Any way I could get calibre usable ?

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Having to keep a "clean" copy in addition of the calibre copy, defeat the point of using calibre.

It seems like you want to access your ebooks directly through the file system. Many people think they want to do that, but after they've used Calibre for a while they realize they don't need to. Others really do need that feature. If you're really in the latter category, then Calibre is not for you. It's as simple as that.

I started thinking I was in the latter category. I wasn't.

My original books are kept as a backup, but I've never used that backup. The cost of the disk space for all my originals is under $5.

[Worldwalker]

Eowyn, I started out on your side, at least as far as making calibre work for you goes. One person has changed that: you.

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Organising files is just as important as organising book.

The people who built calibre disagree. They think organizing books is more important than organizing files, just like organizing files is more important than organizing disc sectors.

And your signature is proof of something, I'm clearly not the only one.

I'm beginning to wonder if there actually is some significance to the fact that people who demand changes in how calibre works are, nearly always, rude, insulting, and confrontational. There are exceptions, but not many. Usually it's someone barging in here saying "calibre sucks and Kovid is stupid, but make it work the way I want it, instead of the way a million other people want it, and I'll stop being so insulting." People who want to see calibre improved generally offer polite, helpful suggestions, and sometimes dive into the code. But, as they say, haters gonna hate.

And think a little. Would a function allowing the user to say how files are organised be a problem to you ? Would that make calibre less usable to you ?

If it changed how calibre worked, yes, it would. I want a book organizer, not a file organizer. And, so far, nobody has presented a way of reverting calibre to organizing files that would not interfere with its functions as a book organizer.

Then why would implementing such a feature bother you that much ?

Because I'd have to code it, and I don't want to. If I'm going to spend that much time, I'd spend it on something I want for myself.

In general terms, someone would have to code it, taking them away from coding things I would prefer to see, and again, I'd lose.

I like the way calibre works. It does not have an infinite amount of coder time available. The people who are working on it already have a huge list of things the people who find calibre useful want them to do; it would be an unproductive use of their time to throw that list away in order to change calibre in order to satisfy a small number of people notable for not using the program. If you want changes that the devs don't think are necessary, the onus is on you to make them. The devs and the users are happy with it as a book organizer. They don't see a need to turn it into a file organizer. Why should they drop the things that they think are important to do something that you think is important?

That's what some people don't get about FOSS: It means that they can change the program to do what they like, not that some stranger is saddled with an obligation to work for them for free. If you want calibre to be a file organizer, then make it into a file organizer. If you can't code, contract with someone who can. You're free to do that; it's kind of the point. But the people who can code, and who are working on calibre, want it to be a book organizer, and they're not about to take time away from making it be a better book organizer to do what someone demands -- especially when those demands are stated belligerently, starting with an insulting and demeaning thread title (do you think that a million people use calibre even though it isn't usable?) and continuing through multiple posts.

Somehow, I don't think that people who go into Macintosh forums and demand that the Mac OS be rewritten to work like Windows are treated nearly as well as the people who say calibre should be changed into something it's not and which is directly contrary to its design philosophy. In fact, I suspect if someone posted a thread entitled "Any way I could get OS X usable?" with such a demand, they wouldn't have time to be laughed off the forum because they'd be banned for trolling. People here (me perhaps excluded) are not only nicer than they have to be, but quite probably nicer than they should be. Overall, the calibre community is a bunch of nice people who have a difficult time recognizing when someone else is not interested in being nice.

People started out in this thread giving you all kinds of helpful suggestions for how to make calibre do what you said you need it to do. Your response was to slap them across the face. This doesn't make people want to help you.

Right now, you need to calm down, go back and read the suggestions people made, and think carefully about whether those would work, or would be the start of a solution. You might need to ask more questions about them, or have people clarify what they said (those who are still participating, anyway). I'm not a workflow expert, but it looks to me like there are ways in which the suggestions people have made will work. If they will, great; we'll help you implement them. If they won't, then you say "I don't think calibre is going to work for me" and move on.

Calibre isn't for everyone; it may not be for you. But hostility doesn't have to be any part of that.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

For those of you still hung up on the folder/filename system, take a look at this for an example of what the future of data management/organization is bringing (a principle calibre is already more or less using).

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

For those of you still hung up on the folder/filename system, take a look at this for an example of what the future of data management/organization is bringing (a principle calibre is already more or less using).

