|
I re-convert all the Gutenberg books via Calibre. I only download the mobi + images, then make epub2 and KF8/AZW, with the deliberate Gutenberg paragraph spacing replaced by 1.4 em indent, my favourite body font embedded (some ancient ereaders otherwise limited) and smarten punctuation.
We also use Calibre for epub2 and dual mobi for uploads to publish our own titles (variously edited in Word or LibreOffice Writer by Authors/Editor) via export/Save As to Docx.
In both cases conversion to epub2 first, with then any extra css editing or automated changes by Calibre, then all other formats produced without changes from the epub2.
Gutenberg has their own style guide and also I've found the margins & justification on some of their epubs strange. As I need KF8/AZW (works on all from Kindle Keyboard to PW4) and epub2 (all other makes) and Gutenberg style guide isn't what I like, it makes sense to save time & bandwidth only downloading the "mobi + images" version.
Archive.org is terrible. Usually no proofing. I don't bother downloading epub/mobi if it's only their own OCR of the pdf. If it's from Microsoft or Google Books scan, then PDF is best. If it's clean I might OCR, otherwise I import to The Gimp as layer per page setting new resolution, export in reverse order as mng and then adjust margin crop, contrast, brightness and change to mono in ImageMagick (you need to add PDF write to security, don't enable PDF read). Then the PDF will be MUCH faster in an eReader or App/Program. If it's still unsuitable for the Kobo Libra (FAR better for PDF than original Kobo H2O, Kindle DXG or Kindle PW3), then I read on a 10" Lenovo Android tablet in Pocketbook. I used to use a 10" Win10 Atom tablet, but the Lenovo about x5 faster and easier to use without a keyboard/mouse. The best Win10 PDF readers don't work well with touch and don't use volume keys as page keys like almost every Android PDF or ePub reader app.
|