What device do most calibre developers use?

[barium]

I'm curious to know which devices are most commonly used by people who develop and maintain calibre.

I'm using calibre to manage a library I use with my Blackberry 8900 curve. I was thrilled to find that calibre can send books to the device - and convert them to a compatible format - on the fly. But some things don't work well. For example, links in news documents often don't work properly, and files converted from epub to mobi (I use mobipocket reader) sometimes have distracting formatting issues. The content server doesn't work nearly as well with a Blackberry as it does with an IOS device running stanza, either. While I'm sure these issues can be resolved with some tweaking, I suspect they're less likely to exist on devices used by calibre developers.

[kovidgoyal]

I use a SONY PRS-650 currently, though since I have about 8 readers, it does change from time to time.

[DoctorOhh]

Either you wish to know what devices the developers use or you have some problems you might like solutions to. Your statement seems like the latter.

Originally Posted by barium

But some things don't work well. For example, links in news documents often don't work properly.

If you want your news and links to working correctly in the Mobi format then you need to download the recipe with your default format set to Mobi (under Preferences - Behavior).

Originally Posted by barium

files converted from epub to mobi (I use mobipocket reader) sometimes have distracting formatting issues.

Any book converted from one format to another may have distracting formatting issues based on the quality of the input source and based on how the Mobi reader handles certain things. Epub is based on a newer html standard then Mobi.

One main distraction folks were having was how Mobi handled margins when converted from ePub. You will find a setting in the Mobi output area that allows you to overcome some of the margin limitations by checking Ignore Margins (see attached).

Originally Posted by barium

The content server doesn't work nearly as well with a Blackberry as it does with an IOS device running stanza, either. While I'm sure these issues can be resolved with some tweaking, I suspect they're less likely to exist on devices used by calibre developers.

The content server has multiple outputs based on the device and the url you use. If you have a specific question try asking and not fishing around in the slime of innuendo.

To answer your developer question:

Griker used a Kindle for a while hence the development of the catalog feature. I believe he now has a iPad, thus the Connect to iTunes feature.

Chaley has one of the old school Sony devices PRS-300 or 600 thus the development of the auto management of metadata, collections and plugboards.

Kovid I believe was an original Sony user so the original calibre up through 0.5.?? had amazing conversion ability to LRF. I believe this also led to the plugin save templates and creating collections on the device. Heck it led to calibre being here in the first place. Thanks Kovid! Since then he has added other devices and is able to support firsthand many different devices.

Striker17 I believe had a android device but had a large collection of books he wished to import so he developed the automerge features.

User_none has at least knowledge of various formats and has created or helped develop the output for FB2 and PML?

ldolse has recently done a lot of work on the preprocess input file to improve structure detection

Kiwidude has recently created a bunch of GUI plugins providing various useful menu features.

There are too many folks to list and the ones I did list I'm sure I didn't do all their contributions justice. People are constantly providing input to different areas of this project. I don't think it matters much what device each developer has, what matters is the group as a whole is very versatile and willing to help anyone out.

So again if you have specific questions you need help with, for Pete's sake please just ask.

[chaley]

As dwanthny said, I have a Sony 300 and am happy with it. I may get an android tablet. Back in November I offered to integrate some android reader programs with calibre but that didn't work out, so I am in no hurry. I actively don't want one of the 'store-integrated' readers, such as Nook and Kindle.

[user_none]

I'm currently using a Kindle 3 (Christmas present). I was using a Cybook Gen 3 before. The only reason for the switch is, I've dropped the Cybook a few times and it's currently held together with duct tape (still working but not pleasant to hold)...

@dwanthny, FB2 out, PML, PDB (all support formats within (eReader, PalmDoc, zTxt, PDF)), PDF, TCR, TXT, RB, RTF out. Also, The device driver framework, PDF manipulation tools, and various niceties in the GUI such as auto convert.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by user_none

@dwanthny, FB2 out, PML, PDB (all support formats within (eReader, PalmDoc, zTxt, PDF)), PDF, TCR, TXT, RB, RTF out. Also, The device driver framework, PDF manipulation tools, and various niceties in the GUI such as auto convert.

I knew I wasn't doing you justice. Too much alphabet soup for me to grasp. Thanks for stepping up and supporting these areas.