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Old 01-14-2008, 01:01 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mr.giroro View Post
[...]
I tried to search for RSYNC for Windows, but couldn't find it. Even if it has the Windows version, I somewhat doubt if it would do this because it is really Windows' limitation.
[...]
Try this page:
http://optics.ph.unimelb.edu.au/help...rsync_pc1.html
note the warning about versions.
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Old 01-14-2008, 02:42 PM   #17
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@readmore, Zotero needs Firefox, and Firefox is too resource-intensive to run on the iLiad.
I think "Readmore" is not suggesting I should run Zotero on the Iliad. But Zotero may not solve my problem either.

My problem is very simple. None of the synchronization software will sync a folder and a file when they have the same name. In fact, Windows does not allow to create a folder when there is a file with the same name. Whenever I access a paper on the Iliad, it will create a folder that has the same name with the file and put it in the folder. Next time I try to sync the CF and the PC, sync will not work because a file in the PC and a file in the CF share the same name.

This is a rather big problem. I have 3,000+ reference papers in my collection (yes, after 10+ years in the academia, you collect a pile). I have those on a CF card (6+GB). Without being able to sync between the CF card and the PC, I have to manually handle any paper I add to my collection.

It appears a lot of users are researchers who have a large collection of papers, and I would like to know how they handle this. Thanks.
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Old 01-14-2008, 07:33 PM   #18
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Correct - the idea was to use zotero as an simple way to carry the references on a flash drive, and be able to run it on any _PC_ that you may use (desktop/laptop). It doesn't exactly "solve" the sync issue, unless you just want to backup the flash drive every few days. If there could be an efficient parser to process the directories, you may be able to generate a "file listing" that was easy to navigate from within Zotero.

To address the sync issue:

What about using rsync under cygwin? I personally haven't tried it, but here is a link:
http://www.gaztronics.net/rsync.php

and more info:
http://www.itefix.no/cwrsync/

Windows used to have some sync tools - how about SyncToy:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...o/synctoy.mspx
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Old 01-23-2008, 03:01 PM   #19
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How about a new way of looking at the problem. It's not perfect, but neither are any of the above options, and this one is super easy to implement.

I have a laptop with a card reader inserted into the expansion slot. This reader just lives in the laptop, as if it were built in.

Instead of managing two working copies of the folders (one on the PC, one on the reader), use the card for all of your work.

When working on the PC, put the card in the PC's card reader, when working on the reader, insert it into the reader. Now you are always working from the same PDF file, and it is actually easier to move the card around than to deal with connection cables, etc when attaching the iLiad.

As far as backup goes, any backup utility should be able to simply back up the card when inserted into your PC.
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Old 01-23-2008, 04:02 PM   #20
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@ig88: That's what I do (was doing), but with USB instead of CF.
But now that I am using samba on the iliad I just access it via the network, so no need to unplug it from the iliad.
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Old 01-23-2008, 07:24 PM   #21
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Hi ig88:

I agree with you. Your suggestion is perhaps the best option we have at this moment. I am currently doing this until I find a better, more elegant solution.

Last edited by mr.giroro; 01-25-2008 at 07:08 PM.
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Old 03-12-2008, 07:27 AM   #22
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nightmare

what a nightmare. amazing you can't just browse a directory tree with pdf's stored on a memory card. the iliad could just create the scribbles files in these SAME directories (just like you would do on your desktop pc). too bad. thought i could sync my whole directory tree (with many many pdf files in different folders) with a card and use it on the iLiad. but this seems to be completely impossible. really disappointing.
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Old 03-12-2008, 08:11 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daudi View Post
I was initially stumped by this PDF-folder issue. I decided to keep my master copy of my library on my USB (CF in your case) and then back that up regularly. When I get a new article I download it to the PC (because that's what I use for searching) and decided to write a little script that:

i) creates a PDF container folder,
ii) writes a manifest.xml file
.. Okay, that might be a solution. What is the minimal content of this manifest.xml file to be recognized by the iLiad as a proper manifest file? (such that no new subfolder is created..)?
Thanks, Harald
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Old 03-12-2008, 08:25 AM   #24
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Here's a basic template (attached).
Note that startpage refers to the name of the PDF file and you do not need a path as it is in the same folder as the manifest file. Title is what appears in the large title field in the contentlister and description is the one or two line description that appears in the contentlister. You can also add
Code:
<image>name of image file</image>
if you want a customised image to appear in the contentlister. I place the image tags just before closing the y-metadata tag
Code:
... 
<image>bmj.png</image>
</y-metadata> 
...
I tend not to change too many of the other fields.
Attached Files
File Type: xml manifest.xml (821 Bytes, 441 views)
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Old 03-12-2008, 08:42 AM   #25
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Smile 'solution'

