Baen Books

[Lameth]

Hi,

I recently bought the illiad ebook reader and it will, hopefully, turn up in the next couple of weeks

I enjoy reading books published by Baen and I would like to continue to read them on the illiad.

So to those who already have the ebook reader and who read baen etc which format do you use i.e. HTML, Rtxt (?) etc and do you modify the ebook in preparation to download/read on the illiad.

For starters can the illiad read zipped files? if not and you use the html reader then do you need to link the various chapters (seperate files) together or will the illiad auto detect the various elements of the book and put it all together.

Thanks for your assistance

[Moonraker]

At the moment, most iLiaders are reading PDF files formatted in A5 size. On iRex's site you will find a download file containing instructions for converting your existing docs to this format.

I use Word and PDF Creator to convert from RTF but there are many other programs that you can use.

HTML files will display on the device but they don't flow well and often cut off the top and bottom lines. As for RTF I haven't tried -- but I should imagine these will suffer the same problem.

However, we are promised that future software releases will address these issues and I am looking forward to the day when I can read my RTF and HTML files without conversion.

By the way:

http://manybooks.net//

has free books specially created for the iLiad.

[VillageReader]

Originally Posted by Lameth

Hi,

I recently bought the illiad ebook reader and it will, hopefully, turn up in the next couple of weeks

I enjoy reading books published by Baen and I would like to continue to read them on the illiad.

So to those who already have the ebook reader and who read baen etc which format do you use i.e. HTML, Rtxt (?) etc and do you modify the ebook in preparation to download/read on the illiad.

For starters can the illiad read zipped files? if not and you use the html reader then do you need to link the various chapters (seperate files) together or will the illiad auto detect the various elements of the book and put it all together.

Thanks for your assistance

I've been using the .rtf download (rich text file - most word processors can read this with no problem), then using Open Office to output a .pdf file of the right page size. Info on page sizing is on the iRex site.

[scotty1024]

There is at present no ZIP file support.

The Baen HTML files are not iLiad friendly.

I've used TextEdit on the Mac to convert the Baen ARC "Unto The Breach" RTF file to an iLiad friendly PDF and I'm almost done reading it (having no battery really cuts into your reading time.)

I'm working on a unlocked LIT to iLiad friendly HTML transcoder so I can just download the Baen LIT's and easy crunch them for the iLiad. But even then, I may wind up trans-coding them to PDF's...

[Riocaz]

They arn't?!?!

I used them quite happily.

[VillageReader]

When you load an .htm file directly to the Iliad, does the file reflow to the proper width and keep the same font size? I've been taking .htm files, resizing the page/margin to the recommended sizes, then converting to a .pdf file (easier than it sounds, Open Office does it without a glitch). It would be easier to send directly if the text flow/page turn issues have been resolved in 2.6 - I guess I haven't followed that discussion as closely as I should..

[vranghel]

I've found i like .html files best.
Word wrap works well (doesnt work at all with .txt) and when theres a table of contents it's even better.

PDf works quite well also but i find theres quite a lot of work to make a txt or html file into pdf (formatting etc...)

[scotty1024]

I keep trying to read the Baen HTML all the way through using the flipper and I just don't get all the way to the end without using hyper links... I don't want to be thinking about navigating chapter to chapter in the middle of an intense battle scene in "Unto The Breach".

Since Baen is I think literally the only place you can purchase current (and advance) content for the iLiad you'd think iRex would have taught minimo how to recognize a Baen zip file...

[VillageReader]

Originally Posted by vranghel

I've found i like .html files best.
Word wrap works well (doesnt work at all with .txt) and when theres a table of contents it's even better.

PDf works quite well also but i find theres quite a lot of work to make a txt or html file into pdf (formatting etc...)

Aside from page size, most of the time all I do is snag the cover picture as full size to put on page 1. I did start 'reworking' one or two files and decided it wasn't worth the effort unless something went really flaky when I resized the pages.

[Moonraker]

Here are a couple of pics showing an HTML file on my iLiad.
Both show the same book made with font size 120% (14pt).

The first pic shows how the book looks when first loaded and the second pic shows how it appears when I opted to increase the font size.

I find that HTML files take a looooong time to open.
The top and bottom lines are often cut off.

I really like the fact that the iLiad will increase or decrease the font size - the device takes a lengthy time to do this but once achieved the pages flip along quite nicely while reading.

I will continue to convert to PDF for my reading until such time the HTML issue had been addressed.

Note: my apologies for the poor quality scans - they don't do the iLiad screen justice - it really is a thing of beauty.

[vranghel]

Originally Posted by Moonraker

Here are a couple of pics showing an HTML file on my iLiad.
Both show the same book made with font size 120% (14pt).

The first pic shows how the book looks when first loaded and the second pic shows how it appears when I opted to increase the font size.

I find that HTML files take a looooong time to open.
The top and bottom lines are often cut off.

I really like the fact that the iLiad will increase or decrease the font size - the device takes a lengthy time to do this but once achieved the pages flip along quite nicely while reading.

I will continue to convert to PDF for my reading until such time the HTML issue had been addressed.

Note: my apologies for the poor quality scans - they don't do the iLiad screen justice - it really is a thing of beauty.

When i first read an .html file i found the lines cut off quite annoying.
A closer look revealed that when flipped to the next page 2 or 3 lines are repeated from the previous page. So all the lines are perfectly readable.