Lines split in half in e-book reader

[abecedarian]

So what you're basically saying is the problem has been addressed in Calibre 5.2 and that's the way to go. Unfortunately I'm still on Windows Vista so I can't install Calibre 5.2 yet. The problem is that I've made so many adaptations in Windows Vista and the software running on it that I'm rather – no, actually very – hesitant about upgrading to windows 10.

Thank you for your help. I'm happy now to know the probable solution which is one more incentive to finally make the jump to Windows 10.

Still one more question: how can I tell if an epub file is really a kepub? I don't see anything in this epub file referring tot anything related to Kobo, not in the css file and not in any other file.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by abecedarian

I'm sorry to say that it didn't help. I hope I understood what you meant. What I did was I moved the line with the src:url part to the last line in the declaration, just before the closing curved bracket, the }. Like this:

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis SIL";
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
src: url(../Fonts/CharisSIL-R.ttf);
}

The line at the bottom of the page still gets split into two halves.

Well, crap. I admit, it was a Hail Mary. Wait...what happens if you change Charis SIL to CharisSIL? I have this vague recollection that for some hairball reason, we changed all our font calls to no-spaces, years back. In the family declaration, I mean?

Hitch

[abecedarian]

Hi, Hitch. I tried your suggestion, but alas ... it is not the solution. Everything stays the same as it was before.

Still there is something mysterious to me in the EPUB-Check report. It says that "CharisSIL-R.ttf refers to non-standard font type application/x-font-ttf," which is in the manifest section in the opf file. As I read that sentence I'd say that the declaration in the opf file might hold the key to the solution, because EPUB-Check says that the font refers to a non-standard font type application/x-font-ttf. I'm not knowledgeable enough with epub files to know how to interpret this. The opf file is still a rather mysterious file to me.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by abecedarian

Hi, Hitch. I tried your suggestion, but alas ... it is not the solution. Everything stays the same as it was before.

Still there is something mysterious to me in the EPUB-Check report. It says that "CharisSIL-R.ttf refers to non-standard font type application/x-font-ttf," which is in the manifest section in the opf file. As I read that sentence I'd say that the declaration in the opf file might hold the key to the solution, because EPUB-Check says that the font refers to a non-standard font type application/x-font-ttf. I'm not knowledgeable enough with epub files to know how to interpret this. The opf file is still a rather mysterious file to me.

I agree and I looked at that, but for the life of me, I just don't know what's wrong with it.

Question--where'd you get the Charis? Have you looked at the properties of it, in a font editing program, maybe?

WOLFIE, do you have a CHARIS SIL R that you know is good?

Hitch

[DNSB]

Looking at the error message, are you creating an epub2 or an epub3 file? An epub3 would have epubcheck throw that error since font/ttf and application/font-sfnt would be the accepted font types for a TTF font while application/x-font-ttf is accepted in an epub2. Oddly using application/vnd.ms-opentype for a TTF font does not throw an error.

This really should not cause the split lines you are seeing.

[JSWolf]

Which version of Calibre are you running?

[abecedarian]

Hi guys, I'm back again. First, I want to state that I am very grateful for the generous help I am receiving on my issue. And that goes for the mobileread site as well. Today it's quite hard to find such humane help sites.

Then, to first answer the Charis SIL question: I don't really remember where I got the font. I've looked at the properties in the Windows font viewer. It says:

Font name: Charis SIL
Version: Version 4.110; 2011; Maintenance release
OpenType Layout, Digitally Signed, TrueType Outlines

Then the question about the epub version of the epub file: it's an epub3 file. So I followed the suggestion by DNSB to throw out the application/x-font-ttf declarations in the opf file and replace it with the font/ttf or the application/font-sfnt font type as an experiment. Both replaced font types were now fully accepted by EPUB-Check, so the reports came out clean this time. Then I twice replaced the epub in Calibre (with the altered opf font type declarations included) and opened the book. Unfortunately it didn't solve the problem as both times the split lines were still there.

Third, I'm running Calibre 3.48. I know it's not the latest version available, but I can't upgrade to the latest version of Calibre as long as I run my computer on Windows Vista. I'm still very hesitant to upgrade to Windows 10, as it will rob me from a very large number of adaptations I made to numerous applications which will all have to be re-installed from ground zero when I upgrade to Windows 10.

To me it seems like the only solution is to upgrade Calibre to version 5.2, as there's a chance that the issue may have been solved in that version (according to Jon).

