Running Debian and the Gnome desktop, what is necessary for a
dictionary which may be used off-line -- that is, going to localhost
rather than to dict.org ?

The man pages for dict and dictd don't appear to discuss off-line
access. The instructions I found in a wiki titled "Gnome-dictionary
Offline" do not agree with the menus which I find in Dictionary
2.14.0.

RLH


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On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:28:26AM -0500, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> Running Debian and the Gnome desktop, what is necessary for a
> dictionary which may be used off-line -- that is, going to localhost
> rather than to dict.org ?
>
> The man pages for dict and dictd don't appear to discuss off-line
> access. The instructions I found in a wiki titled "Gnome-dictionary
> Offline" do not agree with the menus which I find in Dictionary
> 2.14.0.

I only use the dict-packages offline. Just install all the
dictionaries you want to use and make sure that your dict client refer
to localhost as server.

Regards
Johann

--
Johann Spies Telefoon: 021-808 4036
Informasietegnologie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the
LORD delivereth him out of them all."
Psalms 34:19


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* Johann Spies <jspies@sun.ac.za> [080617 01:00]:
> On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:28:26AM -0500, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> > Running Debian and the Gnome desktop, what is necessary for a
> > dictionary which may be used off-line -- that is, going to localhost
> > rather than to dict.org ?
> >
> > The man pages for dict and dictd don't appear to discuss off-line
> > access. The instructions I found in a wiki titled "Gnome-dictionary
> > Offline" do not agree with the menus which I find in Dictionary
> > 2.14.0.
>
> I only use the dict-packages offline. Just install all the
> dictionaries you want to use and make sure that your dict client refer
> to localhost as server.

Thanks, but I already did that, using the edit -> preferences menu of
Dictionary 2.14.0. But the response is very slow (several seconds,
because another machine on the network is doing a jidgo download), so
it is obvious that the client is going out to dict.org.

Perhaps dictd is not running? How can I check to see?

RLH


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On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 01:15:02AM -0500, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> * Johann Spies <jspies@sun.ac.za> [080617 01:00]:
> > On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:28:26AM -0500, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> > > Running Debian and the Gnome desktop, what is necessary for a
> > > dictionary which may be used off-line -- that is, going to localhost
> > > rather than to dict.org ?
> > >
> > > The man pages for dict and dictd don't appear to discuss off-line
> > > access. The instructions I found in a wiki titled "Gnome-dictionary
> > > Offline" do not agree with the menus which I find in Dictionary
> > > 2.14.0.
> >
> > I only use the dict-packages offline. Just install all the
> > dictionaries you want to use and make sure that your dict client refer
> > to localhost as server.
>
> Thanks, but I already did that, using the edit -> preferences menu of
> Dictionary 2.14.0. But the response is very slow (several seconds,
> because another machine on the network is doing a jidgo download), so
> it is obvious that the client is going out to dict.org.
>
> Perhaps dictd is not running? How can I check to see?

'sudo nmap localhost' on my PC shows inter alia:

2628/tcp open dict

or

~$ ps aux | grep [d]ict
dictd 4929 0.0 0.2 95752 4276 ? Ss Jun02 0:00 dictd 1.10.11:

If it is not running, try /etc/init.d/dictd restart. You can also
check your /var/log/daemon.log for messages about dictd.

Regards
Johann
--
Johann Spies Telefoon: 021-808 4036
Informasietegnologie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the
LORD delivereth him out of them all."
Psalms 34:19


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* Johann Spies <jspies@sun.ac.za> [080617 02:00]:
> > Perhaps dictd is not running? How can I check to see?
>
> 'sudo nmap localhost' on my PC shows inter alia:
>
> 2628/tcp open dict
>
> or
>
> ~$ ps aux | grep [d]ict
> dictd 4929 0.0 0.2 95752 4276 ? Ss Jun02 0:00 dictd 1.10.11:
>
> If it is not running, try /etc/init.d/dictd restart. You can also
> check your /var/log/daemon.log for messages about dictd.

Thanks again, but both nmap and ps show the daemon to be running.

/var/log/daemon.log shows nothing regarding dictd.

Again, it is the slow response (several seconds, because of other
network traffic on my DSL connection) upon which I base my conclusion
that the dictionary client is going out to dict.org rather than
obtaining definitions locally.

Perhaps I need to do something other than clicking the "localhost"
button in the EDIT -> PREFERENCES menu of Dictionary 2.14.0. The
design of the dialogue scheme of Dictionary appears to be rather poor;
to change the parameters associated with the dictionary source it is
necessary to click on the "add source" button.

