PRS-505 Sony PRS-505 Mac generated E-Pub unreadable

[crumpy0118]

I've generated a few e-pub files from Pages (Apple Software). They are readable on the software "Reader for Mac". but when "synced" onto the PRS-505 all that shows is a single page entry with a page error message. The file 450Kb is shown as loaded onto the reader but the device can't display it!

I then tried (re)converting from (Mac) EPUB in Calibre to its version of EPUB this loads all the pages but font size is minimised and cannot be changed despite reader showing change from S-M-L.

Not a cry for help anymore just a tip, if you have a Sony PRS 505 forget E-Pub from Mac or Calibre; use PDF's they seem to work fine.

[Mark Nord]

Even if no help asked,

two things about epubs on Sony:
no single xhtml text-chunk should be larger then 200kb
fontsize shouldn't be specified in "em"

[crumpy0118]

Two things I don't understand, first what is a text chunk? certainly when the output in Calibre is set to 250kb file size is greater so I guess it doesn't mean that! Secondly what on earth is "em".

Please bear in mind the last time I programmed a computer it was in Fortran in 1968!

[Mark Nord]

For font-size check here
(And after thinking twice, I may be wrong here at all, but removing some fontsize settings in "em" form embedded CSS-file made Analogus fine-fontsizes work at my 650, with PRS+ Zork-Edition.)

I'm also not deep in epub generation, but this 250kb filesize-thing in calibre does a internal split up, making the file "readable" for Sony PRS. So maybe there is a similar setting in "Pages".

As epubs are technicaly ZIP-archives, just open them with 7-zip or something and compare the internal structure befor and after the calibere epub-epub conversion.

Much more to find in the calibre and epub braches here at MR.
And you may want to have a look at Sigil, too. At a first glance it should be available for Mac.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Mark Nord

Even if no help asked,

two things about epubs on Sony:
no single xhtml text-chunk should be larger then 200kb
fontsize shouldn't be specified in "em"

Calibre splits at 260kb and that works fine. Might be able to go slightly larger nearer to 300kb. But at least 260kb works fine.

As for the fontsize, Calibre does specify in em.

[elcreative]

Since your problem starts with Pages then your post should be "don't use Pages" as epubs generated on Macs are perfectly readable on 505s and other Sonys... but then I wasn't about to use Pages when there are much better tools around...

Don't blame the hardware when it's software... and don't blame anything until you've checked everything out as to problem cause...

[crumpy0118]

What a pointless exercise, no help here for the computer semi-literate, can anyone point to a forum where help is give in an understandable way?
The point I was seeking to make was don't get too sophisticated when using the Sony PRS505, if PDF's work then why bother with E-Pub?
I don't appreciate the diatribe about blaming hardware over software, isn't it the software on the hardware that makes some E-pubs readable on the Sony but others not?
Life's too short to explore every possible cause for this problem when it's not needed, I've solved it with PDF's.
Bye folks I'll certainly think twice before using this forum again,
PS no one bothered to answer my questions, what is a "text chunk" what is "em"? but I've lost interest.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by crumpy0118

What a pointless exercise, no help here for the computer semi-literate, can anyone point to a forum where help is give in an understandable way?

Not everybody gets what he wants the first time. Looking at your post count, I gather you are new here. I suggest you stay around some time before reaching conclusions like that.

The point I was seeking to make was don't get too sophisticated when using the Sony PRS505, if PDF's work then why bother with E-Pub?
I don't appreciate the diatribe about blaming hardware over software, isn't it the software on the hardware that makes some E-pubs readable on the Sony but others not?
Life's too short to explore every possible cause for this problem when it's not needed, I've solved it with PDF's.

If pdf is ok for you, then use it. I prefer ePub for several reasons:

- It is reflowable (meaning you can change font-size, or move the book to a device with a different screen size, and you will still be able to read it confortably).
- With pdf you need to keep a backup of the file in an editable format (for example, doc), just in case you need to make changes, while an ePub file can be edited.
- ePub files can be easily converted to other formats using calibre while pdf's don't usually convert well to other formats.

