Lingua Franca User's Manual
Stand Alone, Inc.
Table of Contents
1 Welcome and Registration
1.1 About Lingua Franca
1.2 System Requirements
1.3 Registering Lingua Franca
1.4 Contacting Stand Alone Inc.
1.4.1 Business Hours
1.4.2 Email
1.4.3 Phone
1.4.4 Regular Mail
1.4.5 World Wide Web
1.5 Reporting Bugs
2 Installing Lingua
Franca
2.1 Installation
2.2 Removing a Database
2.3 Included Databases
3 Using Lingua Franca
3.1 Selecting a Database
3.2 Searching the Dictionary
3.2.1 Searching by Screen
3.2.2 The Look-Up Feature
3.3 Viewing a Word or Phrase
3.3.1 Filing a Word
3.3.2 Removing a Word
3.4 Changing Folders
3.5 Adding New Words
4 Special Modes
4.1 Numbers
4.2 Time
4.3 Flash Cards
5 Utilities
5.1 Lingua Franca Find
5.2 Remove Database
1 Welcome and Registration
1.1 About Lingua Franca
Lingua Franca is an application for the Palm Pilot Professional,
Palm III, Palm V, and Palm VII devices. It includes over 40 language
databases, and can help you when travelling, or when learning
a language.
1.3 Registering Lingua Franca
Lingua Franca is shareware, and costs $17.00
The Lingua Franca Demo will work for a 30 day trial period.
At the end of the 30 Days, it will stop working. To avert this
tragedy, you will need to get in touch with Stand Alone to register
your software. You can register with us by several different methods.
Before it expires, it is fully functional, with no hidden features.
You will need to include the following information, no matter
how you choose to register. Most importantly, you need to include
your name EXACTLY as it is entered in your PalmPilot, including
spaces. We use this to generate your password, so it must be precise.
You will need to specify which programs you wish to register,
and include payment for each of them. We accept Visa, MasterCard,
and American Express. If you are using normal mail, you can send
us a check as well. Make sure to include your card number, the
expiration date, and what type of card you are using. You also
need to give us a way to get in touch with you. Email is the preferred
way, followed by your address and phone number. An Email address
is not strictly necessary, but it will result in much faster service.
The easiest way to register our software is using our on-line order form.
For instant gratification, register by phone, and pay using Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. To do so, call (773) 477-2492 and we will give you a password right over the phone.
Alternatively, you can send us a check to the address below.
You can also email us. Just email us the relevant information, and we'll send you a code. It is also possible to purchase Lingua Franca through PalmPilot Gear HQ at www.pilotgear.com
Once you register, you will receive a password from us. To install the password, first tap on the Menu silkscreen button. Then, select Options, and tap Enter Registration Code. Finally, enter your password on the space provided.
1.4 Contacting Stand Alone Inc.
There are several ways to get in touch with us here at Stand Alone,
Inc, but email is the preferred form of communication. If you
have any questions, comments, suggestions or compliments, please
don't hesitate to contact us through any of the methods listed
below.
1.4.1 Business Hours
Stand Alone is open from 9 AM to 5 PM Monday to Friday. We are
closed on Saturday and Sunday. These times are CST and GMT -5.
1.4.2 Email
internet: info@standalone.com
1.4.3 Phone
Voice: (773) 477-2492
Fax: (773) 477-2579
1.4.4 Regular Mail
Stand Alone
3862 N. Lincoln Floor 2
Chicago IL, 60613
USA
1.4.5 World Wide Web
http://www.standalone.com
1.5 Reporting Bugs
If you find a bug in our software, it would be helpful if you
reported the bug to us. To report a bug, please Email us with
Bug Report Request in the subject line. In the Email, include
the following information:
oWhat type of Palm device you are using (i.e. Personal)
oThe software name and version number (i.e. Super Names v1.34)
oThe error message
oA brief description of how we can recreate the error
oYour name and Email address so we can contact you when the bug
is fixed
When reporting bugs, it is best to Email us, rather than calling, so that the programmers have a written record of the information they need to solve the problem. As soon as we receive your Email, the programmer will examine the problem, and fix it. Because our programmers are busy creating software, it can take a while for them to reply, but they will release a new version of the software that fixes the bug as soon as they can.
