How to Convert files?

[DrMoze]

I feel like I'm missing something very obvious here. (Read: really dumb!) I have some rtf files I want to convert to lrf. I dl'd libprs500 and installed it. I have the rtf files listed. But, I see no command line field or any other way to enter a command to convert any of these files. What am I missing???

Thx.

[UPDATE] 73 views and *no* replies??!?!?? Surely *someone* here has converted a file and can tell me what I'm missing!

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

I feel like I'm missing something very obvious here. (Read: really dumb!) I have some rtf files I want to convert to lrf. I dl'd libprs500 and installed it. I have the rtf files listed. But, I see no command line field or any other way to enter a command to convert any of these files. What am I missing???

Thx.

[UPDATE] 73 views and *no* replies??!?!?? Surely *someone* here has converted a file and can tell me what I'm missing!

[UPDATE 2] 89 views. No reply. Did I inadvertently piss everyone off here?

[Xenophon]

you need to use either the new (beta) GUI or the command line conversion tools. In either case, you'll need to use the command line to start the tools. Since I can't tell what kind of system you have, I'll give you Mac OS X directions 'cause that's what I have. Perhaps some other kind soul can fill in the windows/linux version of this.

Step 0: move the libprs500 program that you downloaded off of the disk image to some spot on your hard disk. The Applications folder is a good choice.
Step 1: double-click the main libprs500 program. It'll start up the OLD GUI, and ask for name and password the first time it runs.
Step 2: Quit the old GUI. Don't bother with the old GUI from here on -- it's obsolete and being replaced. It doesn't get any bug fixes any more.

At this point your choices divide. You can just use the command line, or you can use the new beta GUI.

For the command line choice:
Step 3: Open a terminal window. That's found in Applications/Utilities/Terminal
Step 4: issue the command 'rtftolrf -xyzzy' (type everything between the single-quotes, but not the single-quotes themselves, in the terminal window; end with a return-key). The -xyzzy is an illegal switch, so you'll get the usage info out of the tool.
Step 5: issue the command 'rtftolrf yourfile.rtf -o youroutputfile.lrf' in your terminal window
See the command do its thing.
Step 6: read the usage info from step 4 and decide what other switches you want to use.
Step 7: use the more complicated command line switches to modify your how your rtf gets processed into LRF.

For the gui choice, issue the command libprs500-beta. This will open a new GUI window. Use the 'Add Book' command to load one of your books into the GUI's database. Use the 'Edit meta-data' command to set the title, author, etc. Use the Convert commands to convert to LRF. There are point-n-clicky buttons and stuff to set options. Can you tell I haven't used this option much?


In either case, please drop another post here to let us know how it goes. Also, the author of the software just left on a 2-week trip so there won't be any bug-fixes until he gets back.

Xenophon

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

[UPDATE 2] 89 views. No reply. Did I inadvertently piss everyone off here?

Sorry, 'bout that, DrMoze, caught us napping. (though some of those views will be lurkers, and search indexers -- there aren't usually more than a couple dozen actual members on line at any time).

Anyway, Xenophon has given you a good run-down for libprs500. Another tool you might like to look at (this one is PC only, though) is BookDesigner. If you'll follow that link, it'll take you to a good explanation of the tool, which also has a link to a top-notch, very detailed tutorial by one of the members here who uses the app a whole bunch.

[HarryT]

This isn't a "real time" chat board, DrMoze. Posting a message and then complaining, 10 minutes later, than nobody's answered you yet, really isn't the right way to do things. Leave it a day, at least, before giving people a "nudge".

I would second Nat's recommendation for "Book Designer"; an excellent tool which many of us here on the forum use.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Leave it a day, at least, before giving people a "nudge".

Heh, that's pretty much what he did do, HarryT (have another look at the dates of the posts).

[HarryT]

Oops - my apologies; I only looked at the time on the posts, not the date . My apologies, DrMoze - you did exactly the right thing .

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Oops - my apologies; I only looked at the time on the posts, not the date . My apologies, DrMoze - you did exactly the right thing .

Not a problem. I just saw a lot of views (after some time elapsed), and no reply to what was probably a very basic (and simple) question that I just couldn't figure out after reading many posts here. Wanted to make sure I hadn't done something "wrong."

I'm using WinXP, started up libprs500 and saw no command line interface. So basically I need to use the system's command-line interface, as there is none within the program? (I gather that the program 'loads' the conversion apps onto the pc?) That makes a little more sense now. I thought the commands could be run from within libprs500.

I will probably experiment with the gui (beta) a bit. Maybe try Book Designer too. (Have to read up on what it can convert.) I dl'd some Baen free library books that I'd like to convert. (Or has anyone done so already? I didn't see any on the uploads forum.)

