Linux runs out of ram when I connect to device

aldaluin · 06-26-2023, 01:42 PM

Hello-
I have the loan of a Kindle on a friend's account and would like to use Calibre to make sense of it. But the guy owns 36000+ ebooks and when I try to connect to his Kindle, my 32GB computer runs out of memory before it can display the list. Am I missing a simple setting change somewhere or is my quest to browse (and maybe catalog...?) this vast library a hopeless one? I suppose I could spend the $$ to add RAM to my desktop, but... for one app?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm a neo with both the Kindle and Calibre, but I coded for a living for a decade or two.
-Charlie

JSWolf · 06-26-2023, 03:14 PM

Where did this person get 3600+ eBooks? How many of them are not legally purchased?

How many eBooks are on the Kindle? Are you running the latest Calibre 6 version? Did you download Calibre from the calibre site and not the repository?

Quoth · 06-26-2023, 04:58 PM

Opening Calibre with 6,000 titles, multiple formats, increases RAM usage from 3.1G to 3.5G, i.e. less than 400 Mbyte on my Linux. It has 16G RAM. But even my old 4G Linux laptop never ran out. So 36,000 at worse case would be 2.4 GByte.

But Jon, maybe he mirrored part of Gutenberg, it has 70,000+ ebook titles.

Edit: Most of my 3.1G RAM without Calibre is the stupid Web Browser! Gah!

kovidgoyal · 06-26-2023, 09:36 PM

That many books on a Kindle would be hopeless. Copy them off the Kindle and then add them to calibre via add books.

JSWolf · 06-27-2023, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Opening Calibre with 6,000 titles, multiple formats, increases RAM usage from 3.1G to 3.5G, i.e. less than 400 Mbyte on my Linux. It has 16G RAM. But even my old 4G Linux laptop never ran out. So 36,000 at worse case would be 2.4 GByte.

But Jon, maybe he mirrored part of Gutenberg, it has 70,000+ ebook titles.

Edit: Most of my 3.1G RAM without Calibre is the stupid Web Browser! Gah!

I'm doubting they this is a Kindle full of PD books. But I'm asking just to be sure.

305869 · 06-27-2023, 05:00 AM

Does it matter if the books were legitimately purchased?

JSWolf · 06-27-2023, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 305869

Does it matter if the books were legitimately purchased?

Yes. If not, no help.

Quoth · 06-27-2023, 07:48 AM

I can't see how any Kindle can have 36,000 ebooks, unless they are small and have no illustrations.

The typical limit for 32G storage might be 15,000 to 25,000 ebooks and most Kindles have a lot less storage.

salamanderjuice · 06-27-2023, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

I can't see how any Kindle can have 36,000 ebooks, unless they are small and have no illustrations.

The typical limit for 32G storage might be 15,000 to 25,000 ebooks and most Kindles have a lot less storage.

Maybe they are really into Novellas and short stories. You can fit a lot of Harry Potter fanfic on there.

JSWolf · 06-27-2023, 10:11 AM

We are just conjecturing until we know the answers from the OP.

aldaluin · 06-27-2023, 06:28 PM

Wow... The latest body count is 37,147, of which 36,573 filter as books. To the best of my knowledge they are all legal. He's an author himself and would consider anything else an insult. Only a couple of hundred have been downloaded (to any Kindle) and read. Suffice to say, the guy is a hoarder. He also has a couple hundred three foot stacks of paperbacks all over his house. He loaned me a 64GB Kindle just so it wouldn't crash when he pushed a few of his favorites to it for me.

I am running Calibre 6.21. I did get it by following the directions on the web site.

To copy them off the Kindle don't I have to pull them all down to the Kindle first? I don't know how to do that in bulk either. Or how many will fit. Or if I have time before the heat death of the universe. It has a big SD card; can I start by putting them all there, then pull the card?

Does anybody know of another way I dump titles, authors, etc into a flat file at least? All I really want is a clue as to what all's in there. Scrolling through titles on the Kindle got old after the first hour.

Quoth · 06-27-2023, 06:36 PM

If the ebooks are already on the Kindle:
Copy the visible Kindle Directory with ebooks to a place called authors-books (or whatever).

Then in Calibre "Add books" -> "Add from folders and subfolders"

Adding direct from the Kindle is not a great idea and not that amount either.

If the ebooks are not already on the Kindle where are they? If on a website/cloud copy to a folder on PC first then in Calibre "Add books" -> "Add from folders and subfolders"

Don't add to Calibre direct from share/cloud/web.

DNSB · 06-27-2023, 08:08 PM

If that is a 64GB device, it's an Amazon Fire tablet not a Kindle e-Ink ereader.

aldaluin · 06-28-2023, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

<snip>

If the ebooks are not already on the Kindle where are they? If on a website/cloud copy to a folder on PC first then in Calibre "Add books" -> "Add from folders and subfolders"

Don't add to Calibre direct from share/cloud/web.

