EPUB output - Page 47

Ingrid Bakker · 05-30-2010, 12:02 PM

Hello Kovid and others,

I am a newbie to this forum, and quite illiterate when it comes to technical details, so I if you do have an answer to my question I kindly ask you to use laymen’s language.
My question regards the PDF to epub conversion. My ereader is a Nook, and I used to use Calibre to convert my files and manage my library. Everything seemed to work fine, but soon a very persistent problem surfaced. The further I was progressing in reading a book the slower the pages turned, and at some point (after page turns taking over a minute!) I started getting error massages that the reader application stopped working.
While looking for an answer on the web I found numerous posts about the sluggish performance of the Nook, and I also found the online conversion site online-convert.com.
I converted some of the files I converted with Calibre though this online service, and imported the epub files that were generated via Calibre to my Nook, and the problem of the sluggish page turns is solved. The page turns remain snappy from the start of a book till the end.
Though this approach works flawless I don’t feel comfortable sending my files to a web server, and I can’t stop wondering why I am not able to get the same result using Calibre for the conversion. Can you please help me out?

Kind regards,

Ingrid Bakker.

Clytie · 06-17-2010, 05:42 AM

G'day all

I don't seem to be able to convert Baen Books HTML files to ePub. I can convert other HTML files, but not Baen.

I've attached the error message I get, plus a sample book ("1632", from Baen's Free Library).

Thanks for any help you can offer.

(Edit: OSX latest, Calibre latest)

DoctorOhh · 06-17-2010, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clytie

G'day all

I don't seem to be able to convert Baen Books HTML files to ePub. I can convert other HTML files, but not Baen.

I've attached the error message I get, plus a sample book ("1632", from Baen's Free Library).

Thanks for any help you can offer.

(Edit: OSX latest, Calibre latest)

When I unzipped the file and started via 1632.htm it opened up in my browser running in a frame. I don't think the conversion can handle html frames. I opened the frame up in its own window and decided to drag/add the Table Of Contents html (0671578499_toc.htm) to calibre then convert that. A relatively clean conversion was the result. I had to clean up/remove some navigation links using Sigil.

theonna · 06-17-2010, 10:47 AM

Hello everyone, I would like to embed fonts in my converted books, I downloaded and added embed font plugin, but newly created epub files do not contain any fonts.
Any help? Thank you.

JSWolf · 06-17-2010, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clytie

G'day all

I don't seem to be able to convert Baen Books HTML files to ePub. I can convert other HTML files, but not Baen.

I've attached the error message I get, plus a sample book ("1632", from Baen's Free Library).

Thanks for any help you can offer.

(Edit: OSX latest, Calibre latest)

Why not just download the ePub versions instead of the HTML versions?

1632 - http://www.webscription.net/SendFile...D=379&format=E

Seems a lot easier to me then doing the conversions.

DoctorOhh · 06-17-2010, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why not just download the ePub versions instead of the HTML versions?

1632 - http://www.webscription.net/SendFile...D=379&format=E

Seems a lot easier to me then doing the conversions.

I love it when there is a obvious solution!

JSWolf · 06-17-2010, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwanthny

I love it when there is a obvious solution!

It seemed pretty obvious to me.

KjellM · 06-20-2010, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why not just download the ePub versions instead of the HTML versions?

1632 - http://www.webscription.net/SendFile...D=379&format=E

Seems a lot easier to me then doing the conversions.

The Baen Free Library and the latest two versions of the BAEN CD Library have EPUBs, but the older Baen CDs do not, so the issue is a valid one.

pdurrant · 06-21-2010, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KjellM

The Baen Free Library and the latest two versions of the BAEN CD Library have EPUBs, but the older Baen CDs do not, so the issue is a valid one.

