Questions re: FBreader, PB360, Calibre

[KingsGambit]

Hi all, I joined mobileread a handful of weeks ago and received some great advice here which, in addition to the already useful posts with reviews and advice on the site, led me to purchase my first eReader. I got a Pocketbook360 (review pending!) and have since read 1.5 novels on it (the 0.5 I was already reading in paperback and finished electronically ). I now have my eye on the PB302, but first things first! I have some questions on things that are little bugbears and I can't work out how to resolve.

- I was able to use Calibre to convert my existing eBooks (LIT, TXT, RTF, HTM) to ePub and after a few hours over a couple of evenings tagged everything and was able to transfer everything over in a nice, intuitive structure. However, I have two series' which each have over 10 books in them. Now in the list it goes 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, etc. Is there a way to fix this so 10+ comes after 9?

- My reader reset itself and froze up several times but after a lot of google and mobileread browsing, I was able to downgrade my firmware to 14.2 and so far it seems much better. Haven't had to use the (hard to find) reset button since. Problem solved.

- FBReader: I downloaded and installed v0.92 from here (I believe) but I've noticed nothing different. I also can't work out how to configure it. I'd really like to be able to tweak margins, change the number of steps for font size increase, remap buttons, set a default, etc. My current mappings are mostly ignored "in-book". How can I configure FBReader with all the G-sensor page turns, margins and font sizes?

- What fonts do other owners recommend for their own reading? Any sites where to get them from? Would love to have a play and find what fonts work best and your recommendations are the best place to start.

- Dictionary...I assumed that the PB360 came with one...and it did after a fashion...an English-Russian one which isn't particularly useful to me :-( I had hoped it would include an actual dictionary to look up word meanings while reading. I've spent literally hours trawling the web and this site for one, but can't find anything. Does anyone know where I can download one from, or have one they could Email?

Thanks in advance for your advice. I must say in general I'm quite happy with the reader. The page turn buttons are a touch stiff for my liking, but that aside the screen is beautiful, so clear and crisp. It fits easily into a pocket and the on-board memory swallowed my puny 130 book collection with room to spare, leaving the 8GB card I bought for it feeling dejected and redundant.

I'm not impressed with the eBook market though. Some sellers sell eBooks for more than their paperback counterparts (with delivery and tax) which is insane. And considering that a sold eBook is 99.9% profit (0.1% for bandwidth), they sell for the same as their hardback counterparts in many cases, which IMO is robbery. Combined with DRM (a whole other debate) and further, regional restrictions (easily bypassed with an anonymous proxy) it reminds me very much of the music industry a few years ago, before iTunes came about and offered a reasonably priced, effective, global system to buy songs legally.

An eBook for more than $8 (maybe $10 for a new release) is really pushing my willingness to support the industry and stay legal. I hope that as they become more mainstream, the industry gets itself in gear and matures a little. If they don't realise that there are no international borders on the Net and that charging high prices for something with practically zero-cost then ePublishing will suffer the same as the music biz did. (I do realise that, unlike music, books have different publishers in different countries, however eBooks should not be subject to the same regional rights as hardcopies, but a product in and of themselves).

[fjtorres]

1- Are you sure the books are opening in FBreader and not ADE? It they are, you should set a settings Icon in the lower right hand corner. Once you get there it's all super smooth.

2- You say the page turn buttons are stiff; I assume you're using the Wing button for that? You can reassign the functions to the rocker ring. Check the button mappings in the main setup.

3- There are plenty of english dictionaries available for download. Check the dictionary threads here.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...t=60689&page=1

4- ebook pricing? Depends on where your tastes lie and where you live. There are quite a few places that sell ebooks at sub-paperback prices (some without DRM) depending on the genre. If you're into SF and/or fantasy a trip to Baen.com might help. (Also the FifthImperium web site. Plenty of great, legally free SF there to lift the spirits of the SD card.)

5- Fonts? I favor Georgia. Look in your Windows PC Fonts folder. Lots of goodies there. Some folks like Google's Droid font.

[Mickey330]

Originally Posted by KingsGambit

FBReader: I downloaded and installed v0.92 from here (I believe) but I've noticed nothing different. I also can't work out how to configure it. I'd really like to be able to tweak margins, change the number of steps for font size increase, remap buttons, set a default, etc. My current mappings are mostly ignored "in-book". How can I configure FBReader with all the G-sensor page turns, margins and font sizes?

