Making Calibre Portable USB drives on LInux

Scichick · 12-05-2015, 04:59 PM

I would like to make Calibre Portable USB Windows drives including a library of books for my friends.

I run Linux Mint. Is there any way to do this on Mint without Wine (which I have never used)? I am okay with the command line so any instructions at this point would be great.

(NB: I am referring to Fanfiction downloaded thought the FanFicFare plugin, so there are no copyright issues with the "books" since they fall under a version of fair use. It's a greyish area legally, but from what I remember from my days as an entertainment law paralegal, it's legal in the strictest sense.)

theducks · 12-05-2015, 06:41 PM

A reminder
Mobileread policy prohibits providing help to violate copyright rules.
A FREE book may still be under copyright.

A Library can exist on a PEN Drive (write performance will be

) and be used with any installed Calibre.
Create/switch: Use Existing: <pendrive path>

Use the OS to backup the Library folder to the PEN drive.

eschwartz · 12-05-2015, 07:04 PM

As theducks says, I assume this will be a library of Public Domain or Creative Commons-licensed books.

You can download Calibre Portable from calibre's website, and I assume WINE won't have a problem running the self-extracting installer executable.

Just copy the library you created so it is in place of the "Calibre Library" folder in the portable install.

The only problem you may run into is pathname issues, since linux is case-sensitive but Windows isn't.
The problem is usually moving from Windows to linux though

anyway, I'm not sure WINE will share Windows' "different"ness.

If you don't want to use WINE, you can probably use p7zip to extract the exe file, unfortunately, I have no idea what will work properly since calibre uses a custom exe, not anything NSIS/InstallShield/Inno -based.

And I didn't move all the way to linux just so I could go around extracting Windows programs on my linux box!

So I've never actually attempted to try it. The above "wisdom" comes from the Arch Wiki section on trying to package non-free usually-Windows programs, which helpfully describes some common ways to extract Windows EXEs.

Scichick · 12-05-2015, 08:09 PM

First off: I am using Calibre in this case for Fanfiction downloaded though the plugin so as far as I know there are no copyright issues with the "books" since they fall under a version of fair use. It's a greyish area legally, but from what I remember from my days as an entertainment law paralegal, it's legal in the strictest sense. My friends are still in the dark ages browsing and reading online so I thought they'd like this.

Thank you so much for your prompt suggestions! I'll let you know the results of my efforts.

eschwartz · 12-05-2015, 10:11 PM

You're welcome.

(And as I understand it, fanfiction isn't copyrighted for the obvious reasons.

So there shouldn't be any gray whatsoever, it's pure white.

)

12-05-2015, 04:59 PM	#1
Scichick Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle 3 keyboard	Making Calibre Portable USB drives on LInux I would like to make Calibre Portable USB Windows drives including a library of books for my friends. I run Linux Mint. Is there any way to do this on Mint without Wine (which I have never used)? I am okay with the command line so any instructions at this point would be great. (NB: I am referring to Fanfiction downloaded thought the FanFicFare plugin, so there are no copyright issues with the "books" since they fall under a version of fair use. It's a greyish area legally, but from what I remember from my days as an entertainment law paralegal, it's legal in the strictest sense.) Last edited by Scichick; 12-05-2015 at 08:12 PM. Reason: Clarification

12-05-2015, 07:04 PM	#3
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	As theducks says, I assume this will be a library of Public Domain or Creative Commons-licensed books. You can download Calibre Portable from calibre's website, and I assume WINE won't have a problem running the self-extracting installer executable. Just copy the library you created so it is in place of the "Calibre Library" folder in the portable install. The only problem you may run into is pathname issues, since linux is case-sensitive but Windows isn't. The problem is usually moving from Windows to linux though anyway, I'm not sure WINE will share Windows' "different"ness. If you don't want to use WINE, you can probably use p7zip to extract the exe file, unfortunately, I have no idea what will work properly since calibre uses a custom exe, not anything NSIS/InstallShield/Inno -based. And I didn't move all the way to linux just so I could go around extracting Windows programs on my linux box! So I've never actually attempted to try it. The above "wisdom" comes from the Arch Wiki section on trying to package non-free usually-Windows programs, which helpfully describes some common ways to extract Windows EXEs. Last edited by eschwartz; 12-05-2015 at 07:08 PM.

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12-05-2015, 06:41 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,782 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	A reminder Mobileread policy prohibits providing help to violate copyright rules. A FREE book may still be under copyright. A Library can exist on a PEN Drive (write performance will be ) and be used with any installed Calibre. Create/switch: Use Existing: <pendrive path> Use the OS to backup the Library folder to the PEN drive.

12-05-2015, 08:09 PM	#4
Scichick Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle 3 keyboard	First off: I am using Calibre in this case for Fanfiction downloaded though the plugin so as far as I know there are no copyright issues with the "books" since they fall under a version of fair use. It's a greyish area legally, but from what I remember from my days as an entertainment law paralegal, it's legal in the strictest sense. My friends are still in the dark ages browsing and reading online so I thought they'd like this. Thank you so much for your prompt suggestions! I'll let you know the results of my efforts.

12-05-2015, 10:11 PM	#5
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	You're welcome. (And as I understand it, fanfiction isn't copyrighted for the obvious reasons. So there shouldn't be any gray whatsoever, it's pure white. )