Un-DRMed ePubs, CoolReader, and the clock

[tmclough]

I am currently reading three ebooks on my Pocket Pro. Each book seems to behave differently with regard to CoolReader and and the clock.

First off, Steven Lake's The Oort Perimeter: works fine under CoolReader with any clock setting.

Then there's my first Star Trek ebook to be purchased since the Agency 5 settled with Books On Board (sorry, couldn't keep waiting for EZRead to have them up and available), Sand and Stars: I stripped the DRM and did a lot of editing of the .css and .html files. If I read it under CoolReader just after turning the Pocket Pro on, before the clock has been set, I have no problem. However, if I set the clock, I can no longer read it--it either freezes the liseuse , or just goes back to the list of books.

And there's my second, and other, Star Trek book that I'm currently reading, the Millennium omnibus: Again, I stripped the DRM, did a lot less editing (but still had to do some), but now it won't work at all under CoolReader--if I set the clock, it behaves the same way as Sand and Stars; if I don't set the clock, it just goes back to the list of books. The book works fine, however, under ADE, which is how I have it set up currently.

Has anyone else come across a similar situation? Any possible solutions? Right now, I have an unset clock, and Millennium is configured to work under ADE. However, I would like to get them both working normally and under CoolReader.

[Fincary]

I have no idea why clock settings would matter, other than there may be some other configuration setting getting saved whenever something is changes (such as setting the clock.)

Epubs opening in one reader but not another is usually a symptom of a non-standard epub. Some readers are just more forgiving when the files aren't quite right.

I notice you are only having problems with the epubs you stripped the drm then edited. Try running the documents through a validator such as http://www.threepress.org/document/epub-validate/, and see if it catches some bad tag or something.

[tmclough]

Originally Posted by Fincary

I have no idea why clock settings would matter, other than there may be some other configuration setting getting saved whenever something is changes (such as setting the clock.)

Epubs opening in one reader but not another is usually a symptom of a non-standard epub. Some readers are just more forgiving when the files aren't quite right.

I notice you are only having problems with the epubs you stripped the drm then edited. Try running the documents through a validator such as http://www.threepress.org/document/epub-validate/, and see if it catches some bad tag or something.

I used the website you suggested, fixed all the errors I could in both Star Trek books, and still have the same problems.

Both Star Trek books had the same error in every .html file (an attribute in a "meta" tag called "value" instead of "content"), plus Sand and Stars had one or two other, easily fixed errors. Now, both files have the same two errors, but so does The Oort Perimeter (both errors having to do with the mimetype file, quite possibly from the Linux (Kubuntu) zip command (CLI)). The Oort Perimeter also has three other errors, only one of which is easily fixable (the unfixable two are both in the same "a" tag--I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with them).

As I said in the first paragraph, I still get the same problems as before; however, I should comment on a new discovery: If I change the time, but not the date, Sand and Stars will work with CoolReader; if I change the date, it won't. Also, Millennium still doesn't work at all under CoolReader; this might, at least in part, be due to its large size--about 2.5MB.

Any other suggestions?

[Solicitous]

Run your un-drm'd copies through Calibre and have it reconvert them (back into epubs). Somewhere there is obviously some tag that isn't liked, so in theory Calibre should fix the problem.

Worth a try, only take 5 min to convert and put on your reader.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by tmclough

Also, Millennium still doesn't work at all under CoolReader; this might, at least in part, be due to its large size--about 2.5MB.

It *may* be possible that the size is the problem, especially if the EPUB has just one long XHTML file for the whole book. A better technique for long EPUB files is to have a separate XHTML file for each chapter. That is because the reader software *can* run out of RAM memory to load the file into for reading. The newer versions of CoolReader use a cache file to alleviate the problem of running out of RAM memory, but the stock Astak firmware does not have the newer version yet.

[tmclough]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

It *may* be possible that the size is the problem, especially if the EPUB has just one long XHTML file for the whole book. A better technique for long EPUB files is to have a separate XHTML file for each chapter. That is because the reader software *can* run out of RAM memory to load the file into for reading. The newer versions of CoolReader use a cache file to alleviate the problem of running out of RAM memory, but the stock Astak firmware does not have the newer version yet.

