xWord Buddy 2.1--------------copyright 1998 Tactile Systems, Inc.written by Michael Krzyzek and Rob BruceVersion Info------------2.1 Fixed a sound problem with MessagePad 120s and 130s (-30009)2.0 Major update. See below for detailsAbout-----xWord Buddy Crossword Player for Newton 2.x systems only; 120 and better. We wrote it at the suggestion of Will Nelson, whom we met on the Newton IRC channel... irc.escapenet.org - #newton. Will, thanks for the good idea!It reads .puz files saved in the Across Puzzle (tm.) format.At the LitSoft Crossword Gallery...http://www.litsoft.com/across/gallery.htmYou can find additional web sites at the end of this document.LitSoft also has translators which will allow you to convert other formats, like USAToday's to this format.Because of copyright concerns, we're including a lousy crossword puzzle we wrote with the help of a Java application in about 30 minutes. In addition there are two puzzles from Terry Cleveland and one from Caspian. Thanks Terry and Caspian!http://www.puzzledepot.com/Java/czplayer.shtmlChanges from 1.x to 2.0-----------------------The first thing you will notice is that it looks more like the built in apps, especially in overview. This is because we converted it to a NewtApp project. The main reason for this was to conserve space. It is now 35k smaller than 1.x and has more features. Like other NewtApps, you switch between puzzles and the puzzle list by hitting the overview button (the belly button looking thing next to the scroll arrows.)The overview list has two lines per puzzle. This is mostly due to NewtApp giving us alot of space for each line so we decided to use it. You will also notice icons next to the puzzle names. We have made special icons for several suppliers of puzzles. In addition filing is now supported.We have added support for printing and completely redesigned the prefs. The puzzle viewer has also been revamped, and handwriting recognition has been greatly improved.The overall speed of the app has been increased and there are several performance options in the prefs (see Prefs below.)Starting--------The first time you run xWordBuddy, it will install the four starter puzzles. Apologies again for the 'Newton Trivia' puzzle. I stink at writing crosswords, and that the Java app couldn't work miracles with the junk I gave it. Playing-------You can write directly into the squares and handwriting recognition will attempt to figure out what you wrote and drop it in the correct box. It pays attention to where you put your pen down to start with, so if stuff doesn't go where you want, pay attention to where you start writing. When writing vertically we've found it helps to pause slightly between letters.Tapping on a cell will scroll the question list below to the appropriate question for that cell. It won't change from Down to Across or back with a single tap. If you want it to... double tap, or draw a line starting at the begining of the question you're interested in trying to answer and extend it three squares. It will scroll to that question and change to the right orientation. Tapping on an item in the list below will move the scrollers if necessary to put the cells for that question on screen. If will also strobe all the cells for the current word.Scrubbing over an incorrect letter will erase a mistake. However you can just write over top of it with what you wanted instead.Holding down in a square will give you an option to clear it (the hilite gesture). It will also allow you to cheat and uncover the correct letter or reveal the whole word. Note, it also keeps a count of how many times you cheat. Shame on you!Tapping on the Title of the puzzle shows you the entire title, if it's really long, as well as showing you the author and copyright information.Tapping on "Across" or "Down" will change the orientation of the outline and show the question list for the new direction.Tapping on the check à will check to see how you are doing on completing the puzzle.Tapping on the comb button opens a comb editor at the bottom of the screen. The arrows to either side of the comb will move to the next or previous question. They will also allow you to scroll the comb if it is wider than the screen. If the comb misrecognizes your letter, single tapping the incorrect letter will bring up a list of alternates choices.Undo, well it undoes the last thing you wrote.Keyboard support... Hold down the option keys to see a number of the short cuts... Ones which aren't shown:Delete deletes and moves the cursor backwards.Space deletes and moves forward.Shift key toggles the across and down.Return moves to next question.Tab moves to next question.Arrow keys move the cursor. Apple & Arrows scrolls around the grid if it's larger than your screen.Control and L&R arrows move inside a question, and will wrap if you go off the edge.Control and U&D arrows go to next and prev questions.Option and arrows does the same thing.Apple Shift up goes to the top of the clue list.Apple Shift down goes to the bottom of the clue list.Typing a number will go to that clue number. It will switch directions if necessary to find the number. It will beep if the number is out of bounds. eg 99.Printing--------New in xWord Buddy 2.0 is the ability to print out the puzzles. There are two different formats include. One enters in you current answers, the other prints an empty grid.In the i button---------------About-----Tells you important information about who wrote it, as well as who, and what helped. If you find a bug we've