Convert .lit directly into .IMP formats

nrapallo · 02-14-2008, 02:01 PM

A while ago, I used this procedure to convert many .lit files into .IMP formats (EBW 1150 and REB 1200).

This information was originally posted to the REB 1200 Yahoo group, and for those who do not have access to that group, I re-post same here, namely:

1. s32lit2sb.exe - Lit2sb converter compatible with eBook Publisher 2.x (EBW/GEB 1150, REB1200,GEB2250/2200/2150 )

2. s32lit2sb-INSTRUCTIONS-by-NR.txt - Instructions on how to effectively use this program to convert .lit files into .imp (Reb 1200/GEB 1150 formats)

After setting this up, one "double-click" and your .lit file gets converted. Note, you can also use batch files to convert en-masse!

Enjoy!

-Nick

EDIT 14 Feb 2008: added batch files to convert all .lit files in a directory to .IMP. Must read the instructions first, create the empty file 'GEB1150' and ensure you 'associate' .lit as described therein, and properly place all required programs in your 'path'. After that, double-click 'NRconvert lit to 1150 imp.bat' and wait for your results. By the way, when you double-click just the .lit file in windows explorer, you must manually rename the 'o_sb.imp' file; when using these batch files (even for one .lit), it's all done for you.

EDIT 23 Aug 2008: I have re-compiled a windows executable (Lit2sb.exe) based on a modified copy of that perl script to allow proper conversions. Just replace the original lit2sb.exe executable with the one in the lit2sb.zip attachment in the thread Original Lit2sb perl script RESURRECTED!
Among the things fixed were:
- uses source .lit filename as final .imp output filename and places resulting .imp in the same directory as the .lit source.
- for resulting .imp and .opf, no longer uses 8.3 filenames.
- uses "2%" left and right margins now, instead of "18pt"
- properly scales GEB1150/EBW1150 cover image so as to avoid bottom margin bleeding.
- fixed system calls to external programs to properly prefix path.

p.s. thanks to zelda_pinwheel for inspiring me to write this

JSWolf · 02-14-2008, 02:44 PM

I've just made this thread a sticky to make it easier to find/see.

zelda_pinwheel · 02-14-2008, 06:04 PM

Nick, you are my hero ! i just tried this automatic conversion and it worked a treat ! in under 30 seconds i had a nice, readable, .imp version of my .lit file.

of course, then i spent 2 hours "fixing" the code so it would be even nicer, but
i *could* have left it alone, it would have been fine.

i also tried it on that stupid drm book i bought the other day (i think it will be the last one, as well as the first one i buy), since i was having such terrible results before. the formatting is still strange, but not the same way it was before, and infinitely better than my previous efforts. at least it's readable, and at this point i think that's really as much as i can hope for !

thanks for this !!

crazyTash · 03-10-2008, 09:12 AM

Thank you so much for this post! It is very useful!

sassanik · 05-23-2008, 05:28 PM

I just converted a .lit file to .imp, I can open the file just fine, however the book seems to have been aligned to the right side margin instead of the left.

Suggestions? Ideas on how to fix this?

nrapallo · 05-23-2008, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sassanik

I just converted a .lit file to .imp, I can open the file just fine, however the book seems to have been aligned to the right side margin instead of the left.

Suggestions? Ideas on how to fix this?

The .html and .opf files are leftover when the .lit conversion is finished. You can check the .html for the <p> formatting to see if there is a <p align=right> for each line or a <style> rule making the default <p> behaviour 'p {text-align: right}'. If so, remove it of substitute 'right' with either 'left' or 'justify'.

To re-create the .imp ebook, after editing the .html as per above, you should use the (free) eBook Publisher software from ETI. Even though eBookwise Librarian can create ebooks, the eBook Publisher software allows better control but however needs much more working knowledge of HTML.

sassanik · 05-23-2008, 06:04 PM

Okie I opened the html file in ebook publisher. Now I am just not sure what I need to change:

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
body {margin-left:18pt; margin-right:18pt; x-sbp-widow-push:1; x-sbp-orphan-pull:1}
td {vertical-align:top}
table.hdr {width:100%; border:none; margin-left:0pt; margin-right:0pt}
td.hdrl {text-align:left}
td.hdrc {text-align:center}
td.hdrr {text-align:right}
.plain {text-decoration:none; font-style:none; font-weight:none; font-size:x-small; font-family:serif; color:#000000}
header {display:none; display

eb-page-head; oeb-column-number:1; margin-bottom:10pt}
footer {display:none; display

eb-page-foot; oeb-column-number:1; margin-top:10pt}
pbrk {page-break-before:always}
.KWN {page-break-inside:avoid}
fn {font-size:-1}
sp {font-size:-3}
adv2lm {sbp-advance:left}
p {margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; text-decoration:none; font-style:none; font-weight:none; font-size:x-small; font-family:serif; color:#000000}
a {color: #0000ff}
p.FullPagePicture, li.FullPagePicture, div.FullPagePicture
{margin-left:0cm;
text-align:center;
font-size:12.0pt;
}
-->
</style>

Should I set style to left align? It looks like the text is set up to left align, I think....