True, although though if you want to (and can afford to) you could buy the relevant book at webscriptions and get ePub without effort.

dpayment · 06-21-2010, 07:38 AM

Is anyone else having truncation problems with ePubs uploaded to the Kobo? I recently took a rather large text file (~850kb) and converted it to ePub using Calibre. I had a quick view of the book using Calibre's built-in viewer, confirmed that it was all there, then uploaded it to my Kobo. Started reading but once I got to what should have been approximately 2/3 the way through the book at page 362, it just ended in the middle of a word.

I went back to Calibre, deleted all versions of the book from the Kobo and Calibre, then added the book again, did the conversion again, deleted the text version so that the ePub was the only format available and uploaded it to the kobo again. Same problem... but it did end on the same page, but a different word.

So, I then thought I'd be clever and convert it to PDF and go with that. Good idea, but not worth the effort. The entire book converted and arrived on the Kobo, but the font is so small that even with my bifocals, I can't read it comfortably. Wonder if anyone has considered the idea of a fresnel lens screen protector??? I tried doing the PDF conversion three times, twice using Calibre with custom and default settings, and once with Nitro PDF. Always the same problem.

I'm at a loss, I haven't tried this with other books, but I'd really like to finish this particular one.

Anyone have any suggestions??

Thanks in advance,
Dan

P.S. Should have mentioned that I'm using the 0.7.3 version of Calibre.

P.P.S. Made some further discoveries. There are also chunks of text missing within the body of what does make it to the Kobo. The material is in the file, but the Kobo either fails to recognize it, or fails to render it. So far, I've found 3 books that have been truncated by the Kobo before the end of the stories, but the entire contents are contained within the html files. Also, where text is missing on the Kobo from within the body of the text, it too is contained within the body of the html file. I've had a quick look at the html, and I can't see anything wrong, but I'll have to take another look tonight. I'll download Sigil and run the files in question through the validator to see if there's something it can spot.

Dan

DoctorOhh · 06-21-2010, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpayment

Same problem... but it did end on the same page, but a different word.

I'm at a loss, I haven't tried this with other books, but I'd really like to finish this particular one.

If I understand you, in the Cailbre viewer you could read it all the way through with no problem.

I had a book on my PRS-505 that rebooted my reader at the same spot in the book every time. I opened the epub with Sigil went to the area that caused my device to reboot and removed whatever crap code was there then saved the book and put it back on my reader it worked fine after that.

dpayment · 06-22-2010, 11:37 AM

I've had my Kobo eReader for about 3 weeks now, and I'm getting more and more frustrated with each passing day. The hardware is adequate, from the blue button placement, it appears that it might be hardware from Astak, but the firmware and Kobo desktop software just plain suck! I've managed to delete (actually, I've just hidden them for now) the 100 free books included with the Kobo, fairly easy to do if you google it on the net, and after trying Kobo's desktop software, I immediately switched to using my favourite library tool, Calibre. The Kobo is my 6th eReader now, my last one died just recently, and I thought that the Kobo would be a good interim replacement until the new eReaders come out in the fall, at which point I was going to buy one with a larger screen, and pass the Kobo over to my partner.

Well, I've converted several of my old books into epub and pdf formats to try reading them on the Kobo, and I find it damned near impossible. The epub format appears to have major issues. When rendering the text, it drops major portions of the books, in some cases as many as a couple of hundred pages. With some books, the missing text is the entire end of the book, in other cases, it's text in the middle of the book, and in some cases, both. Another issue is the scalability of fonts. Unless you do some massaging to each epub file, you're stuck with the default "largest" font, which on any other reader would probably be considered "small". There's a piece of freeware called KoboBulkFixer.zip that does a very quick, neat job of resolving the issue, but you shouldn't have to.

As for PDF, well, let's not even go there. Suffice it to say that unless you have Superman's vision, PDFs are almost completely unreadable.

And that brings to mind the other limitations of the Kobo. Only PDFs and epubs??? Why not include the capability of loading and reading some of the "open" formats like .txt and .html. After all, and epub is basically zip compressed html with a stylesheet, and plain text surely can't be that hard to render. Next, no "goto" option, you can't jump forward or backward to go over something again, you actually have to turn pages to get where you want to go.

