alt.rec...., the alternative recognizer
When I bought my Newton, my idea was to make an intensive use of it. And indeed, I was able to take a lot of notes at the university, using one of the best features of the NewtonOS: its handwriting recognition. In fact, the NewtonOS has two built-in recognizers, and I tried the ParaGraph, which recognizes cursive handwriting, but because diacritic signs in French are only supported by the other recognizer, I now use Rosetta that was designed by Apple.
It is first as an intensive user of the handwriting recognition that I looked for the way to improve it. Unfortunately, as Apple clearly put it: there is no way to implement your own recognizer with the available tools and documentation. You have to make a separated window as Graffiti and FreeStyle do. And even with a good recognizer, you need a good interface because the user doesn't look for a recognizer but for an input method. Nobody would think about making a system using a small surface and on which the pen strokes wouldn't be visible like nobody would seriously write with the eyes closed.
Consequently, I decided to look for a workaround for this limitation and to improve the built-in handwriting recognizers. alt.rec.... is the result of this research. This software takes into account various parameters including the dictionaries to change the weight of the propositions made by the recognizer and to make other suggestions. It offers developed expansions to replace the system built-in macros, and it brings several improvements to the interface.
Here, there should be some screen shot with more details concerning alt.rec....'s interface, but since my Newton is being repaired, I cannot write this part now.
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alt.rec.... 0.7a1 (MacOS archive) |
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alt.rec.... 0.7a1 (Zip archive) |