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26 Comments

August 9, 2007

Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary CD on the Casio XD-GW9600

I played with the SD card version of this soft and it worked well. However, the CD-ROM is much cheaper and installs in the Casio’s onboard memory which frees up the SD expansion slot. This post is about how to install it.
Casio XD-GW9600There doesn’t appear to be a Mac version. If you have a Mac, you may have to get the SD card – or use your friend’s PC long enough to move the data to the dictionary.
Here are the supported OSes: Windows 98, Me, 2000 Pro, XP Home and XP Professional. Vista is NOT supported via the CD, but the instruction sheet says the owner can download a Vista version from the website. I don’t have Vista installed yet, so I am not able to test this. NOTE: I don’t know if the English version of 98, Me or 2000 will work – see bottom for details. XP will be fine if you can make Japanese the language for non-Unicode programs (see step 0b below).
Although I am a man*, I read through several pages in the Japanese manual before realizing the second half of the 説明書 was in English! It was good reading practice, but when I’m in a hurry…
THE STEPS…
0) Don’t plug in the dictionary before step 10!
0b) If you run an English XP, you will need to temporarily change the non-Unicode program language to Japanese:
(Start – Control Panel – Regional and Language Options – Advanced – set drop down menu to ‘Japanese’)
kld0.jpg
AND NOW FOR THE REAL STEPS…
1) Stick the CD in. It should auto start and give you a menu.
2) Click on インストール. (the top インストール)
3) A setup screen should appear. If your XP is English based and not set for Japanese, you will see 文字化け (messed up characters). See step 0b (you have to do this. I tried to ignore it, but it won’t work)
4) Press “次へ (N)>” several times
5) Press “はい(Y)” several times until you get to this:
kld000.jpg
6) In the top input box, type a Username (I don’t think it matters what, but you may want to choose one you will remember just in case you use other CDs from the Casio library)
7) In the second input box, type the serial number found in case.
8 ) The next screen is to choose a place to save the files. Click “次へ (N)>”
9) It will install and then just click “完了” to finish. (you can uncheck the ‘read me now’ box if you want to)
(Take a 5 minute break)
10) Run the new EX-word icon on your desktop and plug in your (still off) Casio XD-GW9600 with the mini USB cable provided.
11) Once the USB plug is in and the EX-word ライブラリー is running, turn on the XD-GW9600.
12) Hit the お気に入り/ライブラリー button twice (you may have to use the right arrow to move to the 通信 area)
13) Hit the 訳/決定 button on the dictionary and your computer should see it. (You may have to install it, but it should be pretty automatic – Just hit ‘continue anyway’ if asked)
14) The software on your computer should see the dictionary.
15) Here is the running screen:
kld00.jpg
The left selected in blue file is the Kanji Learner’s Dictionary we just installed from the CD. The top right green box is the Casio’s built in memory (50 Megs). The bottom right blue box is the SD card I happen to have in the machine now (optional). It is obvious, but pressing the top pink right-arrow copies the dictionary to the main memory (recommended) and the bottom one to the SD card. By saving it to your main memory, you still have a free SD slot for another dictionary.
16) Press one of the right arrows and let it do its stuff!
Comments:
I spent about two hours getting it installed, but it would have been a lot faster had I turned on ‘Japanese’ as the language for non-Unicode programs first. It will NOT work without doing so. Also it would have been faster had I not written this 🙂
If you are thinking of buying this CD (hopefully from us!), first check to make sure you can turn on the Japanese for non-Unicode programs. You may or may not have to have your original XP disk. If you are running English 98, Me or 2000, I am not sure if it will work. In that case, it may be best to buy the SD card which requires no installation.
Here are the store links:
The Casio XD-GW9600 dictionary
The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary CD-ROM version (what this post is about – for Japanese Windows or English XP that can use Japanese as the language for non-Unicode programs)

The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary SD Card version (for Mac, and English 98, Me and 2000 users)

  • Men, as you well know, don’t stop for directions or read instruction manuals.

Sharing is caring!

