Before my new JBL arrives ...

[Catlady]

Ken, the backup is a good idea, but why do I want to reformat the internal memory? Is it not currently a FAT32?

Earlier you had mentioned syncing the SD card with the computer--I have just been doing drag-and-drop; I'm leery of syncing after having many problems doing that with my music files on WMP and my mp3 player.

The book files I have on the SD card are in folders by author, and they are automatically being integrated into the Books folder on the JBL. What if I wanted to load a few picture files on the SD card--would jpg files automatically land in the JBL Pictures folder? Or should I create Books and Pictures folders on the card, too?

Thanks!

[Ken Maltby]

The JBL's internal memory comes from the factory formatted as FAT16. The major
benefits of the FAT32 format are not needed with the small (~100MB) internal memory,
but are essential for the larger file structure of an SD card used for an ebook library.
There is presumed to be some benefit to using the same format for both. There are also
some features of the FAT32 that can benefit the smaller memory file structure, as well.

Another reason for formatting the internal memory is to insure it is clean and well
mapped for the storage of your data. This is also why it is good to run ChkDsk on the
internal memory.

Using "SyncToy", you have control over the "sync" process and you can set it to "Echo"
your hard drive folder to the SD card, so that the SD card is made to match whatever
you do to the hard drive folder. It is not a self initiated process like you may have had
with your MP3 player as a paired device. (You can set it to do a default process when
it becomes aware that you have connected the SD card to your PC, if you want.)

Managing thousands of ebooks and pictures in tens of folders (my current hard drive
SD "Master" folder has 6,425 Files in 48 Folders) is much easier to do on the PC. You
can of course drag&drop to and delete from the SD card by hand, if that is your
preference.

Yes, you need a "Books" and a "Pictures" folder in the root of any SD card used as your
ebook library. (As I mentioned earlier, they can be empty folders) My folders are by
Theme or Catagory, or they are HTML folders for large manuals.

When you startup your JBL and select Books from the Main Menu, you are launching the
"eBooks" Menu which will include the files and folders from both the internal memory and
the SD card. The files shown from that menu are only the ebook files. If a folder contains
only picture files (jpg, bmp, gif) then when you select it you will see "No corresponding
file(s) found!". (If you were to put a .txt file in your "Pictures" folder, say with a
descriptive listing of the pictures in the folder, that file would show up for selection.)
[Makes me wonder how an .rtf file with thumbnails might work?]

When you select "Pictures" from the Main Menu the "Pictures" menu for the image display
program is launched. It also displays the folders and files from both the internal memory
and the SD card. It displays only picture files (jpg, bmp, gif) and ignores the ebook files
in the folders. Again, if a folder contains only ebook files (txt, epub, pdb,...) then when
you select it you will see "No corresponding file(s) found!". If the folder contains any
supported graphic files, like say a cover image, as a separate file that file will be listed
and can be displayed.

Luck;
Ken

[Catlady]

Wow, thanks so much for all the information. It is really helpful, especially as I'm just starting out--it's great to get these tips from an experienced user. Many thanks!

[Gardenman]

Hi I am new here and have been lurking for a while.
Do these instruction for the jetbook also apply to the libre?

Roger

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Screen is much darker than I expected, which I am finding a little disconcerting.

After reading your post, I got to thinking about what could be done to enhance the readability.

So, I played around with file conversions in Calibre and decided this worked best for me. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

After you have selected the book you want to convert, select it and click on the convert icon. Along the left hand side you will see "Look and Feel" - click it and you will see a bunch of stuff that you can alter.

First set Input and Output formats to epub.

Where it says "Line Height" make it read 10.0 (You can leave this at 0.0 for no action. The higher the number the wider the line spacing.

Check where it says "Remove line spacing" and make "Indent size" read 1.5em.

Into the box that says "Extra CSS" type or paste (without the quotes) "body {font-weight: bold;}CR"

Let me know if this helps.

Regards - John

[chas0039]

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but I got in the habit of transferring to the SD card through the computer. The USB connection with the JBL is USB 1.1 and is sloooooooooowwwww. It will routinely crash with any large number of transfers.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Jabby

After reading your post, I got to thinking about what could be done to enhance the readability.

Thanks. I actually can read the screen OK, I am just surprised that it IS readable with such a dark background. I think it's because I'm used to reading on a computer screen, and the JBL is nothing like that. I just need to get used to it.

But I'll play around with the Calibre settings next time I'm trying to convert something, and see what happens.

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by Catlady

But I'll play around with the Calibre settings next time I'm trying to convert something, and see what happens.

I am in the process of putting my mother's poetry into epub format and was playing with Sigil to get familiar with it. So, I grabbed a short text file to use as practice. And this the results complete with TOC.

Anyway, here are a couple of files for you to look at. One has a normal line spacing the other narrow but both have bold fonts.

Happy reading - John

Disclaimer: I am not making a statement with this article. I didn't even read it until I wanted a title.


Ignore these files. I have replaced them further down.

[GA Russell]

Very interesting, John. I prefer the Wide.

[Jabby]

Here are the replacement files for the above set. These have been cleaned up and the TOC works in both.

Regards - John

[Ken Maltby]

They look too tightly jammed together, for me. Otherwise they look nice.
It does seem like a lot of bytes used for the amount of text, is that an
uncompressed .epub?

(OT; I also share the same opinions expressed.)

Luck;
Ken

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

They look too tightly jammed together, for me. Otherwise they look nice. It does seem like a lot of bytes used for the amount of text, is that an
uncompressed .epub?

(OT; I also share the same opinions expressed.)

Luck;
Ken

Hi Ken -

Yep its compressed. When I am dealing with unfamiliar software (Sigil) I always save the previous step so I can start fresh when I screw up. So here is the way it worked.

.txt 21kb
.rtf from Wordpad = 24kb
.epub from Calibre = 41kb
.epub from Sigil = 101kb
.epub from Calibre (set bold) = 104
.epub after unzipping = 124kb

BTW, In the Calibre converter "look and feel" section the line height doesn't seem to work with fractional parts. Whole numbers like 10.0 and 11.0 work OK giving 0.8333em and 0.91677em respectively. I was able to edit the CSS with Sigil or "Tweak Epub". and after a lot of trial and error I found the "line-height: 0.88em;" worked well for me.

Regards - John

[jlg432]

About SyncToy. I would like to add that it is a great maintenance program. Once you have your original folder and file structure setup on your PC you can do the first transfer to SDHC card via a copy and paste to your card via a card reader.

As I have an ALP as well as a JB I named the cards accordingly. After generating the master library on the PC (you can go 3 folders deep without any problems) and it has been transferred to your SDHC card future updates are just a matter of connecting the reader to the PC and starting up synctoy and hitting run. It will apply all changes that were applied to the master library (deletes, moves, renames and additions).

This is handy because you can do your ebook downloads from the internet etc and after you have verified that they work the way you want them then position them into your master library and the next time you do your sync your sdhc card will be updated to match your master.

Since FW 35M I find the JB has no problem being recognized by my PC via USB-2.

On another note: I moved the text files that were in internal memory to the SDHC.
I freed up Internal memory (leaving the original folders) (ADE folders left alone as well) Now should a FW update need more memory it will be available. Should the device fail for some reason I can quickly remove my sdhc library. One other point I remove the DRM from my ePubs/PDF files. This makes them all portable.

John

[jlg432]

The comment about the screen being too dark - IMO if you have sufficient lighting you can angle the reader to give the best reflection of ambient light.