Just some user experiences with rssfeeds

QubyB · 06-03-2009, 06:02 AM

Dear Kovid,

I’d like to share some calibre experiences, just for you to know and maybe to be able to further improve future releases. By no means this is meant as criticism ... I am just too happy that you gave us this fine tool!

I’m a fan of newsfeeds so I tried to use calibre to fetch news and send it to my Sony 505. A few issues arose.

Speed:
Till I had my reader I used Mobipocket to synchronize feeds with my Pocket PC. So, I was used to the speed with which it accomplishes that task: fully automatic synchronizing 15 feeds on the device within a minute. The same task takes calibre over 10 minutes (?)

Epub does not use device font?
I changed the font on my device (using PRSCustomizer) because of the better readability. Epub still uses a different (embedded?) font which I find less readable (this has probably nothing to do with calibre btw). So, I want to use LRF files which use the font I installed on the device. No problem I thought, but …

Device resets with LRF
With LRF files the reader would quite often reset when opening a newsfeed. This also happens occasionally with a book btw. I found in the FAQ that the workaround is to send the files to the device using Sony Library. So that is what I do now. Another plus of using the Sony Library is that the reader opens files much faster, it does not first have to reshuffle the file when opening.

PRC to LRF: Table of Contents gets lost
Cause of the availability of some 2000 feeds (plus the high speed) I reverted to Mobipocket to download the feeds. Then use calibre to convert the PRC’s to LRF. However … when calibre converts a newsfeed to LRF the TOC gets lost. The workaround is to first convert PRC to Epub and then convert Epub to LRF. This retains the TOC.

So … in order to have high speed, thousands of feeds to choose from, the reading font that I like and no device resets, my current way of working is:
1. Download feeds with Mobipocket (for the large amount of available feeds and the high speed)
2. Convert to Epub with calibre (to retain the TOC)
3. Convert to LRF (LRF uses the font I installed on the reader, Epub does not)
4. Delete the Epub files from calibre library (using the metadata window !?)
5. Load the remaining LRF files into Sony Library
6. Send the files to the device

It works. It involves quite some additional handling though. It would be so nice if calibre could handle all of this …

Regards, QubyB

kovidgoyal · 06-03-2009, 12:30 PM

calibre generally fetches feed content from the full articles on the websites linked to in the feeds, not just from the feeds themselves. Which is why it is slower.

Epub can be made to use custom fonts, search for the thread on epub and custom fonts.

Device resetting with LRF is a bug in the sony reader LRF renderer, read the FAQ about it in the calibre FAQ.

PRC to LRF should work fine in the 0.6 release of calibre.

QubyB · 06-03-2009, 05:14 PM

Thanks for the reply Kovid.

I'll certainly start using the 0.6 release and I'll try to find the info on getting epub files to show with the font I like.

06-03-2009, 06:02 AM	#1
QubyB Trick Kiter Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Holland Device: Sony PRS-505	Just some user experiences with rssfeeds Dear Kovid, I’d like to share some calibre experiences, just for you to know and maybe to be able to further improve future releases. By no means this is meant as criticism ... I am just too happy that you gave us this fine tool! I’m a fan of newsfeeds so I tried to use calibre to fetch news and send it to my Sony 505. A few issues arose. Speed: Till I had my reader I used Mobipocket to synchronize feeds with my Pocket PC. So, I was used to the speed with which it accomplishes that task: fully automatic synchronizing 15 feeds on the device within a minute. The same task takes calibre over 10 minutes (?) Epub does not use device font? I changed the font on my device (using PRSCustomizer) because of the better readability. Epub still uses a different (embedded?) font which I find less readable (this has probably nothing to do with calibre btw). So, I want to use LRF files which use the font I installed on the device. No problem I thought, but … Device resets with LRF With LRF files the reader would quite often reset when opening a newsfeed. This also happens occasionally with a book btw. I found in the FAQ that the workaround is to send the files to the device using Sony Library. So that is what I do now. Another plus of using the Sony Library is that the reader opens files much faster, it does not first have to reshuffle the file when opening. PRC to LRF: Table of Contents gets lost Cause of the availability of some 2000 feeds (plus the high speed) I reverted to Mobipocket to download the feeds. Then use calibre to convert the PRC’s to LRF. However … when calibre converts a newsfeed to LRF the TOC gets lost. The workaround is to first convert PRC to Epub and then convert Epub to LRF. This retains the TOC. So … in order to have high speed, thousands of feeds to choose from, the reading font that I like and no device resets, my current way of working is: 1. Download feeds with Mobipocket (for the large amount of available feeds and the high speed) 2. Convert to Epub with calibre (to retain the TOC) 3. Convert to LRF (LRF uses the font I installed on the reader, Epub does not) 4. Delete the Epub files from calibre library (using the metadata window !?) 5. Load the remaining LRF files into Sony Library 6. Send the files to the device It works. It involves quite some additional handling though. It would be so nice if calibre could handle all of this … Regards, QubyB

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06-03-2009, 12:30 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,229 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	calibre generally fetches feed content from the full articles on the websites linked to in the feeds, not just from the feeds themselves. Which is why it is slower. Epub can be made to use custom fonts, search for the thread on epub and custom fonts. Device resetting with LRF is a bug in the sony reader LRF renderer, read the FAQ about it in the calibre FAQ. PRC to LRF should work fine in the 0.6 release of calibre.

06-03-2009, 05:14 PM	#3
QubyB Trick Kiter Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Holland Device: Sony PRS-505	Thanks for the reply Kovid. I'll certainly start using the 0.6 release and I'll try to find the info on getting epub files to show with the font I like.

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