Right here and now, in the present, my OSs both uses folders to organize stuff.
As such, i need folders to be clean. Not messed with. It is possible to use tags collection and all, without messing with folders structure. I've never seen a music player forcing me to put mp3 in this or that folder...

Eowyn, I started out on your side, at least as far as making calibre work for you goes. One person has changed that: you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by EowynCarter View Post
Organising files is just as important as organising book.
The people who built calibre disagree. They think organizing books is more important than organizing files, just like organizing files is more important than organizing disc sectors.

I'm beginning to wonder if there actually is some significance to the fact that people who demand changes in how calibre works are, nearly always, rude, insulting, and confrontational. There are exceptions, but not many.

Ok, re-read my first post. Was I being confrontational, insulting Kovid or anything ?
Then you go "Bha, who care about your ideas, it's bad, just adapt to calibre, you're being an idiot by being unable to adapt." If you insult people so, don't be surprised if they insult you back.
I want calibre to be improved, that's why i'm demanding changes. Being able to have our way with how how the library is organized would be a BIG improvement.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Ok, re-read my first post. Was I being confrontational, insulting Kovid or anything ?

The title of this thread, created by you, is the definition of confrontational.

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

I want calibre to be improved, that's why i'm demanding changes. Being able to have our way with how how the library is organized would be a BIG improvement.

You want it improved but you refuse to help.

You're demanding changes? Where very recently you decided to take your coding skills and venture out on your own instead of pitching in to make calibre the way you would like it? If you think the changes you mentioned would help and you have the coding skills then work with folks here to make this open source project a success.

There have been multiple suggestions on workflow that you could have implemented to make calibre work for you and instead of thanking those folks for their suggestions you have been very closed to any ideas short of a total rewrite.

If you don't want to help and there is no work flow we can suggest that might make calibre work for you then move on.

Truthfully, it sounds as if you want a document management program. Not a ebook management program.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

...Ok, re-read my first post. Was I being confrontational, insulting Kovid or anything ?...

Below is your first post. You call that nonconfrontational or noninsulting (especially the part I put in bold)?

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

I though some software to manage my e-books would be nice. But calibre looks like a total no go.

First, the "organisation", is just a total mess. Creates tons of useless folders.Maybe I could bear with that, but there is another problem.

I have multiple copies of the same book. (original, then "fixed" copy(s)) That, obiously, have the same metadata. And calibre's way prevent from dealing with that.
I need to be able to set folders and files names in calibres library, according to custom tags... Right now, I just can not use calibre.
You can tell calibre what you want for save to disk and upload to device, why not for the library itself ?

I tried in a nice way to explain things but you just wouldn't have any of it. Several people here tried to help you achieve what you need with calibre but you are so hung up with using the filename/folder system you refused to listen, putting down calibre.

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

...I want calibre to be improved, that's why i'm demanding changes. Being able to have our way with how how the library is organized would be a BIG improvement.

Alright, this is the pinnacle of arrogance. This is a free program. I seriously doubt you made a contribution, either. So just where on God's green Earth do you get off DEMANDING changes just to suit you, especially when over a million users are satisfied with it as is? Are you serious or just trolling? Don't bother to answer because, either way, you can just take your "demand" and stuff it.

Btw, there is an easy way to distinguish between multiple copies of books have been changed and how, but I'll be hanged if I'm going to share that with you.

[chaley]

Folks,

Trying to lower the volume a bit...

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

I want calibre to be improved, that's why i'm demanding changes. Being able to have our way with how how the library is organized would be a BIG improvement.

The OP lives in Paris, making it a reasonable assumption that French is his mother tongue. In French, the word 'demander' is used for both 'ask' and 'demand'. It took me a long time to internalize that when a French-speaker uses 'demand' in English, s/he is using the familiar word and almost certainly means 'ask'.

The above aside, I think that this thread has run its course. No current developer cares about this problem. In fact, some of us would see the 'solution' as a regression if it wasn't done carefully. As such, the only way it will happen is for a *new* developer to appear and take on the job. That is how I got started. I cared about author name order. No one else did, so I fixed it myself. Whether the OP will follow the same course remains to be seen.

[EowynCarter]

You're demanding changes? Where very recently you decided to take your coding skills and venture out on your own instead of pitching in to make calibre the way you would like it? If you think the changes you mentioned would help and you have the coding skills then work with folks here to make this open source project a success.

