Pocket Pro: What Am I Doing Wrong?

ThomasMcKean · 09-18-2009, 08:54 PM

So many of yew are happy with this, that I must be doing something wrong?

TXT is following carriage returns to a fault.

HTML is centering the text.

ZIP and RAR comics are not displaying. Tries and goes back to menu. This is after renaming CBR and CBZ to RAR and ZIP.

EPUB scrolls off the right edge of the screen and is unreadable.

I am an award-winning writer and voracious reader. And I know my way around gadgets. Apparently all except this one.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

Thomas

Mnementh · 09-18-2009, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

So many of yew are happy with this, that I must be doing something wrong?

TXT is following carriage returns to a fault.

HTML is centering the text.

ZIP and RAR comics are not displaying. Tries and goes back to menu. This is after renaming CBR and CBZ to RAR and ZIP.

EPUB scrolls off the right edge of the screen and is unreadable.

I am an award-winning writer and voracious reader. And I know my way around gadgets. Apparently all except this one.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

Thomas

Welcome to the forum:

TXT Not quite sure what you mean with this one, surely you want carriage returns to be respected? Need more detail of the problem.

HTML I'm no html guy so I'll let somebody else chime in with this one but the two html tests I've made both justified the text correctly, addmittedly they were from fan fiction sites so were already formatted for reading.

I don't have any comics to test this problem sorry.

EPUB Need a bit more detail as to what the problem is I've not seen any problems with epub other than the odd badly formatted file and the perennial page number bug.

Can you provide files that you are having problems with so we can test them? Providing they are freely distributable of course. I would also suggest trying some of the many files uploaded to MR for testing purposes.

There are many knowledgeable people on this forum who will only be too happy to help.

ThomasMcKean · 09-18-2009, 09:33 PM

Yes yew are right about carriage returns. I would want them in my document. But I would want them at the right place so as to be pleasant to read.

In other
words, I don't
really want the text
to
look like this.

See what I mean? I having been trying to figure out how to remove soft carriage returns from a document while leaving the hard ones in. So far, no good. In case anyone is wondering, this applies to all 325 novels of "The Shadow" that I am reading. I am on number 4.

And who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

Another thing I have noticed is th at sometimesthe tex talso appea rsto look liket his. But this on PDB, I think.

This is quite maddening. I have been working on various formats all day and I have gotten nowhere.

And where is the clock? Every reader and its great aunt petunia has a clock!

I could not be more disappointed with this device. Yes it suports 20 formats (sort of...the ZIP and RAR did not work), but the necessary formatting options on other readers to keep these problems I have from happening just are not there.

Tonight I will be reading (again) on my AT&T Tilt using Allreader+, and this morning I thought those days were over.

Thomas

tamzilla · 09-18-2009, 10:39 PM

There is nothing worse than trying to read badly formatted ebooks!

Any chance you are using Calibre as a library manager for your e-books? If so, you could try converting your txt files to another format (or even back to txt). If they are formatted like a Project Gutenberg txt file, Calibre should do a pretty good job of getting rid of the breaks at the end of each line, while preserving the paragraphs, just by using the default conversion settings. You could even try converting the ePub back to ePub to see if it will fix the problem you were having with that file.

ThomasMcKean · 09-18-2009, 11:12 PM

YES I AM using Calibre. Linux version. I only see three options for formatting?

MOBI
EPUB
LRF

None of them work and I did try them all! ACK!

Thomas

AnemicOak · 09-18-2009, 11:30 PM

It's hard to say. Do you have Open Office or anything available? Does the file look ok in that? If so save it as a doc file and maybe see how that looks on the PP.

Sounds like the source file might be the problem. Are these darknet scans or are the Shadow books public domain and therefore something you could post an example of for some of us to take a look at?

AnemicOak · 09-18-2009, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

YES I AM using Calibre. Linux version. I only see three options for formatting?

MOBI
EPUB
LRF

None of them work and I did try them all! ACK!

Thomas

Must be an older version (5.x). The newer versions offer more formats.

Do the books view ok in the Calibre viewer?

