New to Ebooks, some questions! - Page 2

Worldwalker · 06-01-2010, 06:34 AM

It works a lot better if you're making your own pdfs. Unfortunately, the people selling ebooks in that format don't seem to take the needs of those of us trying to read them into consideration.

In my more sadistic moments, there are a few people I'd like to lock in a room where the the only food available to them is visible on the other side of an unbreakable barrier controlled by an elaborate electronic lock, and the explanation of how to open the lock is provided as a 500-page pdf, conveniently pre-loaded on a 505. Who are these people? By and large I don't know their names ... but I've met their pdfs.

P.S. OpenOffice for just about everything prints to pdf, too. Handy, that.

kokoshmusun · 06-01-2010, 08:46 AM

Hi folks,

Thanks for the answers. I understand Calibre better now and will probably play with it more. It looks like for academic pdfs that I use to assign readings for my courses, etc., (these, I don't necessarily put on my reader, but sometimes will) I can keep them out of calibre. An academic reference manager seems more proper for these (bibus, referencer, etc.). For all the other books I'm thinking of primarily reading on my Reader, then calibre sounds good.

I still do think that with a 120 GB HDD, I would rather not have duplicate files, but oh well...

Ubuntu is amazing, I recently switched from Vista and my productivity doubled. I can't recommend it enough. I beg you Windows users, please give Ubuntu or another Linux distro a try if you haven't. You don't know what you're missing. And you don't need to let Windows go. You can either dual-boot or run Windows inside Ubuntu (e.g., using Virtualbox). Or you can use many Windows programs under Ubuntu using WINE.

Cheers!!!

Worldwalker · 06-01-2010, 11:57 AM

It sounds like you're as much of a Ubuntu evangelist as I am a calibre evangelist.

Actually, it'll probably be on the next computer I build. And if my mission-critical programs (other than calibre, I mean!) run under WINE, it'll be on the one after that, too. And then there's the computer I have to build for my better half, who's been using Linspire (shudder) for a while ... that's getting Ubuntu. And maybe I'll replace that mutant Xandros on my ASUS netbook with something that, um, works. Like the netbook-specific Ubuntu.

So yeah, even us Windows users have our preferences in Linux.

Let the distro wars begin!

kokoshmusun · 06-01-2010, 01:05 PM

Haha, you're well into Linux. I'm shouting out to the Win users who have shied away from the world of Linux for too long... Just dive right in.

Btw, I've set time to play with Calibre extensively tonight. But here's something anybody can help me out with if it makes sense (a google search did not provide a satisfactory answer, but I should also search this forum): For some documents, I don't want to bother adding them to the Calibre system and having Calibre create folders and a copy, etc. Because it's just a small pdf file, not a book in my collection.

Should I use a simpler pdf to epub converter (if one exists, CLI would be swell) or is the only choice still calibre (which my google search kinda suggested).

cheers!

Worldwalker · 06-01-2010, 01:39 PM

Calibre can also do direct conversion -- there's a command-line way of doing it. I don't happen to know what that way is, as I've never had a need to do it, but it's probably in the calibre documentation somewhere. Look for anything related to command-line or batch conversion.

rogue_librarian · 06-02-2010, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

I'm not understanding what it is that you're doing that means you need to access your ebooks outside of calibre.

I have more than one program that need access to it, and I regularly share files with other local people. I need control over the filenames. And I get that, Calibre doesn't touch my original files, it just copies them over (which I consider wasteful in terms of space and am looking for a way to modify that.)

Quote:

The need to keep duplicates of the files is simple: one set lives inside of calibre's "black box". Just imagine that it's a ginormous database and the files are being stored in some kind of ebook-specific BLOBs, and pretend they're not human-accessible at all.

Yes, but that's just one way of implementing. It would be (almost) as easy to store nothing but the metadata and a pointer to the original file. In fact, I am currently experimenting with symbolic links, which shows some promise.

Worldwalker · 06-02-2010, 08:38 AM

Having multiple programs that need access to the files can indeed be a problem. We had someone a while back who was using something that tracked academic citations, I think it was, who brought up the same issue (except that he was highly rude about it). There may be no practical solution, at least at the moment, than maintaining two sets of files -- one for calibre, and one for the other program.

