Browse your calibre book collection from anywhere

[dcarlozzi]

Starson17, Thanks for the clarification..I guess I was thinking that the Calibre server would act like DropBox..Regards.

[tdk987]

Now that Stanza supports PDF, any chance of adding support to the server? I travel a lot and I can't stand iTunes' clunky USB transfer anyway, so it'd be much appreciated.

[kovidgoyal]

in newer versions of calibre, the content server sends PDF

[Olucon]

I am completely clueless on how to do this. Is there any way someone could put together a step by step document on how to set up this server? I have it running and I can get it to run from the 127.0.0.1 test server page, but I have no way to get any outside connections.

I have a cable modem, a linksys router, and my computer to host... Windows vista is the OS.

What do I need to do to host my files?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Olucon

I am completely clueless on how to do this. Is there any way someone could put together a step by step document on how to set up this server? I have it running and I can get it to run from the 127.0.0.1 test server page, but I have no way to get any outside connections.

I have a cable modem, a linksys router, and my computer to host... Windows vista is the OS.

What do I need to do to host my files?

Unfortunately you are entering into a world where life is complicated.

In the end, you want to host a web server at home. The easy part is the server -- calibre provides that. The hard part is all the glue and fiddling that goes on to permit someone on the internet to see your server. Although there are how-to guides, there are almost always 'small' issues that are highly technical.

If you are willing to try, then I suggest you start with one of two how-to guides. The first is http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/hostmyown.html. This one explains how to use 'dynamic dns', a technique that for a small upfront hassle avoids a lot of downstream hassles. The second is http://www.dslwebserver.com/. It provides more information, but makes assumptions about what you are trying to do that are probably over complicating things. In either case, don't pay attention to the parts talking about setting up a web server. You have one -- calibre. You will need to know the port number you used.

It is very difficult to help someone debug network setups, but people can provide suggestions to specific problems. If you try to set this up and have difficulties (and you probably will), post separate threads. Alternatively, you can ask on the fora associated with the how-to guides.

Final note: please be aware that by opening calibre, you are giving the bad guys a doorway into your home network. The doorway can be made very small, or it can be equivalent to leaving your keys in the front door lock. Be sure to forward only the calibre port (you will know what that means after following the how-tos). If possible, run the content server on a separate machine on your home network. Do not turn off any firewalls.

[Olucon]

Thanks, I'll check into that.

[koland]

Kovid, the docs need an update. This section:

Can I access my calibre books using the web browser in my Kindle or other reading device?¶

calibre has a Content Server that exports the books in calibre as a web page. You can turn it on under Preferences->Content Server. Then just point the web browser on your device to the computer running the Content Server and you will be able to browse your book collection. For example, if the computer running the server has IP address 63.45.128.5, in the browser, you would type:

http://63.45.128.5:8080

Some devices, like the Kindle, do not allow you to access port 8080 (the default port on which the content server runs. In that case, change the port in the calibre Preferences to 80. (On some operating systems, you may not be able to run the server on a port number less than 1024 because of security settings. In this case the simplest solution is to adjust your router to forward requests on port 80 to port 8080).

The K3 does allow access to port 8080 -- I just tested it and had no problems at all, including downloading a book.

There was an issue with the cover staying displayed on the web page after it was complete, but I switched to a new page of books and that cleared up. Also, in portrait view, if I accidentally scrolled to the right side of the table, I could not get back to the left side (cleared up by using landscape mode instead).

I did get one reboot of the Kindle while browsing the page, but I've come to expect that when using wifi on the K3. (in fact, it just crashed while browsing through the NYT blog download from Calibre, but I've also had it crash just paging thru the main menu).

[chaley]

Originally Posted by koland

There was an issue with the cover staying displayed on the web page after it was complete, but I switched to a new page of books and that cleared up. Also, in portrait view, if I accidentally scrolled to the right side of the table, I could not get back to the left side (cleared up by using landscape mode instead).

The /mobile version might work better. It doesn't use popups or javascript.

[kovidgoyal]

@koland: You should be seeing the mobile version of the content server page when using the K3. Are you seeing the normal content server page instead?

