Re: free softwares to learn icelandic on linux ?

[Bjorn Patrick Swift <bjorn ( at ) swift ( dot ) is>]

Hey

Gudmundur Erlingsson wrote:
> There's one offline dictionary available,
> Tölvuorðabókin, (more info here:
> http://www.alnet.is/ordabok/to-overview.htm) but it's
> windows only. I think it's built in Visual Basic, but
> I have no idea if it will work under Wine. 

I've tried using "Tölvuorðabókin" (e. The Computer Dictionary) 
(http://www.alnet.is) with wine but the fonts were all messed up. But 
then again, I'm no wine expert.

If you were to buy (find) the database for "Tölvuorðabókin" there are a 
few things you might find interesting.
  - The database is a simple password protected Microsoft Access
    database (or was when I played with it summer '03)
  - There are various tools floating around that can open password
    protected Microsoft documents and convert them to normal unprotected
    documents
  - You could export the MS database to your favorite DB (ie. mysql) and
    write your own software to query that database. This could for
    instance be done through a commandline perl script or a php web
    interface.

Regarding copyright issues; I emailed Alnet and asked them about their 
views on activities such as these. They claimed that as long as I had a 
legal copy of the dictionary (which I do, btw) they didn't mind if I 
played around with the database and created my own software to query it 
- as long as this was only intended for my own use.

Cheers,
Björn Swift