When you go to a book within a folder (not from the main home page), press and hold the OK button. After a bit, a menu should open. At the top, it should say "Open with" with an arrow >. Press the right key and you should see the option to select fbreader. Once you select it, you should then be in the fbreader program with all its goodies.

You can also download/install an extensions.cfg file that'll make the fbreader180 program your default reader. You can find that here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67149

Oh - and ensure the FBreader180 program and its folders and such are all in the proper places. Per GrayNM & mtravellerh:

"Copy the fbreader.app into the main memory of your reader under system/bin and off you go. And - copy folder FBeader/ to system/share/"

What fonts do other owners recommend for their own reading? Any sites where to get them from? Would love to have a play and find what fonts work best and your recommendations are the best place to start.

See this post for some discussion about fonts people like with their PB360: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ghlight=andika. And, as fjtorres has recommended, I've also used a bunch of fonts out of my Windows files as the PB360 can use any TT font. I currently like to use Calibri.

Congrats on you new reader. Yeah, the ebook market is in flux right now, but if you keep your eyes out, you can usually find some pretty good deals on ebooks. It's all in the hunt while we wait and see how the market sorts itself out.

Happy reading.

Marilyn

[Guns4Hire]

- What fonts do other owners recommend for their own reading?

I use the font Droid by Google specifically DroidSerif. Its a font that was created for small screens. I like it very much. There were about 3/4 that were in the running and I just felt Droid was the best out of those.

Droid font feature a contemporary appearance and were designed for comfortable reading on screen. They feature slightly condensed letterforms to maximize the amount of text displayed on small screens. Vertical stress, sturdy serifs and open forms contribute to the readability of Droid Serif while its proportion and overall design complement its companion Droid Sans.

[acanthicus]

Originally Posted by KingsGambit

- I was able to use Calibre to convert my existing eBooks (LIT, TXT, RTF, HTM) to ePub and after a few hours over a couple of evenings tagged everything and was able to transfer everything over in a nice, intuitive structure. However, I have two series' which each have over 10 books in them. Now in the list it goes 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, etc. Is there a way to fix this so 10+ comes after 9?

Number your files and metadata in this way:
01, 02 ... 10, 11 etc. and 01.5 if there is some book in between

For the use of fbreader: Existing versions of fbreader are not able to show the style sheets properly. Some basic formatting like empty lines, italics, centered text etc. is often lacking. You have to decide what is more important for you: the possibility of configurations of the fbreader or the correct representation of the AdobeViewer. Maybe you can edit the epub itself to change the margins etc.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by KingsGambit

Dictionary... Does anyone know where I can download one from, or have one they could Email?

I have 2 En-En dictionaries stored on Rapidshare (too big to send via email) which I use on my PB360. You are welcome to try them
Concise Oxford - this is my usual preference
and Longmans Contemporary

Unpack then drag-n-drop to system/dictionaries on the PB360.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by KingsGambit

I was able to use Calibre to convert my existing eBooks (LIT, TXT, RTF, HTM) to ePub and after a few hours over a couple of evenings tagged everything and was able to transfer everything over in a nice, intuitive structure. However, I have two series' which each have over 10 books in them. Now in the list it goes 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, etc. Is there a way to fix this so 10+ comes after 9?

Another option is to amend your preferences in Calibre.
[Preferences] - [Plugins] - [Device interface plugins]
find the PB360 in the list then click the [Customize plugin] button. Try something like the following in the 'Save template' box
Books/{series} {series_index:>2s} {title} - {authors}
or
Books/{authors}/{series} {series_index:>2s} {title} - {authors}

You will need to use Calibre to transfer the books to the PB360 rather than drag-n-drop from Win Explorer (or whatever).

This should work for books that are in a series and books that aren't. May not work for books with series_index which is non-integer, e.g. 1.5.

You will also need to set your PB360 settings to display book FileName rather than BookTitle. Like this if you've not tried this option:
MainMenu [Books] - With any book highlighted press &hold centre button till submenu appears.
Then [View] - [Show names as] - [file names]

[KingsGambit]

Thank you all very much again for the great tips above. After managing to read one book just fine, another I purchased had horrid, huge margins that meant text was in a two-three word column down the centre of the screen. That and my other niggles prompted my post.