2.1 Installation
When you first install Lingua Franca, follow the normal procedure
for installing any PalmPilot software. However, In addition to
the main program, you also need to install any language databases
which you wish to use. All of the .pdb database files are installed
in the same way that normal Pilot software is installed.
However, it is important to realize that the large databases can take over an hour to install. If you choose to install any of the large databases, make sure that neither your Palm device, nor your desk-top machine are set to go to sleep during the install time. Also, make certain that there is enough memory available on your Palm device to store the database.
Finally, do not use any of these databases with a pre-1.0 version of Lingua Franca, as they will not work.
2.2 Removing a Database
To remove a database, open Lingua Franca and tap the Menu silk-screen
button. Next, select the Utilities menu and tap Delete Database.
This will delete whatever the database is currently being used.
You can also delete databases as you would any program using the
Delete Apps option from the Memory application found by tapping
the Applications silk-screen button.
2.3 Included Databases
The included dictionary databases are listed below, along with
their word count and file size. As noted in Section
2.1, the Large dictionaries can take over an hour to load
onto your Palm device. The Large databases may contain minor errors.
SMALL
Afrikanns 210 words/phrases 9k
Arabic 210 words/phrases 9k
Armenian 210 words/phrases 9k
Azerbaijani 211 words/phrases 9k
Bengali 210 words/phrases 9k
Cymraeg(Welsh) 211 words/phrases 9k
Dansk 211 words/phrases 9k
Deutsch 211 words/phrases 9k
Espanol 211 words/phrases 9k
Esparanto 211 words/phrases 9k
Francois 211 words/phrases 9k
Greek 211 words/phrases 9k
Han-kuk-o 211 words/phrases 9k
Hawaiian 211 words/phrases 9k
Hindi 211 words/phrases 9k
Indonesian 211 words/phrases 9k
Irish Galic 211 words/phrases 9k
Italiano 211 words/phrases 9k
Ivrit Hebrew 211 words/phrases 9k
Latina 211 words/phrases 9k
Magyar(Hungarian) 211 words/phrases 9k
Nihogo 211 words/phrases 9k
Norsk 211 words/phrases 9k
Persian 211 words/phrases 9k
Polski 211 words/phrases 9k
Portugues 211 words/phrases 9k
Russky 211 words/phrases 9k
Suomea (Finnish) 211 words/phrases 9k
Svenska 211 words/phrases 9k
Taioan Holooe 211 words/phrases 9k
Turkce 211 words/phrases 9k
Yiddish 211 words/phrases 9k
MEDIUM
Czech 1397 words/phrases 50k
Ivrit (Hebrew font) 462 words/phrases 17k
Portugues 1574 words/phrases 63k
Romanian 396 words/phrases 15k
Yiddish 589 words/phrases 29k
LARGE
Deutsch 9944 words/phrases 390k
Espanol 7672 words/phrases 300k
Francais 3456 words/phrases 137k
Italiano 5354 words/phrases 214k
Latina 8496 words/phrases 440k
3 Using Lingua Franca
After you have installed the program and the desired databases,
you are ready to begin using Lingua Franca.
3.1 Selecting a Database
When you first open Lingua Franca, the database will be set to
English. To choose a new language, tap on the picker at the upper
left of the screen. When selected, the picker will list all of
the .pdb dictionaries that you have installed. Tap on one of them
to use that dictionary.
3.2 Searching the Dictionary
Once you have chosen a dictionary, its easy to search it for words.
The following methods search for words in the current database.
To search all installed databases, please see Section
5.1.
