[chaley]

Originally Posted by Daria9000

I just bought the Calibre Companion for my Kindle Fire and have set it up with my content server.

Then I realized there is a major flaw in the structure for me ... unless I am missing something.

I can only use the Calibre app if I am connected to the Content Server, right? In other words, it doesn't seem possible to use it "offline". If I am missing something, please let me know.

No, you are not right. You only need to be online if you want to fetch books from the content server. Once you have fetched a book, either from the content server or via the wireless device connection, it is on your device and can be used offline.

However, reading below it seems that your problem is that you want to access the content server when it is turned off. This is a different issue.

The issue: my content server is on my PC. This is a work computer (professional and personal). When I am working on the PC, my Fire is off and elsewhere.

When I'm using the Fire, for reading or whatever, I am not at the PC, and it is turned off. I do not want to leave the PC on 24hrs/day just so I can use Calibre on the Fire...to say nothing of the fact that it wouldn't help when I'm using the Fire away from home.

It seems to me there are 2 potential solutions: 1. having some way to store my Calibre content in the cloud. I suspect this would require more resources than the Calibre community has.

What I and many people do is to put the content server itself in the "cloud". This technique works well but it does cost money. Here is one discussion about how to set it up. Currently Linode, the company I use, charges $10/month for a server powerful enough to run calibre's content server 24/7.

Another option is to use Calibre Cloud instead of CC, but I think it does require you to be online because your library must be in Dropbox etc.

Second, create a way to download the catalogue only (authors, titles, metadata) to the Fire. Ideally, it would indicate if a book is stored locally or not (just as Amazon distinguishes between books in the cloud and books on the device).

Many people do this by simply keeping their entire library on the device in CC. I have seen people using CC with libraries in excess of 15,000 books.

With your scheme how would you get a book that wasn't on the device? I understand you to be saying that when you have your fire in hand the content server is guaranteed to be off and the computer running calibre is not available.

I now have so many ebooks that Amazon's display options, including its pitiful collections, are very limited. I had hoped that Calibre on the Fire would give me the display flexibility, especially for series, genres that the desktop version offers.

But if I can't use the Companion offline, it's useless.

I don't mind having spent the money. I've gotten quite a lot of value from the desktop version. I'm simply disappointed that it's not going to work for me on the Fire ... unless there is an option I have missed.

It seems that your library is permanently separated from your fire. There is no way to connect the fire to calibre either to a content server or as a wireless device. In this case you are correct, CC is probably useless.