Palm Pilot

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by historyb

It's a Palm 111e with 2 mb ram it runs 3.5.x not sure what OS yet. I know there are a ton of software out there for it.

Actually, the IIIe is an OS 3.1 device. There is a downloadable upgrade for the III to OS 3.3 on Palm's site. I'm not sure if it works on the IIIe.

My old Handspring Visor Deluxe was OS 3.1 and couldn't be upgraded.

You'll want to check the OS requirements on any software you install, as a lot of things want OS 3.5 or better.

For reading ebooks, there are several options. One program I used to use happily was Bill Clagett's CSpotRun. The early version was tiny, at 22K, and fast. The major lacks were no support for categories or bookmarks, and no ability to read files on an expansion card. For a Palm IIIe, which doesn't have an expansion card, the latter is not a big issue. CSpotRun reads Palm "doc" files, which are plain text files, compressed to save RAM, and decompressed on the fly by the reader. The compression used offers about a 40% size reduction.

CSpotRun is here: http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/cspotrun/

Another program I used on my old Deluxe was Plucker. Plucker is a free, open source HTML viewer for Palm devices. It is designed to "pluck" web pages and convert them on the desktop to the format used on the PDA. I have thousands of HTML format texts from Project Gutenberg and elsewhere converted to Plucker on my device. Plucker defailts to Palm doc compatible compression, but can also use gzip compatible compression with the assistance of a Palm port of Zlib, provided with the viewer. Plucker documents created with the high compression option are compressed an average of 70%. The advantage to Plucker is support for text attributes, hyperlinks, embedded images and (on OS 5 machines) custom fonts. You may need to grab an older version for the IIIe. I'm not sure if the latest runs on an OS 3.1 device.

Plucker is here: http://www.plkr.org

Another option I used to use is WeaselReader. WeaselReader began as GutenPalm, a Palm based reader for Project Gutenberg etexts. It includes things like an option to automatically skip over the lengthy license boilerplate at the beginning of many Gutenberg plain text files. WeaselReader can read Palm doc files, and zTXT files, which are also plain text but use the same compression as Plucker's high compression option. Weaselreader also uses Zlib for this, and will need it installed.

WeaselReader is here: http://gutenpalm.sourceforge.net/

Your biggest challenge may be getting books you want to read in Palm doc, zTXT, or Plucker format.

Project Gutenberg now offers Plucker format files as a download option.

Munseys and ManyBooks are also sources. Munseys offers books in Plucker and iSilo formats among others. ManyBooks offers Plucker, Palm doc, and zTXT files among others.

Munseys is here: http://www.munseys.com

Manybooks is here: http://www.manybooks.net
______
Dennis

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by historyb

Thank you. I had some txt that I converted to pdb and I was surprised to see it compressed the file that much. I was think of using the ereader.

There is no reason to limit yourself to one reader. You can load several depending on what eBooks you want. eReader is good for the Palm. Check the wiki for more details.

Dale

[historyb]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Actually, the IIIe is an OS 3.1 device. There is a downloadable upgrade for the III to OS 3.3 on Palm's site. I'm not sure if it works on the IIIe.

My old Handspring Visor Deluxe was OS 3.1 and couldn't be upgraded.

You'll want to check the OS requirements on any software you install, as a lot of things want OS 3.5 or better.

For reading ebooks, there are several options. One program I used to use happily was Bill Clagett's CSpotRun. The early version was tiny, at 22K, and fast. The major lacks were no support for categories or bookmarks, and no ability to read files on an expansion card. For a Palm IIIe, which doesn't have an expansion card, the latter is not a big issue. CSpotRun reads Palm "doc" files, which are plain text files, compressed to save RAM, and decompressed on the fly by the reader. The compression used offers about a 40% size reduction.

CSpotRun is here: http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/cspotrun/

Another program I used on my old Deluxe was Plucker. Plucker is a free, open source HTML viewer for Palm devices. It is designed to "pluck" web pages and convert them on the desktop to the format used on the PDA. I have thousands of HTML format texts from Project Gutenberg and elsewhere converted to Plucker on my device. Plucker defailts to Palm doc compatible compression, but can also use gzip compatible compression with the assistance of a Palm port of Zlib, provided with the viewer. Plucker documents created with the high compression option are compressed an average of 70%. The advantage to Plucker is support for text attributes, hyperlinks, embedded images and (on OS 5 machines) custom fonts. You may need to grab an older version for the IIIe. I'm not sure if the latest runs on an OS 3.1 device.