[Quoth]

If your computer isn't using EFI to boot (it can have an efi bios), then MS offers an imaging tool. Get a USB HDD and image Vista to that.
The tool is intended to create XP, Vista and Win7 VMs on Win10. You need to tick "Prepare for VM" and untick "Shadow copy".
Actually Linux and Win10 use almost the SAME VM software. I set up a copy of my 2002 XP laptop on the USB HDD and then setup OpenBox VM to use that file directly. The XP loads in about 10s and runs faster. I'm using Linux, but the tool is intended for Win10.

My 1T USB Seagate hard drive was about £45 inc shipping. I have several VMs on it.

Though my host is Linux and not Win 10, the USB serial adaptor is mapped as an XP com1, the networking is 1 Gbps, the printer is mapped, a directory on Linux appears as an XP drive, an external USB DVD drive and other USB gadgets can be mapped. All the same on Win 10.
You need to install the Guest pack on the running VM at first use by loading it as a pretend CD.
You can save snapshots and run them rather than rebooting the VM contents.

[JSWolf]

I suggest you dump Vista and install Windows 10.

You will just end up being left farther and farther behind.

[KevinH]

Some fonts have incorrect descenders and even incorrect height info. This can lead to bad layout. Have you passed the fonts in question through a very good font validator that validates the font information for *both* Windows and unix font tables (most ttf fonts have both).

[abecedarian]

Quoth, that's an interesting possibility that you propose, because that would eliminate the ground zero state of installing Windows 10.

I didn't know about the thing called EFI bios. I looked it up and it is said to have been developed by Intel. Is that right? Now my computer doesn't run on an Intel cpu but on an AMD Phenom II processor. So I think I could use that MS imaging tool. Could you please tell me the name of that tool? I've never used software like that nor VM software.

I still have some 2.8 TB of free space on a 4.5 TB external HD, which I guess should be more than enough space for an image of my Windows Vista system, including all the software running on it. But as I said I'm a novice to such an operation. Could you tell me more about how I should proceed or where I can get the information? For instance, does MS provide enough information with the tool, or do I need additional information?

Will running my current system on Windows 10 using the imaging tool retain every tweak that I've made during the time that my computer has been running on Vista? And will the system not become significantly slower than running on Windows 10 alone?

[JSWolf]

I've viewed eBooks in many different versions of Calibre with Charis SIL and I've never seen this problem of lines getting split like this.

[abecedarian]

KevinH, thanks for helping. I'm learning all kinds of things that I never heard of, like font validators. Do you have any suggestions for a very good font validator, preferably free?

[abecedarian]

Jon, I downloaded the font for free from some website some time ago. Perhaps the font is structurally not sound, as KevinH suggested. I'll try to have it validated.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by abecedarian

Quoth, that's an interesting possibility that you propose, because that would eliminate the ground zero state of installing Windows 10.

I didn't know about the thing called EFI bios. I looked it up and it is said to have been developed by Intel. Is that right? Now my computer doesn't run on an Intel cpu but on an AMD Phenom II processor. So I think I could use that MS imaging tool. Could you please tell me the name of that tool? I've never used software like that nor VM software.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...loads/disk2vhd

There are THREE check boxes on the program I downloaded. Untick Shadow and Tick Prepare for VM.

It makes an EXACT copy of your hard drive for a Virtual machine. So what ever you have, that's what you get, except the sound, USB, video and network will use new drivers installed by the Guest Tools. So you don't have the originals of those.

The speed depends on RAM, CPU and the HDD you use. You'd probably only run Linux on the EXISTING PC, Win10 would likely need a newer computer, 8G RAM and 64 bits recommended.

My 2002 Dell was a 1.8 GHz 1G RAM Pentium 4 mobile, 32 bit single core. So naturally the VM version of it, which has ALL the same settings and programs, runs MUCH faster on my 2016 laptop, which was about €550. It has 8G RAM, 500 G WD Black HDD, 3D gpu gfx, i5 CPU 2.3GHz x4 core.
I did have to revalidate MS Office, which was a 6 minute free phone call to Microsoft, totally automated. MS Office regarded it as a "new motherboard"
I gave away two Windows 10 laptop/tablets, they were so poor. So 100% using Linux Mint with Mate Desktop since jan 2017. I did dual boot for 6 weeks and then deleted Windows.
I also have a copy of Office 2003 on WINE on Linux, for tests, but I use LO Writer.
I'd been using a lot of SW used on Linux since 2008 on XP, Filezilla, wget, dd, Thunderbird, Open Office (then LibreOffice), The Gimp, Inkscape, Firefox etc.

The only requirement is that the Source Windows XP, Vista or Win7 is using the non-EFI boot even if the computer has EFI.

The boot method, AMD or Intel, or OS is irrelevant on the new host.