Downloading Adobe DRM protected content to Linux

[AnneT]

OK... I think I can't delete this message myself, but I think that this question should have been asked to the 'Reading and Management' Forum, so you can consider this 'moved'.

I don't know if this is the right forum, so feel free to point me to a better place to ask this question...

So I got my first ereader yesterday, a BeBook One. It was one of those 'refurbished' ones, which seemed to me a good opportunity to find out if I like the 'ebook' experience, and which features I like or miss.

And yes, I already have discovered that I will 'upgrade' to something else in the past, but meanwhile I ran into another problem:

I have a linux-computer, and Adobe Digital Editions doesn't exist for that Operating system. I could get it working on Wine, and I can open the DRM protected books that I downloaded via the Windows computer of my husband and shared via DropBox, but I can't find a way to download Adobe DRM protected content directly to my Linux computer. Although I have autohorized my computer via Adobe Digital Editions, the Adobe Website doesn't seem to recognize my computer when browsing the web.

On the Sample eBook Library page of Adobe, the 'download'-button doesn't say download but had the text 'system requirements' on it, and it only brings me to an 'error' page.

Of course, I have the work-around of buying every single DRM-protected ePub on the computer of my husband, downloading it there, and then syncing my dropbox, but that is quite laborious... (although it could help not to let grow the mountain of to be read books to quickly!)

Anyone who can tell me how to download an DRM protected ePub to a Linux computer? (Although I use Linux, I'm not made of the geeky stuff...)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by AnneT

I have a linux-computer, and Adobe Digital Editions doesn't exist for that Operating system. I could get it working on Wine, and I can open the DRM protected books that I downloaded via the Windows computer of my husband and shared via DropBox, but I can't find a way to download Adobe DRM protected content directly to my Linux computer. Although I have autohorized my computer via Adobe Digital Editions, the Adobe Website doesn't seem to recognize my computer when browsing the web.

If you have ADE working on Wine and it's authorized and able to view existing protected content, you're almost home free. The secret here, is "Wine app for a Wine app." If ADE is running under Wine, then the browser you're using to browse the web for content must also be running under Wine... or it won't work.

I'm assuming you have a browser and Flash running under Wine, as well—since that's the only way that I know of to download and install ADE on linux. If you do, use that Wine browser to find and download content.

In the off chance that you don't have a browser and Flash working under Wine... find the Windows installer of Firefox 3.5 (3.6 and higher seems to break junk) and install it under Wine. And then install Flash for Windows under Wine and you should be good to go.

Wine ADE + Wine Browser + Wine Flash = Yay!

[rlauzon]

Another option is to get VMWare player (which is free) and a pre-built Windows VM. Then you can do everything "in Windows" as a virtual machine under Linux.

I used to do this a lot when I first started using Linux to handle the few things that required Windows.

[Hellmark]

It is possible to have your regular web browser pass the the info "directly" to ADE under linux. Once you have ADE installed and working, you'll need to set it so the default app to open that is more or less wine, but add commandline options to have wine start ADE. There are a few ways to do this:

-You can set it in your Desktop environment. For instance, in KDE, if I've already downloaded a license file, I would right click on it and goto properties. Once in properties. I click the wrench button next to Type, and it opens a new window for edit File Type. Here, I click Add under Application Preference Order, and type in

env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Digital Editions\digitaleditions.exe"

. Now, any time the license file is opened, it should automatically open in ADE.

-You can also do the same, but specify it in your web browser. For instance, when you download in firefox, if it should ask you if you want to open it or save. If it does not, goto Edit>Preferences, and under the General tab, check the radio button for "Ask me where to save files". It most likely will not have any options, just a "Browse" button. Click on Browse, and a file dialog window will open. Click the textbox marked Location, and paste in the info from before. This should work and let you open in ADE.

Now, some things here and there may vary, depending on your particular install, but the same principals should apply.

[DiapDealer]

The only problem with that, Hellmark, is that depending on where you're downloading content from; if you're using your default linux browser, the website won't even let you get as far as trying to download. Those sites just tell me that I don't have ADE installed and must first install it before downloading.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The only problem with that, Hellmark, is that depending on where you're downloading content from; if you're using your default linux browser, the website won't even let you get as far as trying to download. Those sites just tell me that I don't have ADE installed and must first install it before downloading.

Strange, I've never encountered that.

[Gwen Morse]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Another option is to get VMWare player (which is free) and a pre-built Windows VM. Then you can do everything "in Windows" as a virtual machine under Linux.

I used to do this a lot when I first started using Linux to handle the few things that required Windows.

I second this suggestion (except I use Oracle's VirtualBox). VirtualBox and VMWare are two different virtualization systems that do the same thing. Before I tried it I didn't think it was worth the bother, now I love it and only boot into Windows for the few games I like that don't run under Wine or in a virtual machine.

[EowynCarter]

You can use this link to download ade using linux Then, it runs on linux ok. Not sure about the "USB" part.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitl...igitaleditions