Thx for the pointers!

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

I dl'd some Baen free library books that I'd like to convert. (Or has anyone done so already? I didn't see any on the uploads forum.)

Oh, a fair number of us have converted Baen books, but we haven't posted them because we don't have permission to re-post them.

We're trying very hard to stay on the Light Side of that issue here at MobileRead -- Don't want to get shut down you know.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

I'm using WinXP, started up libprs500 and saw no command line interface. So basically I need to use the system's command-line interface, as there is none within the program? (I gather that the program 'loads' the conversion apps onto the pc?) That makes a little more sense now. I thought the commands could be run from within libprs500.

Just do from the start button, run, cmd and you get the command line
Then cd ../../the folder with the rtf files (complete path of course)
Then rtf2lrf name.rtf and you are set

Personally I have MsWord and do an intermediate step, use the free lit converter to convert the rtf loaded in MsWord to mslit (just press the button lit on MsWord, which appears when you install the converter), and then repeat the above with lit2lrf instead, found it works better...

BookDesigner is nice but too heavy for my needs; I used to love it and I remember being one of the first to popularize it here last year, but libprs is so much efficient in my opinion for quick work. BD is good if you want to do TOC and other stuff like that.

[JSWolf]

If you are going to convert Baen books, best to use the HTML version and use the --baen switch with html2lrf.

1. start | run | cmd
2. cd to the directory the book is in
3. html2lrf --header --right-margin=4 --left-margin=4 --baen -a "athor name" -t "title of book" nameofbook.html
4. Load LRF on reader and enjoy

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you are going to convert Baen books, best to use the HTML version and use the --baen switch with html2lrf.

1. start | run | cmd
2. cd to the directory the book is in
3. html2lrf --header --right-margin=4 --left-margin=4 --baen -a "athor name" -t "title of book" nameofbook.html
4. Load LRF on reader and enjoy

Hi, and thanks for the tips! A couple of things:

DL'ing baen book in html format yields a zipped folder with a lot of small files in it. Is this correct?

Should the commands above be typed as-is, e.g., 2 dashes before the first few commands, quotes around the author and title?

Thx...

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

Hi, and thanks for the tips! A couple of things:

DL'ing baen book in html format yields a zipped folder with a lot of small files in it. Is this correct?

Should the commands above be typed as-is, e.g., 2 dashes before the first few commands, quotes around the author and title?

Thx...

Yes, you get a folder with a lot of small files.

The html2lrf command should be issued with the '--' intact, but you should replace the filenames and paths with your versions. And keep the double-quotes around the title and author.

Also, Baen books generally come out a bit better if you point html2lrf at the XXX_toc.htm file rather than the XXX.htm file. 'XXX' here is usually the ISBN of the book. Lastly, the cover art for each book is in the ISBN.jpg file. If you tell the converter this, using the --cover=ISBN.jpg switch, you'll also get cover art in sensible places. And a table of contents (both at the front from the html, and at the back where the 'contents' button on the reader's menu will find it). Again, replace 'ISBN' with the actual file name from your book.

Good luck!

Xenophon

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Yes, you get a folder with a lot of small files.

The html2lrf command should be issued with the '--' intact, but you should replace the filenames and paths with your versions. And keep the double-quotes around the title and author.

Also, Baen books generally come out a bit better if you point html2lrf at the XXX_toc.htm file rather than the XXX.htm file. 'XXX' here is usually the ISBN of the book. Lastly, the cover art for each book is in the ISBN.jpg file. If you tell the converter this, using the --cover=ISBN.jpg switch, you'll also get cover art in sensible places. And a table of contents (both at the front from the html, and at the back where the 'contents' button on the reader's menu will find it). Again, replace 'ISBN' with the actual file name from your book.

Good luck!

Xenophon

OK, so I unzip the folder and use the nameofbook_toc.htm instead of nameofbook.htm file, and add the --cover command. Sounds like a plan! I'll check it out this weekend... Thx again!

BTW, was this all covered in a tutorial or something here? I poked around in a lot of threads before my initial post and didn't come up with this info. (I don't want to be duplicative or a pest.)

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

OK, so I unzip the folder and use the nameofbook_toc.htm instead of nameofbook.htm file, and add the --cover command. Sounds like a plan! I'll check it out this weekend... Thx again!

BTW, was this all covered in a tutorial or something here? I poked around in a lot of threads before my initial post and didn't come up with this info. (I don't want to be duplicative or a pest.)

Try also to download the lit file and just do lit2lrf and check how it works. To me it seems that it works very well, and is far less trouble.