.tex 2 .mobi

adrianf · 07-20-2013, 06:44 PM

Why does Calibre not convert a group of interconnected .tex and .bib files into one .mobi file?
The LaTeX format is much richer than most other input formats, so it should be much easier to convert into the Amazon format (or any other e-book output formats for that matter).

DaleDe · 07-21-2013, 01:19 AM

There are very few actual sources in those formats. In addition a .tex is more suited to a PDF with fixed layout than an ePub. Academic files typically don't flow well and tex is not designed for flowable documents. At some point it may be useful for fixed layout ePub files but the people generating those files are likely not using tex as an input.

Dale

Jellby · 07-21-2013, 02:52 AM

It would need a TeX program with who knows how many packages and auxiliary programs (like bibTeX). Then TeX files have usually a complex mixture of semantic and presentation markup, not to mention actual programming and macro code.

Try to find a good TeX to HTML converter, you'll see how difficult it is to extract anything meaningful and reliable out of arbitrary TeX code, by means other than TeX itself.

rkomar · 07-28-2013, 09:11 PM

I've translated fiction from LateX to HTML using latex2html with good results, and then imported the results to Sigil to produce epubs. I suspect that technical documents with tables, equations, source code snippets,... wouldn't work as well. You would probably have to produce images of those elements and embed them in the HTML.

Jellby · 07-29-2013, 03:47 AM

Even with "just" fiction, as soon as you start doing interesting stuff with LaTeX (use a non-default class like memoir, create your own commands, add poetry fragments, etc.) my experience is that latex2html becomes a nuisance and it's better to resort to manual conversion (if the LaTeX code is well structured, that's often quite easy).

07-20-2013, 06:44 PM	#1
adrianf Enthusiast Posts: 49 Karma: 2300 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: iPad+MacBookPro	.tex 2 .mobi Why does Calibre not convert a group of interconnected .tex and .bib files into one .mobi file? The LaTeX format is much richer than most other input formats, so it should be much easier to convert into the Amazon format (or any other e-book output formats for that matter).

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07-21-2013, 01:19 AM	#2
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	There are very few actual sources in those formats. In addition a .tex is more suited to a PDF with fixed layout than an ePub. Academic files typically don't flow well and tex is not designed for flowable documents. At some point it may be useful for fixed layout ePub files but the people generating those files are likely not using tex as an input. Dale

07-21-2013, 02:52 AM	#3
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,542 Karma: 19001583 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	It would need a TeX program with who knows how many packages and auxiliary programs (like bibTeX). Then TeX files have usually a complex mixture of semantic and presentation markup, not to mention actual programming and macro code. Try to find a good TeX to HTML converter, you'll see how difficult it is to extract anything meaningful and reliable out of arbitrary TeX code, by means other than TeX itself.

07-28-2013, 09:11 PM	#4
rkomar Wizard Posts: 3,037 Karma: 18765433 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633	I've translated fiction from LateX to HTML using latex2html with good results, and then imported the results to Sigil to produce epubs. I suspect that technical documents with tables, equations, source code snippets,... wouldn't work as well. You would probably have to produce images of those elements and embed them in the HTML.

07-29-2013, 03:47 AM	#5
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,542 Karma: 19001583 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Even with "just" fiction, as soon as you start doing interesting stuff with LaTeX (use a non-default class like memoir, create your own commands, add poetry fragments, etc.) my experience is that latex2html becomes a nuisance and it's better to resort to manual conversion (if the LaTeX code is well structured, that's often quite easy).

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