Ehon: The next Calibre?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

My problem with the bad folder organization is precisely that i can't easily access the books outside calibre.
it forces me to use calibre to sync books with my e-reader, but I like to just copy - past. I don't want to be dependent on the software.

Really

cd /opt/calibre
rm -R *.* <use with care., only in directories you want the contents GONE

If you don't like it... Don't use it..
No RMA needed (you did not buy it in the first place )

[EowynCarter]

cd /opt/calibre
no such file or directory

Calibre is not installed on PC, as I have no use for it. Too bad, it could be a nice program. But the folder problem kills it for me.

Frustrating, because there is no alternative. So I went managing my books manually.
Realizing I would someday get to the point where the number of books would make manual management tedious, I began making my own software. It ease things a bit already, even in it's current alphaish buggy state.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by PeterT

If Calibre were to utilize BLOBs (Binary Large Objects) in a database to store the eBooks no one would have any access to them at all. Yes, the databases would be larger than many people are accustomed too, but then there would be no question at all about path names et al.

The earliest version of calibre (before it even got that name) did exactly this - stored the ebooks inside the DB, not in the file system. EowynCarter is unhappy with a design decision made early on and seems to enjoy popping in regularly to complain about it.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Carter is a malcontented luddite who keeps popping up here to carp about being unable to manage his book files himself when using calibre. It's no use to argue with the micromanaging clown.

[speakingtohe]

The file structure makes sense to me as there has to be a way to tell the books apart aside from name/author. That is why the unique identifier number.

The books are easily found (for a copy/paste operation) via the gui (select book and hit o) or at the OS level.

And of course there are many ways you can save your books to the directory structure you prefer.

As for dependence on the software, overall I have had as many problems with commercially sold software over the years even the operating systems have not been perfect.

I am quite dependent on calibre for its awesome functionality, support, adaptability through tweaks and plugins, and continuous improvement.

Still, being vaguely computer literate, I could if the unthinkable happened and it ceased to function, easily find and access my ebooks.

There are a couple of things I would like to see changed in calibre, but not to the point of thinking my way is the best way.

Helen

[Agama]

Originally Posted by PeterT

If Calibre were to utilize BLOBs (Binary Large Objects) ...

Of course, then we would all be miserable in that we would have no ability to easily tweak content.

The BLOB could be exploded to a temporary folder for tweaking and then rebuilt on saving the changes.

Personally I think that calibre's folder organisation is very good: Author then Title seem highly intuitive. Maybe EowynCarter's brain is just wired differently.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by Agama

The BLOB could be exploded to a temporary folder for tweaking and then rebuilt on saving the changes.

Personally I think that calibre's folder organisation is very good: Author then Title seem highly intuitive. Maybe EowynCarter's brain is just wired differently.

I feel it's kind of stupid to create an folder for an autor if you have only one book from that author. And I rarely goes more than one folder down.
I uses folders and files names a lot, that's just it. I want to be able to just copy past the library folder onto my cybook and have a usable result.

The second point the habit of mine to have multiple copy of a book in the format. No way to tell who's who. It's that point that's really the show stopper. You could use tags, but unless you can rename the files acording to a tag value, no dice.

Maybe EowynCarter's brain is just wired differently.

My brain works pretty well, tanks you verry much.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

I feel it's kind of stupid to create an folder for an autor if you have only one book from that author. And I rarely goes more than one folder down.
I uses folders and files names a lot, that's just it. I want to be able to just copy past the library folder onto my cybook and have a usable result.

The second point the habit of mine to have multiple copy of a book in the format. No way to tell who's who. It's that point that's really the show stopper. You could use tags, but unless you can rename the files acording to a tag value, no dice.


My brain works pretty well, tanks you verry much.

When are you ever going to understand that calibre's library structure is NOT INTENDED FOR YOUR DIRECT USE? If you don't like it and want to continue to use an antiquated system of organization, don't use calibre. Return it for a full refund of your purchase price then quit coming back here with your incessant complaining. You are the epitome of a troll.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

it forces me to use calibre to sync books with my e-reader, but I like to just copy - past. I don't want to be dependent on the software.