Yes, I decided to go my own, having realized that trying to get changes into calibre is just imposible.
What if i make the code ? I guess next is : no sorry, we don't want your code, it totally changes that way calibre works.
Most of time, change that are accepted are the changes the majority approves of. And looks like the majority don't want any changes.
So, no, i won't bother coding something that will be rejected, and thus a total loss of time.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Most of time, change that are accepted are the changes the majority approves of. And looks like the majority don't want any changes.

In this case, the majority is one person -- Kovid. The rest of us don't have a vote.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by chaley

Folks,

Trying to lower the volume a bit...
The OP lives in Paris, making it a reasonable assumption that French is his mother tongue. In French, the word 'demander' is used for both 'ask' and 'demand'. It took me a long time to internalize that when a French-speaker uses 'demand' in English, s/he is using the familiar word and almost certainly means 'ask'...

What you say regarding French may be true (I have no reason to believe you would be wrong) but the OP's attitude throughout this thread strongly suggests otherwise.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

What you say regarding French may be true (I have no reason to believe you would be wrong) but the OP's attitude throughout this thread strongly suggests otherwise.

Actually, i used that wold because Worldwalker did, and it's the first word that came to my mind.
And indeed, English is not my native tongue. "Ask" is more what I meant. It's hard enough not to feel harsher that you want when writing in your native language, it's harder when it's not.

Yes, maybe I went too far. But I was just frustrated, that calibre could be a very good program, and that this makes it mostly useless.
I has happy to find calibre when when my mobi needed converting to ePub. Less to have to go searching for the converted books in all these folders.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by Tibs

P
2. Use Calibre for the "finished" books, assuming those are the ones you actually read, but don't touch any of the original files (this is easy, since Calibre takes its own copies of what it catalogues). I suspect this might be the best-of-both-worlds solution.

I cannot believe anyone could not accept that solution...

If you really want to keep the original files, why don't you store them yourself in a file structure according to your liking... The original files are not touched when you put them in Calibre so even if you were converting epub to epub to modify the files with your own settings you would still have the original file that you imported in the original location... use this one to do whatever you want to do (and stop being stupid around here)...

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

I cannot believe anyone could not accept that solution...

If you really want to keep the original files, why don't you store them yourself in a file structure according to your liking...

That what I'm doing currently. But, if I have to keep and maintain a clean copy, there is just no point in using a management software, if I still have to do the work.
Worse, I would have to handle synchronizing the external copies. More work, when the point of using a software is making my life easier.

(and stop being stupid around here)...

Want me you insult you too ? I can do that.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Having to keep a "clean" copy in addition of the calibre copy, defeat the point of using calibre.

I agree. In part. I mainly use Calibre to organize the files on my devices, not on my drive. Which means I have 6 copies of every book I have. 2 of each format. One is in Calibre, the other, the "clean" copy somewhere away from Calibre.

Originally Posted by Starson17

It seems like you want to access your ebooks directly through the file system. Many people think they want to do that, but after they've used Calibre for a while they realize they don't need to. Others really do need that feature. If you're really in the latter category, then Calibre is not for you. It's as simple as that.

I would love to access my books through both Calibre and the file system. Which is why I now have a shadow copy of all my books. And I often access my files by way of the file system. Actually, always, unless I transfer books to my devices. And not even then, always. As Calibre doesn't connect through ActiveSync, when I add books (on the fly) to my JE100 or PDA, I have to find the files manually and copy those.

Also, on my JE100 and PDA, if I would let Calibre do its default thing, both will crash as they can't handle that many subfolders in one folder... (thankfully, the custom columns made it possible for me to add to specific sub folders...)

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

That what I'm doing currently. But, if I have to keep and maintain a clean copy, there is just no point in using a management software, if I still have to do the work.
Worse, I would have to handle synchronizing the external copies. More work, when the point of using a software is making my life easier.

Whenever I update my sources, I copy it to Calibre and to the "clean" copy location. It only takes about 5 seconds longer...

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Most of time, change that are accepted are the changes the majority approves of. And looks like the majority don't want any changes.

1st there are features/bug fixes added to this software about every week or so.

Any implemented changes are accepted or rejected by a Majority of 1, Kovid.

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

So, no, i won't bother coding something that will be rejected, and thus a total loss of time.

I'm guessing Kovid is tired of threads like these. He has stated, previously in threads like this thread, that he has neither the time nor the interest in writing the code for these changes but that he would gladly accept code along these lines.

If you have the skills send him a private message to see if he would be interested in implementing any code along these lines that you develop.