@fjtorres, I've downloaded both Georgia and Droid to experiment with. They look lovely on the computer screen. And I am a big SF/Fantasy fan so that web site is a great recommendation! Thank you. The dictionaries thread to be honest, is quite confusing. I'm technically very capable but no posts there lead to anything...possibly it's a little outdated?

@mickey330 - As fjtorres suggested, I was indeed opening the books in what must be ADE as I didn't have any FBReader options. That extensions.cfg worked perfectly though, my page margins and font sizes are just right now That thread you linked had lots of great fonts on it...in fact I zipped up all the recommendations on there to make it easier for future me's to find them. Thanks so much.
PS. Your reply to my first thread and review of the PB360 were the clinchers for me to buy one

@guns4hire - Thanks for the recommendation, Droid is the first font in my list to try out as soon as I've posted this

@acanthicus - That's a useful tip about numbering, and should've been obvious from my time spent numbering MP3s in album lists! So far fbreader looks good to my eye, but I've only skimmed a few pages, next page, next page, etc just to see how it looks. Will keep an eye out.

@jackie_w - Thank you so much for those links! I believe .dic is exactly the right format for pocketbook but impossible to find, despite a lot of google and browsing the thread linked to above. Will give it a try soon, though I've no idea how to pick out a word without a touch screen (do you type it out perhaps?). (Why pocketbook don't simply include one on the device is strange, and then to not make one readily available, even as a chargeable extra, is strange again). And thanks for the great advice on calibre, I may try that but with only two series' with > 10 books, it may be quicker to try what acanthicus suggested for now, though setting Calibre up properly is a better long term solution I'm sure.
Oh and the file name/book title thing took me *ages* to figure out. I should have posted this a week ago

For all of you, a big

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by KingsGambit

@jackie_w - Thank you so much for those links! I believe .dic is exactly the right format for pocketbook but impossible to find, despite a lot of google and browsing the thread linked to above. Will give it a try soon, though I've no idea how to pick out a word without a touch screen (do you type it out perhaps?).

Re: using the dictionary. There are 2 ways to access it. It's actually easier to use than to describe, but I'll try anyway.

• From the Main Menu. Select the Dictionary app. This brings up a mini keyboard and you can type in your word. I'm sure it's not as easy as with a touch-screen but it's quite useable.
  
  
• If you're inside a book press OK (centre button) to get mini menu and select Dictionary option (bottom left). Cursor will be positioned on first word on page. Just use the nav buttons to move the cursor around till you've highlighted the word you want. The dictionary window changes in real-time as you move the cursor. If you can't see the whole definition, press OK and you can then use up/down to scroll through it.
  Caveat - there is a current known bug where some words on the page are not selectable (first/last word of a paragraph). However you can still bring up the mini keyboard and type yourself.

[Mickey330]

Originally Posted by KingsGambit

PS. Your reply to my first thread and review of the PB360 were the clinchers for me to buy one

Stop! You're making me blush ... Seriously, I am glad to be of help. And, doubly glad you like your new purchase!

... [snip]... though I've no idea how to pick out a word without a touch screen (do you type it out perhaps?).

NOTE: Before I posted this, Jackie had already responded about the dictionary. But - I think the pictures I've attached go along with her explanation. I've left my words too, mainly 'cause I've already typed them. Hate wasting perfectly good words ...

Oh, but this is one of the coolest things the PB360 does! See the picture #1 for details, but you can use the silver D-ring thingy to navigate the page once you've brought up the dictionary (which you open by pressing the OK button while you're in the book and selecting it).

Just press up/down/left/right and the cursor will move while highlighting a word. At the same time, the definition will show in the window (if you go down into the dictionary area, the screen will refresh - the dictionary part will go to the top whilst the page will show at the bottom).

Or - you can type a word to find the meaning. See the arrow I drew in picture #1. If you press the OK button, that screen selection area will become active. If you press that part at which I've drawn the arrow, you can get a keyboard (see picture #2). The cool part there is that you can type in any word - not just one you see on that current page. If it's in the dictionary, it'll display a definition...

So, there you go. The dictionary is one of the neat things about the PB360 - and I think the keyboard entry is pretty ingenious also.

Happy reading.

Marilyn

P.S. Oh, and wait until you find out how the ADE hack makes reading library (DRM'd) ePubs that much easier to read (your own fonts, margins, etc.). Pretty cool...