.

See this thread

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=81404#post81404

Palm TX and UTF-8 webpages