Re: off-line dictionary (gnome)

["Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@oplink.net>]

* 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