I can guarantee you that there's much more than one .html file--each chapter has its own file, with 29 chapters in each of the 3 books in the trilogy, plus a total of 3 prologues and 2 epilogues, plus a few other .html files (cover page, copyright page, etc.). Which makes it more or less normal, except for its total combined size.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by tmclough

I can guarantee you that there's much more than one .html file--each chapter has its own file, with 29 chapters in each of the 3 books in the trilogy, plus a total of 3 prologues and 2 epilogues, plus a few other .html files (cover page, copyright page, etc.). Which makes it more or less normal, except for its total combined size.

The "splits" may still be too big for comfort
Calibre tends to split on size.

I Split on Chapters (and split a really big chapter into pieces). I prefer that Chapters start on a fresh screen, I trim ever trailing blank line so I do not get a "Blank Page" on re-flow.


Look at the individual files sizes in Winzip (or equivelant)

[tmclough]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Run your un-drm'd copies through Calibre and have it reconvert them (back into epubs). Somewhere there is obviously some tag that isn't liked, so in theory Calibre should fix the problem.

Worth a try, only take 5 min to convert and put on your reader.

I just tried that. I used Calibre on both books, and in each case I did it on the original, unedited version (just with the DRM removed), and on the manually edited version, to see if that would make a difference.

Conclusion: Same results as before--Sand and Stars, in both cases, loads without setting the date and time, doesn't load when they are set; and Millennium, again in both cases, fails to load at all. Also, the Calibred version of the manually edited version of Sand and Stars takes a few minutes to load (or not load); upon further research, each chapter is broken down into multiple splits--double, if not triple, digit splits. (The Calibred version of the unedited version doesn't have any files split, and Millennium, in both instances, has exactly one file split--fm1.html in the original version(s). (I believe the "fm" in the file name stands for "front matter".)

I used the command line version of Calibre, without any special options, just the ebook-convert command, the infile name, and the outfile name; so I don't know for sure what specific changes were made or not made.

I just checked for the largest .html file in Millenium: about 57KB, and its book 1, chapter 1. The progress bar goes most of the way to the right in every case before it fails to load.

[tmclough]

Well, I seem to have solved my problems--I simply installed the latest official LBook firmware. I can set the time and date, and use CoolReader to read my Star Trek ebooks, including Millennium.

Now, all I need to do is figure out how to lessen the first-line indentation in all my ebooks; and how to fix the chapter breaks in The Oort Perimeter.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by tmclough

Now, all I need to do is figure out how to lessen the first-line indentation in all my ebooks;

This is the section in your CSS that controls first line indent of a new paragraph.

p {
	margin: 0px;
	margin-top:0;
	margin-bottom:0;
	text-indent: 0.5em;
	text-align: justify;
}

As you can see, I use 0.5em, which gives you a small but sufficiently noticeable indent. With CoolReader you can opt to use your own CSS in the /crengine folder, or use the one in the EPUB. With ADE you must modify the CSS in the EPUB. Whichever you choose, you can make your paragraph first line indents whatever you want them to be by editing the above code section in the CSS you use.

[tmclough]

Oh, I know how to edit the .css files; the problem I have is that even at 1.2em or 1.5em, it looks more like 3-5em. I never had this problem with the Astak firmware, even under CoolReader; it wasn't until using the LBook firmware that I had the problem with the oversized indents. The same is true with the chapter breaks in The Oort Perimeter--no problem until LBook and CoolReader; now the chapters just run together, with a simple "Chapter 15" (or whatever chapter I'm on) as a separate paragraph, no page break between chapters, and the chapter header is not bigger in any way.

I know that I could manually edit each .css file, to make them work the way I want them to under LBook's CoolReader, but then what will happen when there's an upgrade, or Astak has an upgrade, or OpenInkpot works for the Pocket Pro/V5, etc., and I have to edit everything again, and again, and again....

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by tmclough

Oh, I know how to edit the .css files; the problem I have is that even at 1.2em or 1.5em, it looks more like 3-5em. I never had this problem with the Astak firmware, even under CoolReader; it wasn't until using the LBook firmware that I had the problem with the oversized indents. The same is true with the chapter breaks in The Oort Perimeter--no problem until LBook and CoolReader; now the chapters just run together, with a simple "Chapter 15" (or whatever chapter I'm on) as a separate paragraph, no page break between chapters, and the chapter header is not bigger in any way.

I know that I could manually edit each .css file, to make them work the way I want them to under LBook's CoolReader, but then what will happen when there's an upgrade, or Astak has an upgrade, or OpenInkpot works for the Pocket Pro/V5, etc., and I have to edit everything again, and again, and again....