Bye folks I'll certainly think twice before using this forum again,
PS no one bothered to answer my questions, what is a "text chunk" what is "em"? but I've lost interest.

Just in case you change your mind, here are my answers:

Text chunk: the text of an ePub book is contained in one or more html or xhtml files. The text in each file is what some people call a "text chunk". The PRS-505 has a limit of around 300k on the size of these files, otherwise, the book will not open. A work around is to split the text in two or more files (a file per chapter is a possibility). You do this with your ePub generation software.

em: a relative measurement unit for font sizes. 1 em is the base font-size of your device or reading software. 2 em is double that size an so on.

[Mark Nord]

Originally Posted by crumpy0118

...
PS no one bothered to answer my questions, what is a "text chunk" what is "em"? but I've lost interest.

I'm not aware that my English is that bad that you can't pick up any information from my post #4.

[frquixote]

Originally Posted by Mark Nord

I'm not aware that my English is that bad that you can't pick up any information from my post #4.

Mark,

Your reference to the article on font sizes was certainly a most complete response to the "em" question, but the original poster may not have understood it if he hasn't done any programming since FORTRAN. I first learned to program in FORTRAN because it was considered a good beginner's language back in the 1970's. Unfortunately, it had very limited formatting capabilities and relied on the fixed pitch fonts found on the chain- and band-based printers of the day to maintain a consistent format. Those who needed more advanced formatting and data manipulation would rely on such "advanced" languages as RPG II or COBOL, which would allow them to specify formatting in ems for use with the early laser printers like the IBM 3800 (a monster of a machine).

Besides, I think the OP may have already been frustrated by his MAC software by the time he came here to ask. Clearly he wasn't inclined toward doing his own homework since both the font and "chunking" issues have been discussed many times all over MobileRead and other forums on epubs.

[crumpy0118]

I couldn't resist checking back and responding, after all isn't that what a forum is meant to be, or is reserved for programmers?
Mark, your English is good, but in order to communicate effectively with someone who admits readily to being computer illiterate, you need to use less technical language, please read Pablo's reply No 8 for an example of how to do this.
Friquitote wants me to do homework like some recalcitrant schoolboy! I don't appreciate being patronised either, the programming done on Fortran was in the period 1967-70 at Imperial College, it wasn't a such beginners language back then. To quote from Wikip "It is one of the most popular languages in the area of high-performance computing and is the language used for programs that benchmark and rank the world's fastest supercomputers."
I'm anything but frustrated by MAC software, the Epub produced by it are perfectly readable on my I-pad, it's the Sony software is where the problem lies, they supply "Reader Software for Mac" which reads the Epubs without a problem but is incapable of loading them in a legible format on the PRS-505.
I feel better having written the above I'll leave you to chew over my bones now.

[frquixote]

Originally Posted by crumpy0118

Friquitote wants me to do homework like some recalcitrant schoolboy! I don't appreciate being patronised either, the programming done on Fortran was in the period 1967-70 at Imperial College, it wasn't a such beginners language back then. To quote from Wikip "It is one of the most popular languages in the area of high-performance computing and is the language used for programs that benchmark and rank the world's fastest supercomputers."

But as with all the threads in the Sony forum that had already discussed both the "chunking" issue and ems, you failed to get the point. We usually expect people to do a little looking around to see if their question has been asked and answered before ... your "homework." I'm sorry that you think it is too much for us to expect people to do a bit of research before asking a question for the thousandth time.

As for the FORTRAN language comment, you again missed my point. I was defending your apparent lack of knowledge about formatting by pointing out that your programming baseline, FORTRAN, was not (and still IS not) known for its complex formatting capabilities. Agreed that it is a good engineering and scientific language, but by 1973 it was being used to teach introductory programming at quite a number of colleges and universities here in the US because of the simplicity of its language and structure. It was my first programming language in 1973 and I used it until 2000 (the last ten of those years on IBM's Massively Parallel Processing systems).

In closing, according to John Backus, the father of FORTRAN, he "started work on a programming system (FORTRAN) to make it easier to write programs." BTW, that quote comes from the same Fortran article in Wikipedia that you quoted ... guess you should have read a bit further.