eBooks

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dilwyn
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eBooks

Post by dilwyn »

Having got myself a little Android tablet computer (ancient v2.2 or so, was only really bought because of low price) I started playing with eBooks on it.

It’s crossed my mind that as these things have reasonable screens, one of the things I’d like to try to do is to port QL documentation (e.g. QL manual) as eBooks so that I can keep them all to hand, so that (i) the bookshelf can be cleared out and (ii) I don’t have to keep flicking between the QPC screen and reference PDFs on the PC all the time while programming (having the Android tablet propped up by the PC would be helfpul).

I don’t know much about eBook formats, but a quick use of google did suggest that it’s possible to convert between PDFs and the various eBook formats. Anyone got experience in this area, so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel?

If this works, it might be an idea for the medium term to then try to get these ebooks on ebook websites to make QL documentation more widely available for those returning to the QL, for example?

Dilwyn


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belg4rion67
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Re: eBooks

Post by belg4rion67 »

Hi,
I'm working on your idea about pdf to epub converter and I'm using now Calibre that is a free software used to convert a lot of documents formats into most used type of ebook files (epub. mobi, etc..); another good program, but not free, is Abby finereader 11 that has option to save scanned file onto epub format. When I will have a good epub files of QL pdf documents I'll post for you :)
Bye
Paolo


Only original hardware! :)
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vanpeebles
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Re: eBooks

Post by vanpeebles »

I don't really know much about ebooks, how does it handle pdfs that are scanned images rather than OCR'ed words?


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Mr_Navigator
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Re: eBooks

Post by Mr_Navigator »

Depending on the format, most things like images are resized to the same percentage of the viewing screen, regardless of size of screen, meaning the images can be too small to distinguish details or if too big then artifacts and pixelation can occur. With text a similar effect can occur making reading impossible using say a pdf file on a small screen smart phone, in this instance the text will also not re-format.

The advantage of the e-pub file format is that it ticks nearly all of the boxes for usability including word-wrap for text. This means that a twenty page document (say for A4 size) shown on a tablet with a screen 1/2 x A4, you would be able to resize the font to a readable level, auto reformatting the text to around forty pages.

Check out the comparison tables on this wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... ok_formats

Interestingly the comparison of e-book readers throws up a nominal screen/pixel resolution (portrait)of 600x800 for most devices http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... ok_readers with screen sizes of around 6 inches+ whereas the iPad (not listed) has a pixel resolution 768 x 1024 at around 135 pixels per inch for around a 9 inch+ display.

My experience of reading black text on white background has thus far on the iPad been very easy and no indications of eye strain. reading text on the iPhone however is another matter.


UPDATE

Having loaded up Calbre, its getting started document makes interesting reading
The first thing you need to do is find out what formats your e-book reader supports. The Kindle supports AZW, MOBI, PRC, AZW1, TPZ, PDF and TXT. The PRS line from Sony supports EPUB, LRF, LRX, RTF, PDF and TXT. Don’t let this scare or confuse you; all of the major e-book readers support multiple formats. Even with this jumble of letters, you only need to worry about the preferred format for the e-book reader. This preferred format is the one that gives the best formatting. As I mentioned earlier for the Kindle, you really only need to worry about Mobipocket (MOBI), and for the Sony Reader line (PRS) and Nook you only need to worry about EPUB. However, it is a good idea to be aware of all of the supported formats because it wouldn’t make sense to convert an AZW to MOBI for reading on your Kindle because the Kindle can already read AZW books. Conversion is only necessary to fill in the gaps. For example, if you want to read an EPUB file on your Kindle you convert the EPUB to MOBI.
Which makes me think that currently these two formats tend to be the market leaders, worth considering if anyone is going down the path of conversion.


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dilwyn
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Re: eBooks

Post by dilwyn »

Well, with some help from 3 or 4 people out there, I have been doing some work on converting some of the documents on my website. I've now got readable results on a few titles in both ePub and Mobi formats and hope to put the first set on my website soon.
So far, I have conversions of Turbo manual, Turbo Toolkit manual, C68 manual, PDQC manual, Toolkit 2, DJToolkit, and QL service manual.
I have an OCR'ed QL manual in need of some tidying up.
Once I'm happy there's no great mistakes in what's been done so far,I'll start putting them on my website. Bearing in mind I have a load of stuff from the QL Documentation CD to do as well, this might be a bigger job than I thought.
Anyway, I'm very grateful for the help received from Adrian Ives, Norman Dunbar and Bryan Hortmann (to name but three people) so far.

Dilwyn


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dilwyn
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Re: eBooks

Post by dilwyn »

belg4rion67 wrote:Hi,
I'm working on your idea about pdf to epub converter and I'm using now Calibre that is a free software used to convert a lot of documents formats into most used type of ebook files (epub. mobi, etc..); another good program, but not free, is Abby finereader 11 that has option to save scanned file onto epub format. When I will have a good epub files of QL pdf documents I'll post for you :)
Bye
Paolo
Thank you Paolo. Can you let me know which documents you are working on - no sense in both of us converting the same files.

Dilwyn


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dilwyn
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Re: eBooks

Post by dilwyn »

I used the facility in Wikipedia to compose a book out of Wikipedia articles on a given subject or search topic.

The book contains every reference I could find to QL, Sinclair, older Sinclair products and so on.

Great, I thought, until it came to downloading - the PDF came to about 42MB (about 256 pages!)

I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to put it on my website, i.e. is the broadband up to it in this rural area? Anyway, QL book or not, the first page of eBooks should be up by tonight in the QL Documentation section of my website, with about half a dozen eBooks for people to try out to see how they work, so I can see what changes I need to make before I do any more conversions.

This has been a really interesting project so far for me - I hope QL users out there find these documents useful.

Dilwyn


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belg4rion67
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Re: eBooks

Post by belg4rion67 »

Hi Dilwyn,
as I've bit of time for now I've prepared a not so good epub of QL User manual and Ql Addendum:
let me know how I can upload files for you (via email I suppose is a good choice) ;)

Bye
Paolo


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dilwyn
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Re: eBooks

Post by dilwyn »

belg4rion67 wrote:Hi Dilwyn,
as I've bit of time for now I've prepared a not so good epub of QL User manual and Ql Addendum:
let me know how I can upload files for you (via email I suppose is a good choice) ;)
Bye
Paolo
I've sent a Private Message to you via this Forum with my email address to send it to.

Thank you,
Dilwyn


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Mr_Navigator
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Re: eBooks

Post by Mr_Navigator »

Great job DJ, all available now in epub format, my fav.

Now thinking about putting revised/clean up/redone front page so the books look good on my virtual shelf, however there is one word I cannot work out what it is.

TURBO
THE 'something' COMPILER

further down it says

The definitive
SuperBasic Compiler

so what is that middle word, anyone?
-------------------------------------------------
Update
I have found an anomaly on the front cover of the TURBO manual it has amongst the other two authors 'Jerry Jackson' however reading the text inside it refers to a 'Gerry Jackson' so which is, does anyone know the correct spelling, I have a feeling it is 'Jerry' but someone confirm please?

-------------------------------------------------
Update 2

Having moved on pending any responses to the TURBO TOOLKIT, reading the last page in final comments it refers to 'Gerry Jackson' so now I don't know if they were following what was written in the TURBO manual or they actually knew 'Gerry'

Well I await someone else's opinion or comment :)
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