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#241 |
Testate Amoeba
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Karma: 27300000
Join Date: Sep 2012
Device: Many Android devices, Kindle 2, Toshiba e755 PocketPC
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I hope nobody feels like I'm derailing the thread
![]() First, though, in keeping with the spirit of the thread, Windows blows goats. All versions. I've used every version from 1.01 to 8.1 and they all suck. I am confident that Windows 10 will suck. VMS was better than Windows and VMS sucked. That said, the system that I use dual-boots Slackware (installed as 8.1, transferred between computers with kernel/library upgrades as necessary) and whatever Windows flavor of the month comes installed on my latest computer (I just got a new laptop about two weeks ago with 8.1). I have Calibre portable installed on an external hard drive and I attach my Linux Calibre installation to the external library, so I can switch back-and-forth between Linux and Windows with Calibre. The portable Calibre version for Windows is 1.45 and, embarrassingly, the version I'm running on Linux is 0.9.42. I'm using version 6.0.8 of The Tools (6.1.0 is current). The only problem I've ever had switching between Linux and Windows is that the Linux FAT32 driver has twice created a path name for a book that was longer than what Windows claims is legal. Running the Calibre library check from Windows found these and I shrank the titles a little. The only inconvenience of having two versions is having two sets of settings and keeping them synced so that the interface looks the same whichever OS I'm running. My "ereader" is Mantano Pro on a 7" Android tablet and I use Calibre Companion to transfer books. Before using Calibre Companion, I used Calibre's "Connect to Folder" feature to download books, which should work with any ereader that can be mounted as a USB drive (I know for sure that Kindles qualify). The Guide: 1. Install Calibre First, install Calibre for LInux. The instructions on this page worked for me. Then install The Tools from here (it's OK to link now, right?). 2. Install Wine Next, install Wine 1.6.2. You can either install binary packages from here or (if you have developer tools installed) from source at one of the links on this page. If you download the source (wine-1.6.2.tar.bz2), the following commands will compile and install it: Code:
tar xvjf wine-1.6.2.tar.bz cd wine-1.6.2 tools/wineinstall 3. Install ADE Now install ADE 1.7.2. The install can be downloaded here. After downloading it, typing "wine setup.exe" should install it with no complaints. Wine is pretty well integrated with Linux desktop managers (I use Xfce with no problems), but if you can't find an icon or shortcut, the following command will run ADE if you installed it with all defaults: Code:
wine "~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Digital Editions/digitaleditions.exe" 4. Get ADE encryption keys Now you need to retrieve your keys. I'm probably just skirting the rules by even discussing this, so if you need more detailed help, go to Alf's blog and ask there. I do want to say, though, that I have trouble getting the Linux tools to find my Wine installation, so I install the portable Windows version of Calibre using Wine just to get the keys. With Calibre under Wine, you can retrieve the keys the same way you do for Windows, but then export them to a .der file and import the keys into Calibre for Linux. At this point, you should be able to select "Add Books" from Linux Calibre, browse to "My Digital Editions" in your home directory and find the file for This Side of Paradise. If everything has gone well, you should be able to open it in Calibre. Without adding anything else, you can now buy books from eBooks.com and Kobo (as long as there's a download link). Now let's add Barnes & Noble and Amazon. 5. Install NOOK Study and get Barnes & Noble encryption keys NOOK Study will run (albeit slowly) under Wine and can be used to retrieve your B&N key. The installer can be downloaded here. Instructions for retrieving the key can be found at Alf's blog (not trivial, but easier than everything else on this page). NOOK Study can then be used to download your books, but I recommend instead using the BN-Dload script for Greasemonkey (it also works with Chrome and Tampermonkey). 6. Install K4PC and get Amazon encryption keys Now we can add Amazon. Download Kindle4PC here and install it with Wine. It should install just fine and allow you to login to your Amazon account. Then run Windows Calibre in Wine to retrieve the new K4PC key, export it to a .k4i file and then import it into Linux Calibre. You should then be able to use the K4PC application to download a book and then import it into Calibre. If possible, pick a book from a major publisher so you know that it has DRM on it and that you're exercising the de-DRM modules. 7. Stupid Kobo and their kepubs As far as I know, the only store with books that are still locked to Linux-only is Kobo. Anything from Kobo that doesn't have a download link requires the Kobo desktop application, which doesn't work for me in Wine. Additionally, the Obok plugin that's needed doesn't work for Linux (I suspect it would work in Wine, but haven't tried it). 8. Connect and manage your Kindle or whatever Now that you can import books, let's get them onto your ereader. I'm going to assume that you've got a Kindle, but the following directions can be adapted to pretty much anything. I'm trying them out on my actual Kindle (which hasn't been given a firmware update in Odin knows how long and needed to be charged up), so they shouldn't be too far off. Once you connect your Kindle to your PC with a USB cable, I'm assuming that your Linux distribution automatically mounts it as a USB drive. I don't have mine set up to do auto-mounting, so I'm not sure where the mount point will be on yours. If you need to figure that out, let me know and I'm sure we can get it taken care of. If you find the mount point, Kindle stores its books in the "documents" directory under that. On my system, I mount my Kindle at "/mnt/kindle" with the following command (as root): Code:
mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/kindle -o umask=0 9. Conclusion: Windows is pants During the process of writing this post, I actually performed all of the steps that I outlined above, so I know that they all work right now. Since I didn't update my Calibre to the latest version, I guess I can only verify for certain that it will work with 1.xx, but I have no reason to think that it won't work with 2.xx. If any of the steps that aren't DRM-specific need to be fleshed out more (actual commands to type, etc.) or anyone needs to hear more reasons why Windows totally eats it, let me know. Last edited by Difflugia; 12-31-2014 at 08:01 PM. Reason: Typo |
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#242 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 78910202
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Toronto
Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour
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#243 | |
eReader Wrangler
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Karma: 52039845
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Tolino Vision 4, Voyage, Clara HD
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Quote:
HP's Pavillion line is basically like Dell's Inspiron line (The desktops used to be called Dimension a few years ago, but the consumer laptops have been "Inspirons" for quite awhile now). I wouldn't wish these Inspiron boxes on anyone. I don't know the name for HPs business line -- at one time it was Evo (which originally was Compaq's name), but now I think they're just designated as dcXXXX models. (For example, a dc7900 would roughly compare to an Optiplex 760.) http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-COMPAQ-DC...item3f422868a1 These HPs are also good, solid computers that are easy to work on. I just don't see many of them in this area. Here's someone selling refurbished HP dc7900s for $59 with an 80GB hard drive and no OS. (They also sell a version with better specs and with Windows 7 pro for $89.) http://www.widgetree.com/collections...m-no-os-loaded I'm sure there are many, many more of these dealers. These are probably recycling companies who are paid to dispose of the old (off-lease) computers and they "dispose of them" by fixing and testing them and selling them to the public. So they're getting a double paycheck and can afford to sell the computers cheap. Last edited by rcentros; 01-01-2015 at 03:04 AM. |
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#244 |
eBook Enthusiast
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Karma: 93383099
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
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Whereas, to offer an alternate viewpoint, I've had my current Dell Inspiron laptop for close to 5 years, and extremely happy with it. I'll be replacing it with another Inspiron. These things are very much a matter of personal taste. What is it that you personally dislike about the Inspiron?
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#245 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
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Of course you can be lucky and get an Inspiron that do not break. |
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#246 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
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#247 |
Resident Curmudgeon
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Karma: 146391129
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
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Do not use an SSD in a desktop computer unless it is fault tolerant and most are not. You also will want a battery backup to be safe. The problem is that if you lose power, you could lose data and you could corrupt the SSD. That's why they are only really good in a laptop or tablet where there is a battery backup.
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#248 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 34000001
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: KPW1, KA1
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#249 |
Guru
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Karma: 7544528
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Berlin
Device: PRS 350, Kobo Aura
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#250 |
Addict
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Karma: 5774804
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Device: Kobo (Sage, Aura One, Aura HD, & Touch); reMarkable tablet.
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#251 |
Wizard
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Karma: 12500000
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Okanagan
Device: Sony PRS-650, Kobo Clara
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#252 | ||||
Gregg Bell
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Karma: 3917598
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Itasca, Illinois
Device: Kindle Touch 7, Sony PRS300, Fire HD8 Tablet
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#253 | ||
Gregg Bell
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Karma: 3917598
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Itasca, Illinois
Device: Kindle Touch 7, Sony PRS300, Fire HD8 Tablet
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#254 |
Resident Curmudgeon
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Karma: 146391129
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
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#255 | |
eBook Enthusiast
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Karma: 93383099
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
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My next laptop will have 16GB RAM, so hopefully I should then be able to convert these books. |
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