  • Hi, just wondering, the SD card can only be used and/or installed on one dictionary at any one time? If i happened to have 2 Casio dictionaries, one old and one newer one which my sister is using, do i need to buy 2 SD cards or i can just installed it on both dictionaries. Or whether i can make a duplicate of the card to another separate micro-SD card. Does the activation of the serial number somehow lock the card to 1 user at a time?
    Thanks. Hope you can send the answer to my email.

  • Thanks very much for putting this page up! I spent a long time yesterday evening trying to figure out why I couldn’t load the dictionary into my XD-GF10000 (the program appears to install but then doesn’t show the dictionary loaded nor the dictionary connected). I uninstalled, changed to Japanese as mentioned above and voila!

  • Figured I would share my experiences involving Vista and the library software. I had a horrible time getting it installed, so I hope this will save other Vista users some time. I didn’t get the “Kanji Learner’s Dictionary”; instead I was installing the “Duden Universalwörterbuch”, but I imagine it’s much the same.
    I tried following the directions posted on White Rabbit and on Casio’s page itself – first I tried downloading the current library version. After changing the system locale (same as above for XP) I installed it, but it wouldn’t pick up the CD. Uninstalled and tried other way listed on Casio, which is to install what’s on the CD by right clicking on the Setup.exe file on the CD, changing the running mode to “XP” and then running it. For some reason, however, this made the install program unable to recognize the CD and it gave me an error message.
    So frustrated, I started messing around and here is how I finally got it to work for Vista without having to use any downloaded files:
    1. Make sure the system locale is set to Japanese (same as the XP instructions above). Your computer will restart.
    2. Browse the CD and right click on Setup.exe. Go to Properties.
    3. Under “Compatibility” change the running mode to “Windows 98/ME”. I couldn’t get it to work under the other options, including XP, but it works under this one. I have no idea why.
    4. Run Setup.exe. Continue following Clay’s instructions from Step 5 onwards.

  • First, I want to say thanks for the fabulous instructions. They are great! Thanks also for selling me the CD-ROM.
    Second, I wanted to mention that on the CD-ROM, there is a far more detailed English (and a little Japanese) manual in PDF format at D:\Manual\manual.pdf
    Third, I wanted to mention a slight detail you left out of your instructions: when I ran the application on your computer, and has the image shown on figure 15, I had to click on the pink box on the left on the words “Kanji Learner’s Dictionary”. Then the pink arrow appeared.
    Fourth, I wanted to mention that your instructions work just great with my new Casio XD-GF10000 (which, by the way, I love.) Once installed, I only need to press the お気に入り/ライブラリー button to bring up this fantastic dictionary.
    Thanks again. What a fantastic resource this blog entry is.

  • >BUT they forget to mention the need to switch languages for non Unicode programs!
    Yes–Absolutely necessary (believe me, I’ve tried otherwise several times (the innate laziness in me))
    Thanks for letting us know about the PDF and congrats on getting your dictionary up to speed!

  • Hi Clay,
    thanks for this information. I got the dictionary installed in my Casio 9700 in a few minutes by following your steps. All functions work exactly as advertised. No problems ‘super-jumping’ from other dictionaries to this one or vice-versa.
    There is an English (general) instruction set with the CD BUT they forget to mention the need to switch languages for non Unicode programs!
    Also note that there is a specific KLD PDF manual that is quite detailed AND in English, – it is more comprehensive than the in-dictionary information you can get by pressing ‘guide’.
    As a relative novice, overall I find this dictionary very helpful.
    Thanks again for all the help!

  • Just a tip for some people – If you installed the software before changing your global settings then you must uninstall the program while you are still have english set in your global settings. I first installed the software w/o changing global settings, and it did not work. Then I found this site and tried to follow the steps but I could not uninstall or reinstall the software b/c I change my global settings. You must first uninstall the software with your global settings in english, then change your global settings to japanese, reboot, and then install the software. Hope this saves someone else some time, it took me a couple hours to figure this out!

  • I’ve got it working now!
    I played a dumb muffin for not changing regional settings to Japanese, that’s why i didn’t work. Tried to be clever…

  • hey guys!
    i need help with installing Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary.
    I did all the steps, but at no point did the installed dictionary show up in EX-word application. i tried pressing everything all the buttons in the most logical order ending up reinstalling the whole application and nothing positive had happened. what’s cooking, I say?
    I even took a 5 minute break! 🙂
    please someone help me.