3.2.1 Searching by Screen
To search for words by screen, tap the up or down arrows in the
lower left hand corner. Tapping the up arrow will move the dictionary
back one screen. Tapping the down arrow will move the dictionary
forward by one screen.
3.2.2 The Look-Up Feature
Use the Look-Up feature to search for a specific word in the dictionary.
Enter the first few letters of the word onto the line, and the
dictionary will move to that word.
3.3 Viewing a Word or Phrase
Once you have found your word in the dictionary, tapping it will
move you to detailed screen. In some cases you cannot view the
entire phrase on the main screen, but it is all visible in the
detailed screen. You can modify both the word and the translation
by changing the information on the screen. When you are done modifying
the word, tap the Done button to bring you back to the main screen.
3.3.1 Filing a Word
Tapping the menu in the upper right hand corner will allow you
to change the folder where the word has been filed. Just tap the
menu and select the folder in which you wish to file the word.
Modify the categories by selecting Edit Category from the menu. Then, select the category which you wish change, and rename it. If you change the name of a folder, all of its words will remain filed in it. However, they will use the new folder name . You can also delete a menu from the Edit Category menu. Tapping the New button will create a new Category.
3.3.2 Removing a Word
Tapping the Remove button in the detail view will remove the word
from the dictionary.
3.4 Changing Folders
The menu in the upper right hand corner changes which folder you
are viewing. Selecting All will show all the words in the dictionary.
Any other option will only show the words filed in that folder.
To file a word in a folder, follow the instructions in Section
3.3. You can edit the folders using the process described in Section 3.3.1.
3.5 Adding New Words
To add a new word to the currently selected database, tap the
New button. A screen will then appear where you enter the word
and the translation. The menu in the upper right hand corner lets
you decided where to file the word, as described in Section
3.3.1.
4 Special Modes
The standard way to use Lingua Franca is in the dictionary mode,
as described in Chapters 2 and 3. However, there are three other
special modes. To change the mode, tap the menu silk-screen button
and choose the Options menu.
4.1 Numbers
Selecting the Numbers mode will show you the numbers from one
to one hundred, as well as one thousand and one million. You can
also write a number on the line in the lower left corner for translation.
4.2 Time
The Time Mode will show you a clock with the current time translated
into the language of the current dictionary. To change the time,
tap and drag the hands on the clock to the desired time. The Time
mode also displays the months.
4.3 Flash Cards
The Flash Card mode is an aid for learning the language. When
you select the Flash Card mode, Lingua Franca will display the
English translation of a word from the current dictionary. Tap
Translate to display the word in the language of the current dictionary.
Tap Next, or the flash card screen to display a new word. When
you are finished, tap Done.
5 Utilities
To use the Lingua Franca utilities, tap the Menu silk-screen button
and select Utilities.
5.1 Lingua Franca
Find
The Find feature of Lingua Franca searches all of the installed
databases for the word or phrase that you enter. To use it, enter
the word or first few letters of the word and tap the OK button.
The Find feature will display all the words sorted by database
that match your entry.
5.2 Delete Database
Selecting this utility will delete the currently selected database
from the Palm device's memory.
5.3 Reverse Database
Selecting this utility will create a new database that is the
reverse of the currently selected database so that it alphabetically
lists words in the database's language, rather than by the English
translation. Any changes that you make to the reversed database
will not effect the standard database, and vice-versa.
6 Special Offers
and Thanks
If you have an idea for a language that does not exist currently
for Lingua Franca, all you need to do is create the dictionary
for us. If you send us a list with over 500 words with their translations,
and the programmer approves it, we will turn it into a Lingua
Franca database. As a reward for your help, you will receive a
free copy of Lingua Franca.
We also wish to thank Penticon.com for allowing Lingua Franca to use Hebrew Support. For more information, please visit their website at www.penticon.com.
We also wish to thank Philip Nichols for translating the Hebrew
database for Lingua Franca.
Philip Nichols
talmid@gatecom.com