EDIT; never mind, I'll fix the next release (0.7.18) to send the mobile version by default for the kindle browser

[chodsdon]

The content server had been working fine for me..but since .16, whenever I test the server or anyone tries to access it, we get a javascript error Error:timeout undefined
Once I clear the error, searches work fine. The page header with the search box loads fine..so it doesn't seem to be a connection issue. It's just that initial timeout error when attempting to load the initial data.

Any ideas? (Still having the problem in .17)

Different browers...Firefox, Opera..no Stanza

[kovidgoyal]

can you use a javascript console to get more detail on that error.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by chodsdon

The content server had been working fine for me..but since .16, whenever I test the server or anyone tries to access it, we get a javascript error Error:timeout undefined
Once I clear the error, searches work fine. The page header with the search box loads fine..so it doesn't seem to be a connection issue. It's just that initial timeout error when attempting to load the initial data.

Any ideas? (Still having the problem in .17)

Different browers...Firefox, Opera..no Stanza

I can reproduce the problem by making my content server very slow (sticking sleep()s into it).

The message is being printed by jquery.js handleError, line 2843. It is doing what it is supposed to do -- printing a timeout message. The timeout is currently set to be 10 seconds. I put a 15 second sleep into the content server and started seeing the messages.

First question: why is your content server taking more than 10 seconds to respond? Is it on a slow machine? Low memory? Huge library? Any ideas?

Second question: how to fix it. One way is to increase the timeout in gui.js, but that seems like fixing the problem with a hammer. Another way is for you to create a local copy of gui.js and change the value yourself. A third way is to make the timeout into an option (rather complicated, but possible). Kovid, do you have a preference?

[chodsdon]

Reasonably quick machine (quad 2200), lots of memory (4G), large library, but I'll bet a lot of people have a lot more..24K+. The problem with all of these is that there was no problem a week or so ago. Now..is it possible that then it was taking 9.9 seconds to load and the last 100 books or so pushed it over 10..just as I updated versions? Going over 24K? I suppose so...

Shouldn't be network speeds..as it occurs internally (127.0. etc.) as well as externally.

Shouldn't the first page load fairly quickly..while the db continues to organize in the backround?

Big searches cause the same error message. ie.."a" and "ab" while "abc" comes right up..so it does seem size dependant.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by chodsdon

Shouldn't the first page load fairly quickly..while the db continues to organize in the backround?

No. Calibre first searches to apply any format limits and restrictions, then sorts the output, then picks the first N to display. Unless you are applying a restriction, it is probably the sort that is taking the time.

Big searches cause the same error message. ie.."a" and "ab" while "abc" comes right up..so it does seem size dependant.

Consistent with the above. First calibre searches, then sorts the results.

You might try to do a 'check database integrity' (preferences -> advanced). It has the side-effect of reorganizing the DB and regenerating all the indices.

You can test the timeout hypothesis relatively easily, if you are willing to hack a little bit. The idea is to copy the content server client-side files (javascript, etc) from the install directory to a local one, change the timeout (in gui.js), and try it.

Steps:
1) Open a file explorer on your calibre configuration directory. Preferences -> Advanced -> Open Configuration Folder will take you there.

2) Create a folder named 'resources'. Navigate into that folder.

3) Open another file explorer on your calibre install folder. Open the 'resources' folder.

4) Copy (not move!) the folder content_server from the explorer in step 3 (the install folder) to the explorer in step 2 (the resources subfolder of your configuration folder). You can delete all the files in the new content_server folder except the one you will change in the next step: gui.js.

5) In the resources/content_server folder in your configuration folder, edit the file gui.js. If you are on windows, don't use notepad but instead use wordpad or a programmer's editor, so that line endings will be correct. Change the number on the line
var LIBRARY_FETCH_TIMEOUT = 10000; // milliseconds
to something larger, perhaps 20000.

6) see what happens.


Be sure to delete all the copied folders once (if) an 'official' fix is provided.

[chodsdon]

Thanks Chaley, that worked (after restarting Calibre..just stopping and starting the server didn't work). By my count, it took 14-15 seconds to load. I'll do a check database integrity also and see if that has any effect. It really shouldn't have gone from <10 seconds to 14 in only a couple of days, a couple of hundred books, or a couple of updates.