Neoreader questions

[marst]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Regarding kepub, yes, I don't know of anything that will open them.

I was able to convert one or two of them quickly and easily to conventional EPUB format by installing a calibre extension that came from the Apprentice Alf site. Works like a charm. That's quite a relief. I'm going to be stuck with a number of B&N ebooks that probably cannot be converted, though. For now, the .kepub files look promising.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by marst

I can see 'calibre' and 'Apprentice Alf' in my future again. I always found that 'Alf' plug-in difficult to install correctly. But I'll have to try again (unless there's some newer, easier-to-use solution for what he provides...I'm avoiding specifics as I don't know how the people who run the forums feel about the whole DRM topic).

Definitely deDrm your books if you get an Onyx. You can mention apprentice elf here, but can't discuss details. You'd have to go the site for that.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by marst

I was able to convert one or two of them quickly and easily to conventional EPUB format by installing a calibre extension that came from the Apprentice Alf site. Works like a charm. That's quite a relief. I'm going to be stuck with a number of B&N ebooks that probably cannot be converted, though. For now, the .kepub files look promising.

As Pajamaman noted, we aren't supposed to discuss Alf details here. As for your Nook books, a PM is coming.

[apesmom]

Originally Posted by marst

Thanks for your detailed feedback.
I'm not surprised that it fell behind. It hasn't been in development for a long time and though it's still available in the Play store, there's no more web site. It's really a shame. What an excellent "bookshelf" design it had.

There is a still a website and you can download the apk directly from them. The name of the app changed from Mantano to Bookari some time ago.

Bookari FAQ and Download link.

I agree the shelves were wonderful but after I started using Calibre Companion I stopped messing with Bookari shelves. But I have a simple use case, read a book then delete from the app and let CC manage my books. Since I don't highlight or take notes I don't need to worry about where those are stored.

[apesmom]

Originally Posted by marst

Thanks for your detailed feedback.

KOreader threw me for a bit of a loop until I did a web search and realized it's available on Github, not Google Play. So you download an .APK file...but are you able to easily "launch" .APK files on the Note Air 2?

It's very simple to install, you just need to enable "unknown sources" in your security settings. You'd have to do the same to install the Bookari apk.

Originally Posted by marst

I took a look at that app on the Play store. It sounds both full-featured and a bit complex-ish to learn. But I can see that getting it working would be rewarding. I was thinking that for EPUB files I might stick with folder organization alone. Does the app enable you to create sundry categories (and folders within folders, etc.)?

To be honest I don't care about how CC stores it's files. It pulls all the meta data from Calibre and I'm able to search and navigate from the CC front end without worrying about file structure. My device library is pretty dynamic, I'm always adding and removing books from CC. Calibre on my PC is my master library, as long as I've got everything logged correctly there I have no problems on CC.

[marst]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Definitely deDrm your books if you get an Onyx. You can mention apprentice elf here, but can't discuss details. You'd have to go the site for that.

Will do, with as many as I can. I looked for a forum FAQ page containing information about what topics are permissible here and which aren't—didn't find it—thanks for the pointer about that.

Does the Note Air 2 give you full access to Android settings, so that you can install APKs not found on the Play store? (I'm thinking here about how KOreader gets installed—I assume you download an APK file for it from GitHub.)

[Edit: I've since seen other comments answering that question. Short answer: yes.]

[marst]

Originally Posted by apesmom

There is a still a website and you can download the apk directly from them. The name of the app changed from Mantano to Bookari some time ago.

Bookari FAQ and Download link.

Thanks! Good to know Bookari is still being developed, after all. Unfortunately the download link for the APK, on Dropbox, has expired but I'm sure that's remedied easily enough.

[downeaster59]

Originally Posted by marst

Will do, with as many as I can. I looked for a forum FAQ page containing information about what topics are permissible here and which aren't—didn't find it—thanks for the pointer about that.

Does the Note Air 2 give you full access to Android settings, so that you can install APKs not found on the Play store? (I'm thinking here about how KOreader gets installed—I assume you download an APK file for it from GitHub.)

[Edit: I've since seen other comments answering that question. Short answer: yes.]

Just to clarify about Android settings: the Boox firmware is a stripped-down Android 11 which doesn't have full access to Android settings, though it does have access to the "install from unknown sources" setting which is relevant here.

If you want full access to Android settings, install a launcher app - any Android launcher - and under "Settings" you'll have full access to all available Android settings.

[marst]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

Boox firmware is a stripped-down Android 11 which doesn't have full access to Android settings, though it does have access to the "install from unknown sources" setting which is relevant here.
If you want full access to Android settings, install a launcher app - any Android launcher - and under "Settings" you'll have full access to all available Android settings.

That's also good information—thanks again. I really appreciate forums like this. They're excellent sources of info of the kind that you just can't get in video reviews (however extensive).

[Renate]

If you don't want to install a launcher and you just want to one-off some setting:

C:\>adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings

[marst]

Originally Posted by Renate

If you don't want to install a launcher and you just want to one-off some setting:

C:\>adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings

That's good to know, thanks. So I take it there's an icon in Settings that you tap and shazam, you're at the Unix command line. (And the device considers its internal storage to be drive C:? In that case I'll feel almost right at home. :)

[Renate]

You get a shell through ADB.
When I post something I try to make it clear what the recipient is.

C:\> <-- something you type on a desktop computer, not necessarily Windows
$    <-- typing to the unrooted shell (id=2000)
#    <-- typing to a rooted shell (id=0)

An example:

C:\> adb shell
$ su
#

[marst]

Originally Posted by downeaster59

Librera offers the justification/alignment options you're looking for.

Speaking of alignment options . . . I ran across something odd yesterday in loading an .epub file into MS Edge. (Even though I've recently seen articles claiming that Edge no longer supports opening ePubs, this version does. Crudely to be sure, but it supports the file format.)

The book's CSS styles for body text don't contain any "text-align" commands (thus, no hard-coded "text-align:justify" commands), but Edge displayed it as if there were hard-coded commands for justification. I was also trying three .epub-reader Chrome extensions to see how (or if) they worked. Two of them displayed the body text flush-left/ragged-right, and the third forced full justification.

That you know of, how would Neoreader handle that formatting—or rather, that lack of formatting?
(Hmm. The forum software is saying this reply is a duplicate. I'm seeing only one though.)