problems with large text files.

sealbeater · 02-04-2008, 03:12 PM

I have a couple of text files, ranging in size from 6megs to 10megs. I can view them fine in any text viewer, but the Sony Reader shows 1 page out of 1 and an triangular warning symbol. Now, what's interesting is that one of those files, the History of the Decline and Fall of Rome was previously viewable but now is not. Has anyone discovered a fix for this or know if this is going to be addressed in the next firmware release? I am going to try taking the files off and re-adding them, perhaps deleting the Sony Reader dir. Thanks in advance for any info.

NatCh · 02-04-2008, 05:21 PM

The things you're trying sound like good first steps.

Just to clarify: these are .TXT files? That's what it sounds like you're saying, but I'm not sure I'm reading it right.

mcramer · 02-04-2008, 08:33 PM

Have you tried converting them to lrf files just to see if the extra efficiency of the format helps?

I've run into problems with large rtf files (my preferred longer term storage format) and this has often made a difference.

sirmaru · 02-04-2008, 09:18 PM

Read those large text files with Notepad or Word. Trying to use eBook Library or the PRS 505 for that purpose is WRONG and will only cause trouble.

Each type of file has a related reader and should only be read by that specific reader. The same is true for PDF files. Use Adobe Reader for them.

NatCh · 02-04-2008, 11:39 PM

I'm afraid I don't see it that way, sirmaru.

The Reader supports TXT and RTF natively, I don't see any reason to torture myself by reading a large file in one of those formats on a computer monitor.

As mcramer pointed out, the thing does sometimes have issues with really large files in those formats, but converting them to LRF does usually take care of the problem, and it's just not that hard to do.

Certainly I don't see it as a matter of definitive Right or Wrong either way.

HarryT · 02-05-2008, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Read those large text files with Notepad or Word. Trying to use eBook Library or the PRS 505 for that purpose is WRONG and will only cause trouble.

Each type of file has a related reader and should only be read by that specific reader. The same is true for PDF files. Use Adobe Reader for them.

What an odd thing to say. The Reader supports text files; there's absolutely nothing "WRONG" in using it to read them.

There is a size limit for various file types (it appears, for example, to be about 13MB for RTF files). It probably would be better to convert the text file to LRF using a tool such as BD or txt2lrf.

sealbeater · 02-05-2008, 01:12 PM

I'll try txt2lrf but I've stayed away from the libprs500 apps because of the dependencies, I don't want to install all of the gui stuff for a command line tool , but I'll see, the weird thing is that for the larger one, the Decline of the Roman Empire, it actually read it once, I have a bookmark to verify, it lists the number of pages (5077) but no go. I'm going to either move the files to the memory stick or delete the Sony Reader dir on my SD card. Will post results.

sealbeater · 02-05-2008, 02:21 PM

Well, interstingly enough, when I renamed the Sony Reader dir on my SD card, that enabled me to read Edward.Gibson-The.Decline.and.Fall.of.the.Roman.Empire.txt @ 9.1M Now, the other, Albersons-blah.blah.blah@ 5.9M cannot be read. The only difference between the two is that one is ASCII and the other is ISO-8859.

Edward.Gibbon-History.Of.The.Decline.And.Fall.Of.The.Roman.Empir e.txt: ASCII English text, with very long lines

Alberts-Molecular.Biology.Of.The.Cell.4th.Ed.txt: ISO-8859 English text, with very long lines

So, I'm going to convert the iso-8859 to ASCII and see if I get a better result, I'll post the commands I use (I am a full time linux user so everything I do is geared towards that, I use .txt files primarily obtained from pdftotext. So, minor mystery, I'll post updates)

sealbeater · 02-05-2008, 03:58 PM

Well, that fixed it. I'm not sure what the file size limit is but if you have a .txt file and you can't read it on the Sony Reader, you might want to check the encoding. This is what I did to convert the file.

iconv -f ISO_8859-2 -t ASCII -c Alberts-Molecular.Biology.Of.The.Cell.4th.Ed.txt.bak > Alberts-Molecular.Biology.Of.The.Cell.4th.Ed.txt

The -c gets rid of illegal characters. So, problem fixed, happy reading all!!

kovidgoyal · 02-05-2008, 05:53 PM

Change it to UTF8 you should still be able to read it and see the special characters.

recycledelectron · 02-07-2008, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Read those large text files with Notepad or Word. Trying to use eBook Library or the PRS 505 for that purpose is WRONG and will only cause trouble.

Each type of file has a related reader and should only be read by that specific reader. The same is true for PDF files. Use Adobe Reader for them.

Simaru, based on my experience, that's insane. Have you had problems with file formats other than LRF on the PRS-505? I've found that it displays most of the formats listed well. (DOC was a lie ... but ... what product's box is entirely honest?)