Amy

Edit-

The first few pages are aligned to the left, then after the acknowledgements it goes to right. So I am guessing somewhere in there a right align command got thrown in.

nrapallo · 05-23-2008, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sassanik

Okie I opened the html file in ebook publisher. Now I am just not sure what I need to change:

...

Should I set style to left align? It looks like the text is set up to left align, I think....

Amy

Edit-

The first few pages are aligned to the left, then after the acknowledgements it goes to right. So I am guessing somewhere in there a right align command got thrown in.

The top of the .html file looks OK, but it appears you've found your answer in bold above! Just open the .html in eBook Publisher or any text editor (like notepad) and search for:

Code:

right

or

right"

and look for text around the acknowledgement that includes a 'text-align' or <table align=right> there. Chances are the end of the acknowledgment doesn't 'close' the alignment.

This is probably a clitch/error in the original code that was somehow 'overlooked' by the MS LIT reader.

If you can't find it, post here the area around the acknowledgment and include enough to show the text body, before and after. When you post the text here, just place it between

Code:

[ CODE ] place text here [ /CODE ]

(click the '#' in the edit bar above the Message area when entering your message.)

drudo · 08-07-2008, 09:34 AM

Can someone help with this? First, it seems the html2sb program is missing when I install lit2sb. I tried downloading that and adding it, but to no avail. When I set it all up like it says in the instructions and run the bat file, the .lit file gets expanded into a subfolder and it looks like the opf file gets renamed, but no imp file is generated. If I try running html2sb on it's own, it crashes. Am I missing something? I basically end up with a .lit file and a directory full of html, images, and opf files. Any idea why this wouldn't work?

Thanks.

nrapallo · 08-07-2008, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drudo

Can someone help with this? First, it seems the html2sb program is missing when I install lit2sb. I tried downloading that and adding it, but to no avail. When I set it all up like it says in the instructions and run the bat file, the .lit file gets expanded into a subfolder and it looks like the opf file gets renamed, but no imp file is generated. If I try running html2sb on it's own, it crashes. Am I missing something? I basically end up with a .lit file and a directory full of html, images, and opf files. Any idea why this wouldn't work?

Thanks.

First, html2sb is "broken" under current versions of Windows and especially so if eBook Publisher is installed. I can't get it to run now, even though I used it 4 or 5 years ago and perhaps under Win98se. It is not required as part of the 'lit2sb' package and usage. Just avoid it.

The resulting .imp should be located in the directory where your .lit resides. Did you "double-click" the .lit file to launch the conversion?

Now if you did the above, the .imp conversion may have been halted due to errors in to .opf or .html. Just load the .opf in eBook Publisher and try to build your .imp edition. Was it successful?

If not, then review the Messages log and see if anything needs fixing.

If not, to see if your installation of lit2sb is working, try to convert another .lit file to see if that one works.

If not, private message me with some details of your failed conversion attempt.

drudo · 08-07-2008, 10:17 AM

Thanks, I'll try your suggestions when I get home from work today. I'm getting my reader this weekend for my birthday and I'm trying to make sure I have some books ready to test on it.

thanks again.
Dave

sophie27 · 10-24-2008, 12:04 PM

This program works great! Is there a similar program for pdf direct to imp?

nrapallo · 10-24-2008, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sophie27

This program works great! Is there a similar program for pdf direct to imp?

Try PDFRead 1.8.2 released! for direct .pdf to .imp (and .djvu/.cbr/.cbz/images to .imp!)

And if you need .prc/.mobi to .imp, look at Mobi2IMP 9.4 with new Windows GUI & UTF-8!

AND when you get those installed, you can get direct .lit/.pdf/.prc to .imp conversion while surfing the internet as well (though it's less efficient), using Impserve as discussed in this thread!
(your plugins would all be setup then, just download the latest release here!)

Enjoy the world of converting to .imp...

=X= · 11-02-2009, 12:29 PM

I'm having trouble converted Calibre generated LIT files to IMP.

There are three problems.

1) The LIT2SB tool is having problems with the CSS file. Calibre is using an tag called

Code:

@namespace h "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml";

Since it doesn't understand this it is showing up in the generated IMP file.

2) The order of the content page is incorrect. The tool assumes the <manifest> data will be in sequential order and process the IMP OPF that way. Calibre's OPF file does is not in sequential order but properly laysout the the ID in the <spine> tag so that the order is correct. This results in chapters, TOC, and cover pages to be shuffled around in the IMP book.

3)The cover.htm file assumes an image Cover_SB.jpg but this file is not created. However there is a cover.jpg and it is in calibre's OPF file.

=X=

nrapallo · 11-02-2009, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

I'm having trouble converted Calibre generated LIT files to IMP.

=X=

This tool was developed about 5 years ago when there were only MS-commissioned .lit ebooks and so the program, Lit2sb.exe, does not know how to handle any of the inconsistencies introduced by the calibre .lit encoding method.

However, I was able to RESURRECT the original Lit2sb Perl script and so it can be manipulated (re-coded) to suit! At the time I had "extracted" that Perl script, I also "tweaked" it to better produce .imp ebooks so I can and have produced new windows executables of lit2sb.exe.

