LRF output

[allovertheglobe]

Ok, I've started to play around some more with prs500 et al. I'm using a recently updated Ubuntu install (Feisty Fawn). I installed the tools as per the instructions on Kovid's page, without any notable problems. (Unlike my attempt to get it to work in Edgy Eft by using a (botched) Python2.5 install)

As in my previous post, I need to SUDO all commands to work properly, but I think there are still some serious Permissions issues since everything seems to default to root ownership, which is frowned upon in normal use from what I understand.

- The GUI finally works, however I can only view or delete files on the device, even non-DRMed files I created, lrf or rtf. I cannot move them to the library which again is owned by root, no changes allowed. I chown it, no difference: I cannot copy files from the device or edit the meta data (on the device only, since I can't get them into the library), the buttons remain greyed out.

- Back to the commandline: I can copy them now, but only ONE at a time, since the prs500 cp command does not seem to accept wildcards (i.e. *.lrf) to backup all the books from the memory card to a local folder, as an example.
Obviously that does not add them to the library(.db file) anyway.

- The files are owned by root, so I need to chown them all to able to do anything with them.

(Personally, I would prefer a simple local folder with the books inside for easier manipulation instead of a closed database, like the way prs500 deals with the files on the actual device anyway, or the Connect software on Windows)

- I have not managed to change the metadata on files on the PRS500 directly, either.

Any pointers would be appreciated, perhaps my limited experience with the Linux shell is part of the problem...

Add: I found out about a rather dangerous stunt, turning myself into root using sudo su, then running prs500-gui, that didn't work either.

[Dave Berk]

Thanks, allovertheglobe. Using sudo works. Though now I have encountered some of the problems you describe. Still, it's better than nothing, and I'm thankfull that I can copy my books back at all.

[yargoflick]

Originally Posted by allovertheglobe

Ok, I've started to play around some more with prs500 et al. I'm using a recently updated Ubuntu install (Feisty Fawn). I installed the tools as per the instructions on Kovid's page, without any notable problems. (Unlike my attempt to get it to work in Edgy Eft by using a (botched) Python2.5 install)

As in my previous post, I need to SUDO all commands to work properly, but I think there are still some serious Permissions issues since everything seems to default to root ownership, which is frowned upon in normal use from what I understand.

...

Add: I found out about a rather dangerous stunt, turning myself into root using sudo su, then running prs500-gui, that didn't work either.

Ok, you should NOT have to run prs500 as root...
did you follow the instructions to set up udev and add your user to the group plugdev?

Put the following code into /etc/udev/rules.d/z90-prs500.rules

BUS=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="029b", SYSFS{idVendor}=="054c", MODE="66

Add yourself to the plugdev group

gpasswd -a username plugdev

you can either reboot completely or just restart udev and relogin

to restart udev:
sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart

then log out completely and log back in again
open a terminal and type 'id', you should have plugdev as a group you belong to.
plug your reader in to the usb port and check that the node belongs to the group plugdev.
On my debian machine:

ls -l /dev/bus/usb/001/
outputs:
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 0 2007-05-07 13:18 001
crw-rw---- 1 root plugdev 189, 4 2007-05-07 14:30 005

id
outputs:
uid=1001(xxx) gid=1001(xxx) 20(dialout),25(floppy),29(audio),46(plugdev),100(u sers),107(fuse),1001(xxx)

I can now run prs500 and prs500-gui without being root.
The library.db that prs500-gui creates is owned by me.

Hope that helps,
Lee

[allovertheglobe]

Originally Posted by yargoflick

Ok, you should NOT have to run prs500 as root...
did you follow the instructions to set up udev and add your user to the group plugdev?

Uhm, my bad. I overlooked the "Now go to the post-installation setup" part -_-;;

Thanks for the instructions though, they worked out fine. In case somebody else tries to follow your preceding instructions, please note that the code for the (z)90-prs500.rules got mangled, here's the full line:

BUS=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="029b", SYSFS{idVendor}=="054c", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"

(Out of curiosity: is there a particular reason for adding the "z" in front of 90-prs500.rules? It worked out OK anyway...)

As far as the usage of prs500-gui goes, probably a misunderstanding on my part as well. It's at least for now a one-way street: you add the docs (rtf, lrf) you created or downloaded to the library (from your computer), then you can copy them TO the device, but NOT FROM the device. The option is greyed out, and drag-n-drop results in a "NotImplementedError" in the shell. Too bad, maybe later. As for the library being a database file, it has its pros and cons...

[kovidgoyal]

Hmm sorry I was traveling. Let's see
Transfer from reader to library will be implemented in the future. It just wasn't high on my list of priorities.

Glad you got the permissions issues sorted out.

Regarding html2lrf
It basically supports all HTML 4 tags (there may be a few obscure ones I missed out) and most of the font and page related CSS properties. You should have a look at the demo lrf file in the first post of this topic. The converted HTML file is included.

Let me know if you need more info.

[FangornUK]

kovidgoyal, thanks for html2lrf, it works great!

Just noticed some problems, small inline images tend to get scaled up and many images that aren't very high tend to throw new pages before and after when they aren't needed. I always find this Gutenberg document a great one for testing image formatting http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19499/19499-h.zip

Noticed the "--font-delta" option only tends to work for headers not text paragraphs. Is it possible to add an option to format images to a specified number of colours? - I always find pictures with 16 colours work well on the reader and saves lots of space.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by FangornUK

kovidgoyal, thanks for html2lrf, it works great!

Just noticed some problems, small inline images tend to get scaled up and many images that aren't very high tend to throw new pages before and after when they aren't needed. I always find this Gutenberg document a great one for testing image formatting http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19499/19499-h.zip

Noticed the "--font-delta" option only tends to work for headers not text paragraphs. Is it possible to add an option to format images to a specified number of colours? - I always find pictures with 16 colours work well on the reader and saves lots of space.

The image handling problems are fixed in svn. Can you provide an example HTML file for which font-delta does not work? I dont think adding a image downsample option is worth it. After all what if sony releases a new device with support for more colors, it'd be stupid to have to regenerate all the LRF files.

[kovidgoyal]

Released version 0.3.21 with
1) Improved handling on images should fix fangorn's complaints
2) Handling of text-indent on (p, div, h? tags)
3) Added --baen option for preprocessing of baen HTML files
4) Minor bug fixes

[igorsk]

Looks like you're using PIL now but setup.py doesn't check if it's installed.

[igorsk]

Another little bug: in one of the files I had this line:

<h1 align="center"><a name="Chap_0"></a><b>Part One: </b><b><i>January 1635</i></b><br /></h1><!--Prologue-->

The comment was present in the output file.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Another little bug: in one of the files I had this line:

<h1 align="center"><a name="Chap_0"></a><b>Part One: </b><b><i>January 1635</i></b><br /></h1><!--Prologue-->

The comment was present in the output file.

Running it on that fragment alone doesn't include the comment for me. Can you send me the whole file?

[igorsk]

It's from 1635.
Actually, I didn't explain properly. The comment is not present in the text itself (at least I think so, don't have the file here at the moment), but it's there in the TOC entry.

[FangornUK]

Release 0.3.21, images now look great! I've logged some more bug reports for you.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by igorsk

It's from 1635.
Actually, I didn't explain properly. The comment is not present in the text itself (at least I think so, don't have the file here at the moment), but it's there in the TOC entry.

Fixed in svn

[kovidgoyal]

Released 0.3.22 with various minor bugs squashed. Also one major bug that could result in corrupted LRF files.