DaleDe · 09-19-2009, 12:18 AM

If the RAR or ZIP images fail to read it is likely they are too many pixels. I have found approximately 4 Mpixel images are the biggest it will digest successfully. (2k x 2k) approx.
Try just using some images you might have lying around and see what it does. You may also want to try IrfanView for the pc. It is a free download and can resize a batch of images to a smaller size. It does a very good job. The image size for the device is only 800x600 with about 760 really visible. Anything larger will get resized down to that level.

Dale

ThomasMcKean · 09-19-2009, 12:36 AM

After I read the posts here I checked my version of Calibre. It was 4.X.X so I downloaded the latest and now it seems everything is working right! YAY!

A few questions, though, before I go read this thing for the first time....?

How do I configure Calibre to just give the name of the book instead of the name and author? I am getting a title in the menu like:

name - author.pdb

and I what I am looking for is:

name.pdb

Certainly there is a way to do this?

I have something GOOD to say about this reader now....If yew delete the recently viewed file and clear that out, yew still have the bookmarks! It is kewl that they are kept in separate files. Very convenient.

I have been playing with the comic conversion a bit... I am not sure how to configure so yew can have page width in landscape? Reading an entire page vertical on a 5 inch screen is a bit rough on my autistic eyes. Is there a way to make the page width horizontal and scroll down? I tried a few settings but I wasn't able to find it. I was converting from CBR to PDF. Is there a better way?

I am a bit bummed that the reader supports over 20 formats and still I need to convert. But it is obvious to me now that the reader may not be at fault for this. It may be the files themselves. Either that, or Calibre definitely deserves a donation!

Far as I know, the Shadow books are public domain. Circa 1931 or so. Incredible writing. Very politically incorrect, but amazing talent.

One more thing... Is there a way with this device to make the hyphenation optional? It doesn't really seem to do a good job and reading is easier without it anyway. Is there a parameter either on the PP or in Calibre for this?

If it is not on the PP, is this something that can be added in a firmware update? Maybe a long with a clock? *Blink*

Thomas

DaleDe · 09-19-2009, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

After I read the posts here I checked my version of Calibre. It was 4.X.X so I downloaded the latest and now it seems everything is working right! YAY!

A few questions, though, before I go read this thing for the first time....?

How do I configure Calibre to just give the name of the book instead of the name and author? I am getting a title in the menu like:

name - author.pdb

and I what I am looking for is:

name.pdb

Certainly there is a way to do this?

I have something GOOD to say about this reader now....If yew delete the recently viewed file and clear that out, yew still have the bookmarks! It is kewl that they are kept in separate files. Very convenient.

I have been playing with the comic conversion a bit... I am not sure how to configure so yew can have page width in landscape? Reading an entire page vertical on a 5 inch screen is a bit rough on my autistic eyes. Is there a way to make the page width horizontal and scroll down? I tried a few settings but I wasn't able to find it. I was converting from CBR to PDF. Is there a better way?

I am a bit bummed that the reader supports over 20 formats and still I need to convert. But it is obvious to me now that the reader may not be at fault for this. It may be the files themselves. Either that, or Calibre definitely deserves a donation!

Far as I know, the Shadow books are public domain. Circa 1931 or so. Incredible writing. Very politically incorrect, but amazing talent.

Thomas

Converting to PDF for CBR is a good way to ensure it can be read in landscape. There is a rotate option in the PDF menu to rotate the screen. XPDF can also be used as a choice on PP. In that case zoom to the 3 setting.

The Shadow is, unfortunately, not in public domain and the owners are aggressive about stopping people from sharing these files. They used to be on memoware but no longer. Be warned. I love them, by the way and even used to host a few that I had corrected but no longer since I found they are still copyrighted.

Dale

ThomasMcKean · 09-19-2009, 12:53 AM

Thank yew for your reply. I did rotate the PDF and it was even smaller because it was full page in landscape, just taking the middle of the screen. What did I do wrong here?

I was not aware the Shadow was still under copyright. I suppose I am not really surprised by this, given the popularity. I know a lot of the old pulps are PD now but I guess the best of them isn't.

I was given these 325 novels to read. Now I have an ethical dilemma. ACK! What to do?

I wonder if there is a way to buy them in digital format as a set at a good price?

