Database Users

ebook maker / converter free

can anybody recommend me a ebook converter / maker
got me a book as txt and i really would pref reading it as
ebook lit or at least pdf
i know i can just search google but there are soo many of them some are shareware some are comerical some are free.....
it's a jungle out there!

PErsonally I use mobipocket, for a couple of reasons..
It supports OEB (Non- protected books, so in 10 years time you will still be able to read them)
The reader is free (on the website it is advertised as a trial - this is for the pro version, install it anyway under the trial, aftrer the trial ends you can still use the software but some of the more complex functions are disabled -like autoscroll)
The reader will operate on palm or PPC - meaning I can share my books with my friends who have palm, rather than having to reformat them.
They also supply a publisher program for creating the books, this is free for home use.
It's not microsoft
go to www.mobipocket.com

Rudegar said:
can anybody recommend me a ebook converter / maker
got me a book as txt and i really would pref reading it as
ebook lit or at least pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reader I use is muBook from http://gowerpoint.com/.
It can handle .PDB, .PRC, .TXT, .RTF and .HTML as e-books, and display inline .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, .WMF (in RTF) or .BMP.
If you're starting from a TXT file, you don't gain much by converting it to an e-book format, unless you add niceties like an index.
Which book is it? If it's out of copyright, you may be able to get it from manybooks in an e-book format (with index etc.).

well as to which book it is then no it's not a copyrighted book and it's not a book you'd find anywhere on the internet, somebody i know wrote it and all
i wanted to make it ebookish
because then when reading it i would be able to put bookmarks in and get a bit better more cleartypish font then the std notepad
as a rule just make it's easier and more easy to read it

Rudegar said:
well as to which book it is then no it's not a copyrighted book and it's not a book you'd find anywhere on the internet, somebody i know wrote it and all
i wanted to make it ebookish
because then when reading it i would be able to put bookmarks in and get a bit better more cleartypish font then the std notepad
as a rule just make it's easier and more easy to read it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I use mobipocket too and I guess, it is a great program. You can convert your .txt - file with mobipocket publisher 3.0.
You don´t need the profressional version and you have the possibiblity to take indexes and a lot of more features of formatted textes and add your bookmarks and other features.
have fun!

well i of cause have that ms ebook reader and i have acrobat reader if at all possible i would pref not installing any more ebook readers on my xda2
will it be required ?

Rudegar said:
well i of cause have that ms ebook reader and i have acrobat reader if at all possible i would pref not installing any more ebook readers on my xda2
will it be required ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess, you will be able to convert your text into pdf- or -lit - format. But the readers have less features, the files are much bigger - but it is possible...
First I had the microsoft reader and the pdf-reader too. Now I have only the mobipocket-reader...

Rudegar said:
can anybody recommend me a ebook converter / maker
got me a book as txt and i really would pref reading it as
ebook lit or at least pdf
i know i can just search google but there are soo many of them some are shareware some are comerical some are free.....
it's a jungle out there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft have a plugin for MS word that will convert a document into eBook .lit format.
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/rmr.asp
Or if you want a more professional program ReaderWorks Standard by Overdrive is also available.
http://www.overdrive.com/readerworks/
Cheers
prowler

prowler
thanks i already found that word plugin
and i suppose i could use it
but then i have to take the book to work
because at home i dont have word

Have you tried PDFcreator?
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
or
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
FREE for personal and commercial use! No watermarks! No Popup Web Ads!

Rudegar said:
i wanted to make it ebookish
because then when reading it i would be able to put bookmarks in and get a bit better more cleartypish font then the std notepad
as a rule just make it's easier and more easy to read it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uBook will give you the choice of any font you like, with 3 different modes of anti-aliasing/alpha blending, multiple styles/backgrounds, font sizes/colors, columns, bookmarks, annotations, and it will even figure out headings etc. (for example convert CHAPTER 1 to a chapter heading). No conversion necessary. It just works.
Why lock yourself into some company's proprietary e-book format, when there's great, free, open source software that will read all sorts of formats, and offers a lot of options? If you're using an e-book reader that doesn't read .TXT files and can display them nicely, then you're cheating yourself.

