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Gabbar · 11-08-2009, 09:37 AM

Hi all,

I am a newbie to this forum.

Am considering to buy ipod Touch as a ebook-reader-cum-pocket-computer.

I tried reading Sanskrit documents (Veda & Upanishads) on my friend's ipod touch. Faced the following problems:

a) GoodReader rendered the Sanskrit beautifully (it did not have any complex script issues - described later on). But reading required horizontal scrolling (a few taps for each line) which was quite cumbersome. And unfortunately GoodReader could not reflow the Sanskrit docs.

b) Stanza could convert the pdf to a single font epub ebook. So documents having Sanskrit text and English translations of Sanskrit could not get rendered properly. Either the English text would show (if appropriate font was chosen) or the Sanskrit text would show (with poor rendering).

c) A Sanskrit only pdf document converted to epub would render properly on the Stanza viewer on Windows XP. But when transferred to the ipod, the Stanza app did not render the Sanskrit complex script properly. Specifically the half characters - like in the Sanskrit word Agni, ga is a half character and then we have full character consonant na and vowel e - are not combined properly and so make reading the badly rendered Sanskrit quite painful. [I am sorry I am not able to include images showing the correct rendering and the incorrect one and so folks not knowing Sanskrit would have difficulty in understanding what I have said.] In Windows XP one faces the same problem if one does not choose complex script rendering option [Install Files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)].

d) Tried Calibre but the resultant epub book faced the same problems as mentioned above (b & c).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I guess buying a larger form factor ebook reader would allow me to view the full pdf page and solve almost all of the above mentioned problems (so long as the pdf rendering program handles complex scripts like Sanskrit). But I intend to do a lot of my reading while I am walking indoors [Helps me keep fit :-)] for which I am more comfortable with an around 3.5 inch form factor. Further, I like the general purpose pocket computer (though proprietary and closed) aspect of the ipod Touch and its large number of available Apps.

Thanks in Advance

Gabbar

11-08-2009, 09:37 AM	#1
Gabbar Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: India Device: ipod Touch 8 GB (Fall 2009)	Reading Sanskrit documents on ipod Touch Hi all, I am a newbie to this forum. Am considering to buy ipod Touch as a ebook-reader-cum-pocket-computer. I tried reading Sanskrit documents (Veda & Upanishads) on my friend's ipod touch. Faced the following problems: a) GoodReader rendered the Sanskrit beautifully (it did not have any complex script issues - described later on). But reading required horizontal scrolling (a few taps for each line) which was quite cumbersome. And unfortunately GoodReader could not reflow the Sanskrit docs. b) Stanza could convert the pdf to a single font epub ebook. So documents having Sanskrit text and English translations of Sanskrit could not get rendered properly. Either the English text would show (if appropriate font was chosen) or the Sanskrit text would show (with poor rendering). c) A Sanskrit only pdf document converted to epub would render properly on the Stanza viewer on Windows XP. But when transferred to the ipod, the Stanza app did not render the Sanskrit complex script properly. Specifically the half characters - like in the Sanskrit word Agni, ga is a half character and then we have full character consonant na and vowel e - are not combined properly and so make reading the badly rendered Sanskrit quite painful. [I am sorry I am not able to include images showing the correct rendering and the incorrect one and so folks not knowing Sanskrit would have difficulty in understanding what I have said.] In Windows XP one faces the same problem if one does not choose complex script rendering option [Install Files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)]. d) Tried Calibre but the resultant epub book faced the same problems as mentioned above (b & c). Any help would be greatly appreciated. I guess buying a larger form factor ebook reader would allow me to view the full pdf page and solve almost all of the above mentioned problems (so long as the pdf rendering program handles complex scripts like Sanskrit). But I intend to do a lot of my reading while I am walking indoors [Helps me keep fit :-)] for which I am more comfortable with an around 3.5 inch form factor. Further, I like the general purpose pocket computer (though proprietary and closed) aspect of the ipod Touch and its large number of available Apps. Thanks in Advance Gabbar Last edited by Gabbar; 11-08-2009 at 09:59 AM.