Surely that is too much to ask, I suppose...

Thomas

Phogg · 09-19-2009, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

Thank yew for your reply. I did rotate the PDF and it was even smaller because it was full page in landscape, just taking the middle of the screen. What did I do wrong here?

I was not aware the Shadow was still under copyright. I suppose I am not really surprised by this, given the popularity. I know a lot of the old pulps are PD now but I guess the best of them isn't.

I was given these 325 novels to read. Now I have an ethical dilemma. ACK! What to do?

I wonder if there is a way to buy them in digital format as a set at a good price?

Surely that is too much to ask, I suppose...

Thomas

They had lapsed but were renewed in late 90s. Black Mask and several other pulp fan sites had them up briefly in .pdf.

pilotbob · 09-19-2009, 01:23 AM

Thomas,

You might want to try Stingo's Word Macro...

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8793

BOb

DaleDe · 09-19-2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

Thank yew for your reply. I did rotate the PDF and it was even smaller because it was full page in landscape, just taking the middle of the screen. What did I do wrong here?

I was not aware the Shadow was still under copyright. I suppose I am not really surprised by this, given the popularity. I know a lot of the old pulps are PD now but I guess the best of them isn't.

I was given these 325 novels to read. Now I have an ethical dilemma. ACK! What to do?

I wonder if there is a way to buy them in digital format as a set at a good price?

Surely that is too much to ask, I suppose...

Thomas

Try using XPDF as the reader and then zoom twice to get to landscape mode. Also try zooming in the ADE reader and see if that will cause the images to appear ok. I am not sure ADE can split an image but XPDF can.

As to your Shadow novels I am starting to see Shadow novels being published as books again on RadioSpirits.com. They have had the radio shows for a long time now. I am not aware of any eBook source for these novels currently. Perhaps RadioSpirits would like to expand their business. How good are your copies? I never saw nearly so many (although I might be able to dig out a hundred or so from an old archive

) and didn't even know there were that many completed.

DaleDe · 09-19-2009, 01:37 PM

Ah, 325 is the full set I see. Check http://www.spaceports.com/~deshadow/ for more information.

09-18-2009, 08:54 PM	#1
ThomasMcKean Disabilities Advocate Posts: 255 Karma: 162 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Blue Ridge Mountains Device: Kindle PW3	Pocket Pro: What Am I Doing Wrong? So many of yew are happy with this, that I must be doing something wrong? TXT is following carriage returns to a fault. HTML is centering the text. ZIP and RAR comics are not displaying. Tries and goes back to menu. This is after renaming CBR and CBZ to RAR and ZIP. EPUB scrolls off the right edge of the screen and is unreadable. I am an award-winning writer and voracious reader. And I know my way around gadgets. Apparently all except this one. What the heck am I doing wrong? Thomas

09-18-2009, 09:33 PM	#3
ThomasMcKean Disabilities Advocate Posts: 255 Karma: 162 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Blue Ridge Mountains Device: Kindle PW3	Yes yew are right about carriage returns. I would want them in my document. But I would want them at the right place so as to be pleasant to read. In other words, I don't really want the text to look like this. See what I mean? I having been trying to figure out how to remove soft carriage returns from a document while leaving the hard ones in. So far, no good. In case anyone is wondering, this applies to all 325 novels of "The Shadow" that I am reading. I am on number 4. And who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Another thing I have noticed is th at sometimesthe tex talso appea rsto look liket his. But this on PDB, I think. This is quite maddening. I have been working on various formats all day and I have gotten nowhere. And where is the clock? Every reader and its great aunt petunia has a clock! I could not be more disappointed with this device. Yes it suports 20 formats (sort of...the ZIP and RAR did not work), but the necessary formatting options on other readers to keep these problems I have from happening just are not there. Tonight I will be reading (again) on my AT&T Tilt using Allreader+, and this morning I thought those days were over. Thomas Last edited by ThomasMcKean; 09-18-2009 at 10:25 PM.