You can also try PDF Printer . It supports Vista.

Ebook Reader Available?

Just had a look at Marketplace and can't see an ebook reader client.
Anyone know of one please? I would have thought that the HD2 big screen was perfect for reading.

The HD2 is excellent for reading ebooks, but you need to specify which format your ebooks are in.
My preference is for Mobipocket but this can't handle protected eReader files. For that you would need to download eReader . However I couldn't get this to install from the PC installer, though it's OK from This topic using the CAB file.

Thanks Neil, I'll give them both a try.

I like both but prefer Mobipocket!
Just a hint though- with both you need to go into the options to select screen tapping to tunr pages as the HD2 doesn't have a D-Pad
Oh- & both are free programs!

What is an ebook? I mean what is the file extension? Is there only one format for all the ebooks out there? Is it a LIT like the Microsoft Reader, or a different format?

alex fung said:
What is an ebook? I mean what is the file extension? Is there only one format for all the ebooks out there? Is it a LIT like the Microsoft Reader, or a different format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The file extensions are dependent on the format the ebook is encoded with, which determines which ebook reader needs to be used.
Ebooks are either encrypted or open format. To comply with the publishers requirements, all mainstream ebooks are encrypted, and different formats use different modes of protection. There is an increasing problem with being able to buy ebooks in different countries- for example many ebooks available from FictionWise can't be downloaded in UK due to licensing restrictions, but another company, BooksOnBoard have a bigger selection of globally available titles.
As you mention, Microsoft Reader used the .lit extension, but as this program doesn't work with WM6 it's a bit of a problem. There are other programs than can read .lit files, such as uBook (microbook) but they can't read any with DRM. There are ways however to strip the DRM on the PC version of MS Reader which still works.
The earliest mobile ebook reader was on the Palm Pocket, and the program I mentioned above, eReader works with these files which are still being used for mainstream books. They have the .pdb file extension
Mobipocket books have the .prc file extension but Mobipocket can also read html, text files and unencrypted eReader files.
There is unfortunately a move towards more proprietary formats with the release of devices like the Amazon and Sony ebook hardware. Also, many new ebooks are being released using the ePub format which is an Adobe protocol and is not available for any mobile devices.
Sorry for the long post! Its abit of a soapbox for me as I've been usign ebooks for a long time and relish the idea of having a large number of books always available on my devcie, especially on holiday. I don't like the way my choice has been limited more and more over the past year!

If you have your books in simple text formats (ie txt, rtf, doc, html), alreader should be perfect for you.

the format which is winning the ebook format wars is .epub and there is areader out there for that particular format...Freda

blackheart2925 said:
the format which is winning the ebook format wars is .epub and there is areader out there for that particular format...Freda
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that- it's a very good start. It is only for non-encrypted ePub files though, and unfortunatley the vast majority of commercial titles are encrypted

NeilM said:
Thanks for that- it's a very good start. It is only for non-encrypted ePub files though, and unfortunatley the vast majority of commercial titles are encrypted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are tools on the internet that can be used for decrypting DRM-protected EPUBS (a Google search on INEPT will lead you in the right direction). Depending where you live, it may or may not be legal for you to download and use them though
Jim

I use Micrsoft Reader and Mobipocket. First because I have a big archive with books in .lit format, and the second one because I can convert lots of formats in books who works for it and I like this program allot. one problem if I can call it a problem is lack of updates for it. For example to make progress bar from bottom of page bigger or to make some animation with page flip (now I see iPad have implemented that). It may seem like some graphics nonsense but I think this are very important because of psychological effect (feeling good reading a book but filing good about it from start of the program) at the end of day you read a book to relax and feel good (technical or any educational books come usual in .pdf format so are not included in discussion). and I think because of power and size of screen HD2 deserve better graphics. Don't forget that iPhone had big success because of better graphics with a OS witch odder ways it was waaaaay inferior to WM, just because of that psychological effect created by very well designed graphics.

Grab a copy of freda (search here on xda). It's the best free epub reader out there. There'll be a new version released soon by Jim.

