Converting LIT with Calibre

[Hamza]

Hi all:

I'm trying to convert an LIT book using Calibre but I'm having some issues... not enough indenting on the sides (all 4) and, it seems, that the lines keep dropping like this:

And Mary said to her little lamb, "Your fleece is as white as snow," and the
lamb replied
back, "That's why they call me Borox, lady." And everyone laughed and
laughed so that
it seemed the entire barnyard filled with noise.

Until now I was using the default 500 conversion. But I need to go custom, right? What settings do ya'll use to make pretty-looking LIT conversions for the Sony Reader?

[llasram]

Originally Posted by Hamza

Hi all:

I'm trying to convert an LIT book using Calibre but I'm having some issues... not enough indenting on the sides (all 4) and, it seems, that the lines keep dropping like this:

And Mary said to her little lamb, "Your fleece is as white as snow," and the
lamb replied
back, "That's why they call me Borox, lady." And everyone laughed and
laughed so that
it seemed the entire barnyard filled with noise.

Until now I was using the default 500 conversion. But I need to go custom, right? What settings do ya'll use to make pretty-looking LIT conversions for the Sony Reader?

By "indenting on the sides" you mean the margins? I use a header, 36 pixel margins on the sides, and a 10 pixel margin on the bottom, but YMMV.

As for "lines keep dropping," I'm not sure what you mean. Is text from the source LIT file not appearing in the LRF file? If so, that's probably an html2lrf bug and you should submit an issue on the calibre trac.

[JSWolf]

Before you put in a ticket, where did this LIT file come from? Was it purchased with DRM or was it downloaded from the Darknet that someone unknown created?

[llasram]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Before you put in a ticket, where did this LIT file come from? Was it purchased with DRM or was it downloaded from the Darknet that someone unknown created?

I'm not sure that really matters -- if it displays in MS Reader, the calibre conversion pipeline should produce at least similar-looking LRF output. Even if the particular file in question is of illegal origin, a rights-clean file could just as easily tickle the same bug.

[kovidgoyal]

Its probably a lit bundle containing a txt file.

[Hamza]

!! It's not that lines are disappearing, just dropping down to the next line before they've used up all the space on the one they're on. I got the LIT files from a buddy at my gym who saw I had a reader and hooked up me up with some of his own stuff. Why is that important?

[llasram]

Originally Posted by Hamza

!! It's not that lines are disappearing, just dropping down to the next line before they've used up all the space on the one they're on.

Did you check to see if they look that way in MS Reader? If so then there really isn't anything calibre can do about it.

Originally Posted by Hamza

I got the LIT files from a buddy at my gym who saw I had a reader and hooked up me up with some of his own stuff. Why is that important?

It isn't from a calibre-bug perspective as long as the file displays properly in MS Reader, however: (a) pirated files tend to be more error-prone and (b) this forum doesn't condone or aid blatant piracy. Talking about the implications of sharing files with a friend is probably enough to spawn another 20-page "piracy" thread, so we'll leave that be for now .

[JSWolf]

Hamza, a lot of pirated LIT files are just some crap copy output in MS Reader format without regard to how well formatted they are. So I don't think you have much of a case here as Calibre didn't do anything wrong.

[Hamza]

Ah, I see what you're getting at. No nothing pirated -- it's all open-source stuff. I was just under the misapprehension that it was already formatted for the Reader. And it drop-lines in MS Reader too. Oh well.

[plemming]

This fellow seems to have an idea:

http://1-800-magic.blogspot.com/2008...-books-to.html

A script to remove all the line breaks in the file. But it's for another suite of tools, and just a .py script... not sure I fancy picking up Python just to be rid of this problem!

And worrying about the source of the admittedly crappy .lit files isn't much worth it. I'm genuinely stuck with a bunch of Dean Koontz books that are suffering this problem, as I have bought a Reader for my mother's birthday as she is an avid reader, and I figured a nice treat and encouragement to start using the expensive piece of kit was to convert her entire Koontz library over to e-book formats. Short of scanning everything, the easiest way was simply to download them again and claim fair use over it all, haha!

[JSWolf]

Would not the easiest way be to purchase them so the formatting will be correct?

[plemming]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would not the easiest way be to purchase them so the formatting will be correct?

I understand the community fears about piracy, as it's the same with any fledgling tech community that is still trying to get widespread and encourage sales to make publishers up output and increase sales of hardware, but this is a little bit ridiculous. We're talking about 50 books, which is no small amount of money, all of which have been read before.

It's not as if I refuse to buy ebooks, as I've already bought a few of his newer ones for her, like Odd Hours. I'm just a stoic believer in fair rights, and I'm one of few that can say he actually plays fair for both parties.

Regardless, it seems that there isn't an easy solution or nobody wants to get creative because of the piracy fears (understandable, but sad,) so I'm just going to have to leave those ones, as she already owns the paper ones so it was just going to end up a bit of a novelty.