DIDACT is an anagram of ADDICT

March 26, 2006 10:53 AM

Where can I find someone to make a simple alteration to a OS X java program? This program allows me to play internet scrabble on isc.ro

I play person-to-person internet scrabble on isc. The client that interfaces with the server is written in java. On the PC version, in order to place tiles on the scrabble board you can click on the place you want the word to appear, and then type the word - this is fast.

This functionality is not present in the mac version - you have to drag each tile into place and then drop it - this is slow.

I'd like to be able to type my words onto the scrabble board on my mac.

I'd be willing to pay someone a nominal fee to do this.

The PC client and mac clients can be found here.

Note: The mac file as downloaded is a .jar file.

I used to play 3 minute speed scrabble games (over 4000 in 18 mos), but now because I'm on a mac, I have to play 8-9 minute games. I've only played 2000 of these and I need to play more quickly! Yes, that's an average of ca. 1hr scrabble every day of my life! I'm a junkie.

posted by lalochezia to computers & internet (10 answers total)

I'd just like to add, I contacted the people that run isc.ro to see if there's a new version of the client coming out that enables this feature, and got no reply.
posted by lalochezia at 10:54 AM on March 26, 2006

I don't think this is possible to do, unless the ISC people fix it themselves.

I hadn't realized the PC version let you type the words. I'm a Mac user, and always wondered how people played those three minute speed scrabble matches without running out of clock.
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:10 AM on March 26, 2006

That isn't open source code, so it can't really be modified easily. Also, the comment on WordBiz.java says "ProGuard, Version 2.0". And, if you follow the link and read the mission statement there...so yeah. Unless I'm missing something, I think you might be stuck.

Have you tried running the PC client in an emulated environment instead? I dunno about using Java, though, as I don't have a mac to play with.
posted by Drunken_munky at 11:26 AM on March 26, 2006

Hmm.. actually, i just tried what you said on the mac version, (click on a square, and type), and it worked fine.

As such, I'm a bit confused.
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:43 AM on March 26, 2006

I love tacos:

Nope. Which version of wordbiz do you have? 10.3.9 and my java don't let me type on my board

-

Drunken_munky

Yeah, I used to play on a copy of Virtual PC, but removed it from my mac cos it was so slow. Bugge. Protected java. Damn them!

Any other suggestions
posted by lalochezia at 11:50 AM on March 26, 2006

Hmm.. and i tried it again and it didn't. I can't figure out what i'm doing differently...
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:59 AM on March 26, 2006

wordbiz 1.8 on OS X 10.4.5
posted by I Love Tacos at 11:59 AM on March 26, 2006

I've also never been able to type in words in WordBiz on a Mac. I feel like it has something to do with which version of OS X you have. I'm also 10.3.9.

I would love to find a solution to this too! :)
posted by themadjuggler at 1:13 PM on March 26, 2006

You might try upgrading the version of Java you've got. Apple offers downloads of J2SE 5.0 for download. You might be able to install it in your home directory and start the wordbiz client what that version ( /Users/lalochezia/java_install/bin/java -jar wordbiz.jar or similar ).

That's what I'd try.
posted by roue at 1:46 PM on March 26, 2006

er, Apple offers downloads for download. As opposed to some other purpose, I'm not sure. Oh well.
posted by roue at 1:47 PM on March 26, 2006