Suggestion for E-Book Viewer - Emulate Device

[Chris_Snow]

Greetings,

Calibre is a fantastic piece of software and does more than I'll ever know how to use.

However, I wonder if it would be possible (perhaps it is already), to emulate a particular device through the e-book viewer??

I have a Kobo Glo. I'd like to be able to set-up the e-book viewer to emulate it exactly - that is to be able to open a window that mirrors what I will see on my Kobo.

This would allow the ability to check books (I tweak all mine), get the number of pages number etc - all without having to connect the Glo to my PC. Perhaps you could even use the Kobo firmware to see how specifically the FW works etc. This would also allow you to have the exact some settings you have on the device.

Not sure if this is possible or if anyone else would be interested in it. I'm no programmer, so I thought I'd ask the question.

Thx

[eschwartz]

Are you willing to convince all the ereader vendors to give Kovid their source code and a license to use it to emulate their devices?

[BetterRed]

@Chris_Snow - This ==>> Kobo Desktops appears to have a reader. Maybe you can use that via the [GUI Plugin] Open With plug-in.

BR

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Chris_Snow

However, I wonder if it would be possible (perhaps it is already), to emulate a particular device through the e-book viewer??

No .

[Chris_Snow]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

No .

No...to which part? All of it.


BetterRed@ just updated the Kobo Desktop and get the dreaded invalid win32 application. From memory it doesn't emulate the device anyway.

eschwartz@ not so puter-wise...so I don't know the answers - that's why I ask

I though the ability to tweak the existing viewer to emulate (same size, margins, line spacing, fonts etc) would be a good feature - all inside calibre so I don't have to swap between programs.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Chris_Snow

No...to which part? All of it.

No to the part I quoted, it would not be possible to emulate any particular device through the e-book viewer.

[Chris_Snow]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

No to the part I quoted, it would not be possible to emulate any particular device through the e-book viewer.

Oh...Okay...then not much point commenting on it any further. Thx for the comments.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Chris_Snow

eschwartz@ not so puter-wise...so I don't know the answers - that's why I ask

I though the ability to tweak the existing viewer to emulate (same size, margins, line spacing, fonts etc) would be a good feature - all inside calibre so I don't have to swap between programs.

You can set a user stylesheet to override the look & feel of books. You can set line size, spacing, margins, fonts and more.

Sadly, that is not the same as emulating the device rendering engines, which have their own quirks and weirdnesses. Each engine has their own way of interpreting the book, and their own ways of breaking the publisher's intent.

If you really want to know how a book will look on any device, you need either the device itself or something built off the same programming.

Often, a device manufacturer will provide desktop programs which are similar in design. Kindle Previewer is an actual Kindle emulator that mimics each of the Kindle models. Most other devices will *mostly* act like ADE, which they tend to be based off of.

Also, regarding page numbers -- they are almost entirely meaningless. The Kindle will only show page numbers when a special data file is added next to each book, mapping to the page numbers in a book. Pretty much any other device I believe will flatly lie to you as they estimate each page as 1024 characters of text, regardless of the actual book's pages. (Because they use ADE.) Unless there is a page numbers file in the book, which will then be used instead -- but you'd have to check that yourself.

[Chris_Snow]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Often, a device manufacturer will provide desktop programs which are similar in design. Kindle Previewer is an actual Kindle emulator that mimics each of the Kindle models. Most other devices will *mostly* act like ADE, which they tend to be based off of.

This is probably what I'd need - but one for the Kobo Glo. Not likely to happen, but you never know. I'd rather they spent their time getting rid of the bugs in the software before doing anything else - like another buggy piece of software

Appreciate the input. Regards.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Chris_Snow

This is probably what I'd need - but one for the Kobo Glo. Not likely to happen, but you never know. I'd rather they spent their time getting rid of the bugs in the software before doing anything else - like another buggy piece of software

Appreciate the input. Regards.

Kobo should have (get) something like this too -- Amazon does it so publishers can make sure their book will display correctly.

[Chris_Snow]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Kobo should have (get) something like this too -- Amazon does it so publishers can make sure their book will display correctly.

Seems like Kobo is behind the ball on everything - except for the fact they chose epub as their format!

[davidfor]

Chris_Snow: What format are you reading? If it is epub, then use ADE as your emulator. As you mention page numbers, this will use exactly the same page numbering method as the epub reader on the Glo. Or a Sony or any other device that uses the Adobe RMSDK.

If you are using kepubs, then the Kobo desktop application is the closest you will get. As far as I can tell, is based on the same code as the ereaders. Yes, it presents a different layout, but it should be interpreting the book code in the same way. Page numbering is a problem as the scheme used is based on the actual screens of text. That means it is dependent on the reader settings selected in both places. And the windows size on the PC.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Chris_Snow

Seems like Kobo is behind the ball on everything - except for the fact they chose epub as their format!

... is meaningless. AZW3 is a different wrapper around HTML+CSS, like the way EPUB uses the ZIP wrapper. Same idea, just as usable and editable and creatable.

[Chris_Snow]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Chris_Snow: What format are you reading?

Yep...use exclusively epub

Originally Posted by davidfor

use ADE as your emulator. As you mention page numbers, this will use exactly the same page numbering method as the epub reader on the Glo. Or a Sony or any other device that uses the Adobe RMSDK.

I'd heard of ADE, but never bothered with it because calibre does basically everything I need. I'll give it a go.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Page numbering is a problem as the scheme used is based on the actual screens of text. That means it is dependent on the reader settings selected in both places. And the windows size on the PC.

That's one thing I would like - the ability to see the page numbers as seen on the Glo (I keep a column for them and page count isn't even close) and they ability to see how a particular book tweak will look on the Glo. Having to transfer backwards and forwards between devices is a pain (IMO) Thx for the comments

[BetterRed]

@Chris_Snow - Very long shot. If under the covers the Kobo is actually an Android, then maybe you could try running its e-reader software under an Android emulator, probably best to ask in the Kobo forum if anyone's done it.

Typing prior sentence told me why the name Android has always rung a bell, it's been bothering me for years. It's what we used to call Andersen Consulting people - Androids. I guess today today they would be Accroids. Yes they were a PITA too.

BR