February 2011 - gutvol-d - lists.pglaf.org

Re: Calibre: Open Source Software for Managing eBook Collections
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 12 Feb '11

12 Feb '11

jim said: > In this case all the epub viewers agree not to display > his generated codes, so in this case it's the viewer-apps > which are agreeing. so maybe this is a case where calibre insists on doing it right, and none of the viewer-apps agree. i don't know. i don't care. this is a problem for the people who support the .epub format, and i'm not one of those idiots. i have no craving for confusion. > The codes are in there, they are just not displaying, so > I'm not sure what is wrong with the epub he is generating. if "the codes are in there", then why would you assume that there is something wrong with the .epub? if the problem is with the display, then the cause might be the viewer-apps... too bad you don't have a reference implementation. sorry. -bowerbird

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Re: awfully quiet -- 2555 chances at redemption
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 12 Feb '11

12 Feb '11

ricky said: > I'm also working on a web app. > How come you didn't launch it in the past 7 years? you've walked into the bar at the end of a long bar-fight... so it's not surprising that you've asked the wrong question. but hey, welcome to the list! :+) so, what's your idea for your web-app? maybe somebody here can help you out... (and if you really wanna know about the bar-fight, ask.) *** michael said: > "You just go on quoting those regulations, Lt. Saavik." > "Hours could seem like days, days could seem like weeks." sorry, dude, i had to use google... star trek? really? raise your hand if you knew michael hart is a trekkie. i didn't. i'm not one of those, so i'll have to pass on those references. (or, you know, you could explain them in plain english.) > "Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning." but peter pan, and neverland? that i can jump on... let's let wikipedia explain: > The novel explains that the Neverlands > are found in the minds of children, and that > although each is 'always more or less an island', > and they have a family resemblance, > they are not the same from one child to the next. i don't mind being called a child with an imagination. > In Barrie's original tale, > Peter led Wendy and her brothers to Neverland by flying > 'second to the right, and straight on till morning' > for many days, though it is stated in the novel that > Peter made up these directions on the spot to impress Wendy, > and that they found the island only because > it was out looking for them. this particular neverland has been actively seeking them. but they never appeared. > In the 1953 Disney film, Peter Pan, the word > 'star' is added to the directions Peter speaks: > 'second star to the right, and straight on till morning.' ooh, gee, michael hart is quoting the _disney_ version, and not the public-domain one... that's a curious fact... (maybe wikipedia has it wrong; it's possible, you know.) anyway... michael is not my real target here. he was never a villain. if anything, he provided me some protection against them. he has needled me, on many occasions, trying to provoke me into taking some action, which is what it looks like he's doing here again. this borders on "vaporware" charges, but i don't think michael is quite that mean-spirited. i could be wrong... the thing is, whenever i have gotten around to demonstrating the proof in the pudding, michael has never responded to it... so yes, in many senses, he missed the boat. that's his problem. i gave him information he could have used. he didn't use it. ok. but again, he's not my target. truth be told, most of my targets have killfiled me by now, because they were tired of me saying "i told you i was right." so they don't even know they've been given "one last chance". doesn't matter anyway, because they would've turned it down. they're stupid. proud. and stupidly proud, and proudly stupid. and it's absolutely clear they'll continue to be stupid and proud. so the real test here is for the lurkers, the ones who never antagonized me, but never stepped in to protect me either. i don't have anything against those people. you can't blame people for their failure to step into the middle of a bar-fight. however, they might want a chance to redeem themselves too. but i also know enough about lurkers to know that they won't step up now, either, to take advantage of this last opportunity. the thing is, now that roger frank is starting to do some stuff that has a chance to move this project forward, i am actually now challenged to demonstrate the superiority of my method. it's not a huge challenge, it's puny, but it's still _something_... and that challenge is motivating me enough to take action, so -- since i was gonna mount something anyway -- i decided to give the people of this listserve one more chance to collaborate. so, is anyone going to step up? or not? -bowerbird p.s. for those who'd prefer to follow roger's take on things, you can catch yourself up-to-date by reading this full thread: > http://www.pgdp.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=737285#737285 or, if you want to cut directly to the chase, you can start here: > http://www.pgdp.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=738849#738849 essentially, his website now has an .rst to .html/.epub converter: > http://www.fadedpage.org

