Calibre on Mac - need guidance

[Hampshire Nanny]

OK guys, I'm not a Mac user. I have always used Windows machines and that's my comfort zone.

But, I'm trying to help a friend get up and going with Calibre and she only has a Mac. So I borrowed my husband's MacBook and just jumped in with both feet. I now have all kinds of questions, and in some cases I'm not sure if they are Calibre or Mac issues.

1. I installed 2.67 from the network following the link in the MobileRead Wiki to the Mac installer. This created a "disk mount" which shows up on the screen and two items when I "open" the disk. One is the Calibre icon and clicking on it starts Calibre running. The second is an Applications folder - which appears either not really be on that disk or is linked to the Mac's own Applications folder since it had lots of apps in it.

Q: Can I somehow get the Calibre icon/app into the Applications folder so I don't have to mount this disk every time I want to run Calibre?

2. The first time I clicked the Calibre icon, it went through an installation script. One thing it asked for is the type of reader. I selected Amazon, but it didn't list any of the older devices. I have a K3, my friend has the non-touch Kindle Basic. I selected the Kindle Touch, but was just frustrated that the implication is that Calibre no longer supports the older devices.

Q: Should I be concerned with the level of device support in 2.67? (Note that I'm currently running 2.34 on my Windows machine.)

3. I'm very familiar with Calibre -- at least the functions that I use -- and I want to show my friend a couple of the quick things that I do. I make a lot of use of the "right-click" button on my mouse. This MacBook just has a big touch pad area with no buttons at all.

Q: How do I do the equivalent of "right-click" to open context-sensitive menus?

4. I have added some plug-ins to the Calibre that I run on my Windows machine.

Q: Is there any consideration for compatibility of plug-ins with the Mac version of Calibre? In other words, do I need to go read the doc for each plug-in to see if it works with the Mac?


I think that's it for now. In advance, thanks for any help provided in understanding what I've got in place on the MacBook.

[BetterRed]

@Hampshire Nanny - sorry, I can't answer 1 & 2

Q3 - you should be able to plug a generic mouse into a usb port on the Macbook

Q4 - most plugins are OS agnostic, the Plugin Index includes which OS's are supported for each plugin. Any that aren't supported on the Mac, will be marked with 'Platform not supported' in the Get new plugins list (see the Recoll PI on your Windows machine)

BR

[dwig]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

OK guys, I'm not a Mac user....

1. I installed 2.67 from the network following the link in the MobileRead Wiki to the Mac installer. This created a "disk mount" which shows up on the screen and two items when I "open" the disk. One is the Calibre icon and clicking on it starts Calibre running. The second is an Applications folder - which appears either not really be on that disk or is linked to the Mac's own Applications folder since it had lots of apps in it.

Q: Can I somehow get the Calibre icon/app into the Applications folder so I don't have to mount this disk every time I want to run Calibre?

You have not "installed" Calibre yet. There is no true "installer" for the macOS. You've downloaded a "Disk Image" (*.dmg for Disk iMaGe) and when you double-clicked on it this virtual disk mounted and displayed the two items at its top level. One is an "alias" (read: "shortcut" in Windows-ese) to the system's Applications folder and the other is a bundle containing Calibre and all of its accessory pieces. Simply drag the Calibre icon and drop it on the Applications icon and you'll have copied the bundle to the systems Application folder. You can then Eject the virtual disk and delete the downloaded file.

2. The first time I clicked the Calibre icon, it went through an installation script. One thing it asked for is the type of reader. I selected Amazon, but it didn't list any of the older devices. I have a K3, my friend has the non-touch Kindle Basic. I selected the Kindle Touch, but was just frustrated that the implication is that Calibre no longer supports the older devices.

Q: Should I be concerned with the level of device support in 2.67? (Note that I'm currently running 2.34 on my Windows machine.)

It shouldn't be a concern.

3. I'm very familiar with Calibre -- at least the functions that I use -- and I want to show my friend a couple of the quick things that I do. I make a lot of use of the "right-click" button on my mouse. This MacBook just has a big touch pad area with no buttons at all.

Q: How do I do the equivalent of "right-click" to open context-sensitive menus?

Steve Jobs abhorred mice with more than one button. The topic of multi-button mice was not to be raised. Modern HID devices (mice, trackpads, ...) on Macs now support multi-touch, but often some of this is disabled in System Preferences. When you encounter this, you can simply CTRL-Click to replicate a the "right-click".

4. I have added some plug-ins to the Calibre that I run on my Windows machine.

Q: Is there any consideration for compatibility of plug-ins with the Mac version of Calibre? In other words, do I need to go read the doc for each plug-in to see if it works with the Mac?

Not that I'm aware of.

I think that's it for now. In advance, thanks for any help provided in understanding what I've got in place on the MacBook.

Keep in mind that on the macOS, most applications will be embedded in "bundles". For Calibre, this means that there is no visible "icon" for launching the Editor or the Ebook-Viewer independently of the main Library Manager. If, like me, you want direct access to either (for me it's the Editor) you can simply:

1. Launch Calibre's main Library Manager
2. Select a book and opt to edit it in the Editor
3. When the Editor launches, right-click (CTRL-click) on the icon that appears on the Dock ("Taskbar" in Windows-ese) and select the "Keep in Dock" options that will be on the resulting menu or one of its sub-menus.
4. Quit Editor without changing the book, unless you want to make edits, and the icon for the Editor will remain on the Dock for access later. You may wish to tag Calibre itself the same way.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Q: Can I somehow get the Calibre icon/app into the Applications folder so I don't have to mount this disk every time I want to run Calibre?

As dwig said, that is the standard procedure for "installing" things on OSX (which doesn't "do" installing things). Simply copy the app into the Applications folder and your friend will be able to hunt for the application in the Great Big Folder Of Stuff, like all other OSX apps apparently.

2. The first time I clicked the Calibre icon, it went through an installation script. One thing it asked for is the type of reader. I selected Amazon, but it didn't list any of the older devices. I have a K3, my friend has the non-touch Kindle Basic. I selected the Kindle Touch, but was just frustrated that the implication is that Calibre no longer supports the older devices.

Q: Should I be concerned with the level of device support in 2.67? (Note that I'm currently running 2.34 on my Windows machine.)

It costs nothing to keep supporting old devices, and thus they are never de-supported.

The Kindle Touch driver covers all Kindles except for the K1 and the DX.

...

The setup prompt asks you for a device, in order to set the default output profile -- the only thing that does is selects the right maximum size for image rescaling during conversions.

4. I have added some plug-ins to the Calibre that I run on my Windows machine.

Q: Is there any consideration for compatibility of plug-ins with the Mac version of Calibre? In other words, do I need to go read the doc for each plug-in to see if it works with the Mac?

Any plugin which only supports certain OSes will say so and refuse to install (and the Plugin Index won't offer it to you).
Only one or to are like that, e.g. the abandoned Recoll indexing plugin (recoll is, or at least was, Linux-only).