MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Just bought a new in box 1150 for Mom-few questions?

DixieGal · 03-19-2009, 12:02 PM

WOW That's a great bargain! I had an EBW1150 for a year before my eyes got too bad to read on it... and I got tired of having to convert things in order to further increase the fonts. And my friend wanted one. So I gave it to her and got myself a Sony 505. Honestly, I prefer the EBW1150.

Well, first of all, your EBW1150 has 2 built-in sizes, teensy and "normal." I used a few things that worked well with books in mobi format. This is not a format that EB1150 reads naturally, so there is a bit of finagling that has to be accomplished first of all. However, Mother's Day is still a long ways away, so you have plenty of time to prepare.

All of these steps were invented by our own enormously talented group of volunteer geniuses here at Mobile Read. Be sure to thank them!

1. Download a mobi book from here or a free one from Fictionwise in order to have some practice material. Save it to a nice folder on your desktop so that it will be handy, something maybe like "Mom's eBooks."

NOTE: If the book you buy has DRM (code that locks it into a single format and/or device), you will need Calibre to help you get it onto your EB1150. You must be at the command prompt to run it, but don't be afraid. The instructions are very clear, and almost anyone will be willing to help. However, if you are used to this sort of thing, then you will be waaaay ahead of me when I started!

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Calibre

2. If the book you downloaded is free of DRM, then download mobi2imp. This software is magic. It has a GUI interface with lots of options. Check "no margins" and "extra large fonts" and "sans serif" especially. Then play around with the otther options and see what they will do. Save it to the same folder with the date or something tacked onto the filename to differentiate it from the original.
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Mobi2imp

3. Now, using the eBookwise library software that you downloaded at www.ebookwise.com, click "help," then install it. Now open it and select "create new." A box will open which will ask you to browse for the new IMP file you just created. Just fill in the empty boxes and click "OK" or whatever is at the bottom of the box.
http://www.ebookwise.com/servlet/mw?t=help_help&si=43

4. Last step: Click "View" in the library software. It will opent a narrow screen and show you how the book looks on the reader. Hopefully it will look great!

When you get the EBW1150 in your hands and have it all set up and registered, then use the device touchscreen and tap "online bookshelf." It will either take you to the eBookwise site or your computer and its library. This may require some (frustrating) fooling around with the "telephone connection" settings. (Yes, I know it is not a phone, that's just the unfortunately named page in the user's guide.)

This is all lots easier than it sounds. After just a few successful tries, you will be loading books with your eyes closed in just 2-3 minutes.

One last thing is that the books from eBookwise are already set to go onto the device. If your mom can read them at the largest device font, then you can simply buy them and load 'em up. Download a free one to the librarian software, then ask your mom if she can read it at the largest zoom.

Good Luck! And I hope your mom enjoys hers as much as I enjoyed mine!

03-19-2009, 12:02 PM	#2
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	WOW That's a great bargain! I had an EBW1150 for a year before my eyes got too bad to read on it... and I got tired of having to convert things in order to further increase the fonts. And my friend wanted one. So I gave it to her and got myself a Sony 505. Honestly, I prefer the EBW1150. Well, first of all, your EBW1150 has 2 built-in sizes, teensy and "normal." I used a few things that worked well with books in mobi format. This is not a format that EB1150 reads naturally, so there is a bit of finagling that has to be accomplished first of all. However, Mother's Day is still a long ways away, so you have plenty of time to prepare. All of these steps were invented by our own enormously talented group of volunteer geniuses here at Mobile Read. Be sure to thank them! 1. Download a mobi book from here or a free one from Fictionwise in order to have some practice material. Save it to a nice folder on your desktop so that it will be handy, something maybe like "Mom's eBooks." NOTE: If the book you buy has DRM (code that locks it into a single format and/or device), you will need Calibre to help you get it onto your EB1150. You must be at the command prompt to run it, but don't be afraid. The instructions are very clear, and almost anyone will be willing to help. However, if you are used to this sort of thing, then you will be waaaay ahead of me when I started! https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Calibre 2. If the book you downloaded is free of DRM, then download mobi2imp. This software is magic. It has a GUI interface with lots of options. Check "no margins" and "extra large fonts" and "sans serif" especially. Then play around with the otther options and see what they will do. Save it to the same folder with the date or something tacked onto the filename to differentiate it from the original. https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Mobi2imp 3. Now, using the eBookwise library software that you downloaded at www.ebookwise.com, click "help," then install it. Now open it and select "create new." A box will open which will ask you to browse for the new IMP file you just created. Just fill in the empty boxes and click "OK" or whatever is at the bottom of the box. http://www.ebookwise.com/servlet/mw?t=help_help&si=43 4. Last step: Click "View" in the library software. It will opent a narrow screen and show you how the book looks on the reader. Hopefully it will look great! When you get the EBW1150 in your hands and have it all set up and registered, then use the device touchscreen and tap "online bookshelf." It will either take you to the eBookwise site or your computer and its library. This may require some (frustrating) fooling around with the "telephone connection" settings. (Yes, I know it is not a phone, that's just the unfortunately named page in the user's guide.) This is all lots easier than it sounds. After just a few successful tries, you will be loading books with your eyes closed in just 2-3 minutes. One last thing is that the books from eBookwise are already set to go onto the device. If your mom can read them at the largest device font, then you can simply buy them and load 'em up. Download a free one to the librarian software, then ask your mom if she can read it at the largest zoom. Good Luck! And I hope your mom enjoys hers as much as I enjoyed mine!