Plucker is here: http://www.plkr.org

Another option I used to use is WeaselReader. WeaselReader began as GutenPalm, a Palm based reader for Project Gutenberg etexts. It includes things like an option to automatically skip over the lengthy license boilerplate at the beginning of many Gutenberg plain text files. WeaselReader can read Palm doc files, and zTXT files, which are also plain text but use the same compression as Plucker's high compression option. Weaselreader also uses Zlib for this, and will need it installed.

WeaselReader is here: http://gutenpalm.sourceforge.net/

Your biggest challenge may be getting books you want to read in Palm doc, zTXT, or Plucker format.

Project Gutenberg now offers Plucker format files as a download option.

Munseys and ManyBooks are also sources. Munseys offers books in Plucker and iSilo formats among others. ManyBooks offers Plucker, Palm doc, and zTXT files among others.

Munseys is here: http://www.munseys.com

Manybooks is here: http://www.manybooks.net
______
Dennis

Thank you. Now is Palm Doc .pdb format?

[historyb]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

There is no reason to limit yourself to one reader. You can load several depending on what eBooks you want. eReader is good for the Palm. Check the wiki for more details.

Dale

I will thank you. I like the bookmark feature with eReader, I'm using with wine in Linux right now.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by historyb

Thank you. Now is Palm Doc .pdb format?

Yes, but you need to understand how Palm OS works.

The only files that can be in RAM on a Palm OS PDA are files in Palm Database format. All files in RAM on a Palm OS device are databases. Programs on Palm devices are "resource" databases, where the resources are the program code.

Windows uses the file extension to know what kind of file it is and how to handle it. An EXE file is a program, a Doc file is a word Document, and XLS file is a spreadsheet, etc. Palm OS doesn't do that. There are only two file extensions you will see on Palm devices: PDB and PRC.

Any file with a PDB extension is a Palm Database file. The actual content can be anything. The first record of every Palm Database file contains information about the database, including the Creator ID and the Type. All programs on Palm devices have a unique four character Creator ID, and all databases used by the program will have the same Creator ID. Palm OS uses that to know what data belongs to what program, and each program only sees the data it knows how to handle.

A file with a PRC extension is a Palm Resource Database. It's usually a program, but does not have to be. Some programs use data files in PRC format. For example, the Mobipocket ebook reader uses PRC files on Palm devices to hold ebooks.

Palm doc files are a special case. They have a PDB extension, and they all have a Creator ID of "REAd", and a Type of "TEXt". An assortment of programs can display doc files, including CSpotRun and WeaselReader, which I mentioned. eReader and Mobi reader can also display doc files, as can a variety of text editor and word processing apps for Palm devices.
______
Dennis

[historyb]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Yes, but you need to understand how Palm OS works.

The only files that can be in RAM on a Palm OS PDA are files in Palm Database format. All files in RAM on a Palm OS device are databases. Programs on Palm devices are "resource" databases, where the resources are the program code.

Windows uses the file extension to know what kind of file it is and how to handle it. An EXE file is a program, a Doc file is a word Document, and XLS file is a spreadsheet, etc. Palm OS doesn't do that. There are only two file extensions you will see on Palm devices: PDB and PRC.

Any file with a PDB extension is a Palm Database file. The actual content can be anything. The first record of every Palm Database file contains information about the database, including the Creator ID and the Type. All programs on Palm devices have a unique four character Creator ID, and all databases used by the program will have the same Creator ID. Palm OS uses that to know what data belongs to what program, and each program only sees the data it knows how to handle.

A file with a PRC extension is a Palm Resource Database. It's usually a program, but does not have to be. Some programs use data files in PRC format. For example, the Mobipocket ebook reader uses PRC files on Palm devices to hold ebooks.

Palm doc files are a special case. They have a PDB extension, and they all have a Creator ID of "REAd", and a Type of "TEXt". An assortment of programs can display doc files, including CSpotRun and WeaselReader, which I mentioned. eReader and Mobi reader can also display doc files, as can a variety of text editor and word processing apps for Palm devices.
______
Dennis

Thank you. I know other extensions and since I don't do windows I don't use exe much. Those times when I have to I use wine, but the same as what you said can apply to various Linux Distro's.

I want to became as good at the Palm as I am at Linux now. It's an interesting feeling being a newbie at something again.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by historyb

Thank you. I know other extensions and since I don't do windows I don't use exe much. Those times when I have to I use wine, but the same as what you said can apply to various Linux Distro's.

