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Old 12-25-2009, 10:40 PM   #1
shunyun
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Converting PDF tech docs

I'm a new K2 owner and want to view my PDF tech docs on it... and I'm sure you already know what I'm up against.

I already have played a bit with calibre, as well as Amazon's free conversion. My problems are mainly that sentences are split up and there is no table of contents.

I really didn't want to spend all my time converting documents! Should I try to return to Amazon (losing the $ I spent on shipping/handling) and wait the 3 weeks for a DX? I really like the size of the K2, it's perfect. I just want to reformat my pdf files.

Any suggestions?
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Old 12-26-2009, 12:10 AM   #2
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I'm assuming you mean you don't want to reformat your PDF files.

If you are really serious about reading PDFs on a Kindle, then you pretty much have to have the DX. I have a K2, and it's completely unusable for viewing PDF files, at least the ones I've tried.

As you found, conversion to reflowable text is pretty useless, also.
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Old 12-26-2009, 01:33 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JMikeD View Post
If you are really serious about reading PDFs on a Kindle, then you pretty much have to have the DX.
shunyun, it's probably not what you want to hear, but JMikeD is right.

I have a DX now for 4 weeks. I bought it mostly for technical documents (IBM z/OS), which come in letter or A4 format. These are *well* readable on my DX.

Unfortunately though the DX does not allow structuring of its content list other than sorting by title or author. My workaround is fiddling with the metadata via Adobe Acrobat, i.e. changing title and author to force a sequence in the content list.

All in all: Very usable.
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Old 12-27-2009, 02:34 AM   #4
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Bummer. I did find one solution yesterday, but it's pretty involved. I installed the latest mobipocket (advanced) in a Windows partition, converted my pdf to .prc and then used calibre to convert the .prc to mobi. It's beautiful! Formatting, like indent, was mostly lost, but it's better. Tables converted correctly, paragraphs are now, well, paragraphs. Numbered lists are formatted correctly. Really nice. If only calibre could do this en-masse.

Still, I'm thinking I may send my K2 back. Unfortunately, I'm traveling out of country in January so I probably won't see it for a few months. Bummer.
Thanks for the replies.
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Old 12-27-2009, 05:03 AM   #5
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If it helps any, you don't have to convert from PRC to MOBI to put it on the K2, it will read either of them.

In Calibre I had the "sentences are split up" problem and was able to fix it by changing the "Line Un-Wrapping Factor" to be .25 instead of 0 in the "Preferences->Conversion->PDF Input" tab.

There is also a section under "Preferences->Conversion->Table of Contents" that has some stuff about generating table of contents automatically. I have not used that feature at all though so I cannot really comment on it much other than that it might be helpful for ya.
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Old 12-27-2009, 09:37 AM   #6
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I suggest you to take a look on mt thread: Best PDF Convertion Tool

I think it will be very helpful
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Old 01-01-2010, 01:01 PM   #7
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Thanks all, for the good advice. I decided to return my K2i and wait for the DX to come out international.

However, I still believe there's a valid need for a PDF converter, with automation specific to the reader model. I see some folks have proposed the idea of an improved PDF app, but I think 1) that's the vendor's responsibility and 2) conversion is modular and repeatable, therefore a much better solution.

So then, is there an affordable template or process I could use with Calibre? It seems that the other solutions in the Best PDF... thread still require some custom massaging for each PDF (and who doesn't have hundreds of PDFs to convert?)
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Old 01-01-2010, 01:14 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shunyun View Post
Thanks all, for the good advice. I decided to return my K2i and wait for the DX to come out international.

However, I still believe there's a valid need for a PDF converter, with automation specific to the reader model. I see some folks have proposed the idea of an improved PDF app, but I think 1) that's the vendor's responsibility and 2) conversion is modular and repeatable, therefore a much better solution.

So then, is there an affordable template or process I could use with Calibre? It seems that the other solutions in the Best PDF... thread still require some custom massaging for each PDF (and who doesn't have hundreds of PDFs to convert?)
You may want to wait and see the new devices that will be introduced at CES this month. There will be more large screen devices to choose from.
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Old 01-04-2010, 04:08 PM   #9
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hi,
I'm a KDX owner -- PDF is ok not great (can't change font size). Calibre will allow PDF reflow, but (at least in my docs) it makes a lot of mistakes. My Calibre converted docs are readable -- barely (to be fair I did not fiddle with default preferences to see if I could improve things). However, I thought there was recently a firmware update which gave KDX PDF capabilities to the K2. Was I wrong? Or is firmware update not avail internationally? I do concur wait for CES (Jan 7) for new e-reader announcements. Pay particular attention to the Plastic Logic Que device -- as it is targeted at business users for whom PDFs are much more important.
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Old 01-08-2010, 11:10 AM   #10
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FYI, this guy's figured it out. http://www.goodiware.com/goodreader.html
I can now read my PDF's, on my iPod Touch, easier than I could on the K2. Perfect reflow, IMO. My PDFs are all indented about 2 inches, and chock full of tables; yet goodreader flows them like a book in an ipod native font. Even easier to read than the ipod kindle reader or stanza.

<sarcasm>Hmmm, $0.99 vs. $500.00... I dunno, it's not perfect... </sarcasm>

And yes, Daffy4u, I've got my eye on the Que and the Skiff. I like my ipod touch, but I want to sit down with a magazine sized reader and I'll wait to see what they come out with. Course, I showed goodreader to my wife... big mistake. "why do you need a $500 reader when you've got that?" 47 years on this earth and I still shoot my foot sometimes! 8D
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Old 01-22-2010, 06:41 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by shunyun View Post
FYI, this guy's figured it out. http://www.goodiware.com/goodreader.html

And yes, Daffy4u, I've got my eye on the Que and the Skiff. I like my ipod touch, but I want to sit down with a magazine sized reader and I'll wait to see what they come out with. Course, I showed goodreader to my wife... big mistake. "why do you need a $500 reader when you've got that?" 47 years on this earth and I still shoot my foot sometimes! 8D
An iPod touch can only satisfy the eyes for so long! A magazine sized reader would be interesting....too large maybe?

And yes, that was definite putting your foot in it moment!
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