try the Hanlin Conversion Software and Printer

[CommanderROR]

Hi!

For all of you who have tried the Hanlin Software before this might be interesting.

The english version of www.jinke.com.cn now lists a new Hanlin Wolf Printer software for converting files like .pdf into .wol without hassle. The resulting wolf files are not zoomable apparently, but otherwise seem to work ok.

Now what I'd like to see is, how many of you can use the software without problems and how you like it.
Since most of you probably don't own a Hanlin V2/V8 yet ( ) you can use the simulator (book-viewer) that comes with the Jinke Sync tools.

Link:

http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/E...nter/index.asp

Download the:
Hanlin eBook Synchronization Software V 3.56 (for viewing the files, it's not made for the v2/v8 but might give you a good idea)

and the:

WOLF Printer V2.1

Use the Poll to post your results.

[CommanderROR]

Oh...just realized something...

I printed a 800k PDf to .wol and received a 5.8MB .wol file...I'll have to check the settings and see if I can do something to reduce that size...

Ok...after setting the page size to Hanlin layout I now have a file that is "only" 3.5MB, but still far too large.
Also, it's unreadably small again...but I guess that is a problem we'll alsways have with converted formats.
I'll do some further testing.

[Alexander Turcic]

Thanks for the link will give it a try tonight.

[CommanderROR]

I've done some more testing, but couldn't really make any new discoveries. The files are quite big and not zoomable, so that isn't good, but it works.
The V8 can read .txt and .html files natively so no conversion will be needed there. PDF can be converted using the Wolf-printer software, but it might be better to use PDF-to-TXT and then simply use the .txt files...
The V2 will be able to read PDf natively, so then you can forget about the conversion software altogether.

I believe, that the problem with PDF is one thtat won't be solved easily. PDF is a very unflexible format and unless it is well done (reflowable...) it is very hard to use on small-screen devices (e.g. anything that doesn't use at least A4 size) unless the file is created for that format.

Using HTML-like formats should prove a lot better for ebooks in my opnion.
Plain TXT is ok, but for some added functionality HTML should come in handy.

[lordvetinari2]

Ok, I tried three... no four (Spanish Inquisition!) different possibilities. Here are the results.

1st: English TXT from Project Gutenberg, direct to .wol: OK

It did a good job, but then again, this is only TXT. The text outputs non-stop, with no separation between paragraphs.
No increase in file size.

2nd: English HTML from Project Gutenberg, direct to .wol: BAD

Output was 100% like TXT. No respect for any tag whatsoever. Italics lost, list lost (TD/TR), paragraph justifying lost. It looks like it just stripped away everything non-text from HTML.
No increase in file size.

3rd: Spanish DOC, printed with Hanlin printer: GOOD

Non-English characters (á, ñ, ¿) were respected, as well as all formatting (italics, bold, underline, centered, different font size). Spaces between paragraph was respected, too.
I had to manually reduce all margins to 0, and manually increase font size, otherwise text is too small to read and margins take too much space.
"Printed" book closely resembles original, as it is just like an image scan.
Doc file: 32 Kb, WOL file: 319 Kb (yes, tenfold increase).

4th: Spanish TXT down-converted from DOC, direct to .wol: BAD

Interestingly enough, space between paragraphs was respected when converting from DOC/RTF. However, non-English characters became corrupted. I changed coding from Windows to various types of Unicode, but they kept disappearing.

So, for English books I would go for method #4 (although I really don't like to live without italics), while for non-English books I would have to stick to #3. It needs more work done, specially some real HTML filter.

[CommanderROR]

In the original chinese V8 firmware there is no support for bold or italic types. LVD is creating a new firmware together witht Jinke that contains italics as one of the many improvements...let's hope it works out well.

[lordvetinari2]

Oops, you're right, I forgot Asian languages have no italics or bold typeface, I guess that's it.

A Pratchett fan cannot live without italics. Remember the beginning of Men at Arms? Edward D'Eath justifying himself? Without italics, that does not make any sense at all. In fact, when a translation professor said that Spanish should not use italics to express double meaning, I just read to the whole class those few paragraphs in English. They said, "well, of course, with such an extreme example, maybe...". Heheh.
Or remember Good Omen's Pestilence. Or Azrael's "YES" in Reaper Man.

So, I don't really know what to do. No iRex for me, I am not paying that much for things I do not really need, plus I do not like their marketing. I was waiting for the V2 because of the SDK, but seeing that Jinke cannot find any partners, I guess I either buy an V8 and ask LVD for a copy of the new software (if he agreees, I hope so), or go for the Sony Reader (and I do not like their policy regarding propietary formats and DRM). Hum, what to do, what to do?

[CommanderROR]

Well...you could either wait a bit and see how the V2 develops...but I know that waiting is not nice...and maybe won't even help much...but you could write to Jinke and ask them about the V2 in spain...maybe they can tell you something. The do have partners, the negotiations just aren't going as planned (taking longer).

You could also talk to LVD. OR maybe Jinke could provide you with the modified software...they are working with LVD after all.
LVD and TaKir seem confident that the problems can be overcome. It's all a matter f time.
The Software is already greatly improved as far as I could tell from my experiments. LVD hinted at a July release of a "complete" OS, not final yet, but with many of the features onboard that are missing in the Chinese OS and the first few "ported" versions.

btw., did you notice that the newest Pratchett novel is acutally available in ebook format? Thud! can actually be found online, in DRM formats only, but it's a start. I wonder whether the next one that should be appearing in the next couple of months will be released digitally and in which formats.

[lordvetinari2]

Yeah, I noticed that Thud! is available as an e-book, the problem is that the cover to that e-book is the US one. I really don't have a problem with the cover itself, it is more the fact that it is the US edition. I am a fan, and I don't like them things, you know, sidewalks, theaters, colors and all that. Do not get me wrong, I want British authors to stay British, and American ones to stay American.

What I really like about the V2 is that it has a SDK, so then maybe (just maybe) coders can make it work with some of the most popular DRM protections. I know it seems far-fetched, but is a possibility. Maybe it is easier just to get one of those programs that can strip the evil bit from the e-book. Anyway, V2 seems too far away in the horizon to me.

I guess I'll ask LVD how he's doing, then. Yesterday I went to a big electronics shopping centre, but I could not find the V8 anywhere. In the end they told me that this device is only sold at the Jinke webshop.

[hpkeong]

I am using V8 too, and use wolf printer to convert many ebook from china website (free ebook) with many html chapters into one single ebook. It is very useful for us, especially with millions of ebooks (evailable in html) in china website..I love it....
Cheers!