is there a guide for how to use an ereader in linux?

[Difflugia]

I hope nobody feels like I'm derailing the thread , but here's the beginning of a how-to for running Calibre with De-DRM in Linux. I hope it's general enough to avoid any problems with the MobileRead guidelines.

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:

tar xvjf wine-1.6.2.tar.bz
cd wine-1.6.2
tools/wineinstall

This will take a long time, even with modern hardware. It takes less than an hour on my new laptop, but I used to build it overnight.

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:

wine "~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Digital Editions/digitaleditions.exe"

At this point, ADE should also be integrated with your browser (I use Firefox and don't have to do any extra setup). Go to Adobe's sample ebook library and download something (I usually use This Side of Paradise). The browser should download the ACSM file and open it with Digital Editions.

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):

mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/kindle -o umask=0

I'll assume (very probably incorrectly) that your Kindle is mounted at the same place. In Calibre, go to "Connect/Share" and select "Connect to Folder". Browse to "/mnt/kindle/documents". This is personal preference, but I recommend that you now create a new folder here named "Calibre" (so, /mnt/kindle/documents/Calibre) and then browse into that. Now you can use Calibre to transfer books to and delete from this folder. Now go to the "Device" menu and "Eject Device". Finally, unmount the drive through whatever interface your Linux distribution gives you (I type as root "umount /mnt/kindle"). Unplug your Kindle from your computer and you should see all of your new books on the front page of your Kindle.

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.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

My office bought an HP Pavillion. The keyboard was beyond cheesy. Tiny little keys. Just about unusable.

Be fair to HP. The Pavillion is part of the CONSUMER line of PCs from HP. The Optiplex is the BUSINESS line of PCs from Dell.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Be fair to HP. The Pavillion is part of the CONSUMER line of PCs from HP. The Optiplex is the BUSINESS line of PCs from Dell.

Definitely.

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.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rcentros

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.

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?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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?

A couple of years ago we saw at the University that Inspiron laptops broke more often then the other laptop lines from Dell. So the rule of thumb became to never buy anything from Dell were the standard support was to send in the item and wait weeks. Only buy the things that had as standard next day support with a service technician coming and servicing the computer.

Of course you can be lucky and get an Inspiron that do not break.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by rcentros

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.

And why not? If you can get a Core 2 one with Windows 7, that computer can run fine up to 2020, especially if one could move Windows and software to an additional SSD. (An 80GB one cots €30 in the Netherlands.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

And why not? If you can get a Core 2 one with Windows 7, that computer can run fine up to 2020, especially if one could move Windows and software to an additional SSD. (An 80GB one cots €30 in the Netherlands.)

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.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

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.

So what? I only use an SSD to run Windows and software. I create a monthly image. The SSD can explode for all I care with regard to data, as I'll lose a month of updates at the most. Backups are always the best cover against losing data.

[dickloraine]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

9. Conclusion: Windows is pants

After reading this easy and very short guide, your conclusion sounds totally solid ;-)

[ballfresno]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It was going to be Windows 9, but MS changed the version to 10.

The rumour I read is that MS found that there was too much legacy software that checked for versions 9x (e.g. 95, 98) by checking only for the 9...

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by ballfresno

The rumour I read is that MS found that there was too much legacy software that checked for versions 9x (e.g. 95, 98) by checking only for the 9...

That makes sense. Good thing they caught it.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's still only 2GB of ram and as we well know, sometimes Calibre needs more then that.

But I've only got 1.5GB on the computer I'm using and Calibre works fine.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Go for it. You'll definitely be able to run Qt5 no problem. So that means Calibre and Sigil will work. Also, you'll have a system with Windows so that means an easier time dealing with eBooks as the DRM tools are easier to deal with under Windows.

Sorry to keep waffling. Fortunately that offer is over 1/3/15 and I'll have to decide.

Originally Posted by PeterT

Be fair to HP. The Pavillion is part of the CONSUMER line of PCs from HP. The Optiplex is the BUSINESS line of PCs from Dell.

Agree. I shouldn't have said anything about HP. Have very little experience with them.

Originally Posted by rcentros

Definitely.

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

You find the best deals! I want to buy them all! LOL Hey, I'm really thinking I'm a Linux guy. Maybe some day when JS's predictions come true that my old valiant Dells no longer can run Sigil and Calibre you'll help me find something with no OS and enough GB to run stuff?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

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.

LOL!!

Originally Posted by Difflugia

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:

tar xvjf wine-1.6.2.tar.bz
cd wine-1.6.2
tools/wineinstall

This will take a long time, even with modern hardware. It takes less than an hour on my new laptop, but I used to build it overnight.

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:

wine "~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Digital Editions/digitaleditions.exe"

At this point, ADE should also be integrated with your browser (I use Firefox and don't have to do any extra setup). Go to Adobe's sample ebook library and download something (I usually use This Side of Paradise). The browser should download the ACSM file and open it with Digital Editions.

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):

mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/kindle -o umask=0

I'll assume (very probably incorrectly) that your Kindle is mounted at the same place. In Calibre, go to "Connect/Share" and select "Connect to Folder". Browse to "/mnt/kindle/documents". This is personal preference, but I recommend that you now create a new folder here named "Calibre" (so, /mnt/kindle/documents/Calibre) and then browse into that. Now you can use Calibre to transfer books to and delete from this folder. Now go to the "Device" menu and "Eject Device". Finally, unmount the drive through whatever interface your Linux distribution gives you (I type as root "umount /mnt/kindle"). Unplug your Kindle from your computer and you should see all of your new books on the front page of your Kindle.

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.

Amazing post! Thanks very much! Read it. In places it's still a little daunting (I am a certified non-techie) but I copied and pasted it and will give it a shot. Really appreciate it!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

But I've only got 1.5GB on the computer I'm using and Calibre works fine.

It depends what you do with Calibre and how many books you have in your library. So there is a good chance that you will eventually run into a memory issue.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It depends what you do with Calibre and how many books you have in your library. So there is a good chance that you will eventually run into a memory issue.

True - especially when converting large books. I have a couple of very large books (Delphi collections) that Calibre is unable to convert on my current laptop (which has 4GB RAM) because it runs out of memory.

My next laptop will have 16GB RAM, so hopefully I should then be able to convert these books.