BEST ebook format? - Page 3

Laura81 · 05-07-2010, 08:26 AM

I'm like Davimee, don't want to play around with it but if someone else is inclined and wants to share their programming as Thomas mentioned and then all I have to do is put the file somewhere I'd love to look at that.

daveo · 06-30-2010, 01:34 PM

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I try to use ePub on my PP, I get very distracting page numbers in the text on the right side of the screen, often covering up text in the book. Any ideas? I love ePub and would like to use the format but it's too ugly to use.

Right now I'm using FB2 for smaller books (love it but really seems to struggle with larger files - freezes up loading the book or if it does load it, takes several seconds for a page turn while the green light chugs away) or mobi, which actually looks good but doesn't accurately display page numbers.

Dave_S · 06-30-2010, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I try to use ePub on my PP, I get very distracting page numbers in the text on the right side of the screen, often covering up text in the book. Any ideas? I love ePub and would like to use the format but it's too ugly to use.

That page number is provided by the Adobe Digital Editions in the current firmware and can not be turned off AFAIK. ADE really needs to be much more configurable, but any improvements seem to have been a long time in coming so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

Right now I'm using FB2 for smaller books (love it but really seems to struggle with larger files - freezes up loading the book or if it does load it, takes several seconds for a page turn while the green light chugs away)

The problem there is that FB2 is a monolithic ebook format and the entire book needs to be loaded into RAM to read. RAM is a limited commodity in the PocketPRO, so very large files can be a problem. However, the latest version of CoolReader (the FB2 reader) has been updated to use a cache, something like the swap file in Windows, so that it can handle large FB2 files much more easily. That CoolReader improvement is not available from the factory or Astak yet, but if you want to try it, it is available in the 22 June 2010 release of the Lbook firmware for the PocketPRO. That Lbook firmware is linked to in other posts in this forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

or mobi, which actually looks good but doesn't accurately display page numbers.

Since electronic books can have their font size and line spacing etc. etc. varied by the user there is really no such thing as "accurate" page numbers anyway. The bad thing about MOBI is that it is a closed proprietary format belonging to Amazon, so there will probably not be much more in the way of MOBI innovation in non-Amazon readers?

Robertb · 06-30-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfrizz

Agreed Robert. I wish the standard was Epub across the board.

Dear All:

Actually, Astak (as EZRead, Inc.) is presently on several subcomittees to assist EPUB in really becoming universal. We work thru the IDPF governing body to adapt a new version of EPUB that will work well with ALL Chinese and Taiwan books.

Many people think it somewhat charming when they see Chinese characters written on a page that read vertically or read right-to-left. In actuality it is a horrible thing that so many pre-world war 2 Chinese masterpieces are in this right-to-left or verticle reading format and that is not conducive to EPUB at present.

My point is that although Joe may like FB2 and Sid likes Mobi and Mary likes CoolReader... EPUB is going to open up the world's true masterpieces to everyone. Now, EPUB can be made to work better and the new revision will do a lot for this. It is not all just Chinese books... it is a very thorough upgrade to EPUB that is being methodically done now. Due around January of 2011, the new EPUB is going to be a real TREASURE!

So, for me and cfrizz and many others who do not want to bother with conversion... EPUB is already excellent and is going to get a lot better!

daveo · 06-30-2010, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave_S

That page number is provided by the Adobe Digital Editions in the current firmware and can not be turned off AFAIK. ADE really needs to be much more configurable, but any improvements seem to have been a long time in coming so far.
The problem there is that FB2 is a monolithic ebook format and the entire book needs to be loaded into RAM to read. RAM is a limited commodity in the PocketPRO, so very large files can be a problem. However, the latest version of CoolReader (the FB2 reader) has been updated to use a cache, something like the swap file in Windows, so that it can handle large FB2 files much more easily. That CoolReader improvement is not available from the factory or Astak yet, but if you want to try it, it is available in the 22 June 2010 release of the Lbook firmware for the PocketPRO. That Lbook firmware is linked to in other posts in this forum.
Since electronic books can have their font size and line spacing etc. etc. varied by the user there is really no such thing as "accurate" page numbers anyway. The bad thing about MOBI is that it is a closed proprietary format belonging to Amazon, so there will probably not be much more in the way of MOBI innovation in non-Amazon readers?

Thanks! Couple of questions then. In reading through the forum, people talking about opening books in Coolreader. Is this something my PP does automatically, or do I have to somehow set it up to open books with Coolreader? If so, how do I do that? I see mention of Coolreader settings pages etc, and I can't find anything like that on my device, just a crengine folder in the root directory that appears empty.

Dave_S · 06-30-2010, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

Thanks! Couple of questions then. In reading through the forum, people talking about opening books in Coolreader. Is this something my PP does automatically, or do I have to somehow set it up to open books with Coolreader? If so, how do I do that?

CoolReader is the default reader for HTML, RTF, TXT, and FB2 and it also has the ability to read EPUB, but that is disabled in the factory firmware.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

I see mention of Coolreader settings pages etc, and I can't find anything like that on my device,

You can only see the CoolReader settings menu when the CoolReader is actually running. The only thing that you see with no book open is the BookShelf application and it's settings menus. However, when you open a book type that CoolReader is the designated reader for you have access to all the CoolReader menus and settings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

just a crengine folder in the root directory that appears empty.

The /crengine folder is where you put the CSS and INI files for CoolReader to use. There is one CSS and one INI file for each book type, so that each book type can have it's own custom settings. If you want to redefine function keys in CoolReader you can also put a keydefs.ini and keymaps.ini file in the /crengine folder. If you want to have custom fonts to use in CoolReader you can also create a /fonts folder and put your own truetype fonts in it. They will automatically become available in CoolReader the next time that it starts.

