How to convert DRM Free eReader to HTML or something else? [Archive]

texasnightowl

10-15-2008, 04:05 PM

How does one convert eReader format that is DRM free into HTML or some other convertible format? Thanks!

Thought I saw a post once that said Book Creator would do it? Not sure. Haven't bought any drm free ereader so far, only secure ereader.

Edit...it might be book designer instead of book creator.

pilotbob

10-15-2008, 04:12 PM

How does one convert eReader format that is DRM free into HTML or some other convertible format? Thanks!

Have you tried the eReader2Html script? What does it do if the file is not encrypted? I bet it would be pretty easy to remove the de drm part of the code.

BOb

JSWolf

10-16-2008, 10:13 AM

Thought I saw a post once that said Book Creator would do it? Not sure. Haven't bought any drm free ereader so far, only secure ereader.

Edit...it might be book designer instead of book creator.
BD doesn't work in all cases. So that's a no go for some books.

JSWolf

10-16-2008, 10:23 AM

Have you tried the eReader2Html script? What does it do if the file is not encrypted? I bet it would be pretty easy to remove the de drm part of the code.

BOb
It does not work as is unless there is DRM.

ereader2oeb would be a great command to go into Calibre.

wallcraft

10-16-2008, 10:39 AM

How does one convert eReader format that is DRM free into HTML or some other convertible format? Is there a good source of DRM-free eReader ebooks for testing such a converter?

RWood

10-16-2008, 10:58 AM

Have you tried the ABC Amber Palm Converter. It works for most non-DRM eReader files I have tried. The output does have all of your (Jon's) normal complaints about ABC Amber output but it does work most of the time and it is free.

bill_mchale

10-16-2008, 11:05 AM

Is there a good source of DRM-free eReader ebooks for testing such a converter?

Isn't that one of the formats available with fictionwise's multiformat books?

--
Bill

wallcraft

10-16-2008, 11:32 AM

Isn't that one of the formats available with fictionwise's multiformat books? According to their FAQ, multiformat includes the PalmDOC format, which is readable by eReader, but not the eReader format.

texasnightowl

10-16-2008, 11:47 AM

hmm...is it actual ereader or palmdoc...I had a .prc file that was actually palmdoc I think...id'd as "TEXTread" or something like. Had to use pdbshred on it.

bill_mchale

10-16-2008, 01:48 PM

pilotbob

10-16-2008, 01:56 PM

It does not work as is unless there is DRM.

ereader2oeb would be a great command to go into Calibre.

If you send me a non-DRMed eReader file I will try to modify it so that it will work. Can't be too hard... even though I don't work in python all that much I can usually read and edit existing code of languages I haven't worked with.

BOb

orwell2k

10-17-2008, 07:09 AM

Just a thought, but I think Stanza will do it... I think it will allow you to export any format it can read as an html... though I don't think it will also export images and stuff, so you might loose stuff in the process.

--
Bill

Actually, I think Stanza will export to a multitude of formats, so you could convert from PDB to just about anything, including PDF, Mobi, Word, HTML, RTF, Text, even Kindle. I guess the success of the various conversions will differ, so you can try a few.

wayrad

10-17-2008, 09:28 AM

Interparse4 seems to work. I just downloaded a free .pdb of "Around the World in 80 Days" from Fictionwise, opened it in Interparse, converted it to HTML, and was able to open it in Firefox. Took less than a minute, not including the download.

Development of Interparse seems to have been abandoned and most links are dead, but I believe there's a working link aroud these forums somewhere.

Anybody know for sure whether Fictionwise uses Ereader format for the free Palm format files, or just PalmDOC format?

wallcraft

10-17-2008, 11:35 AM

Anybody know for sure whether Fictionwise uses Ereader format for the free Palm format files, or just PalmDOC format? It is probably PalmDOC, but it is easy to tell. Open the .pdb file with a text editor and look near the start for TEXtREAd (PalmDOC) or PNPdPPrs (eReader), see wiki: PDB (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PDB).

DaleDe

10-17-2008, 02:08 PM

Actually, I think Stanza will export to a multitude of formats, so you could convert from PDB to just about anything, including PDF, Mobi, Word, HTML, RTF, Text, even Kindle. I guess the success of the various conversions will differ, so you can try a few.