I think we may get a bit too paranoid about space, though. I have about 2500 ebooks, which take up somewhat over 1 GB of space (admittedly a lot of them are fairly short; I need to start rounding up collections of short stories and packing them into anthologies). In some ways, I've never mentally moved past the PDP-11 days, with RL02 removable-pack drives that held a whole 10 MB each. True, it would take hundreds of pounds of disc packs (and several cubic yards of racks to store them in) to store my ebook collection, and duplicating that would require another room just to store the spares ... but I remind myself that I'm not working on a PDP-11 anymore, there probably isn't an RL02 left alive in the world, and the ebook collection that would have required over 100 of those big boys (for anyone who's never met one, an RL02 pack was "compact" at about 16" in diameter and 3" thick or so; it held several 14" aluminum platters) will now fit neatly on half of a SD card the size of a postage stamp, or about 1/10 of 1% of the 1 TB drive I was looking at on buy.com yesterday -- which would amount to less than a dime's worth of storage. So, despite that nagging voice in the back of my head saying "you're wasting space! WASTE! WASTE!" I've realized that actually, if I want to recover that space, I would do better to weed out crappy digital camera photos (I take a lot of pictures of my fish, for instance, which pretty much by definition means I have a lot of pictures of an empty part of an aquarium with a little tail off on one side) and have as many duplicates of my ebooks as I want. Or just go buy a 1 TB drive for $80 and not worry about space.

It's kind of crazy ... I remember, 15+ years ago, haggling with a vendor at a computer show to get a better price on a new hard drive for my computer. I remember the price because it ended up being $365 ... $1 per day of the year. For a 1.2 GB drive. Just about big enough to put all my ebooks of today on. Now I could get 4 TERAbytes of storage space for that much money. (of course, to even things out for getting drives so cheap, I now spend any/all resulting savings on video cards)

So, even a cheapskate like me can afford to spare a bit of drive space to let calibre keep its own files. If I really need the space, I could quit using World of Warcraft screenshots to take notes with, and if someone tells me something in-game that I need to remember (their email address, etc.) I could just, y'know, write it down. :-p

Sharing files with other people is easy, though -- a lot easier, in fact, when you're dealing with books instead of files. Pop your device-to-share-with (a flash drive, let's say) into the computer, pick the books you want to share (and the format, if needed) and tell calibre to put them there. That way, instead of digging through multiple authors' folders looking for, say, all their alternate-history SF, you just click the "alternate history" tag in calibre, control-A to select them all, and send 'em wherever you need 'em.

The disadvantage to having a pointer to the original file is that the files could then be modified outside of calibre's control, which would confuse the heck out of its tiny little mind. The potential gains (people who need to allow other programs to manage/modify ebook files not needing to maintain a second copy of the files) would be far outweighed by the negatives (many more people making a royal mess of their files and pleading for help fixing it).

And I think I am now rambling so much that even I won't make sense of this when I've had more sleep, so I'd better stop now.

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06-01-2010, 06:34 AM	#16
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	It works a lot better if you're making your own pdfs. Unfortunately, the people selling ebooks in that format don't seem to take the needs of those of us trying to read them into consideration. In my more sadistic moments, there are a few people I'd like to lock in a room where the the only food available to them is visible on the other side of an unbreakable barrier controlled by an elaborate electronic lock, and the explanation of how to open the lock is provided as a 500-page pdf, conveniently pre-loaded on a 505. Who are these people? By and large I don't know their names ... but I've met their pdfs. P.S. OpenOffice for just about everything prints to pdf, too. Handy, that.

06-01-2010, 08:46 AM	#17
kokoshmusun Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	Hi folks, Thanks for the answers. I understand Calibre better now and will probably play with it more. It looks like for academic pdfs that I use to assign readings for my courses, etc., (these, I don't necessarily put on my reader, but sometimes will) I can keep them out of calibre. An academic reference manager seems more proper for these (bibus, referencer, etc.). For all the other books I'm thinking of primarily reading on my Reader, then calibre sounds good. I still do think that with a 120 GB HDD, I would rather not have duplicate files, but oh well... Ubuntu is amazing, I recently switched from Vista and my productivity doubled. I can't recommend it enough. I beg you Windows users, please give Ubuntu or another Linux distro a try if you haven't. You don't know what you're missing. And you don't need to let Windows go. You can either dual-boot or run Windows inside Ubuntu (e.g., using Virtualbox). Or you can use many Windows programs under Ubuntu using WINE. Cheers!!!