Sure. *nix doesn't use file extensions either. It knows about standard files, directories, and "special" files (devices). A program is simply a standard file with the execute bit set in the permissions mask. Individual applications may pay attention to file extensions, but the OS doesn't.

I want to became as good at the Palm as I am at Linux now. It's an interesting feeling being a newbie at something again.

Look forward to an interesting journey.

Obviously, your big constraint on using a Palm III as an ebook reader is limited RAM. You've got a whole 2MB to hold programs and data, and no expansion card capability. You'll be able to read ebooks on it, but won't be able to store too many at once.

I think I'd start by installing WeaselReader, Plucker, and syszlib (which is used by both programs. Weasel will cover doc and zTXT files. Plucker will handle converted HTML.

The Plucker desktop is cross platform, written in Python, and runs under Linux, so you can do your own HTML conversions. Also, I have about 3,200 Plucker volumes I've converted. It's possible I already have a title you are interested in, and I'll be happy to supply it if so.

Tools exist for Linux to create doc and zTXT files as well. zTXT is preferable because of the higher compression, allowing you to store more texts.
______
Dennis

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A file with a PRC extension is a Palm Resource Database. It's usually a program, but does not have to be. Some programs use data files in PRC format. For example, the Mobipocket ebook reader uses PRC files on Palm devices to hold ebooks.

MobiPocket files are not Palm Resource Databases. So it is a bit confusing that they have the extension prc.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tompe

MobiPocket files are not Palm Resource Databases. So it is a bit confusing that they have the extension prc.

A previous thread here indicated they actually did use the resource database format. But it is confusing, because you can create a Mobi documaent with a PDB extension, and it will be detected and displayed by the reader just fine.

Bottom line, all programs on Palm OS devices are PRC files, but all PRC files are not programs.
______
Dennis

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A previous thread here indicated they actually did use the resource database format. But it is confusing, because you can create a Mobi documaent with a PDB extension, and it will be detected and displayed by the reader just fine.

Bottom line, all programs on Palm OS devices are PRC files, but all PRC files are not programs.

All MobiPocket files I have looked at using mobi2mobi have been pdb files even if the extension have been .prc. My programs would not work if they were resource databases since the data is accessed in a different way in that case. The MobiPocket files I create with Mobiperl are not resource databases. At least not according to the Palm/Doc.pm module.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by tompe

MobiPocket files are not Palm Resource Databases. So it is a bit confusing that they have the extension prc.

There is no extension in a palm database. There is no filesystem in RAM so no filename or no extension. Instead the is a database name and attributes define the file type and the program that can be used to understand that file. When the file is backed up via Palm sync to a pc the database name becomes the file name and the extension is added to aid the sync program in recognizing palm databases. this is explained in more detail in the wiki.

MobiPocket chose to use PRC to try and distinguish themselves. There are other programs that have also used PRC in this fashion. You sometimes see PalmDOC files with a PRC extension and eReader files as well. This is because they are often used on windows where it can be important to distinguish by extension but as previously stated in RAM on a Palm there is no extension since there is no file.

Dale

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

MobiPocket chose to use PRC to try and distinguish themselves. There are other programs that have also used PRC in this fashion. You sometimes see PalmDOC files with a PRC extension and eReader files as well. This is because they are often used on windows where it can be important to distinguish by extension but as previously stated in RAM on a Palm there is no extension since there is no file.

Yes, but as you saw in this thread it is common to claim that a file with extension prc must be a palm resource database. So it is causing confusion.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, but as you saw in this thread it is common to claim that a file with extension prc must be a palm resource database. So it is causing confusion.

Of course. It is easy to be confused when you don't know what is going on. That is why I explained what is going on.

Dale

[historyb]

Thank you for the explanation again. Well I was milling around in my head about my purchase and sure enough I leap before I looked, which I do quite often. I found a Palm Pilot IIIxe Handheld PDA 8MB on auction and ended up paying .01 for it, unlike last time I check this one out a bit. So when the other one gets here I'll just put it back up on eBay. It has more memory at least.



So what is the assessment of this one from those in the know?

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by historyb

Thank you for the explanation again. Well I was milling around in my head about my purchase and sure enough I leap before I looked, which I do quite often. I found a Palm Pilot IIIxe Handheld PDA 8MB on auction and ended up paying .01 for it, unlike last time I check this one out a bit. So when the other one gets here I'll just put it back up on eBay. It has more memory at least.



So what is the assessment of this one from those in the know?

That is a great little unit. You should enjoy it. I believe there is a hardware hack to add more memory on that one if you wish but certainly it has enough to hold several books.

Dale