                         dict client for RISC OS
                         =======================
                         ported by Stefan Bellon


Purpose
-------

  dict  is a  client  for  the  Dictionary  Server  Protocol  (DICT),  a  TCP
transaction based query/response protocol that provides  access to dictionary
definitions from a set of natural language dictionary databases.


Installation
------------

  First, copy the Absolute file 'dict' into your library  ($.!BOOT.Library on
new machines and $.Library on old ones).

  Then   you   need   to   download   the   SharedUnixLibrary   module   from
http://www.chocky.org/unix/downloads.html. Merge the !System application with
the one already on your system.

  If you don't have a  dict server on your LAN  or don't want to use  another
one than the default server (dict.org), then you're already done. If you want
to  configure  another  server, then  you  need  to  download  UnixHome  from
http://www.chocky.org/unix/downloads.html  as well.  Copy !UnixHome somewhere
convenient but make  sure it gets Filer-booted  before you want to  use dict.
Place a configuration  file called /dictrc inside !UnixHome.home. Inside this
file you can specify the servers you want to use:

server dictd.localnet
server dict.org

  This means, first  try to contact  a dict server  on dictd.localnet and  if
this is not reachable, try to contact the one on dict.org.


Usage
-----

Open a TaskWindow and type:

  *dict eureka

or:

  *dict riscos

or:

  *dict amazing

I think you get the basic idea. ;-)

  For more detailed information,  please have a  look at the file  'dict/man'
which is a copy of the original dict man page.


Source
------

  As dict is placed under the GPL,  the source code is provided as well.  You
can   obtain   the   modified   source   to   compile   on   RISC   OS   from
http://www.sbellon.de/software.html    or    the    original   source    from
ftp://ftp.dict.org/pub/dict/ where I got it from.

-- 
  Stefan Bellon * <mailto:sbellon@sbellon.de> * <http://www.sbellon.de/>
