Browse your calibre book collection from anywhere

[solomon]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Whether the content server will pick up the changes depends on a couple of actors, best to just try it and see.

Hmmm, not much testing done but at first blush it *appears* to - I added a new book and edited the metadata and converted .LIT->.EPUB, so one of those might have kicked the update, where others might not have.

On a related note: can you weigh in on this thread about running calibre-server as a service? We're not having much luck running it (Win32) as a service account, and could use some debug tips I suspect.

TIA,
Richard

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Ok, I can't make any sensee of any of this. Can anyone please explain to this computer challenged old lady in very, very simple terms how one uses this?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

bumpity bump

[solomon]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Ok, I can't make any sensee of any of this. Can anyone please explain to this computer challenged old lady in very, very simple terms how one uses this?

The first post in this thread pretty much says it all - enable the "Content Server" in your Preferences and point your web client at that machine/port combination. E.g. http://mycomputer:8080

Most of the recent discussion is around creative (and advanced) ways to use the feature rather than the common user interface.

You can also find some useful information in the Calibre FAQ.

HTH,
Richard

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Ok, I can't make any sensee of any of this. Can anyone please explain to this computer challenged old lady in very, very simple terms how one uses this?

I saw your post, but hoped someone else would tackle it. It's not too hard to set this up, but it may take a few steps. If you are really computer challenged, you may not want to try it, depending on how much work you want to do, and how much benefit you think it will give you.

It would help to know what you want to do.

Let's start here: The content server will let you access your books with a web browser or a smartphone with WiFi. Once it is set up, it's accessible inside your home LAN, but not outside. To make it accessible outside (say from your office or via your smartphone while on the road) you need to set up some more things, and you have to worry about security. Do you want to access it from the Internet (outside your home LAN) or just inside?

I find both very useful, but the outside setup takes more work.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Richard, mayhap the first post said all for you but, as I said, I couldn't make any sense of it. Nowhere in the post do I even see what you told me. What advice you gave is too vague for me (note I said for me) to use. Just because I use computers extensively and am heavily dependent on them doesn't mean I understand the misbegotten things (seemingly, a misconception many geeks share). Toss in little things like ADD and we have cluster confusion. I have to have things explained to me very, very simply in very detailed steps (put tab a in slot b, fold along line c...) and don't expect me to grasp it immediately.

Starson17, your answer is of far more use to me. At least you acknoledge that the process may be too involved for a computer challenged person like me. I had thought it would be useful to be able to access my collection from over the internet but apparently it will be easier and safer for me to just put a duplicate on my little netbook for when I travel (I don't have an e-book reader yet, btw). Thanks.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

What advice you gave is too vague for me (note I said for me) to use.

Did you click on the link I gave to the FAQ? I linked directly to the page you need. It takes you to step-by-step directions - albeit they're oriented to the iPhone but following that should get you to the point you have the content server accessible on your local network.

I'm sorry, but I'm not aware of a more in-depth tutorial - though I'd not be surprised if one exists somewhere.

Duplicating your library on the netbook is actually a pretty good idea - assuming you use Windoze, might I suggest you look at SyncToy or similar to make that easier?

HTH,
Richard

P.S. @KovidGoyal - have you thought about adding a UPnP module to allow average users to get port forwarding set up?

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by solomon

P.S. @KovidGoyal - have you thought about adding a UPnP module to allow average users to get port forwarding set up?

Not really, I know nothing about UPnP, patches welcome

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Starson17, your answer is of far more use to me. At least you acknoledge that the process may be too involved for a computer challenged person like me. I had thought it would be useful to be able to access my collection from over the internet but apparently it will be easier and safer for me to just put a duplicate on my little netbook for when I travel (I don't have an e-book reader yet, btw). Thanks.

OK. I don't want to discourage you, but to access it over the internet means you not only have to turn on the content server, you have to make that server available over the internet. The first part is a lot easier. The second part isn't hard, but there are several steps and it might take a while to walk you through it. I'm sure people here would be willing to help you, but it is a lot easier to just put your books on the netbook.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

@ Solomon The link was dead.

@ Starson17 Methinks I'll keep it simple. Thanks!

[solomon]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

@ Solomon The link was dead.

Click on the one labelled Calibre FAQ....

Richard

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I appreciate your efforts, solomon, but I have to keep it simple. I tried SyncToy once and found it much simpler to manually sync the few files needed. The directions in the FAQ were, as you said, for i-Phone and trying to figure out how to use them was a nightmare with no end. Directions like, "Point to" make no sense to me. Keep in mind there are people who are total idiots when it comes to computers. Add learning disabilities like ADD to the mix and things become "interesting."

Calibre works for me because, with a bit of help, I was able to use its basic functions for cataloging and organizing my book collection (which I'm gradually scanning into my computer) with minimal input from me. I haven't been able to find another program, free or otherwise, that does that job as well for me. However, the more advanced functions apparently are beyond me. I haven't tried moving books to an e-book reader yet since I haven't found one that fully meets my needs yet but more keep coming out and the prices keep going down so eventually there will be one that will work (if the larger Sonys with out touch screens would clear up the glare issue, one of them might work).

[LeapinLar]

I have been trying to use the content server to get my pdb ereader books on my ipod touch like you can with Stanza. The problem is that the ipod must see the server in this format:

ereader://192.168xxxxxx:8080

instead of http://192.168.xxxxxx:8080

It needs this so that the safari browser recognizes the files as pdb and puts them in the right place on the ipod drive and tells ereader that they are there.

Using the http:// works fine to see the content server page but safari will not let you download the pdb unless the server is accessed with the ereader:// prefix.

My question is--

Is there a way to change the server from http:// to ereader:// so that safari will let you download the pdb files?

It only needs to be changed for the actual download of the book file. http works good for browsing the content server on ipod touch. There is a gui.js resource file that needs to be changed, but I don't know java scripting.

Edit--

I was able to find this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34527

which showed me how to make my own personal server to easily download my pdb files to my ipod touch. I would still be interested in knowing if calibre could be modified to do the same thing.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by LeapinLar

I have been trying to use the content server to get my pdb ereader books on my ipod touch like you can with Stanza.

I'm confused.... you're trying to use a reader app *OTHER* than Stanza? Stanza works fine on my iPod Touch using the directions I linked above.

Richard

[starrigger]

First of all, Lady Fitzgerald, please don't call yourself an idiot. These things can be finicky as all get out, and often people give instructions here assuming a certain amount of shorthand knowledge. So asking a second and third time is a sign of persistence and intelligence, not deficiency.

As it happens, I can't get the thing to work with Freda on my PDA, and I'm hoping someone might be able to help with that. Here's what I did:

In Calibre, I turned on the Content Server, and I tested it with the test button. A-okay.

In Freda, I went to the screen that asks for such things and entered the following address:
http://[computer]:8080/

where [computer] is the name of my computer on the home network. No luck. I tried again, this time in place of the computer name using the numeric address that I saw in my browser when I used the Test button. (I'm not sure if that's the actual network address for my computer on the home network.) As a different sort of test, I connected with Freda to the built-in address for Feedbooks, and that worked fine.

I tried the same things again, after turning off the firewall on the computer, and also the AV protection. No luck. Turned security back on.

So...what's the secret handshake? I remember it took forever to get it to work on my wife's iTouch with Stanza, but of course I've forgotten what made it work in the end.