I do like Freda, but it's not finger friendly. Particularly the Library View. You need fingers like a small bushbaby to select a particular book.
Best I've tried up to now though.

I used Palm to read ebooks since lots of years ago, when I moved to WM I still using the same aplication: iSilo
iSilo consist in two aplications... one in WM wich you use to read and another on the pc wich you use to encode the files to iSilo format (pdb). You can encode lots of file formats including plain txt and html (with images) or grab complete websites.
I love iSilo cause a 5 megabytes pdf can be just a 200k pdb file and got autoscroll with is a feature I love to read books (ipad don't have that)

Alpha4 said:
I do like Freda, but it's not finger friendly. Particularly the Library View. You need fingers like a small bushbaby to select a particular book.
Best I've tried up to now though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you've popped some feedback on the freda thread. Jim is always looking for improvements so comments from the user base will drive this!

Yep I will fix that display to make the lines a bit bigger. Actually, I've been thinking about implementing a setting to let the user control the font-size and line spacing used for controls (because some people don't mind poking the screen with a fingernail, whereas others really want to use finger-tips - but there is a trade-off in that the larger the controls, the fewer lines will fit the screen).
Anyhow, I had been thinking the setting should have values called 'small/medium/large', but it's clear that what I need is 'bushbaby/human/gorilla'
Thanks for using Freda.
Jim

what about flip page animation like in SPB Shell v.2 or iPad? Is that posible to implement?

Jim Chapman said:
Yep I will fix that display to make the lines a bit bigger. Actually, I've been thinking about implementing a setting to let the user control the font-size and line spacing used for controls (because some people don't mind poking the screen with a fingernail, whereas others really want to use finger-tips - but there is a trade-off in that the larger the controls, the fewer lines will fit the screen).
Anyhow, I had been thinking the setting should have values called 'small/medium/large', but it's clear that what I need is 'bushbaby/human/gorilla'
Thanks for using Freda.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Jim, sounds good. One point I will make is that the HD2 has a capacitive touch screen and, as you no doubt know, a fingernail won't register a touch at all. Almost any other body part is fine though .
I look forward to the next version of Freda.

carbunaru said:
what about flip page animation like in SPB Shell v.2 or iPad? Is that posible to implement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freda has a rather simplistic animation which appears when you scroll up/down, or slide pages left/right. It would be nice to more sophisticated animation approach (like Stanza for instance), which shows the page contents distorted and shaded as they turn. I may implement that at some stage, but it would be complicated because I'd have to use the DirectDraw Sprite APIs, rather than the regular .NetCF GDI APIs - and that (a) would involve a fair amount of re-writing (b) might create portability problems.
Thanks for your interest in Freda,
Jim

Thanks for answer. I think a program with this kind of features will became no one on market because the trent (made by Apple) is for people to looking to "looks" of progams and not their utility.
Just my opinion.

Better PDF reader

So, I have a few pdfs that I need to use with my phone, and the Adobe Reader app is pretty terrible (no dedicated next button or full screen mode are my 2 biggest complaints. Well, that and the speed, but I think that is just a pdf thing)
Are there any alternate PDF readers out there?

joe_coolish said:
So, I have a few pdfs that I need to use with my phone, and the Adobe Reader app is pretty terrible (no dedicated next button or full screen mode are my 2 biggest complaints. Well, that and the speed, but I think that is just a pdf thing)
Are there any alternate PDF readers out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Foxit PDF Reader
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/mobile/

oh there is a full screen mode in adobe
my suggestion to you honestly is any pdfs you have you convert them using the following apps (hope I still have them) and I'm typing on mobile so bear with me
1. You will probably need a program called pdflrfdos. Google it and use the dos version
2. you will also need png2pdf
3. follow the directions listed here
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18968
but you will definitely need to change the rotation. Change it to 0 in dos prompt when you start the pdflrfdos prompt
4. once the pdf is recreated, move to your device. Tap and hold in the device area and select full screen
best solution I have found for pdf

egzthunder1 said:
Foxit PDF Reader
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/mobile/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet, I'll look into it. Any free ones that I can try out?
domineus said:
...best solution I have found for pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I added an lrf file to my phone, but there isn't an application that reads it. Am I missing something?

