[How To] Calibre on Android e-Reader (Nook Touch)

[aruangra]

I installed Calibre on my Nook Touch to fetch news and serve contents to reader programs in the device. The method can be used with other Android readers. In summary, Calibre is installed in Debian 6.0.0 chroot environment for an ARM-based CPU. The steps are as follows:

1. Prepare a Debian 6.0.0 package for an ARM-based CPU using this command in a PC with Debian 6.0.0:

debootstrap --arch armel --foreign squeeze debian --verbose http://ftp.debian.org/debian

You can download the package from http://www.4shared.com/file/RRuFfjRf/debiantar.html
and uncompress to the folder “debian”

2. Make an EXT2 partition on an SD card. The partition size should be larger than 1 GB. On a Windows PC, you may use MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition but the second partition cannot be shown. You may need to use a Live CD or a virtual machine to copy the debian package (in Step 1) to the new partition.

3. Connect to shell in the device

adb connect 192.168.XXX.XXX
adb shell

4. Mount partition of the SD card to a directory. In my case, I use /data/local/mnt. Note that my partition is at /dev/block/vold/179:21. You may need to find your partition by trial-and-error.

cd /data/local/
mkdir mnt
mount -t ext2 -o noatime /dev/block/vold/179:21 /data/local/mnt

5. Setup the chroot environment

cd /data/local/mnt
chroot debian /bin/bash
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:$PATH
export TERM=linux
export HOME=/root
export USER=root
mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
/debootstrap/debootstrap --second-stage
echo 'nameserver 4.2.2.2' > /etc/resolv.conf
echo 'deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian squeeze main' > /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update

6. Install calibre 0.7.7 (larger than 400 MB). The program is installed to /usr/share/calibre/

apt-get install calibre 
apt-get install python-routes

7. Set environment variables in .bashrc
7.1 Exit to DOS prompt
7.2 Copy .bashrc to the local PC.

adb pull /data/local/mnt/debian/root/.bashrc

7.3 Add the following commands to .bashrc

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export TZ=Asia/Bangkok
export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:$PATH
export TERM=linux
export HOME=/root
export USER=root

7.4 Send .bashrc to the device

adb push .bashrc /data/local/mnt/debian/root/

8. Enter the chroot environment to use Calibre

cd /data/local/mnt
chroot debian /bin/bash

Some key commands are as follows: (My epup files are in /usr/share/calibre/serve/)

ebook-convert /usr/share/calibre/recipes/nasa.recipe /usr/share/calibre/serve/nasa.epub
calibredb add --duplicates --with-library /var/www/ /usr/share/calibre/serve/nasa.epub
calibre-server --with-library /var/www/ --daemonize

9. Scheduling news fetching
I use APScheduler:
http://packages.python.org/APScheduler/
My script (script.py) can be downloaded from
http://www.mediafire.com/?to23i9339ivx1p9

import os
import time
from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler
# Start the scheduler
sched = Scheduler()
sched.start()
def job_function1():
   os.system("ebook-convert /usr/share/calibre/recipes/thairath.recipe /usr/share/calibre/serve/thairath%20news.epub")
   os.system("ebook-convert /usr/share/calibre/recipes/cnn.recipe /usr/share/calibre/serve/cnn.epub")
   os.system("calibredb add --duplicates --with-library /var/www/ /usr/share/calibre/serve/cnn.epub")
# Schedule
sched.add_cron_job(job_function1, day_of_week='mon-sun', hour=4, minute=0)
while True:
   time.sleep(10)

To run the script, use this command:

nohup python script.py &

10. There are several ways to access epub files to use in Aldiko or other readers for Android
- calibre server
- lighttpd webserver
- mounting the directory in the chroot to the SD card

mount -o bind /data/local/mnt/debian/usr/share/calibre/serve/ /sdcard/eBooks/Calibre

In Aldiko, epub files can be accessed from /sdcard/eBooks/Calibre.

11. Control Wifi on-off
You can use Taskbomb or Tasker to control Wifi to save the battery life.

12. When rebooting your device, you will need to input these commands:

mount -t ext2 -o noatime /dev/block/vold/179:21 /data/local/mnt
mount -o bind /data/local/mnt/debian/usr/share/calibre/serve/ /sdcard/eBooks/Calibre
cd /data/local/mnt
chroot debian /bin/bash
mount -t devpts devpts /dev/pts
mount -t proc proc /proc
mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
nohup python /opt/script.py &

References
http://kristof.vanhertum.be/?p=132
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/DS101/Debian
http://evilzone.org/android/debian-on-android/
http://www.saurik.com/id/10
http://packages.python.org/APScheduler/
http://www.read.in.th/node/1164

[Manichean]

Moderator Notice
Moved to devices subforum.