PRS-500 Conversion software

[lilpretender]

Are there any programs that will convert html documents to text? I
have a lot of files to convert to text and don't want to do them one
by one. And will it also convert some of them into one text?

Thank you.

[RWood]

For that task your best bet would be html2lrf in free package libprs500. Click on the libprs500 link on the Conversion page in the MobileRead Wiki.

[JSWolf]

The thread for html2lrf is a sticky in the Reader content section I think.

[lilpretender]

Originally Posted by RWood

For that task your best bet would be html2lrf in free package libprs500. Click on the libprs500 link on the Conversion page in the MobileRead Wiki.

Okay tried it. It did convert html to another format. I haven't yet put them on the memory stick, or read them in the reader yet. But I have saved to disk. The only problem is that I converted more than one html document. About 10 pages so far, but the problem is that when I save it on disk it saves it in seperate folders, so if I want to put it on disk, or in the library I have to open each folder to drag and drop it in there.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by lilpretender

Okay tried it. It did convert html to another format. I haven't yet put them on the memory stick, or read them in the reader yet. But I have saved to disk. The only problem is that I converted more than one html document. About 10 pages so far, but the problem is that when I save it on disk it saves it in seperate folders, so if I want to put it on disk, or in the library I have to open each folder to drag and drop it in there.

Very strange. When I have used it it consolidates all linked HTML files into one LRF.

[JSWolf]

maybe lilpretender is using the GUI (which I do not use) and it acts differently then the command line version which I do use.

[kovidgoyal]

No both GUI and CLI follow all links. I think he means he's got 10 different documents.

[ebookfab]

Also HTMLAsText by NirSoft. It is freeware.
Fred

[RWood]

If he is using 10 different documents as kovid suggests then it would be a simple matter to write an integration HTML that links/calls all of the files.

[RalphTrickey]

Or he could just do a find file and they all show up in one 'virtual' folder. That flattens them out so you can drag and drop easily.

[JSWolf]

I think I get it now.. 10 different HTML files in 10 different directories.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by lilpretender

Are there any programs that will convert html documents to text? I
have a lot of files to convert to text and don't want to do them one
by one. And will it also convert some of them into one text?

Thank you.

for converting html manuals to text I use browser called lynx.
lynx is a text-only browser. There is version for Linux, mac OSX an windows.

just run it from commandline like this
lynx -dump -width=10000 myHTMLfile.html > myHTMLfile.txt
that is it.
-dump option means that the browser does not start "browsing" but converts the html page to text and dumps it to the standard output
-width=10000 tells lynx not to wrap lines at the 80 character position
> myHTMLfile.txt means that the text file that lynx has dumped to the standart output will be saved as myHTMLfile.txt

you can get lynx (it is Free Software) here:
http://www.subir.com/lynx/binaries.html

you can see other options here:
http://linux.die.net/man/1/lynx

I suggest that you
- save the binary in c:\bin\lynx.exe
- start console (command line)
- change to the directory with books
using cd "C:/my books to convert"
- issue command dir *.htm* /b > convert.bat
- that command will create text file with list of all your books
- edit convert.bat with your favourite text editor.
you get file like this
.........
mybook1.htm
mybook2.htm
........
after editing it should look like:
..........
c:\bin\lynx.exe -dump -width=10000 mybook1.htm > mybook1.htm.txt
c:\bin\lynx.exe -dump -width=10000 mybook2.htm > mybook2.htm.txt
..........
- run convert bat, put your feet on the table and smugly watch as hundreds of files gets converted in couple of minutes.

[lilpretender]

Originally Posted by RWood

For that task your best bet would be html2lrf in free package libprs500. Click on the libprs500 link on the Conversion page in the MobileRead Wiki.

Now I have some other questions. How do you convert in batch? I can edit meta information in batch, but can't convert in batch.
Also, can I use this program for the PRS-505 too? I'm thinking of getting one.

[RWood]

The LRF files will work on both the 500 and the 505. He is working to add 505 features to the current functionality.

For batch conversion I use the command line version and make a DOS BATch file. I started on PCs years ago and with many years of DOS batch file processing (and many years of IBM JCL scripts before that.)