You can get even more information on CoolReader, and sample CSS, in the MobileRead Wiki.
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Cool_Reader

daveo · 06-30-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave_S

CoolReader is the default reader for HTML, RTF, TXT, and FB2 and it also has the ability to read EPUB, but that is disabled in the factory firmware.

That makes sense, but then how are people getting their EZReader to open ePubs in Coolreader and how can I do the same?

Dave_S · 06-30-2010, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

That makes sense, but then how are people getting their EZReader to open ePubs in Coolreader and how can I do the same?

If you have the Astak factory firmware you have to use a little trick. You have to change the book's filename from bookname.epub to bookname.epub.fb2. Basically, just add .fb2 to the end of the existing filename. The Astak factory firmware contains an older version of CoolReader, but it does work with EPUB files.
The 22 June 2010 version of the Lbook firmware contains the latest version of CoolReader with a few EPUB handling enhancements. EPUB is a new file format for CoolReader, so it is continually evolving and adding features. The Lbook firmware only requires you to use a long press of the books number selection key, which brings up the "File Tools" menu. in the "File Tools" menu if you select "Open", an EPUB book will be opened by CoolReader instead of ADE.

daveo · 06-30-2010, 03:05 PM

Ah, I get it

Cool, thanks! Downloading that Lbook firmware right now.

daveo · 06-30-2010, 04:40 PM

So I put the lbook firmware on, and now large FB2s work and ePubs look great when opened in Coolreader! Very happy about this.

Actually, FB2s and ePubs appear to look EXACTLY the same now. Is there some subtle difference between the 2 formats in Coolreader that I am missing? With the same font and font size, the layout appears identical.

cfrizz · 06-30-2010, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

Actually, Astak (as EZRead, Inc.) is presently on several subcomittees to assist EPUB in really becoming universal. We work thru the IDPF governing body to adapt a new version of EPUB that will work well with ALL Chinese and Taiwan books.

Many people think it somewhat charming when they see Chinese characters written on a page that read vertically or read right-to-left. In actuality it is a horrible thing that so many pre-world war 2 Chinese masterpieces are in this right-to-left or verticle reading format and that is not conducive to EPUB at present.

My point is that although Joe may like FB2 and Sid likes Mobi and Mary likes CoolReader... EPUB is going to open up the world's true masterpieces to everyone. Now, EPUB can be made to work better and the new revision will do a lot for this. It is not all just Chinese books... it is a very thorough upgrade to EPUB that is being methodically done now. Due around January of 2011, the new EPUB is going to be a real TREASURE!

So, for me and cfrizz and many others who do not want to bother with conversion... EPUB is already excellent and is going to get a lot better!

It's great to read this Robert, However, it will only become the standard when ALL the publishers start issuing the books IN epub!

Dave_S · 07-01-2010, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

So I put the lbook firmware on, and now large FB2s work and ePubs look great when opened in Coolreader! Very happy about this.

Did you also notice that opening a book for the second or subsequent time is faster due to the use of the cache? If you should want to clear the cache after reading a book, you can find the cache folder in the /crengine folder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

Actually, FB2s and ePubs appear to look EXACTLY the same now. Is there some subtle difference between the 2 formats in Coolreader that I am missing? With the same font and font size, the layout appears identical.

That is an effect that I actually try for, but without seeing what you are seeing it is hard to comment. I use very similar CSS files for EPUB and FB2 to get the display presentation that I want. There are still some shortcomings in CoolReader's EPUB presentation, since CoolReader is not really a finished project yet in that regard. For instance, no matter what I do in the CSS I cannot get CoolReader to display a book cover in EPUB the same as I can get it to display in FB2. Still, CoolReader has already come a long way in it's new EPUB capabilities, especially considering that it is developed by a one person development team.

DaleDe · 07-01-2010, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveo

So I put the lbook firmware on, and now large FB2s work and ePubs look great when opened in Coolreader! Very happy about this.

Actually, FB2s and ePubs appear to look EXACTLY the same now. Is there some subtle difference between the 2 formats in Coolreader that I am missing? With the same font and font size, the layout appears identical.

Not too surprising. They have the same default CSS settings and they are both based on html like code. FB2 is better supported for TOC and metadata.

Dale

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05-07-2010, 08:26 AM	#31
Laura81 Addict Posts: 360 Karma: 407796 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Victoria, Australia Device: Paperwhite 5	I'm like Davimee, don't want to play around with it but if someone else is inclined and wants to share their programming as Thomas mentioned and then all I have to do is put the file somewhere I'd love to look at that.

06-30-2010, 01:34 PM	#32
daveo Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Astak EzReader 5"	Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I try to use ePub on my PP, I get very distracting page numbers in the text on the right side of the screen, often covering up text in the book. Any ideas? I love ePub and would like to use the format but it's too ugly to use. Right now I'm using FB2 for smaller books (love it but really seems to struggle with larger files - freezes up loading the book or if it does load it, takes several seconds for a page turn while the green light chugs away) or mobi, which actually looks good but doesn't accurately display page numbers.

06-30-2010, 03:05 PM	#39
daveo Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Astak EzReader 5"	Ah, I get it Cool, thanks! Downloading that Lbook firmware right now.

06-30-2010, 04:40 PM	#40
daveo Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Astak EzReader 5"	So I put the lbook firmware on, and now large FB2s work and ePubs look great when opened in Coolreader! Very happy about this. Actually, FB2s and ePubs appear to look EXACTLY the same now. Is there some subtle difference between the 2 formats in Coolreader that I am missing? With the same font and font size, the layout appears identical.

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