This is what I'd like to know. Where does Amazon keep your books before they're pulled to a Kindle? How do I get to them with a PC? And do I have to worry about DRM?

DNSB · 06-28-2023, 04:25 PM

They would be in the owner of the tablet's Amazon account under Content and Devices. Downloading that many files is going to be a total pain in the posterior.

06-26-2023, 01:42 PM	#1
aldaluin Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2023 Location: Suburban Washington DC Device: Kindle fire hd 8	Linux runs out of ram when I connect to device Hello- I have the loan of a Kindle on a friend's account and would like to use Calibre to make sense of it. But the guy owns 36000+ ebooks and when I try to connect to his Kindle, my 32GB computer runs out of memory before it can display the list. Am I missing a simple setting change somewhere or is my quest to browse (and maybe catalog...?) this vast library a hopeless one? I suppose I could spend the $$ to add RAM to my desktop, but... for one app? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm a neo with both the Kindle and Calibre, but I coded for a living for a decade or two. -Charlie

06-27-2023, 06:36 PM	#12
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,770 Karma: 103895653 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	If the ebooks are already on the Kindle: Copy the visible Kindle Directory with ebooks to a place called authors-books (or whatever). Then in Calibre "Add books" -> "Add from folders and subfolders" Adding direct from the Kindle is not a great idea and not that amount either. If the ebooks are not already on the Kindle where are they? If on a website/cloud copy to a folder on PC first then in Calibre "Add books" -> "Add from folders and subfolders" Don't add to Calibre direct from share/cloud/web. Last edited by Quoth; 06-27-2023 at 06:39 PM.

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06-26-2023, 03:14 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,277 Karma: 145488788 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Where did this person get 3600+ eBooks? How many of them are not legally purchased? How many eBooks are on the Kindle? Are you running the latest Calibre 6 version? Did you download Calibre from the calibre site and not the repository?

06-26-2023, 04:58 PM	#3
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,770 Karma: 103895653 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Opening Calibre with 6,000 titles, multiple formats, increases RAM usage from 3.1G to 3.5G, i.e. less than 400 Mbyte on my Linux. It has 16G RAM. But even my old 4G Linux laptop never ran out. So 36,000 at worse case would be 2.4 GByte. But Jon, maybe he mirrored part of Gutenberg, it has 70,000+ ebook titles. Edit: Most of my 3.1G RAM without Calibre is the stupid Web Browser! Gah!

06-26-2023, 09:36 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,227 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	That many books on a Kindle would be hopeless. Copy them off the Kindle and then add them to calibre via add books.

06-27-2023, 05:00 AM	#6
305869 Connoisseur Posts: 95 Karma: 92818 Join Date: Mar 2023 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Boox Leaf 7"	Does it matter if the books were legitimately purchased?

06-27-2023, 07:48 AM	#8
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,770 Karma: 103895653 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	I can't see how any Kindle can have 36,000 ebooks, unless they are small and have no illustrations. The typical limit for 32G storage might be 15,000 to 25,000 ebooks and most Kindles have a lot less storage.

06-27-2023, 10:11 AM	#10
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,277 Karma: 145488788 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	We are just conjecturing until we know the answers from the OP.

06-27-2023, 06:28 PM	#11
aldaluin Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2023 Location: Suburban Washington DC Device: Kindle fire hd 8	Wow... The latest body count is 37,147, of which 36,573 filter as books. To the best of my knowledge they are all legal. He's an author himself and would consider anything else an insult. Only a couple of hundred have been downloaded (to any Kindle) and read. Suffice to say, the guy is a hoarder. He also has a couple hundred three foot stacks of paperbacks all over his house. He loaned me a 64GB Kindle just so it wouldn't crash when he pushed a few of his favorites to it for me. I am running Calibre 6.21. I did get it by following the directions on the web site. To copy them off the Kindle don't I have to pull them all down to the Kindle first? I don't know how to do that in bulk either. Or how many will fit. Or if I have time before the heat death of the universe. It has a big SD card; can I start by putting them all there, then pull the card? Does anybody know of another way I dump titles, authors, etc into a flat file at least? All I really want is a clue as to what all's in there. Scrolling through titles on the Kindle got old after the first hour.

06-27-2023, 08:08 PM	#13
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 45,115 Karma: 168808721 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	If that is a 64GB device, it's an Amazon Fire tablet not a Kindle e-Ink ereader.

06-28-2023, 04:25 PM	#15
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 45,115 Karma: 168808721 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	They would be in the owner of the tablet's Amazon account under Content and Devices. Downloading that many files is going to be a total pain in the posterior.

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