Announcing: MOBI2IMP v9 will directly convert mobipocket .prc to .IMP formats

[nrapallo]

Mobi2imp (version 9) with windows executable now out! (See Mobi2IMP 9.4 with new Windows GUI released!)

VERSION 9 - Changes:
- mobi2imp.exe (version 9) - windows executable
- can now handle (text) .pdb files properly i.e. ereader 'TEXt'/'REAd' type
- now makes the BookDesigner notice at the end 'small print' by default
- can make that BD notice 'big print' again with '--BDbig' (case sensitive)
- can make that BD notice start on a newpage using '--BDnewpage'
- can even remove that BD notice at the end with '--BDremove'
- to add flare, can use '--bgcolor #FF80FF' to set background color for every page
- BUGFIX: Only when using '--nopara' option, some <br />'s get ignored so another <br /> is added; if this creates issues, then '--noBRfix' will not add the second <br />.

The 'mobi2imp' program is now very stable and mature enough to be used effectively in re-conversion efforts using a .prc copy for the previously BD made .IMP. It can also be used for 'go forward' efforts, as JSWolf has done!

Enjoy!

EDIT: See continuation of this thread in Mobi2IMP 9.4 with new Windows GUI released!

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Mobi2imp (version 9) with windows executable now out! (See post #3 in the Fictionwise forum sticky)

VERSION 9 - Changes:
- mobi2imp.exe (version 9) - windows executable
- can now handle (text) .pdb files properly i.e. ereader 'TEXt'/'REAd' type
- now makes the BookDesigner notice at the end 'small print' by default
- can make that BD notice 'big print' again with '--BDbig' (case sensitive)
- can make that BD notice start on a newpage using '--BDnewpage'
- can even remove that BD notice at the end with '--BDremove'
- to add flare, can use '--bgcolor #FF80FF' to set background color for every page
- BUGFIX: Only when using '--nopara' option, some <br />'s get ignored so another <br /> is added; if this creates issues, then '--noBRfix' will not add the second <br />.

The 'mobi2imp' program is now very stable and mature enough to be used effectively in re-conversion efforts using a .prc copy for the previously BD made .IMP. It can also be used for 'go forward' efforts, as JSWolf has done!

Enjoy!

Does it *JUST* do mobi-2-imp or does it also do imp-2-mobi? 'Cause I'd be interested in the latter.

Derek

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Does it *JUST* do mobi-2-imp or does it also do imp-2-mobi? 'Cause I'd be interested in the latter.

Derek

No, it doesn't convert from imp to mobi.

Unfortunately, the .IMP format is an 'end' one; meaning there is no known way to extract the original source (.html and images).

However, there are several ways that the ebook 'text' can be extracted to varying degrees of success, as follows:

1. Using the 'ebook viewer.exe' installed on the PC (after installing the free eBook Publisher software here), you would 'Print' using a printer driver that saves to .pdf format, then OCR the resulting .pdf.

2. With some .IMP, it is possible to open them with a text editor (like Wordpad) and 'go to the middle' of the document. There you may find the text used in the .IMP ebook. This depends on which software and compression-setting created that .IMP (does seems to work with recent eBook Publisher creations that are not internally compressed - with LZSS)

Either way, you would loose all formatting, links and all HTML codes in the process. But, would have the text to 'begin' the conversion process.

Most users creating .IMP's ALSO retain the original source for this very reason.

Hope this helps.

Edit: this has all been previously discussed before here

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Mobi2imp (version 9) with windows executable now out! (See post #3 in the Fictionwise forum sticky)

Mini-tutorial follows:

The mobi2imp.exe needs to be run from within an already opened Dos box i.e. command prompt and then only needs two arguments "My Source.prc" and "Explode Dir". If there are any spaces, then you need to surround them with quotes. Don't double-click the .exe directly nor the .pl; it is best run from within a batch file (see below)

You can also specify 'Category' (like Fiction) 'Author' or 'Title'.

Try this:

c:\> mobi2imp.exe --verbose "My Source.prc" "Explode Dir" Fiction

If you want to automate this, try running a batch file (just copy and paste this into a file called 'prc2imp.bat')

@echo off
rem Convert .mobi/.prc to .imp process devised by Nick Rapallo (Jan. 2008)
rem =============================================
rem Start the conversion of all .prc files in this directory to .imp format
rem For GEB 1150/EBW 1150 only output; add switch '--1200' for REB 1200 .IMP

for %%i in (*.prc)  do mobi2imp.exe --verbose "%%i" "%%~sni"
for %%i in (*.mobi) do mobi2imp.exe --verbose "%%i" "%%~sni"
for %%i in (*.pdb)  do mobi2imp.exe --verbose "%%i" "%%~sni"

rem That's it! We are now finished the conversion of all .prc files
echo WoW! All done.
pause

Then all you have to do is put mobi2imp.exe in your path (or current directory), your 'prc2imp.bat' into the current directory containing your .prc, and then double-click 'prc2imp.bat' (just ensure you don't have too many .prc as ALL of them will be converted!)

Also, options like 'margins' and 'text-justification' can be better controlled in the mobi2imp via command-line '--options'. Popular options are:

'--out IMPFILENAME' set .IMP filename to use (overrides default naming)
'--smallerfont' use 'x-small' font size for body text like pre-fix BD not default 'small'
'--nojustify' no full justification (i.e. left-aligned) not 'justify'
'--nopara' use no paragraph separation not 'blank line' (1em) separation
'--indent' use small (1em) indent instead of no (0em) indent

These options (sometimes called switches) go just after mobi2imp.exe and ALWAYS start with two dashes (i.e. '--verbose'). Just forget about getting the .pl and ActiveState Perl setup working. With the .exe, you don't even need ActiveState Perl!

With mobi2imp, just beware that you're stuck with any inconsistencies (if any) introduced by the .prc/.mobi original when converting over. However, 'mobi2imp' also creates a .opf that can be loaded into eBook Publisher and from there you can further edit/build it.

All in all, I like the output of mobi2imp.

I have been converting Madam Broshkina's .prc posts (with her permission) using mobi2imp.exe. For one I did recently, I used this command-line (in a batch file):

mobi2imp.exe --1200 "Authors Various_The Worlds Greatest Books Volume V.prc" "AUTHOR5" Fiction "Authors, Various" "The Worlds Greatest Books Vol 5"

Download the "Authors Various_The Worlds Greatest Books Volume V.prc" and see if you can duplicate the .IMP posted for the same ebook with the above command.

p.s. Thanks to DaleDe there is now a wiki entry for mobi2imp here

[nrapallo]

See continuation of this thread in Mobi2IMP 9.1 with new Windows GUI released!

I've released Mobi2IMP 9.1, which has minor bug fixes and major enhancements.

Changes in this release:
* installs a Windows GUI ala PDFRead that can be used to convert files instead of using dos/perl. It even remembers 'options' last chosen!
* removed 'ExplodeDir' as a required parameter and uses, as the default temp/explode DIR, the filename without extension (can be overridden).
* added ability to optionally add a (default) 'cover' image to every conversion from .mobi to .imp based on the embedded cover in the source file.
* implemented optional running headers (ala GEBLibraian) with two variants: one with the traditional 'Title Author' line followed by a <hr>; another with the header line only in color specified by the user.
* added better documentation and even a mini-tutorial

Enjoy!