README.Unistrokes
-----------------

This file describes a development version of a Unistrokes recognizer for
the Newton computer.


Description
-----------

This program was written to test the feasibility of Unistroke recognition
on the current generation of Newton PDAs and to collect data on the
perfomance of the Newton in stroke collection and recognition.  It
has no other intended utility.  Read the Caveats section.

Unistrokes is a writing system developed at Xerox PARC specifically for 
stylus based computers.  For Postscript versions of the paper and lists
of strokes ftp to ftp.parc.xerox.com, look in /pub/unistrokes.


Screen Layout
-------------

The screen layout of this program from top to bottom has the following
elements:

++ Title:
-- The name of the application "Unistrokes".

++ Recognized text:
-- A text field which accumulates characters recognized within the 
"Recognition rectangle".  If a stroke is detected but not recognized either 
a '*' or '#' will be placed (which one depends on internal details of recognizer).

++ Recognition rectangle:
-- The area in which to make a unistroke for recognition.  The unistroke
needs to be made entirely within this rectangle.

++ Shift button:
-- Tapping this button will cause the next character recognized to be capitalized.

++ "Analog Clock"

++ Info button:
-- Tapping this button displays a popup with "About" to bring up the splash
screen and "Text -> Notepad" to move recognized text into the notepad.

++ "Close box":
-- Closes application.

Caveats:
--------

* Not well tested.

* Truncates strokes taking longer than 1.5 seconds.  Sometimes will recognize
  them, but unlikely for complex strokes.

* Sometimes misses on quick strokes, especially small ones.  Try an 'X'
  with a small, quickly drawn loop - it sometimes sees a 'V'.

* Should be compiled with NTK 1.5.1, which might allow better algorithms
for handling quick strokes, but I haven't bought that yet.

* Only the author's strokes have been seen.

* Only tested on Newton MP 110.

* No doubt other problems exist.


Legal stuff
-----------

This program is Copyright ) 1994, 1995 by James Thiele. It may be distributed
freely as long as the program is unmodified and is accompanied by this
README file.

Because there are too many lawyers in the world, I add the following
statement:

This program is made available without any claim that it is suitable for
any use.  The author's liability is limited to what was charged for it
which was nothing.  It works OK on my MessagePad 100 running the 1.3 OS,
but I am not making any other statements of other systems it could or
should run on.


Author
------

You can let the author know what you think of this prgram by contacting him 
at:

James Thiele
jet@eskimo.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~jet/
JET1@aol.com (checked rarely)

8217 5th Ave NE, #303
Seattle, WA  98115

(Addresses valid as of 14 August 1995)