Converting to LRF in Mac

[mrgiedrnkr]

Hi guys!
I have gotten to be a pro in formatting my purchased ereader and mobi books for my sony. However, I am now converting to a Mac. I am clueless on how to start this on a Mac. I don't even know what is comparable for a dos prompt. Do I just download python, my scripts and calibre and convert it in the same manner I do on my PC?
Thanks for your help!
Stacy

[dgillette.rm]

The equivalent of a dos prompt on a mac is the program called terminal. This gives you a unix command line. Python should be installed, but might not be the latest version. Calibre runs great, not sure what your implied extra scripts do for you, but you should be able to do this with little to no trouble.

[mrgiedrnkr]

Thank you so much. I have lots to learn about Mac.

The scripts I normally run are mobidedrm and script1 (which is my name for my script Secure ereader drm stripper to html). I normally type something like this:

c:\books\script1.py book.prc book.prc "Name" 12345678 (last 8 digits of the credit card)

I don't even know how to do a command like that in terminal.
Stacy

[DanielCoffey]

As mentioned, Terminal is located in the Applications -> Utilities folder. Double-click to open it (you may want to drag a copy to the Dashboard if you use it a lot).

By default, it will be pointing to the Users - WhateverYourUsernameIs directory.

To change directory in Terminal, just use the cd command - for example

cd documents
cd ebooks

When working on a book, I made a folder under documents called work and copied some of the scripts that Calibre 0.5.14 uses (right-click on Calibre, show package contents, navigate to Contents - Resources - Loaders to find them). I made a copy of the (in my case) rtf2lrf and lrs2lrf and lrf2lrs scripts and placed them in my work directory.

From there, all you have to do is make sure a copy of your ebook file is in the same directory and away you go...

In the Terminal window, I typed...

lrf2lrs myebook.lrf

...and the book exploded and disgorged its pictures and .lrs file.

A version of Python is already on the Mac in leopard.

Now, as for de-DRMing your books, your command is good. Taking your example, move the script and the book into your work directory and type...

script1 bookwithDRMname bookwithoutDRMname "Name" 12345678

(I think the quotes are only required to enclose anything with spaces in it).

When you are done, Cmd-Q to finish with Terminal.

I hope that is useful information for you.

[curtw]

I had been meaning to pitch in on this thread, but I just haven't had the time. DanielCoffey got you the main pathway through doing it in the terminal (although, shouldn't the first word in the line to execute the command be "python?" if you just type in "scriptname... " it will be looking for "scriptname.exe." )

The main point I wanted to make was that this can all be automated through the quick and simple creation of an Applescript. If you're new to Mac, this is the tool you should really try to teach yourself. It will permit you to generate a small GUI applet onto which you can drag and drop your files for conversion without ever having to drop into terminal.

I'll upload my Applescript for the Python script I normally use when I get home tonight (no, it does not include the script itself), and you can either just use it, or open it in order to understand the power of the language. Essentially, anything you can do in the terminal, you can also do in the GUI by making a bit of Applescript code with "do shell script..."

[curtw]

mrgiedrnkr,

Here is the AppleScript file. Moderators, please note, this file DOES NOT INCLUDE MOBIDEDRM. Just drag and drop your Mobipocket files onto this icon. You will have to tell the program where your mobidedrm.py script is located, and give it your PID, but once you've done that the first time, it won't ask again. (If you move mobidedrm or change your PID, you'll have to delete the plist, or preferences file, to make it think it's the first time you're running it again).

You can open this file in the Script Editor, and it should be pretty intuitive how to edit it for what you need for your "script1." Double-clicking on this file won't get you anywhere.

Please note that this script *should* be robust enough to handle files located within an arbitrary number of nested folders, and/or folders with spaces in the names, BUT... while the Mac OS GUI will permit you to put a slash ("/") in the name of a file or folder, once you pass that name within UNIX, the command line interpreter will think that's a directory delimiter, and the program won't work properly. In general, it's bad idea to put slashes in the names anyway.

Drop a note if you have any problems...

[mrgiedrnkr]

I FINALLY got the hang of my scripts on my mac. Thank the heavens and thank you guys for all of your help. I can continue buying secure ereader and mobi books without going to my pc.
Stacy