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daudi · 11-01-2007, 09:21 AM

Hi Matt,

I am also using my iliad as a replacement for reading PDFs on screen or printing them out. Here's some of my general approach followed by some of the issues I have worked through to make it work with the iliad, followed by a typical work flow.

A) General approach

i) Referencing:

I use bibtex as my reference manager and until I got my iliad I used to have one large file with all my entries in.

ii) Storage strategy:

I like to name the PDFs that I download using the same keys as I use in my bib files, e.g. blogs03AD would be first author Blogs, published 2003, second author's name starts with 'A', third author with 'D' (to be reasonably sure the key will be unique). I then have a library (directory) with directories for articles, books, reports, and within the articles directory I file the references in alphabetical order. This makes it easy to find an article 6 months down the line.

Important: When I am actually working on something, however, I like to have the articles I am working with in the directory where I am working, and on linux I use symlinks to the stored articles for this.

B) Making this work on the iliad

i) Since getting the iliad, because it uses container directories, I have decided to create a single bib file for each PDF and keep the bib file in the container directory. I then have a script that uses "find" and "cat" (on my linux pc) to get all the individual bib files and makes one big one that I refer to when creating documents on my PC.

ii) I now have all of my references and books on a USB stick so that I can easily access them on my PC or my iliad. I still have a library directory and file articles by author name. I have directories for "A-E" and so on.

I have a script that I run on my PC that takes a PDF and arguments for the description and then creates a container directory, manifest file, an image of the first page of the PDF and puts whole lot in the container directory. The manifest file has a reference to the image so the first page appears in the content lister.

I have another script that I can run from the command line but now have integrated into the gnome file manager that creates something a bit like a windows shortcut to a PDF container. (This is because I can't use symlinks on a USB stick formatted to play nicely with windows and I haven't tried to format my USB stick for ext2/linux). The script creates a new container directory and a manifest file that points to the orginal PDF. I can then move this to my working directory and leave the original PDF in the library. When I open the PDF using this shortcut it refers not only to the original PDF but also to the scribble.irx so I get my previous scribbles and accumulate more as I work.

I do all my reading and annotating on the iliad and use my PC for writing. Reading multi-column articles on the iliad has become much smoother now that I use the version of ipdf with the column-mode patch.

Here's a typical work flow:

i) I do my searching on my PC and save a PDF to a specific directory using my key filename system.

ii) Use pybliographer to get the bib information and create a bib file or download it directly if it is available and save that with the same basename to the same download directory.

iii) Use my script to create the customised container directory

iv) move the container directory to my USB stick

v) create a shortcut and move that to my working directory on the USB stick

vi) Put the USB stick in the iliad, go to my working directory and read and annotate.

This is working well for me. I always have all of my references with me and most of the work is automated.

11-01-2007, 09:21 AM	#2
daudi Addict Posts: 281 Karma: 904 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Kent, UK Device: iRex iLiad, Psion 5MX, nokia n800	Hi Matt, I am also using my iliad as a replacement for reading PDFs on screen or printing them out. Here's some of my general approach followed by some of the issues I have worked through to make it work with the iliad, followed by a typical work flow. A) General approach i) Referencing: I use bibtex as my reference manager and until I got my iliad I used to have one large file with all my entries in. ii) Storage strategy: I like to name the PDFs that I download using the same keys as I use in my bib files, e.g. blogs03AD would be first author Blogs, published 2003, second author's name starts with 'A', third author with 'D' (to be reasonably sure the key will be unique). I then have a library (directory) with directories for articles, books, reports, and within the articles directory I file the references in alphabetical order. This makes it easy to find an article 6 months down the line. Important: When I am actually working on something, however, I like to have the articles I am working with in the directory where I am working, and on linux I use symlinks to the stored articles for this. B) Making this work on the iliad i) Since getting the iliad, because it uses container directories, I have decided to create a single bib file for each PDF and keep the bib file in the container directory. I then have a script that uses "find" and "cat" (on my linux pc) to get all the individual bib files and makes one big one that I refer to when creating documents on my PC. ii) I now have all of my references and books on a USB stick so that I can easily access them on my PC or my iliad. I still have a library directory and file articles by author name. I have directories for "A-E" and so on. I have a script that I run on my PC that takes a PDF and arguments for the description and then creates a container directory, manifest file, an image of the first page of the PDF and puts whole lot in the container directory. The manifest file has a reference to the image so the first page appears in the content lister. I have another script that I can run from the command line but now have integrated into the gnome file manager that creates something a bit like a windows shortcut to a PDF container. (This is because I can't use symlinks on a USB stick formatted to play nicely with windows and I haven't tried to format my USB stick for ext2/linux). The script creates a new container directory and a manifest file that points to the orginal PDF. I can then move this to my working directory and leave the original PDF in the library. When I open the PDF using this shortcut it refers not only to the original PDF but also to the scribble.irx so I get my previous scribbles and accumulate more as I work. I do all my reading and annotating on the iliad and use my PC for writing. Reading multi-column articles on the iliad has become much smoother now that I use the version of ipdf with the column-mode patch. Here's a typical work flow: i) I do my searching on my PC and save a PDF to a specific directory using my key filename system. ii) Use pybliographer to get the bib information and create a bib file or download it directly if it is available and save that with the same basename to the same download directory. iii) Use my script to create the customised container directory iv) move the container directory to my USB stick v) create a shortcut and move that to my working directory on the USB stick vi) Put the USB stick in the iliad, go to my working directory and read and annotate. This is working well for me. I always have all of my references with me and most of the work is automated.