  We examine inkdots placed on the input string as a way of providing advice to
finite automata, and establish the relations between this model and the
previously studied models of advised finite automata. The existence of an
infinite hierarchy of classes of languages that can be recognized with the help
of increasing numbers of inkdots as advice is shown. The effects of different
forms of advice on the succinctness of the advised machines are examined. We
also study randomly placed inkdots as advice to probabilistic finite automata,
and demonstrate the superiority of this model over its deterministic version.
Even very slowly growing amounts of space can become a resource of meaningful
use if the underlying advised model is extended with access to secondary
memory, while it is famously known that such small amounts of space are not
useful for unadvised one-way Turing machines.