I do not like to use Calibre to sync with my reader.
The solution is very easy.
I select the books in Calibre that I want to put on the device, right-click, select Save To Disk and I export the books to a temporary directory. I have played with the options, so the folder structure and filenames are EXACTLY to my taste, with things like optional series folder and other nifty things. Then I quit Calibre (so it doesn't recognise my device and start comparing files), connect my device and copy the files and folders that Calibre conveniently created for me to the device.
That is it.

I too have relied on my own elaborate folder structure for a long time, but it is much, MUCH more effective to sift through books using various Calibre features, such as tags, covers and metadata automagically downloaded from the net, search function with the support of Regular expressions, ...

[EowynCarter]

I select the books in Calibre that I want to put on the device, right-click, select Save To Disk and I export the books to a temporary directory. I have played with the options, so the folder structure and filenames are EXACTLY to my taste, with things like optional series folder and other nifty things.

You can do that, but it's not really conveignant.

When are you ever going to understand that calibre's library structure is NOT INTENDED FOR YOUR DIRECT USE?

And when are you going to understand that the fact YOU don't need to acces your books in folders, doesn't means other peaple don't need it ?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

And when are you going to understand that the fact YOU don't need to acces your books in folders, doesn't means other peaple don't need it ?

You might want to take your show on the road, try the Lounge sub-forum I'm sure folks there would be entertained by your story of woe.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

You might want to take your show on the road, try the Lounge sub-forum I'm sure folks there would be entertained by your story of woe.

No!! Don't send them to us, we don't want them!! All we Llounge Llamas want is some nice silliness and a few ZCD's. Neither of those are qualities I see in the above posts.

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by xnowimcoolx

Didn't really know were to put this so I put it here. Sorry if it's the wrong place, it just reaffirms Calibre is still the best option out there.

Ehon (http://www.ehonapp.com/en/index.php) describes itself as a "digital comic book and ebook management program for your Mac." The program (from the pictures) looks amazing and apparently has an "Integrated Reader Engine" (which doesn't mean much!). So I dove in, and here is a bit of a (very quick, badly written) review.

First, Ehon looks great. It's crisp, clean and modern - if you like the layout of library tools such as delicious, you'll like this layout. Everything is logical and simple to understand. That said, the detailed book view is huge, and can't be made smaller or hidden, so it's constantly there, taking up a lot of screen space.

There are plenty of the ways to edit the detail of your ebooks/comics but nothing is customizable, you're stuck with their options - although you can tag. Smart folders are a nice addition that make organizing ones library a little easier.

I was beginning to think I had almost found a calibre replacement (not that I was looking) but after the first 5 minutes of using the program, things started to get a little rocky.

I uploaded my library into ehon easy enough, but there was little info attached to the file: A cover, Author (under 'series' for some reason), and Title - that's it - which is probably to be expected. Small hiccup I thought, I'll import the info from Amazon or Google. This is not an option with Ehon - so I gave up on that and browsed a little more.

The list menu (as opposed to the bookshelf menu) is not customizable at all. The books can be viewed by Title or Series (most the books I have aren't part of a series). This is frustrating because I like to organize by author, last name. And even if they had an organize by author section I would be forced (because of how it's laid out) to organize author, first name.

Then I decided to read a .mobi file on my computer. Can't do that. Has to be ePub.

Surely a PDF? Nope.

Conversion? No.

Device support? No.

Ehon turned out to be a beautiful and hollow shell, with nothing inside. I have a feeling (based on a couple hints here and there) that this is a comic book viewer/library in which the developers quickly through in a sparse ebook reader tool into, just to reach that crowd. However, don't be fooled by it's spit and polish, Calibre is head over heals ahead of this program!! With a complete lack of Cover/Info Fetching, News Fetching, .mobi & pdf support and no device support in site, this is not the tool for any ebook reader.

Hmm had a look at your link. It would appear to be only mac os. Which is sad as over 80 percent of the computers out there are not Apple.

I am a windows man and only calibre will do it for me if the software Ehon only supports Apple.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

No!! Don't send them to us, we don't want them!! All we Llounge Llamas want is some nice silliness and a few ZCD's. Neither of those are qualities I see in the above posts.

ZCD's ??

Obviously I should check the lounge!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

...And when are you going to understand that the fact YOU don't need to acces your books in folders, doesn't means other peaple don't need it ?

You have yet to provide a convincing reason why you do "need it."