09-19-2009, 12:36 AM	#9
ThomasMcKean Disabilities Advocate Posts: 255 Karma: 162 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Blue Ridge Mountains Device: Kindle PW3	After I read the posts here I checked my version of Calibre. It was 4.X.X so I downloaded the latest and now it seems everything is working right! YAY! A few questions, though, before I go read this thing for the first time....? How do I configure Calibre to just give the name of the book instead of the name and author? I am getting a title in the menu like: name - author.pdb and I what I am looking for is: name.pdb Certainly there is a way to do this? I have something GOOD to say about this reader now....If yew delete the recently viewed file and clear that out, yew still have the bookmarks! It is kewl that they are kept in separate files. Very convenient. I have been playing with the comic conversion a bit... I am not sure how to configure so yew can have page width in landscape? Reading an entire page vertical on a 5 inch screen is a bit rough on my autistic eyes. Is there a way to make the page width horizontal and scroll down? I tried a few settings but I wasn't able to find it. I was converting from CBR to PDF. Is there a better way? I am a bit bummed that the reader supports over 20 formats and still I need to convert. But it is obvious to me now that the reader may not be at fault for this. It may be the files themselves. Either that, or Calibre definitely deserves a donation! Far as I know, the Shadow books are public domain. Circa 1931 or so. Incredible writing. Very politically incorrect, but amazing talent. One more thing... Is there a way with this device to make the hyphenation optional? It doesn't really seem to do a good job and reading is easier without it anyway. Is there a parameter either on the PP or in Calibre for this? If it is not on the PP, is this something that can be added in a firmware update? Maybe a long with a clock? Blink Thomas Last edited by ThomasMcKean; 09-19-2009 at 12:45 AM.

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09-18-2009, 10:39 PM	#4
tamzilla Zealot Posts: 112 Karma: 2781 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: VA, USA Device: nook, Ipod touch	There is nothing worse than trying to read badly formatted ebooks! Any chance you are using Calibre as a library manager for your e-books? If so, you could try converting your txt files to another format (or even back to txt). If they are formatted like a Project Gutenberg txt file, Calibre should do a pretty good job of getting rid of the breaks at the end of each line, while preserving the paragraphs, just by using the default conversion settings. You could even try converting the ePub back to ePub to see if it will fix the problem you were having with that file.

09-18-2009, 11:12 PM	#5
ThomasMcKean Disabilities Advocate Posts: 255 Karma: 162 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Blue Ridge Mountains Device: Kindle PW3	YES I AM using Calibre. Linux version. I only see three options for formatting? MOBI EPUB LRF None of them work and I did try them all! ACK! Thomas

09-18-2009, 11:30 PM	#6
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	It's hard to say. Do you have Open Office or anything available? Does the file look ok in that? If so save it as a doc file and maybe see how that looks on the PP. Sounds like the source file might be the problem. Are these darknet scans or are the Shadow books public domain and therefore something you could post an example of for some of us to take a look at?

09-19-2009, 12:18 AM	#8
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	If the RAR or ZIP images fail to read it is likely they are too many pixels. I have found approximately 4 Mpixel images are the biggest it will digest successfully. (2k x 2k) approx. Try just using some images you might have lying around and see what it does. You may also want to try IrfanView for the pc. It is a free download and can resize a batch of images to a smaller size. It does a very good job. The image size for the device is only 800x600 with about 760 really visible. Anything larger will get resized down to that level. Dale

09-19-2009, 12:53 AM	#11
ThomasMcKean Disabilities Advocate Posts: 255 Karma: 162 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Blue Ridge Mountains Device: Kindle PW3	Thank yew for your reply. I did rotate the PDF and it was even smaller because it was full page in landscape, just taking the middle of the screen. What did I do wrong here? I was not aware the Shadow was still under copyright. I suppose I am not really surprised by this, given the popularity. I know a lot of the old pulps are PD now but I guess the best of them isn't. I was given these 325 novels to read. Now I have an ethical dilemma. ACK! What to do? I wonder if there is a way to buy them in digital format as a set at a good price? Surely that is too much to ask, I suppose... Thomas

09-19-2009, 01:23 AM	#13
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	Thomas, You might want to try Stingo's Word Macro... https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8793 BOb

09-19-2009, 01:37 PM	#15
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	Ah, 325 is the full set I see. Check http://www.spaceports.com/~deshadow/ for more information.