When you click on "add", a second dialogue box opens; the second box
has a "transport" menu and an "advanced settings" menu. The
"transport" menu initially is blank, but if you click on the arrow,
the only menu item is "dictionary server"; and that item disappears
if you click to open the "advanced settings" menu.

When you click on "advanced settings", the dialogue box expands to
show a "database" menu and a "strategy" menu; but both of these menus
are blank.

It appears to me that the user interface of Dictionary 2.14.0 is in
need of repair.

Regards,

RLH


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> Thanks again, but both nmap and ps show the daemon to be running.
>
> /var/log/daemon.log shows nothing regarding dictd.
>

> It appears to me that the user interface of Dictionary 2.14.0 is in
> need of repair.

Try the commandline: 'dict rtm' or or something like that.

I have the following in /etc/dictd/dict.conf:

server localhost
server dict.org
server dict0.us.dict.org
server alt0.dict.org


Regards
Johann

--
Johann Spies Telefoon: 021-808 4036
Informasietegnologie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the
LORD delivereth him out of them all."
Psalms 34:19


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On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:18:01 +0200
Johann Spies <jspies@sun.ac.za> wrote:

> I have the following in /etc/dictd/dict.conf:
>
> server localhost
> server dict.org
> server dict0.us.dict.org
> server alt0.dict.org

I have the same only that I commented everything but localhost--I
always work offline--although having them all present doesn't cause
any problem, dictd tries localhost first and the others afterwards.

On top of that, I think you have to tell dict where the files to be
looked up are. So, after installing the dict files you want,
you point at them in /etc/dictd/dictd.conf. This is what
my dictd.conf looks like:

access {
allow localhost
allow 127.0.0.1
# this allows access only from local host
}

# Database section here:

database thesaurus {data "/usr/share/dictd/moby-thesaurus.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/moby-thesaurus.index"}

database elements {data "/usr/share/dictd/elements.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/elements.index"}

database foldoc {data "/usr/share/dictd/foldoc.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/foldoc.index"}

database freedict-eng-ita{data"/usr/share/dictd/freedict-eng-ita.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/freedict-eng-ita.index"}

database freedict-eng-spa{data"/usr/share/dictd/freedict-eng-spa.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/freedict-eng-spa.index"}

database freedict-eng-lat {data"/usr/share/dictd/freedict-eng-lat.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/freedict-eng-lat.index"}

database gcide {data "/usr/share/dictd/gcide.dict.dz"
index "/usr/share/dictd/gcide.index"}

#include /var/lib/dictd/db.list


When you're done you have to restart dictd (/etc/init.d/dictd
restart).

> > It appears to me that the user interface of Dictionary 2.14.0
> > is in need of repair.

You may want to file a bug if it works after manually changing
the configuration file. This is the sort of things that people
get quite annoyed at.



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I have complied with all the recommendations posted in this thread
thus far, but Dictionary 2.14.0 still is going out to the web
(dict.org ?) for definitions. I know that this is so, because my DSL
service went out a night or two ago, and I could not retrieve
definitions.

Is there a reliable "offline dictionary howto" which has a
comprehensive list of everything which needs to be installed and
configured?

RLH


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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 06/20/08 20:13, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> I have complied with all the recommendations posted in this thread
> thus far, but Dictionary 2.14.0 still is going out to the web
> (dict.org ?) for definitions. I know that this is so, because my DSL
> service went out a night or two ago, and I could not retrieve
> definitions.
>
> Is there a reliable "offline dictionary howto" which has a
> comprehensive list of everything which needs to be installed and
> configured?

I only have this access list in my /etc/dictd/dictd.conf :
access {
allow localhost
allow 127.0.0.1
# this allows access only from local host
}

In GNOME Dictionary Preferences, what dict server is it looking at?

- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA

"Kittens give Morbo gas. In lighter news, the city of New New
York is doomed."
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* Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> [080620 20:49]:
> In GNOME Dictionary Preferences, what dict server is it looking at?

edit -> preferences -> source = localhost

But no specifics are displayed. The only way I have found to view or
add details is to click the "+add" button, whereupon the "add
dictionary source" dialogue box opens, with all the fields blank.

But now and then I manage to find the right combination of clicks in
the dialogue box, whereupon parameters appear in the fields. The
behaviour is inconsistent.

I think that the package is broken.

RLH


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