MAC Install/Use Commandline tools

[Riqiv]

Caliber looks awesome, I just downloaded it and look forward to using it.

It looks like a tremendous program that was written with care and input from an extensive community. However . . .

I came here after being asked by Caliber if I would like to:
“Install Command Line Tools”
and wondered what this would mean to me and my computer (its use, will it slow my computer in any way, etc.) but was a little dismayed by the lack of compassion and understanding to someone who, misunderstanding a program, set his library to his desktop and had “deleted nearly everything [he] had on [his] desktop irrespective of whether the files were ebooks or not. Nearly all photos, videos, music, data etc were gone.”

I usually look at Forums before I delve into a program that looks as extensive as Calibre and see if the rules are followed, such as the first one:
1. Discuss things politely

At this post people stated (and this is just the first page):
You're like the fool that shoots himself in the foot with a gun and then blames the gun manufacturer for not manufacturing a gun that can read your mind and so refuse to shoot your foot off.
AND
What's so unusual about an application deleting files when you tell it to?
AND
Only a fool stores the original file on the Desktop . . .
AND
don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on your way out . . . (after poster asking for an alternative to Calibre)
AND
You just proved you are a bigger 'Maroon' asking in the forum DEDICATED to Calibre.
I bet you ignore the 'Don't back up' as you exit a secure car park and blame the owner.

Of these five choices, I am looking for the one that is the least polite and can't really pick a winner.

And this is a “support” forum and I suppose as a community, you are not only trying to help people with their issues but also attract prospective customers?

I think what the posting person was trying to say was that other programs, such as iTunes, Reaper (DAW), Sibelius (music writing/composing program similar to Finale), Kindle, Aperture, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and others I could name (all complex, beautifully written apps, that are similar to Calibre in this respect), even when the library is misplaced, do not have the capacity to erase ALL the files on a desktop (and most can not even delete their OWN files). This kind of power is generally limited to such utilities such as Disc Repair, Disc Warrior, Tech Tool Pro, the Terminal, and Cocktail, which are programs for repairing and initialising you hard drive.

Admittedly, it was a user error, but one that IMO shouldn't have such dire consequences as irretrievably deleting ALL data on a desktop, and I appreciate the warning given by the posting person (I keep a folder on my desktop with much important data in it and have it backed up twice, on an external in home and online).

I have just quit Caliber and will wait for a response to:
What are “Line Command Tools”?

(I’ve searched the Forum and Instructions and came upon this posting while doing so.)

Thank you, and please don't take this personally, but I will have a lot of questions and generally donate once I see that a program does what I wish and that the people on the Forum (or email) can answer questions clearly and politely

[PeterT]

You might be interested to know that now, in current versions of Calibre it no longer deletes ANY files on a removal of a Calibre Library. All that happens now is the library is removed from Calibre, a prompt is displayed to tell you the user to clean up, and (at least on Windows) a file-explorer window opened in the correct directory for you to clean up.

[Riqiv]

Originally Posted by PeterT

You might be interested to know that now, in current versions of Calibre it no longer deletes ANY files on a removal of a Calibre Library. All that happens now is the library is removed from Calibre, a prompt is displayed to tell you the user to clean up, and (at least on Windows) a file-explorer window opened in the correct directory for you to clean up.

Thank you Peter, for the prompt and polite response

I see now, from a former thread in this post, that this has been addressed:
"This issue was addressed long ago by preventing users from creating libraries in folders that have content, so unless they manually add content to the library, there's no problem deleting libraries created since that change."

That is a little more user-friendly

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Riqiv

Thank you Peter, for the prompt and polite response

Polite question almost always gets a prompt and polite answer here at this forum ;-)

The thing is, that Calibre wants to manage its own library files. Some people make a mistake that when the Calibre starts for the first time and asks where it is supposed to put the library, they do not select (or create in place) AN EMPTY folder/directory.
There have been countless discussions here asking the author of Calibre - Kovid Goyal - to change the structure of that folder to suit some users.
You are not supposed to mess with that Calibre Library folder, except, of course for regular backup of the entire thing. For many reasons it is even better to use "save to disk" function in Calibre instead of looking up the files manually. When you use "save to disk" function Calibre makes sure there will be the most recent metadata bundled inside the the book file. Calibre Library folder is supposed to be a "black box" to you, and you should access your files using Calibre graphical interface. The interface has quite a few tools and features that will let you manipulate your books.