Dear Tmclough:

First, thank you for downloading Steven Lake's Oort Perimeter. Books 2&3 in his saga are now up on www.EZread.com.

I am promised that our PM will talk with the factory today to try to get a new Firmware Upgrade that works without draining the battery, yields the latest CoolReader, has the latest FB2, and hoefully does not disappoint!

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by tmclough

Oh, I know how to edit the .css files; the problem I have is that even at 1.2em or 1.5em, it looks more like 3-5em. I never had this problem with the Astak firmware, even under CoolReader; it wasn't until using the LBook firmware that I had the problem with the oversized indents. The same is true with the chapter breaks in The Oort Perimeter--no problem until LBook and CoolReader; now the chapters just run together, with a simple "Chapter 15" (or whatever chapter I'm on) as a separate paragraph, no page break between chapters, and the chapter header is not bigger in any way.

I really can not understand how you are getting the rendering that you describe with the Lbook firmware from 22 June 2010??? Here is a small screen sample of a book that I recently purchased and converted to EPUB. It shows the beginning of a new chapter with the usual centering, font enlargement, and bolding for titles and subtitles. New chapters always start on a new page in all my EPUB books. This screen sample is running on a 5" PockePRO with the 22 June 2010 Lbook firmware and CoolReader instead of ADE.

Originally Posted by tmclough

I know that I could manually edit each .css file, to make them work the way I want them to under LBook's CoolReader, but then what will happen when there's an upgrade, or Astak has an upgrade, or OpenInkpot works for the Pocket Pro/V5, etc., and I have to edit everything again, and again, and again....

There is certainly no need to do that. I never custom tweak the CSS that I use in the EPUB files that I build. They all use the same CSS.

I am wondering if you actually downloaded and installed the correct 22 June 2010 Lbook firmware, since the situation you seem to be in is something that I seem to remember from last year?????????????????????????????

[tmclough]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

I really can not understand how you are getting the rendering that you describe with the Lbook firmware from 22 June 2010??? Here is a small screen sample of a book that I recently purchased and converted to EPUB. It shows the beginning of a new chapter with the usual centering, font enlargement, and bolding for titles and subtitles. New chapters always start on a new page in all my EPUB books. This screen sample is running on a 5" PockePRO with the 22 June 2010 Lbook firmware and CoolReader instead of ADE.





There is certainly no need to do that. I never custom tweak the CSS that I use in the EPUB files that I build. They all use the same CSS.

I am wondering if you actually downloaded and installed the correct 22 June 2010 Lbook firmware, since the situation you seem to be in is something that I seem to remember from last year?????????????????????????????

The following shows that I have the correct version. Note especially the last three parts of it: the date, the time, and the name of the file:

$ ls -l v5setup.bin 
-rw-r--r-- 1 tmclough tmclough 133169152 2010-06-22 09:31 v5setup.bin

Also, all my ebooks use different .css files, as they all use different classes and class names for the same and different styles. Would Calibre help this problem? The reason I don't use Calibre is because if I want it to get rid of blank lines between paragraphs (present in all of the Star Trek ebooks I've downloaded so far), it will also get rid blank lines between scenes, which I most definitely don't want. Is there a way of fixing this problem? FWIW, I use the command line version of Calibre that comes with, or is in the repositories for, Ubuntu and kin.

[Davimee]

Originally Posted by tmclough

The same is true with the chapter breaks in The Oort Perimeter--no problem until LBook and CoolReader; now the chapters just run together, with a simple "Chapter 15" (or whatever chapter I'm on) as a separate paragraph, no page break between chapters, and the chapter header is not bigger in any way.

I'm having the same trouble. I just downloaded the Lbook firmware today for the first time. I really like the formatting of books using ADE with the Astak firmware, but I like the fact that I can have the status bar in the top of CoolReader that shows the date and my progress, and the title of the book. So today I decided to try out the Lbook firmware. The Oort Perimeter opens just fine with ADE, but when I long press and open it in CoolReader, the formatting is gone, and looks exactly as you've just described. I'll keep an eye on this thread in case there's any solutions offered. I'd rather not change anything in the - is it called CSS file? - as I wouldn't have a clue what I'm doing. But it would be nice if there was a way to keep the formatting the same between ADE and CoolReader.