Vade Mecum can't see Calibre-converted PDB files

[MamaSylvia]

I LOVE Calibre and am happily using it to convert non-DRM files to read on my Kindle, and it works great. But I also have an old Toshiba e800 running Vade Mecum, the Plucker-reading program for non-Palm OSs, and I wish Calibre-converted PDB files would be recognizable as well. I've tried the obvious changes, such as changing filename.pdb to filename.plucker.pdb (which is how the Gutenberg Plucker files that Vade Mecum *does* recognize are named) but it didn't help. And Vade Mecum also recognized a plain .pdb file from manybooks.net so it looks to me like the filename format isn't the issue.

I'm married to a programmer, and from him, it seems that fixes come in two categories: take a quick look, see a minor change is needed, make change - five minutes, tops. Or take a quick look, don't see anything obvious, spend hours (or days or weeks) tracking down the problem and make major code changes.

I've put up two files for comparison on my website http://www.steigerfamily.com/ebooks at the end of the short listing - the "Problem Files" line with two versions of "A Shropshire Lad" from gutenberg.org (and I tested to make sure they would download using Firefox - hopefully there is nothing tricky that would mess up other browsers). I realize the demand for this type of conversion is probably pretty slim and not worth a major effort. But if Koval or one of his helper angels could take a quick look to see if by some chance it would be a quick fix, that would sure be wonderful.

[kathybaug]

I'm so glad to see MamaSylvia's post. Until I got my nook, I was reading on my Palm TX. I would love to be able to convert some of my Plucker books to html so I can convert them to epub via Calibre. I agree with MamaSylvia that there is probably not a great call for this, but I hope someone could figure this out for both Palm and non-Palm devices. Thank you.

[MamaSylvia]

Actually, Kathy, we're looking for totally different services. <g> I want to make the existing .pdb OUTPUT usable on my Toshiba. Unless I misunderstood, you want to add .pdb INPUT to Calibre's conversion ability. Sure would be nice if we both wanted the same thing, though!

[Manichean]

I think PDB is just a general data file for Palm OS devices, so the files created by Calibre might not even be in Plucker format. Someone more knowledgeable will have to confirm, though.

[dwig]

PDB (Palm DataBase) is a data container format developed for the PalmOS. It does not specifiy any particular internal format.

In addition to a wide range of application-specific data files that have used the PDB container, there have been a number of different and incompatible ebook formats that have used it. The most popular are/were the Palm Doc (aka Aportis Doc) and the eReader (aka Peanut Reader) formats. Plucker and a few others have also used it while MobiPocket chose to use the other Palm file structure, PRC (Palm ResorCe). As I understand it, the only PDB-based ebook formats that Calibre supports are Palm Doc and eReader.

[user_none]

Plucker is not a supported PDB format.

Calibre supports creating PalmDoc (default), ZTxt and eReader PDB files.

[kathybaug]

Ahh, I re-read your email again, MamaSylvia. You're right, we want different results. So I wish Calibre would accept Plucker files as both input files to be converted to another format and for Calibre to output Plucker files as an endpoint to the conversion process. I know Plucker is not one of the big formats, but there seem to be a number of people who have/still use these files. Thanks for the correction.

[MamaSylvia]

Rats. Well, when the wizards are considering how to further improve an already great program, you know you have two votes for adding Plucker format.

[ldolse]

Plucker is more or less a dead format, occasionally the devs here get interested in adding support for a legacy format because they have books they want to convert to a modern format. It's pretty rare it's the other way around.

If your husband is a programmer maybe you can convince him to contribute to Calibre - there are python scripts which can convert html to plucker format on Plucker's site, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to integrate them into Calibre, but then again the scripts haven't been updated since 2004, so not sure if they'll need modification.


There are other pocketPC reading programs you could try on the PocketPC which should support eReader, PalmDoc, or Microsoft Lit. Odds are you can find one of those programs and get it installed to your handheld.

Microsoft Reader for various versions of Windows Mobile, most likely including yours:
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/ppc.aspx
Convert to Lit in Calibre to use it with your books.


@Kathybaug, since you want to go the other direction, convert your plucker doc to html using this utility:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?p=561774

Then add the html to Calibre and you can convert that to a modern ebook format.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by ldolse

Plucker is more or less a dead format, occasionally the devs here get interested in adding support for a legacy format because they have books they want to convert to a modern format.

Or I'm bored. The majority (8) of the 10ish formats I support I've never had a book in that format and just added it because I had to much extra time on my hands. TCR for instance I've never even seen an actual book in that format.

Originally Posted by ldolse

If your husband is a programmer maybe you can convince him to contribute to Calibre - there are python scripts which can convert html to plucker format on Plucker's site, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to integrate them into Calibre, but then again the scripts haven't been updated since 2004, so not sure if they'll need modification.

They will need a lot of modification to integrate with calibre. I looked into them and was never able to get them to produce useable output. I gave up on Plucker when their tools couldn't produce a plucker file readable by the five different readers I tried. That and reading the spec made my head hurt from how over engineered it is.

[MamaSylvia]

Idolse, I did try every other ereader I could find on my Toshiba e800 and documented the results in gory detail on my blog - I figured if anyone else was looking for an ereader for that PDA, they could learn from what I tried. Vade Mecum was the only one that was easy to install and use. (www.steigerfamily.com/ssblog if you're curious and/or bored) I downloaded and tried a couple of programs that were supposed to produce Plucker format, but I couldn't get either of them to produce a file Vade Mecum could recognize.

user_none - you made me laugh out loud at the specs making your head hurt! I feel that way a LOT when I try to get computer-techie. I think I'm a moderately well-educated user, but I am NOT any kind of computer expert. (I am, however, a native of Jacksonville, although I live in Wyoming now.)

ETA: It's not a major catastrophe if I can't use Calibre to convert files. I have over 300 ebooks from Gutenberg in Plucker format and a Kindle as well, and Calibre converts to Kindle format just fine. Calibre just has me thoroughly spoiled.

[ldolse]

I checked your blog, and I did see you tried a lot of formats. You did may want to give Microsoft Reader another shot - the one format you didn't try is the only format Microsoft Reader supports - Lit format. I don't think you need to go through all the activation steps to read unprotected Lit files, which is what Calibre would produce.

[jackwiplock]

Plucker support in Calibre has been on my wish list for a long time but it will probably never happen. The only alternative that I have ever come up with is to use FBReader. You can open plucker books with it then copy and past the text to a file the use Calibre on that text file. It's ugly, painful and cumbersome but it can work. It's enough of a pain that I just use FBKindle now when I want to read some of my old book.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by ldolse

I don't think you need to go through all the activation steps to read unprotected Lit files, which is what Calibre would produce.

I always liked the way .lit format books looked, but never liked Microsoft Reader. Still, I always kept it installed, just in case, and I never activated it. As you say, activation is not needed for .lit format books created by Calibre.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by jackwiplock

Plucker support in Calibre has been on my wish list for a long time but it will probably never happen.

I have begun work on supporting Plucker as an input format. Time table for initial inclusion (won't support all features of the format) should be less than one month.