There also should be some easy way to delete books, both from the "I'm reading" and the library itself, built into the device. Having to plug into the computer just to delete a book I no longer wish to keep gets to be a little tedious after a while.

I'm a prodigious reader, I devour something in the neighbourhood of 5 to 6 books a week on average, but with the Kobo, I've managed less than one book a week. Very frustrating, and extremely annoying when I discovered that the book I'd just read was incomplete.

According to a posting I found yesterday on mobileread, Kobo plans to release a new firmware upgrade the week of the 28th of June, and I'm willing to wait and see how that goes, but unless they've done some major work and listened to all the suggestions and complaints from Kobo users, they'll not be getting any recommendations from me any time soon!

Dan

DoctorOhh · 06-22-2010, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpayment

I've had my Kobo eReader for about 3 weeks now, and I'm getting more and more frustrated with each passing day.

Nice rant, but I have no idea why you posted it in this forum.

I have a PRS-505 and I too thought the default fonts were too small. When I bought my first book from Sony (LRX) the largest scalable font was too small for me.

Since that book, I ensured that the DRM of every book I buy can easily be removed. Then I convert it to ePub using calibre and increase the base font size in the process. Now I can read every ePub on either the medium or large font setting of my reader.

JSWolf · 06-22-2010, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KjellM

The Baen Free Library and the latest two versions of the BAEN CD Library have EPUBs, but the older Baen CDs do not, so the issue is a valid one.

Are there MS Reader version on the older Baen CDs? If so, use that to do the ePub conversion.

theducks · 06-22-2010, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Are there MS Reader version on the older Baen CDs? If so, use that to do the ePub conversion.

I converted early Baen CD's from PRC with fairly good text results, but it does not have a cover image.

06-21-2010, 07:38 AM	#700
dpayment Connoisseur Posts: 90 Karma: 618 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Ottawa Device: PocketBook Pro 902, EB-1150, PRS505, PRS700, Jetbook, Hanlin V3, Kobo	ePub output on a Kobo Is anyone else having truncation problems with ePubs uploaded to the Kobo? I recently took a rather large text file (~850kb) and converted it to ePub using Calibre. I had a quick view of the book using Calibre's built-in viewer, confirmed that it was all there, then uploaded it to my Kobo. Started reading but once I got to what should have been approximately 2/3 the way through the book at page 362, it just ended in the middle of a word. I went back to Calibre, deleted all versions of the book from the Kobo and Calibre, then added the book again, did the conversion again, deleted the text version so that the ePub was the only format available and uploaded it to the kobo again. Same problem... but it did end on the same page, but a different word. So, I then thought I'd be clever and convert it to PDF and go with that. Good idea, but not worth the effort. The entire book converted and arrived on the Kobo, but the font is so small that even with my bifocals, I can't read it comfortably. Wonder if anyone has considered the idea of a fresnel lens screen protector??? I tried doing the PDF conversion three times, twice using Calibre with custom and default settings, and once with Nitro PDF. Always the same problem. I'm at a loss, I haven't tried this with other books, but I'd really like to finish this particular one. Anyone have any suggestions?? Thanks in advance, Dan P.S. Should have mentioned that I'm using the 0.7.3 version of Calibre. P.P.S. Made some further discoveries. There are also chunks of text missing within the body of what does make it to the Kobo. The material is in the file, but the Kobo either fails to recognize it, or fails to render it. So far, I've found 3 books that have been truncated by the Kobo before the end of the stories, but the entire contents are contained within the html files. Also, where text is missing on the Kobo from within the body of the text, it too is contained within the body of the html file. I've had a quick look at the html, and I can't see anything wrong, but I'll have to take another look tonight. I'll download Sigil and run the files in question through the validator to see if there's something it can spot. Dan Last edited by dpayment; 06-22-2010 at 07:28 AM.

