Please help me help my son - i.e. how to work on 2 PCs

[Rida]

Hello, gentlefolks.

I'll get to the point because I think this is gong to be longish ...



I've bought my kid a Kobo Forma. I don't have an ereader but I read books on my small phone sometimes.

I used to have a calibre library but that was ages ago. When I get another, I'll start from scratch.

I've set up a library on his PC with 40 books so far. All good, and communicating with the Forma no problem.

Here's my main goal ...

I want to be able to add metadata etc etc on MY computer and then update HIS library with that new info.

One way seems to be to copy the updated library folder from my PC to his and then use "switch/create library" and make a new library each time - as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CemyyMTbNMM

I'm happy doing that because it's easy.

But while doing this metadata updating, I've been making rules in "Preferences>Metadata download>Create rules to filter/transform tags".

How to get those rules from my PC to his without redoing them?

Also, at some point I'm going to want my own library separate from his.

How can I then continue to do work on 'his' books on my PC and then update only those books on his PC?

I'm about a thousand years old, I don't know what a NAS is, my free 2GB Dropbox account is full up and I really don't want to go down a complicated route like that.

I'd just like to find new books for him while he's busy on his own machine and then add them to his calibre library as I go along, with all the metadata I've updated included.

Any help and suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Many thanks.

[Pajamaman]

I don't really do Kobo and Calibre much, so perhaps my comment is no use. But I use Koreader which works on a Kobo. I don't bother with metadata or anything like that. I change the filenames of the books then dump them in folders on the ereader organized by author.

[Rida]

Thank you, Pajamaman.

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the Kobo. I'm fine with organising things on the ereader; I use the tags in calibre to sort the books into Kobo's "collections".

My real questions are ...

I want to be able to add metadata etc etc on MY computer and then update HIS library with that new info.

One way seems to be to copy the updated library folder from my PC to his and then use "switch/create library" and make a new library each time - as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CemyyMTbNMM

I'm happy doing that because it's easy.

But while doing this metadata updating, I've been making rules in "Preferences>Metadata download>Create rules to filter/transform tags".

How to get those rules from my PC to his without redoing them?

Also, at some point I'm going to want my own library separate from his.

How can I then continue to do work on 'his' books on my PC and then update only those books on his PC?

[stumped]

here is one solution
you need to pick ONE pc to be the master copy of the calibre library. do all the edits on that.. INSIDE of that calibre library can be 2 different virtual libraries - yours and his- that is 2 different views.
then you can mirror( one way sync that entire library to a 2nd PC with various free utilities ( I use Free file Sync- mirroring is quick and easy once you have set it up.
having one librarian and one master copy is the safe route. if you both start updating in 2 different places then try to combine stuff its' more likely to go wrong.

another way - just for getting a few books remotely onto his Forma, is to link the Forma to dropbox, then you put copies of the books he want into dropbox and he gets them from dropbox directly onto the forma
the forma has dropbox integration built in. you just tell it the dropbox credentials and let it link, then it creates a special RATUKEN KOBO shared folder in dropbox, You from your PC, can upload (epub format) books into that from your calibre library via a browser or via the dropbox app. Your son, from his Kobo just turns on wifi and can see, read the books

the 2nd way is simpler. otherwise you have to get a bit geeky to set up 2 libraries, and to set up mirroring

[Rida]

Originally Posted by stumped

another way - just for getting a few books remotely onto his Forma, is to link the Forma to dropbox, then you put copies of the books he want into dropbox and he gets them from dropbox directly onto the forma

Thanks very much for the reply. I'm not really concerned about linking with the Forma. That's all easy enough.

I just want to do metadata editing on my PC and then move those edits over to his PC.

Originally Posted by stumped

here is one solution
you need to pick ONE pc to be the master copy of the calibre library. do all the edits on that.. INSIDE of that calibre library can be 2 different virtual libraries - yours and his- that is 2 different views.
then you can mirror( one way sync that entire library to a 2nd PC with various free utilities ( I use Free file Sync- mirroring is quick and easy once you have set it up.
having one librarian and one master copy is the safe route. if you both start updating in 2 different places then try to combine stuff its' more likely to go wrong.

... you have to get a bit geeky to set up 2 libraries, and to set up mirroring

I'll look into that. Thank you again.

To be honest, I'm not even really sure how to phrase my situation/needs/questions. I mean, I don't know what I want to do!

I have a son. He's got a PC but is nowhere near up to speed on metadata editing etc. I want to get him books and put them into calibre but then come back to them and edit the metadata. But when he's using his PC, I can't use it, so I want to be able to edit books on my PC and then put them on his PC.

Does all te metadata get embedded in the book when I update it.

I so, maybe I should just delete the books on his PC and replace them with the ones I've edited?

Thanks again.

[theducks]

Go with Stumped's Mirror method. if you 'need' 2 PCs to host.

OTOH
If you are the keeper of the Libraries.

Consider the Content server for his access. YOU maintain control. He can download from the one he has access to (Content server does have user rights settings)
(almost ) Any browser can be used at the users end to select and download books.

If the device supports OPDS, the content server will source to that without much effort on your part

[stumped]

i have not tested, but I don't think you can see a content server directly from a kobo. not sure if the Forma even has a browser...
I have tested the epub via dropbox method with my Forma. It works , but for me it's simpler to just use a wire from Forma to PC. Good potential solution if OP and son are in different locations...

more info on their setup would help
she'd probably appreciate a "for dummies" guide to using calibre export and import to set up the 2 PC option. I expect there are several here, already ?

PS to OP, the metadata gets updated inside a book when you use calibre save to folder ( or whatever its called- i know it exists but I don't use it ). So If you used that to save a book to a dropbox local folder, then left it to sync, he would get the changes when he picked up the book from dropbox, later.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by stumped

i have not tested, but I don't think you can see a content server directly from a kobo. not sure if the Forma even has a browser...

You can access the content server from a Forma (the web browser is in settings => Beta. If you use a username and password, they have to be included in the URL and you will need to use the /mobile option. I haven't tested downloading an epub in a while but see no reason for it not to work. Hmmm... why does that sound like famous last words?

Something like:

[url]http://username:password@192.168.45.72:8080/mobile[/url]

A bit of a pain but it does work.

[Rida]

Than you everyone very much.

I really think I've been overthinking this though (and kind of wasting your time, sorry!).

He doesn't need calibre at all at the moment really. I'll just keep my calibre library and mark his books with his name in a tag or something, then just load those books on the Forma from my PC.

That will work fine.

[stumped]

yes, that will work fine, I use the same system for my son - put his name in a tag on his books.
you may want to persevere with linking his forma to your dropbox though, just as a backup method.

[Rida]

I will, stumped. Thank you.