Compile (not convert) mobi with Calibre?

osnova · 03-01-2011, 08:51 PM

As you know Amazon tools such as kindlegen, mobigen, Mobipocket Creator receive as input: book.opf, book.html, cover.jpg, toc.ncx and compile out of those a mobi file. There is a search bug in Kindle 3 where font size somehow messes up search destinations (some sizes lead searches to the wrong destinations). There is nothing in the formatting that I could see to cause this.

I was told by one person that converting my mobi to just another mobi through Calibre fixes this issue; however, it messes up my careful manual formatting.

Is there a way to compile a mobi file from my mobi source files (book.opf, book.html, cover.jpg, toc.ncx) without Calibre doing any of its conversion or formatting (each tag in my formatting and toc.ncx has been carefully considered and manually typed)?

Alternatively, is there any other mobi compiler out there (the reverse of mobipack)? I want to see if this bug is caused by the compiler.

ldolse · 03-01-2011, 09:38 PM

You could try converting your html to mobi via Calibre and see if that does any better on the formatting conversion than Mobi->Mobi.

DMSmillie · 03-01-2011, 09:56 PM

Could you provide more info about the bug you mentioned? Did you read about it somewhere?

osnova · 03-01-2011, 10:54 PM

DMSmillie, I was doing the writing. Here it is: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=200

I had reports from various customers indicating similar issues. I spent hours on the phone with support. I communicated to what Amazon calls the head of "Executive Customer Support." So far, this bug is still there. I know for sure that it is not an issue with my publications (I checked and rechecked the source).

By the way, there is another documented bug (first reported on a Russian forum http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...ht=html#480912) where the Kindle starts showing parts of formatting tags on the screen. Apparently, it affects only books that contain certain non-Latin characters (such as Russian). One guy in that thread found a work-around (I think he puts some nonbreaking space or something similar to that between the tags containing link anchors and the text). That thread reports several more bugs with Kindle software (or mobigen/kindlegen) such as missing last articles in dictionaries and other stuff that I don't recall now.

DMSmillie · 03-01-2011, 11:16 PM

Many thanks.

osnova · 03-02-2011, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ldolse

You could try converting your html to mobi via Calibre and see if that does any better on the formatting conversion than Mobi->Mobi.

That's not the same, I have lots of data in opf, and toc.ncx. I want my toc.ncx used, not the one created by Calibre.

kovidgoyal · 03-02-2011, 11:32 AM

zip up your opf+ncx+html and convert that in calibre

osnova · 03-03-2011, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

zip up your opf+ncx+html and convert that in calibre

Thanks! I knew it should be something easy like that!

03-01-2011, 08:51 PM	#1
osnova Kindler of the Flame Posts: 582 Karma: 646016 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: US of A Device: K DX,3,KT,KP,KF, KFHD; Nook C, PRS600, iPad, Xoom, N900, N810, Zaurus	Compile (not convert) mobi with Calibre? As you know Amazon tools such as kindlegen, mobigen, Mobipocket Creator receive as input: book.opf, book.html, cover.jpg, toc.ncx and compile out of those a mobi file. There is a search bug in Kindle 3 where font size somehow messes up search destinations (some sizes lead searches to the wrong destinations). There is nothing in the formatting that I could see to cause this. I was told by one person that converting my mobi to just another mobi through Calibre fixes this issue; however, it messes up my careful manual formatting. Is there a way to compile a mobi file from my mobi source files (book.opf, book.html, cover.jpg, toc.ncx) without Calibre doing any of its conversion or formatting (each tag in my formatting and toc.ncx has been carefully considered and manually typed)? Alternatively, is there any other mobi compiler out there (the reverse of mobipack)? I want to see if this bug is caused by the compiler.

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03-01-2011, 09:38 PM	#2
ldolse Wizard Posts: 1,337 Karma: 123455 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Malaysia Device: PRS-650, iPhone	You could try converting your html to mobi via Calibre and see if that does any better on the formatting conversion than Mobi->Mobi.

03-01-2011, 09:56 PM	#3
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	Could you provide more info about the bug you mentioned? Did you read about it somewhere?

03-01-2011, 10:54 PM	#4
osnova Kindler of the Flame Posts: 582 Karma: 646016 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: US of A Device: K DX,3,KT,KP,KF, KFHD; Nook C, PRS600, iPad, Xoom, N900, N810, Zaurus	DMSmillie, I was doing the writing. Here it is: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=200 I had reports from various customers indicating similar issues. I spent hours on the phone with support. I communicated to what Amazon calls the head of "Executive Customer Support." So far, this bug is still there. I know for sure that it is not an issue with my publications (I checked and rechecked the source). By the way, there is another documented bug (first reported on a Russian forum http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...ht=html#480912) where the Kindle starts showing parts of formatting tags on the screen. Apparently, it affects only books that contain certain non-Latin characters (such as Russian). One guy in that thread found a work-around (I think he puts some nonbreaking space or something similar to that between the tags containing link anchors and the text). That thread reports several more bugs with Kindle software (or mobigen/kindlegen) such as missing last articles in dictionaries and other stuff that I don't recall now. Last edited by osnova; 03-01-2011 at 11:00 PM.

03-01-2011, 11:16 PM	#5
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	Many thanks.

03-02-2011, 11:32 AM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	zip up your opf+ncx+html and convert that in calibre