convert the pdfs from your computer and I highly suggest reading the link I supplied for directions

joe_coolish said:
So, I have a few pdfs that I need to use with my phone, and the Adobe Reader app is pretty terrible (no dedicated next button or full screen mode are my 2 biggest complaints. Well, that and the speed, but I think that is just a pdf thing)
Are there any alternate PDF readers out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ill guarantee the speed issue isn't PDF but entirely on the Adobe Reader software.
Try comparing other pdf readers in windows such as the extremely lightweight sumatra pdf reader to the bloated hell that is Adobe Reader.
All adobe software has a few things in common, use as much RAM as possible, use as many CPU cycles as possible, have as many exploits as possible that require weekly patching.
For the most part Adobe Reader is banned on the corp network i admin. I got tired of chasing down all the patches for the never ending exploits. A few users with specific requirements get an exception. Flash would be banned too if it didn't break web browsing so badly to disable it. With as often as Adobe software needs updating they need to come out with a centralized updater like WSUS that MS has for Windows. I cant be running around to all out branch offices to be updating these workstations manually ever week.

[Q] Want to make a custom pdf viewer with menu

Hi,
Im just starting out devving and for work I would like to build a custom branded pdf viewer that opens pdfs inside program.
What i want to do in detail:
main page - branded to my company (i can do the graphics easily enough)
this page has two options - SOPs and SWPs (these are categories of documents)
SOPs page - list of pdfs in this category
SWPs page - list of pdfs in this category
I know I could just use adilko or other ereader app but i want to make my own.
Any help with the actual code to launch the pdfs within the app so i can go easily back to previous app pages would be greatly appreciated!

please guys i need help, its doing me in!

"Launching pdfs within the app" will not work as easily as you think. Unless you can find a PDF library or engine (however it's called for PDF) you will have to follow the PDF specifications and implement the rendering yourself. Good luck!

martino2k6 said:
"Launching pdfs within the app" will not work as easily as you think. Unless you can find a PDF library or engine (however it's called for PDF) you will have to follow the PDF specifications and implement the rendering yourself. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking of reskinning vudroid for my non-commercial purposes - but after downloading all 1422 files on their code repository, eclipse wouldnt accept it
I've found a dirty way by converting each 20+ page pdf into jpgs and calling them as a scrollable screen. but i wanna zoom and **** lol. would look so much more polished (as far as my clients see) that i have everything within a certain style.
but alas, as Ned Kelly said:
"such is life"

[Q] Clean custom ROM for NST?

Hi,
newbie question: if I interpret the info on this forum correctly, there is no way to get rid of all the B&N software from the Nook completely and replace the whole thing with a minimal custom rom like on other phones/tablets?
I am asking because I intend to use the NST for reading scientific documents and for that purpose the original Nook software will be completely useless (such documents break when you try to reflow them), so it would be RepliGo Reader for me anyway. So if possible I would like to completely "clean" my NST.
Probably not possible, right?
Thanks!
rh

EBookDroid is quite good for reading scietific pdf.

I haven't actually looked at all the PDF readers, but isn't the difficulty with them the question of zooming and panning?
The only public app that I use that does panning is Opera Mobile.
It leaves a flurry of trails when you zoom and pan.
Do any of these PDF readers actually zoom and pan in a non-disruptive manner?

In the youtube video /watch?v=SekBv7n_H1A (sorry, I am not allowed to post links. This forum is ****ing annoying for new users.) at 4:35 you can see the RepliGo Reader in action on the device.
Of course it is flashy, but the double tap zoom seems to work okay.
Of course, I don't have a NST yet, so I can't test it myself...

Renate NST said:
I haven't actually looked at all the PDF readers, but isn't the difficulty with them the question of zooming and panning?
The only public app that I use that does panning is Opera Mobile.
It leaves a flurry of trails when you zoom and pan.
Do any of these PDF readers actually zoom and pan in a non-disruptive manner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, that's just the way the Nook's screen works. There is an app here that will make the screen B/W, but it will allow the screen to pan/zoom fast. Also, here you can find working multi-touch support on the Nook.