not heard of before, we'll add your name here!Help----We have made a small help book to answer some frequent questions. It is a separate package so the veterans don't have to install it.Prefs----- Appearance: Pickers for the grid and clue fonts, number of clues shown, and number of times the word is flashed. Miscellaneous: Options to only download puzzles ending in .puz, play sounds, and to store new puzzles internally. There is also a button to install the original default puzzles Navigation: Hilite Answer, outlines the current word in the puzzle grid. The arrows option means that moving the current square left or right (with the keyboard) and moving the current square up and down, changes the orientation to across or down respectively. The tapping number pref needs a little explanation. If you tap a square that contains a clue number, and that clue only exists in one orientation (ie. only across), xWord Buddy will change to that orientation. The radio buttons are to set the cursor behavior when typing into the grid. You have the option to always move to the next cell or to move the next empty cell. Performance: The first to options allow things to be stored in the system heap as opposed to a temporary item in the store. This means they can be accessed faster. However there is a possiblity of running into the dreaded out of memory alert. The last option to save the puzzle data has two options. Save in prefs, saves the last opened puzzle setup data in the prefs entry. Therefore only one puzzle can saved at a time. The second option to save in the puzzle entry, will save the same data but, of course, in the puzzle entry. So you can save the setup data for every puzzle. Be warned however that this will dramatically increase the size of the puzzle entries. Note that the data saved is not your answers but behind the scenes information used to setup the grid and clue lists. Plugins: Allows you to install a plugin for the two most popular Newton web browser. These let you download puzzles directly from the internet.Stats-----Keeps track of how many games you played, and won. New in 2.0 it shows you how many times you cheated per puzzle won.Register--------This is the screen you go to when you're ready to purchase this exciting product from us. It will encourage us to continue to work on it. (see the feature list below) And keep the app from expiring.Importing More Games--------------------Use NetHopper 3.2 or NewtsCape 1.4 or better to go to the web sites. Click on a puzzle.orYou can import more puzzles by downloading them from the web and then running the TSServer application to install them. Here is a step by step list of instructions....1) Get on the web2) Go to a site which has the files.. try http://www.litsoft.com/across/gallery.htm3) Download the file as source, not text to your computer.4) Put the file in the Puzzles folder in the folder with TSServer.5) Make sure you have TSServer.pkg on your Newton.6) Make sure you have xWordBuddy on your Newton.7) Launch xWordBuddy.8) From the Action button (the envelope) select 'Import'9) Select your type of computer from the radio button10) Put down the newton, look at your computer.11) Launch TSServer on your PC or Mac. (TSSERV.EXE on the PC)12) If TSServer starts waiting automatically for you, select end from the file menu13) Adjust the comms settings in the prefs menu item to what you use for NCU. (In Edit Menu on mac, Help on PC)14) Select Start from the file menu to get it going again.15) Pick up your Newton and hit "Connect via ..." 16) The newton should connect to the PC and receive all of the .puz files which are in the folder. If one doesn't show up, open it with a Hex Editor, if it doesn't start with a something like '??ACROSS&DOWN????...'(Where the ??'s don't matter) It's not the right format. NOTE: you can also delete puzzles using the envelope, if you check them off first.NOTE: PC users choose "End" from the file menu before you close TSSERV.EXE.FAQ---1) NetHopper/NewtCase doesn't seem to think I have a plugin.A) In the i button, in the prefs, in the Plug-Ins, turn on the plugin.2) HWR in the grid doesn't work wellA1) Try writing words instead of letters.A2) Use lowercase versions of the lettersA3) Use the comb insteadA4) If you're in 'down' mode, writing words horizontally will fill them in down.A5) Plug in your keyboard3) No it really doesn't work... For instance, my H turns into 'it'A) Does this happen in the paperroll? Then it will happen in the grid. H works for us if the vertical lines are drawn from the bottom up.Cost----xWord Buddy costs $30 US. It will run for 14 days and then expire, unless it's paid for.You can register your copy by calling Tactile Systems at 303-841-1114. Or you can go to . Note that this is not a secure server.How you can help----------------1) If you find a ftp site or web page full of puzzles which we don't have listed in our list. We'd appreciate you telling us so we can share it with the rest of the users.2) Register the application, it will keep us working on it, to make it better for everyone.Web sites you should visit for Puzzles (.puz)-------------------------------------http://www.athenet.net/~terryc/http://www.litsoft.com/across/gallery.htmhttp://www.nytimes.com only $9.95 for the entire year! (free on AOL according to Dave Berver! Thanks Dave)http://www.cs.curtin.edu.au/~squizz/cryptics.htmlhttp://iquest.com/~pinnacle/caspian/caspian.shtmlhttp://www.chron.com/content/fun/games/xword/puzzles/mail us if you find some more info@tactile.com