  • ps: if you need to contact me, please try the login email or ‘ findingbalance at ihug . co . nz [remove the spaces and replace ‘at’ with the at sign! 🙂 ]
    thanks!

  • hi clay, great site – thanks for all your tips!
    i just bought a SP9500 [data plus 4 version]
    its great for handwriting input but i didnt buy it in japan, so may not have made the perfect choice for me…. so will probably get some add-ons!
    got a couple of questions for you: 🙂
    1) do you know if i can transfer dictionaries from my older casio ST6300? can i connect via usb and transfer them across to my new dictionary??
    2) i want to get the kanji learners dictionary but not sure if cd or sd card is the right option – if i get the cd, how much onboard memory will it take up if i install it? is this a problem? if i use a sd card will it work faster? is it easier then to use in different dictionaries if necessary?
    3) can i buy a second-hand cd-rom of the Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary? is there a forum where people discuss the programs effectiveness, share advice etc? [apart from this one! 🙂 ]
    many thanks clay
    🙂
    b

  • You can’t transfer any of the built in data from the dictionaries. Really the only thing you can do (I think) is move text files from your computer to the dictionary or SD card.
    You will have to buy either the CD-Rom or SD card to add a French dictionary.
    The USB connection isn’t quite as nice as we would like, but maybe one day it will do more.

  • I just bought the GW9600 and I was wondering about 2 things:
    1) is it possible to transfer the datas from my dictionary to my pc so I can use it in a glossary … in .txt format for example
    2) I speak also french language so I was thinking it will be useful to download a french dictionnary in my GW9600. I saw few of them on casio website but I dont know how to download them.
    thank you for your help guys!
    happy holidays

  • just a question, how is the recognition of entering kanji with the stylus on the Casio’s? I’m planning to buy a XD-SW6500. Can you also jump on compounds with these machines? I’m also very interested in using the Kanji Learners dictionary..

  • Hi Haf, I actually have both an opened CD and SD card which were both used to test once and haven’t used since. I’d like to get at least half of what I paid for it, but if you (or anyone else) are interested, please let me know.
    The CD is installed on my test dictionary so I will either have to uninstall it or just sell the SD card.
    I’ll email you also.
    EDIT: I just noticed you said ‘Kodansha’ and not the ‘Kanji Learner’s Dictionary’. Did you mean the Kanji Learners? The Kodansha J-E comes installed on the Casio.

  • Hey, does anyone has the card or CD version of the kodansha and doesn’t need it anymore and therefore wants to sell it? 🙂
    I live in the Saitama area, if you’re interested, write me to darkdemon2001(FOO)gmx.de <– replace (FOO) with @
    Hope no bot understands this. ^^

  • I was able to try one on the weekend. I confirm that you can jump from an unknown kanji in a dictionary to the Kanji Learner’s Dictionary.

  • Here is the page that has all the addon cards:
    http://casio.jp/exword/soft/
    The Kanji Learner’s CD or SD card works with Exword Data Plus 3 machines (対応機種:エクスワードデータプラス3) which are:
    XD-GW9600/GW7350/GW7150/GW6900/GW6800/GW5900MED
    XD-SW9400/SW9100/SW8200/SW7600/SW7500/SW7400/SW7300/SW7200/
    SW6500/SW6400/SW6000/SW5750MED/SW5700MED/SW4850/SW4800/SW2500

    >Also, can you “jump” to this dictionary from, say, the regular E-J dictionary?
    I believe so, but I can’t find my Casio here. We just moved our office and I see plenty of other dictionaries, but not the Casio. I’ll test it out when I find it and let you know. Or if anyone else can test it, please post.

  • Which models of Casio is this actually compatible with? The 9600 isn’t the only one, is it?
    Also, can you “jump” to this dictionary from, say, the regular E-J dictionary? For example, can I highlight a kanji I don’t know, and jump to the Kanji Learner’s Dictionary? Or do I have to go fetch it manually?
    Thanks!

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