Stanza web site still indicates eReader is an unsupported format although they have support for PalmDoc and Mobipocket.

Dale

wayrad

10-17-2008, 06:31 PM

It is probably PalmDOC, but it is easy to tell. Open the .pdb file with a text editor and look near the start for TEXtREAd (PalmDOC) or PNPdPPrs (eReader), see wiki: PDB (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PDB).Drat, it IS Palm DOC format. Thanks for the pointer. OK, I have a tool around somewhere (PublishEbook?) that I think I can use to make an Ereader file for testing purposes. At least, I seem to remember that I tried it once and got a file that could be opened with Ereader but not PalmFiction, which made me think it was not PalmDOC.

texasnightowl

10-17-2008, 08:27 PM

Drat, it IS Palm DOC format. Thanks for the pointer. OK, I have a tool around somewhere (PublishEbook?) that I think I can use to make an Ereader file for testing purposes. At least, I seem to remember that I tried it once and got a file that could be opened with Ereader but not PalmFiction, which made me think it was not PalmDOC.

Like I mentioned before, I had a prc file that was actually PalmDoc format...TEXtrREAd...try pdbshred...I was able to get a html file out

JSWolf

10-17-2008, 08:53 PM

If you send me a non-DRMed eReader file I will try to modify it so that it will work. Can't be too hard... even though I don't work in python all that much I can usually read and edit existing code of languages I haven't worked with.

BOb
The file I am trying to convert is available at the following link. Thanks!

http://craphound.com/content/Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.pdb

wayrad

10-17-2008, 09:57 PM

Like I mentioned before, I had a prc file that was actually PalmDoc format...TEXtrREAd...try pdbshred...I was able to get a html file outYes, the one I successfully converted with Interparse 4 also had the "TEXtREAd" string.

Alas, Interparse does not work on the Doctorow EReader file...:( One could run it through the analog hole but it'd be a pain.

JSWolf

10-17-2008, 10:25 PM

Like I mentioned before, I had a prc file that was actually PalmDoc format...TEXtrREAd...try pdbshred...I was able to get a html file out
I did try pdbshred. It said it was an unsupported format.

But it did convert it to the PML. I'm looking for an HTML so I don't have to edit it so much.

nrapallo

10-17-2008, 10:46 PM

The file I am trying to convert is available at the following link. Thanks!

http://craphound.com/content/Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.pdb

OK, I used a combination of pdbshred and my own modified pml2html.py script to produce:

(1) Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.html from Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.pdb (see Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.zip which contains the intermediary .pml file); and

(2) content.html from content.pml prepared by another mobileread.com member.

The latter has footnotes that were not extracted from the .pdb using pdbshred. BTW, all the links to websites are just underlined, and not hyperlinked.

Enjoy!

yargoflick

01-08-2009, 11:55 PM

nrapallo

01-09-2009, 01:19 AM

Hey there, I just found and used the perl based ebook-tools to convert a DRM-free Ereader file from fictionwise to HTML.

Download ebook-tools from cpan:
http://search.cpan.org/dist/EBook-Tools/

The readme has install instructions:
http://search.cpan.org/src/AZED/EBook-Tools-0.3.3/README
You'll probably need to install a few perl modules that it needs.

Once built and installed you'll have an 'ebook' command and can simply:
ebook unpack --htmlconvert -f Barzak-LMoths-er.pdb -d moths/

Further command detatils can be found here:
http://search.cpan.org/dist/EBook-Tools/ebook.pl

Thought someone might like.
Cheers.

I posted something similar using EBook-Tools v3.3 and a quick & dirty perl script I called 'ereader2html.pl' that does more or less the same thing.

I provided a windows executable as well here (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=299382#post299382).

Thanks for the that command line method using ebook.pl directly!

tao

06-11-2009, 10:50 AM

OK, I used a combination of pdbshred and my own modified pml2html.py script to produce:

(1) Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.html from Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.pdb (see Cory_Doctorow_-_Content_Ereader.zip which contains the intermediary .pml file); and

(2) content.html from content.pml prepared by another mobileread.com member.

The latter has footnotes that were not extracted from the .pdb using pdbshred. BTW, all the links to websites are just underlined, and not hyperlinked.

Enjoy!

May I get a copy of the pml2html.py script? Thx a lot.