06-01-2010, 11:57 AM	#18
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	It sounds like you're as much of a Ubuntu evangelist as I am a calibre evangelist. Actually, it'll probably be on the next computer I build. And if my mission-critical programs (other than calibre, I mean!) run under WINE, it'll be on the one after that, too. And then there's the computer I have to build for my better half, who's been using Linspire (shudder) for a while ... that's getting Ubuntu. And maybe I'll replace that mutant Xandros on my ASUS netbook with something that, um, works. Like the netbook-specific Ubuntu. So yeah, even us Windows users have our preferences in Linux. Let the distro wars begin!

06-01-2010, 01:05 PM	#19
kokoshmusun Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Sony PRS-600	Haha, you're well into Linux. I'm shouting out to the Win users who have shied away from the world of Linux for too long... Just dive right in. Btw, I've set time to play with Calibre extensively tonight. But here's something anybody can help me out with if it makes sense (a google search did not provide a satisfactory answer, but I should also search this forum): For some documents, I don't want to bother adding them to the Calibre system and having Calibre create folders and a copy, etc. Because it's just a small pdf file, not a book in my collection. Should I use a simpler pdf to epub converter (if one exists, CLI would be swell) or is the only choice still calibre (which my google search kinda suggested). cheers!

06-01-2010, 01:39 PM	#20
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	Calibre can also do direct conversion -- there's a command-line way of doing it. I don't happen to know what that way is, as I've never had a need to do it, but it's probably in the calibre documentation somewhere. Look for anything related to command-line or batch conversion.

06-02-2010, 08:38 AM	#22
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	Having multiple programs that need access to the files can indeed be a problem. We had someone a while back who was using something that tracked academic citations, I think it was, who brought up the same issue (except that he was highly rude about it). There may be no practical solution, at least at the moment, than maintaining two sets of files -- one for calibre, and one for the other program. I think we may get a bit too paranoid about space, though. I have about 2500 ebooks, which take up somewhat over 1 GB of space (admittedly a lot of them are fairly short; I need to start rounding up collections of short stories and packing them into anthologies). In some ways, I've never mentally moved past the PDP-11 days, with RL02 removable-pack drives that held a whole 10 MB each. True, it would take hundreds of pounds of disc packs (and several cubic yards of racks to store them in) to store my ebook collection, and duplicating that would require another room just to store the spares ... but I remind myself that I'm not working on a PDP-11 anymore, there probably isn't an RL02 left alive in the world, and the ebook collection that would have required over 100 of those big boys (for anyone who's never met one, an RL02 pack was "compact" at about 16" in diameter and 3" thick or so; it held several 14" aluminum platters) will now fit neatly on half of a SD card the size of a postage stamp, or about 1/10 of 1% of the 1 TB drive I was looking at on buy.com yesterday -- which would amount to less than a dime's worth of storage. So, despite that nagging voice in the back of my head saying "you're wasting space! WASTE! WASTE!" I've realized that actually, if I want to recover that space, I would do better to weed out crappy digital camera photos (I take a lot of pictures of my fish, for instance, which pretty much by definition means I have a lot of pictures of an empty part of an aquarium with a little tail off on one side) and have as many duplicates of my ebooks as I want. Or just go buy a 1 TB drive for $80 and not worry about space. It's kind of crazy ... I remember, 15+ years ago, haggling with a vendor at a computer show to get a better price on a new hard drive for my computer. I remember the price because it ended up being $365 ... $1 per day of the year. For a 1.2 GB drive. Just about big enough to put all my ebooks of today on. Now I could get 4 TERAbytes of storage space for that much money. (of course, to even things out for getting drives so cheap, I now spend any/all resulting savings on video cards) So, even a cheapskate like me can afford to spare a bit of drive space to let calibre keep its own files. If I really need the space, I could quit using World of Warcraft screenshots to take notes with, and if someone tells me something in-game that I need to remember (their email address, etc.) I could just, y'know, write it down. :-p Sharing files with other people is easy, though -- a lot easier, in fact, when you're dealing with books instead of files. Pop your device-to-share-with (a flash drive, let's say) into the computer, pick the books you want to share (and the format, if needed) and tell calibre to put them there. That way, instead of digging through multiple authors' folders looking for, say, all their alternate-history SF, you just click the "alternate history" tag in calibre, control-A to select them all, and send 'em wherever you need 'em. The disadvantage to having a pointer to the original file is that the files could then be modified outside of calibre's control, which would confuse the heck out of its tiny little mind. The potential gains (people who need to allow other programs to manage/modify ebook files not needing to maintain a second copy of the files) would be far outweighed by the negatives (many more people making a royal mess of their files and pleading for help fixing it). And I think I am now rambling so much that even I won't make sense of this when I've had more sleep, so I'd better stop now.