I mainly wrote the INSTRUCTIONS on how to effectively use this tool so my knowledge of this program comes only from reading the Perl code. I could recompile it quite easily if you know the exact patches you need implemented (otherwise there may be some heavy debugging to do

).

Either send me a problematic .lit file or attach it here and let's see what's needs to be done to make this work for calibre generated .lit ebooks.

02-14-2008, 06:04 PM	#3
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	Nick, you are my hero ! i just tried this automatic conversion and it worked a treat ! in under 30 seconds i had a nice, readable, .imp version of my .lit file. of course, then i spent 2 hours "fixing" the code so it would be even nicer, but i could have left it alone, it would have been fine. i also tried it on that stupid drm book i bought the other day (i think it will be the last one, as well as the first one i buy), since i was having such terrible results before. the formatting is still strange, but not the same way it was before, and infinitely better than my previous efforts. at least it's readable, and at this point i think that's really as much as i can hope for ! thanks for this !! Last edited by zelda_pinwheel; 02-14-2008 at 06:46 PM. Reason: read a post by Nate (somewhere else), replied to Nick (here)... wrong name. Sorry !

05-23-2008, 05:28 PM	#5
sassanik Guru Posts: 774 Karma: 1211741 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Oregon Device: EB1150, iPhone, Cool-er Purple, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Fire	alignment off I just converted a .lit file to .imp, I can open the file just fine, however the book seems to have been aligned to the right side margin instead of the left. Suggestions? Ideas on how to fix this?

05-23-2008, 06:04 PM	#7
sassanik Guru Posts: 774 Karma: 1211741 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Oregon Device: EB1150, iPhone, Cool-er Purple, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Fire	umm Okie I opened the html file in ebook publisher. Now I am just not sure what I need to change: <html> <head> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body {margin-left:18pt; margin-right:18pt; x-sbp-widow-push:1; x-sbp-orphan-pull:1} td {vertical-align:top} table.hdr {width:100%; border:none; margin-left:0pt; margin-right:0pt} td.hdrl {text-align:left} td.hdrc {text-align:center} td.hdrr {text-align:right} .plain {text-decoration:none; font-style:none; font-weight:none; font-size:x-small; font-family:serif; color:#000000} header {display:none; displayeb-page-head; oeb-column-number:1; margin-bottom:10pt} footer {display:none; displayeb-page-foot; oeb-column-number:1; margin-top:10pt} pbrk {page-break-before:always} .KWN {page-break-inside:avoid} fn {font-size:-1} sp {font-size:-3} adv2lm {sbp-advance:left} p {margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; text-decoration:none; font-style:none; font-weight:none; font-size:x-small; font-family:serif; color:#000000} a {color: #0000ff} p.FullPagePicture, li.FullPagePicture, div.FullPagePicture {margin-left:0cm; text-align:center; font-size:12.0pt; } --> </style> Should I set style to left align? It looks like the text is set up to left align, I think.... Amy Edit- The first few pages are aligned to the left, then after the acknowledgements it goes to right. So I am guessing somewhere in there a right align command got thrown in. Last edited by sassanik; 05-23-2008 at 06:53 PM. Reason: more info

08-07-2008, 09:34 AM	#9
drudo Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: eBookWise 1150	Not working Can someone help with this? First, it seems the html2sb program is missing when I install lit2sb. I tried downloading that and adding it, but to no avail. When I set it all up like it says in the instructions and run the bat file, the .lit file gets expanded into a subfolder and it looks like the opf file gets renamed, but no imp file is generated. If I try running html2sb on it's own, it crashes. Am I missing something? I basically end up with a .lit file and a directory full of html, images, and opf files. Any idea why this wouldn't work? Thanks.

11-02-2009, 12:29 PM	#14
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	I'm having trouble converted Calibre generated LIT files to IMP. There are three problems. 1) The LIT2SB tool is having problems with the CSS file. Calibre is using an tag called Code: @namespace h "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; Since it doesn't understand this it is showing up in the generated IMP file. 2) The order of the content page is incorrect. The tool assumes the <manifest> data will be in sequential order and process the IMP OPF that way. Calibre's OPF file does is not in sequential order but properly laysout the the ID in the <spine> tag so that the order is correct. This results in chapters, TOC, and cover pages to be shuffled around in the IMP book. 3)The cover.htm file assumes an image Cover_SB.jpg but this file is not created. However there is a cover.jpg and it is in calibre's OPF file. =X=

02-14-2008, 02:44 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,835 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I've just made this thread a sticky to make it easier to find/see.

03-10-2008, 09:12 AM	#4
crazyTash Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Sony PRS-505, eBookwise 1150	Thank you so much for this post! It is very useful!

08-07-2008, 10:17 AM	#11
drudo Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: eBookWise 1150	Thanks, I'll try your suggestions when I get home from work today. I'm getting my reader this weekend for my birthday and I'm trying to make sure I have some books ready to test on it. thanks again. Dave

10-24-2008, 12:04 PM	#12
sophie27 Member Posts: 18 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Sony 700	This program works great! Is there a similar program for pdf direct to imp?

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