Is somebody chooses his existing folder with books as a base for the Calibre Library and then starts importing books, the result is an UGLY (and, as you have seen, dangerous) mess. Because Calibre will make a copy of each of imported books there in its own directory structure. This thread and other ones have prompted another improvement to Calibre. The recent versions will refuse to place Library to a folder that is not empty. Kovid listens to the community and every Friday there is a new version with a new cool feature or improvement.


As for the comandline tools.
Calibre is very, VERY, versatile tool. It can convert between many ebook formats, it can download ebook metadata from the net, it can use so-called "recipes" to download the contents of your favourite blog, site, on-line newspaper and make a very nice ebook of it and push it to your reading device (of course, your device must support receiving emails or whatever for pushing to function). Calibre can even turn itself into a very nice web server and let you browse the library over the net from another PC at home or from device.
Many of those features can be used without using the Grafical User Interface - GUI. Calibre consists of many independent parts and there are people that like to use, for example "convert" CommandLine command to convert books.

[theducks]

I have heard cases of the "Windows 9.x cleanup tool (from M$)"helping" the user delete really old files (that were in the system folder).

as to your Question.
MAC? Right.
MAC's are a special case for command line tools.

The solution is in the first Paragraph http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/cli/cli-index.html#

[Riqiv]

Thx Kacir for the info on CommandLine command.
-----
BTY Cali - I went to that page you suggested already and yes, I'm on Mac.
-----
I'm not sure if I need the Command Line Tools. It says:
Convert an ebook from one format to another.

When they are installed, how do you access Command Line Tools?

Is it then part of the interface once it's installed?
-----
I have a 96 page book in PDF I am looking to put into Kindle. I found out the hard way (my Kindle Pub account) that PDF is garbled. I don't want to convert my book to Word.

I will probably reset my margins (I have some help with that on the Sibelius website) and export my book as a PNG.

I don't think mobipocket is made for Mac and the interface wasn't as clear as Caliber anyways. Even the "Help" manual in Caliber looks sophisticated

My graphics export options on Sibelius are in the attachment. Any ideas which would be the best choice for uploading to Kindle?

As I said, I'm guessing PNG.

Many thx!
-------
PS - If I should start a new thread or post elsewhere, please have a moderator contact me and I will delete this post and post to the proper area. Perhaps in "Library Management"?

I can't tell what section I'm in from what it reads up top left on my screen:
MobileRead Forums > E-Book Software > Calibre

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Riqiv

When they are installed, how do you access Command Line Tools?

Well, from a Coomand Line.
In Linux you start Console, Terminal, kterm, or you just press Ctrl+Alt+F1 ... F10 to access Command Line interface (as oposed to Graphical User Interface)

In Windows, you go to Start menu, you press Run and you issue command 'cmd' that will start command window where you can type DOS commands or commands for converting books.

On Mac, you use terminal
http://guides.macrumors.com/Terminal


Just install everything when in doubt.
Who knows, perhaps next week you discover a new piece of software that will want to use Calibre Commandline tools to enhance functionality.


By the way ...
pdf files. Those are usually not well suited for reading on e-ink devices. I personally like to run pdf through an OCR program and convert it to rtf or other format that can be displayed/converted well.

[theducks]

Moderator Notice
Made separate thread

[itimpi]

As a general rule I would that if you are not already a Command Line user then it is unlikely that you will find the Calibre command line tools to be of much use.

I can always be proved wrong though

[Riqiv]

Thank you for the replies!

In general, I don't enter the Terminal except when I absolutely have to, and I always know the "Undo" command when I do.

Caliber looks way powerful enuff to do what I need, I just have to study and experiment

Kacir (on anyone), is there any reason you would prefer rtf to PNG format?

I found sometimes it's just a cross-platform thing (Window uses WAV and Mac uses AIFF files for music, for instance) or maybe rtf handles easier than PNG in general.

[PeterT]

An RTF is a true word processing document. while the PNG (or BMP / TIFF etc) is a graphics file. Using a graphics file to create an ePub would result in the ePub just containing images, while running through an OCR program (Optical Character Recognition) to make an RTF or DOC or any other word-processing file would result in an ePub that was character based.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by theducks

Made separate thread

Good idea.
Thank you.