k2pdfopt: optimizes PDFs for viewing on e-readers

[willus]

I'm now on a new hoster. Hopefully the name servers will kick in for most of you and http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/ will work again. Unfortunately, it will be 18 months out of date, corresponding to my last full site backup. But it's better than nothing, and I have uploaded the v2.03 binaries. I will restore it as I have time (or if my old hoster can restore my files), but please be patient.

[JensW]

just now I can't reach the site through http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt
maybe my DNS is not yet up to date.

66.147.244.85 at bluehost is correct? that's what I get from a web lookup, a ping from my own PC can't find the site, so I guess it's my ISP's DNS thats not up to speed.

[markom]

Originally Posted by willus

I'm now on a new hoster. Hopefully the name servers will kick in for most of you and http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/ will work again. Unfortunately, it will be 18 months out of date, corresponding to my last full site backup. But it's better than nothing, and I have uploaded the v2.03 binaries. I will restore it as I have time (or if my old hoster can restore my files), but please be patient.

There is a snapshot from a week ago.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.willus.com

http://web.archive.org/web/201309081....com/k2pdfopt/

[willus]

Originally Posted by markom

There is a snapshot from a week ago.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.willus.com

http://web.archive.org/web/201309081....com/k2pdfopt/

Thanks, Markom. Unfortunately, I use a lot of .shtml and CGI scripting, so the raw HTML isn't easily copied to my new site, but it is still very helpful. My hope is that my old hoster will eventually come through with my files, but I wanted to get something back up and on-line while they work on it.

[willus]

Originally Posted by JensW

just now I can't reach the site through http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt
maybe my DNS is not yet up to date.

66.147.244.85 at bluehost is correct? that's what I get from a web lookup, a ping from my own PC can't find the site, so I guess it's my ISP's DNS thats not up to speed.

That's the correct IP number. The last time I did this, I remember it took a couple days before everything was working smoothly. What's strange is that nslookup from the command-line on my PC can't resolve the name (even after ipconfig /flushdns), but Firefox can. I don't get that one. Thanks for helping out, Jens.

[willus]

What is interesting is that last night I had all but disappeared from Google. I guess if a site is down long enough, they remove all references to it. But just this morning, I am back as the top result for "k2pdfopt" (and some other searches). So I guess they're good about restoring your rank when your site comes back. I was worried that I'd have to work my way back up through the rankings.

[RatonWasher]

Hi Willus,

Could you please attatch the Mac version of k2pdfopt as well on post #577, please?
Thanks!

[JensW]

Hey,
it's working now for me.

[willus]

Originally Posted by RatonWasher

Hi Willus,

Could you please attatch the Mac version of k2pdfopt as well on post #577, please?
Thanks!

Within the next 24 hours, you should be able to get it at http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/. Keep trying.

[RatonWasher]

yes, brilliant!

Thanks Willus

[willus]

Originally Posted by RatonWasher

yes, brilliant!

Thanks Willus

The web site is still going through some changes. I have changed the name servers back to my old hoster for now because they did finally restore my site, but a few things still don't work, including the download option (capcha not displayed correctly). As soon as I have access to fix those things, I will do that. In the mean time, here are the v2.03 downloads.

[agelos100]

Hello Willus,

I have a problem with a pdf conversion, I attach the source file, the output for kindle 3 default settings, and a modified approach, with: -gtw 0.02 -vls 1.15

Any suggestion for better results?

Thanks in advance.

Angelos

[willus]

Originally Posted by agelos100

Hello Willus,

I have a problem with a pdf conversion, I attach the source file, the output for kindle 3 default settings, and a modified approach, with: -gtw 0.02 -vls 1.15

Any suggestion for better results?

Thanks in advance.

Angelos

Angelos--How exactly were you hoping to improve the conversions? It looks like your document is just wide enough that by default k2pdfopt re-flows it, but that's probably not what you want(?). If you don't need re-flow, and if the line spacing is okay as-is, then I recommend using the "fitwidth" mode:

k2pdfopt -mode fw -ls- nine.pdf

(The -ls- will keep it in portrait mode.) This keeps the document in native mode with scaleable fonts and searchable / highlight-able text.

If you want to spread out the lines a little, you can increase the line spacing but keep re-flow off:

k2pdfopt -vls 1.2 -wrap- nine.pdf

If you want full blown text wrapping, that's mostly what you were getting with your second conversion, where you correctly figured out that k2pdfopt seems to need a little help breaking words apart and used a smaller-than-default value for -gtw, except I'd use -gtw 0.2:

k2pdfopt -vls 1.15 -gtw 0.2 nine.pdf

The value of 0.02 is too small and seems to have caused some strange behavior which I'll have to investigate. The -vls 1.15 is only necessary if you want to spread out the line spacing compared to the original document. Let me know if these help or if there are other ways you were hoping to improve the conversion.

[agelos100]

Originally Posted by willus

Angelos--How exactly were you hoping to improve the conversions? It looks like your document is just wide enough that by default k2pdfopt re-flows it, but that's probably not what you want(?). If you don't need re-flow, and if the line spacing is okay as-is, then I recommend using the "fitwidth" mode:

k2pdfopt -mode fw -ls- nine.pdf

(The -ls- will keep it in portrait mode.) This keeps the document in native mode with scaleable fonts and searchable / highlight-able text.

If you want to spread out the lines a little, you can increase the line spacing but keep re-flow off:

k2pdfopt -vls 1.2 -wrap- nine.pdf

If you want full blown text wrapping, that's mostly what you were getting with your second conversion, where you correctly figured out that k2pdfopt seems to need a little help breaking words apart and used a smaller-than-default value for -gtw, except I'd use -gtw 0.2:

k2pdfopt -vls 1.15 -gtw 0.2 nine.pdf

The value of 0.02 is too small and seems to have caused some strange behavior which I'll have to investigate. The -vls 1.15 is only necessary if you want to spread out the line spacing compared to the original document. Let me know if these help or if there are other ways you were hoping to improve the conversion.

Hello Willus,

Please Consider file "Nine Stories_k2opt default kindle 3.pdf" attached in my previous message, the 1st page is almost OK; check the second page and the last 5 lines of the 1st one, where text reflow is not good.

I was trying to fix that part.

Regards,
Angelos

[willus]

Originally Posted by agelos100

[/SIZE]
Please Consider file "Nine Stories_k2opt default kindle 3.pdf" attached in my previous message, the 1st page is almost OK; check the second page and the last 5 lines of the 1st one, where text reflow is not good.

Thank you for clarifying. I did look through all of your attachments and noticed the poor reflow in spots. Hopefully my third option in my previous reply helped with that.