The comments that the PRS-505 can not do something drive me nuts. This morning, I was pounding my keyboard so hard that my Diet Dr. Pepper spilled ... I was ticked because some moron said the PRS-505 "was not designed to play MP3s" After a sarcastic reply that Sony must have included the headphone jack by accident, I cleaned up my keyboard.

Andy

igorsk · 02-07-2008, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by recycledelectron

(DOC was a lie ... but ... what product's box is entirely honest?)

Was it? I don't see any mention of DOC on the box. And on the site it clearly says:

Quote:

Microsoft® Word (Conversion to the Reader-requires Word installed on your PC)

02-04-2008, 03:12 PM	#1
sealbeater Banned Posts: 666 Karma: 1752814 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Sony Reader PRS-505 : Onyx Boox Max : Sony PRS-900 : Onyx Kepler Pro	problems with large text files. I have a couple of text files, ranging in size from 6megs to 10megs. I can view them fine in any text viewer, but the Sony Reader shows 1 page out of 1 and an triangular warning symbol. Now, what's interesting is that one of those files, the History of the Decline and Fall of Rome was previously viewable but now is not. Has anyone discovered a fix for this or know if this is going to be addressed in the next firmware release? I am going to try taking the files off and re-adding them, perhaps deleting the Sony Reader dir. Thanks in advance for any info.

02-04-2008, 09:18 PM	#4
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	Large Text Files Read those large text files with Notepad or Word. Trying to use eBook Library or the PRS 505 for that purpose is WRONG and will only cause trouble. Each type of file has a related reader and should only be read by that specific reader. The same is true for PDF files. Use Adobe Reader for them.

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02-04-2008, 05:21 PM	#2
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	The things you're trying sound like good first steps. Just to clarify: these are .TXT files? That's what it sounds like you're saying, but I'm not sure I'm reading it right.

02-04-2008, 08:33 PM	#3
mcramer Kiwi reader Posts: 107 Karma: 349 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Device: iPad, iPhone	Have you tried converting them to lrf files just to see if the extra efficiency of the format helps? I've run into problems with large rtf files (my preferred longer term storage format) and this has often made a difference.

02-04-2008, 11:39 PM	#5
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	I'm afraid I don't see it that way, sirmaru. The Reader supports TXT and RTF natively, I don't see any reason to torture myself by reading a large file in one of those formats on a computer monitor. As mcramer pointed out, the thing does sometimes have issues with really large files in those formats, but converting them to LRF does usually take care of the problem, and it's just not that hard to do. Certainly I don't see it as a matter of definitive Right or Wrong either way.

02-05-2008, 01:12 PM	#7
sealbeater Banned Posts: 666 Karma: 1752814 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Sony Reader PRS-505 : Onyx Boox Max : Sony PRS-900 : Onyx Kepler Pro	I'll try txt2lrf but I've stayed away from the libprs500 apps because of the dependencies, I don't want to install all of the gui stuff for a command line tool , but I'll see, the weird thing is that for the larger one, the Decline of the Roman Empire, it actually read it once, I have a bookmark to verify, it lists the number of pages (5077) but no go. I'm going to either move the files to the memory stick or delete the Sony Reader dir on my SD card. Will post results.

02-05-2008, 02:21 PM	#8
sealbeater Banned Posts: 666 Karma: 1752814 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Sony Reader PRS-505 : Onyx Boox Max : Sony PRS-900 : Onyx Kepler Pro	Well, interstingly enough, when I renamed the Sony Reader dir on my SD card, that enabled me to read Edward.Gibson-The.Decline.and.Fall.of.the.Roman.Empire.txt @ 9.1M Now, the other, Albersons-blah.blah.blah@ 5.9M cannot be read. The only difference between the two is that one is ASCII and the other is ISO-8859. Edward.Gibbon-History.Of.The.Decline.And.Fall.Of.The.Roman.Empir e.txt: ASCII English text, with very long lines Alberts-Molecular.Biology.Of.The.Cell.4th.Ed.txt: ISO-8859 English text, with very long lines So, I'm going to convert the iso-8859 to ASCII and see if I get a better result, I'll post the commands I use (I am a full time linux user so everything I do is geared towards that, I use .txt files primarily obtained from pdftotext. So, minor mystery, I'll post updates)

02-05-2008, 03:58 PM	#9
sealbeater Banned Posts: 666 Karma: 1752814 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Sony Reader PRS-505 : Onyx Boox Max : Sony PRS-900 : Onyx Kepler Pro	Well, that fixed it. I'm not sure what the file size limit is but if you have a .txt file and you can't read it on the Sony Reader, you might want to check the encoding. This is what I did to convert the file. iconv -f ISO_8859-2 -t ASCII -c Alberts-Molecular.Biology.Of.The.Cell.4th.Ed.txt.bak > Alberts-Molecular.Biology.Of.The.Cell.4th.Ed.txt The -c gets rid of illegal characters. So, problem fixed, happy reading all!!

02-05-2008, 05:53 PM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,380 Karma: 23766374 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Change it to UTF8 you should still be able to read it and see the special characters.

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