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr.giroro View Post
Exactly! This is what I have been trying to do. I hit a road block in step (iii) because all the synchronization software refused to do the step (iii). If the folder in the source folder (CF) has the same name as the file in the destination folder (PC), Windows does not allow the folder to be copied into the destination folder. If the source and the destination folders have files with the same name, it is not a problem because any synchronization software will simply copy the newer file onto the older one. However, if one is a folder and the other is a file, Windows does not do that.

I tried to search for RSYNC for Windows, but couldn't find it. Even if it has the Windows version, I somewhat doubt if it would do this because it is really Windows' limitation.

I am wondering how others do this. Synchronization is crucial for people with many papers, and I cannot imagine how one can use Iliad without this functionality (especially scholars and researchers).

Thank you for your continuing advice and help.
Just tested it with rsync. It seems to work.

rsync overwrites a file with the name mydoc.pdf with a folder with the name MYDOC.PDF (containing mydoc.pdf, manifest.xml, created by the iLiad). The other way around is not possible.

So:
- rsync your pdf files to the memory card
- open pdf's on iliad and scribble etc creating folders
- rsync the documents back to the pc which will replace pdf files with folders containing the pdf and the manifest file

Disadvantage is that the folder structure is changed (files become folders containing the files on the pc side), but I don't mind too much.

My only question now is if I can have a directory tree on my sd card with pdf files in many different folders. Contrary to my previous message I think now this is possible.

rsync is in cygwin running on windows. it is a unix emulator. see www.cygwin.org.
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Old 03-12-2008, 08:49 AM   #26
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thanks so much for the manifest.xml

just tested whether copying with rsync works (see the discussion in the previous posts) - another solution.

It does work, also on windows. On windows, unlike copy, rsync overwrites files with a name in lowercase by folders with the same name in upper case. So it is possible to 'sync back' from the memory card to the pc (deleting the original pdfs, replacing them with folders with the same name containing the same pdfs created by the iLiad). I need to test this a bit more, but I think this is a solution to the windows related problem.

rsync is in the cygwin package (unix emulator), http://www.cygwin.org
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Old 03-12-2008, 02:41 PM   #27
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Quote:
Just tested it with rsync. It seems to work.

rsync overwrites a file with the name mydoc.pdf with a folder with the name MYDOC.PDF (containing mydoc.pdf, manifest.xml, created by the iLiad). The other way around is not possible.

So:
- rsync your pdf files to the memory card
- open pdf's on iliad and scribble etc creating folders
- rsync the documents back to the pc which will replace pdf files with folders containing the pdf and the manifest file

Disadvantage is that the folder structure is changed (files become folders containing the files on the pc side), but I don't mind too much.

My only question now is if I can have a directory tree on my sd card with pdf files in many different folders. Contrary to my previous message I think now this is possible.
Great!!! Thank you for the information. This seems to be the best solution I've seen so far. I will try that immediately. Change in the folder structure on the PC side is a little bit of an issue, but I cannot complain too much as this is perhaps the best solution out there.

Once again, thank you for sharing!
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Old 03-27-2008, 05:58 AM   #28
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rsync and CF card

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr.giroro View Post
Great!!! Thank you for the information. This seems to be the best solution I've seen so far. I will try that immediately. Change in the folder structure on the PC side is a little bit of an issue, but I cannot complain too much as this is perhaps the best solution out there.

Once again, thank you for sharing!
A warning: tried to follow this approach (using rsync to copy from disk to memory card). With my memory card this does NOT work. It seems rsync does strange things on the memory card, resulting in I/O errors. So for me it does not work. I did not test rsync from memory card to disk (this might work).

I am following a different approach now: use zip / unzip (on cygwin). I can copy pdfs in this way to the memory card (whole directory tree, pdfs only, selected with a zip command line option), avoiding overwriting on the memory card (e.g. a file test.pdf on the pc will not overwrite a directory TEST.PDF on the memory card, unzip command line option). But I do NOT 'sync' back to my PC so far. Instead I just backup the pdf tree from the memory card to another folder on the pc.


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