06-22-2010, 11:37 AM	#702
dpayment Connoisseur Posts: 90 Karma: 618 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Ottawa Device: PocketBook Pro 902, EB-1150, PRS505, PRS700, Jetbook, Hanlin V3, Kobo	Kobo eReader, great concept, Horrid execution! I've had my Kobo eReader for about 3 weeks now, and I'm getting more and more frustrated with each passing day. The hardware is adequate, from the blue button placement, it appears that it might be hardware from Astak, but the firmware and Kobo desktop software just plain suck! I've managed to delete (actually, I've just hidden them for now) the 100 free books included with the Kobo, fairly easy to do if you google it on the net, and after trying Kobo's desktop software, I immediately switched to using my favourite library tool, Calibre. The Kobo is my 6th eReader now, my last one died just recently, and I thought that the Kobo would be a good interim replacement until the new eReaders come out in the fall, at which point I was going to buy one with a larger screen, and pass the Kobo over to my partner. Well, I've converted several of my old books into epub and pdf formats to try reading them on the Kobo, and I find it damned near impossible. The epub format appears to have major issues. When rendering the text, it drops major portions of the books, in some cases as many as a couple of hundred pages. With some books, the missing text is the entire end of the book, in other cases, it's text in the middle of the book, and in some cases, both. Another issue is the scalability of fonts. Unless you do some massaging to each epub file, you're stuck with the default "largest" font, which on any other reader would probably be considered "small". There's a piece of freeware called KoboBulkFixer.zip that does a very quick, neat job of resolving the issue, but you shouldn't have to. As for PDF, well, let's not even go there. Suffice it to say that unless you have Superman's vision, PDFs are almost completely unreadable. And that brings to mind the other limitations of the Kobo. Only PDFs and epubs??? Why not include the capability of loading and reading some of the "open" formats like .txt and .html. After all, and epub is basically zip compressed html with a stylesheet, and plain text surely can't be that hard to render. Next, no "goto" option, you can't jump forward or backward to go over something again, you actually have to turn pages to get where you want to go. There also should be some easy way to delete books, both from the "I'm reading" and the library itself, built into the device. Having to plug into the computer just to delete a book I no longer wish to keep gets to be a little tedious after a while. I'm a prodigious reader, I devour something in the neighbourhood of 5 to 6 books a week on average, but with the Kobo, I've managed less than one book a week. Very frustrating, and extremely annoying when I discovered that the book I'd just read was incomplete. According to a posting I found yesterday on mobileread, Kobo plans to release a new firmware upgrade the week of the 28th of June, and I'm willing to wait and see how that goes, but unless they've done some major work and listened to all the suggestions and complaints from Kobo users, they'll not be getting any recommendations from me any time soon! Dan

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05-30-2010, 12:02 PM	#691
Ingrid Bakker Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Nook	Hello Kovid and others, I am a newbie to this forum, and quite illiterate when it comes to technical details, so I if you do have an answer to my question I kindly ask you to use laymen’s language. My question regards the PDF to epub conversion. My ereader is a Nook, and I used to use Calibre to convert my files and manage my library. Everything seemed to work fine, but soon a very persistent problem surfaced. The further I was progressing in reading a book the slower the pages turned, and at some point (after page turns taking over a minute!) I started getting error massages that the reader application stopped working. While looking for an answer on the web I found numerous posts about the sluggish performance of the Nook, and I also found the online conversion site online-convert.com. I converted some of the files I converted with Calibre though this online service, and imported the epub files that were generated via Calibre to my Nook, and the problem of the sluggish page turns is solved. The page turns remain snappy from the start of a book till the end. Though this approach works flawless I don’t feel comfortable sending my files to a web server, and I can’t stop wondering why I am not able to get the same result using Calibre for the conversion. Can you please help me out? Kind regards, Ingrid Bakker.

06-17-2010, 10:47 AM	#694
theonna One Posts: 107 Karma: 137282 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Sony, Kindle,Pocketbook, Nook...	Hello everyone, I would like to embed fonts in my converted books, I downloaded and added embed font plugin, but newly created epub files do not contain any fonts. Any help? Thank you.

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