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Bookbinders
by Bruce Feist 12 Feb '11

12 Feb '11

I'm considering removing the pages from a 1911 book I have in order to scan them, and then having the book professionally reassembled. Can any of you suggest a reliable and inexpensive bookbinder to do this? Am I mad to even consider the idea? The book probably doesn't have any particular cash value, but it does have sentimental value to me. It's called "English for New Americans", and my grandfather used it when he came to this country around 1930. (The book itself is from 1911; it was used when he got it.) I'm willing to have it go through this abuse, but I'd like to have it usable afterward. Bruce Feist

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Apple iPhone Day, and iPad2 News
by Michael S. Hart 10 Feb '11

10 Feb '11

who knows how many people will head into Verizon today to try to set up their iPhones. . . . However, many might be surprised to find out their new latest iPhone will still only work on AT&T and NOT Verizon. . . . I'm still trying to find out the details, but apparently last Tuesday's upgrade to the latest iPhone OS is not enough, but, I don't have the details yet, perhaps someone else??? In addition, it would appear video conferencing is IN iPad2-- though no mention of just plain cell phone. . .out in April?

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awfully quiet
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 09 Feb '11

09 Feb '11

this list gets _awfully_quiet_ whenever i start dragging out examples that _prove_ my points. -bowerbird

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Re: for those of you who are just "skimming" the posts
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

ok, new files, to my satisfaction, as far as i know... package of files needed to create the .epub: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl.zip .epub created by that package: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl.epub .mobi generated from the .epub: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl.mobi feedback appreciated to move the process... -bowerbird

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Re: for those of you who are just "skimming" the posts
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

i said: > i've just now gotten them to my own satisfaction, > and will be uploading 'em soon; ok, they're up. i reworked the underlying .html/x file, reassembling it into a single file, so i can re-split it later by chapters... here it is, in an early version, if you wanna validate it: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl-xx.html here is a zipped version of the entire file package: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl.zip here is the .epub which was created by that package: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl.epub you must note that, even though this .epub passes its "validity" test, it will _not_ run in epub-viewers which are defective and thus cannot handle chunks any bigger than 300k, chief among these being a.d.e. (that's right, the epub-viewer from _adobe_ itself is pure _crap,_ and adobe is the main technical company in the i.d.p.f., which shows you how ludicrous this is... a huge company like adobe, and they can't even make a viewer-program for .epub that can do the job right. so e-book creators have to pay the price for adobe's incompetence by doing extra work to split up a book.) anyway... here is the .mobi which was created from the .epub: > http://z-m-l.com/go/jjngl/jjngl.mobi ironically, kindle apps handle the file without blinking. i would appreciate any feedback on this .mobi file now. *** once i've split the .html file into tiny bite-sized chunks, so even the anemic adobe viewer-program can handle it, i'll re-upload these files, but in the meantime, you could look at the .mobi file and give me your feedback on that. as far as i can see at this point, it's looking pretty good, but it needs a fresh set of eyes to go over every bit of it. -bowerbird

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Re: for those of you who are just "skimming" the posts
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

bastien said: > Where can I download the z.m.l exporter? you can't. because it hasn't been released yet. when it is, you will be able to find it here: > http://jaguarps.com i _was_ going to add that i would not release it until someone on this list labeled it "vaporware", just to -- you know -- recall the good old days, but i'd say technically jim just came close enough. some people never learn. anyway, if you'd like to see it sooner rather than later, you can speed up the process by giving me feedback on the simple example i've been doing. i removed the files that i did have up online, so jim couldn't pull out my own .opf and .ncx files when i asked him to give "examples" of such files, which woulda been the smart thing for him to do. (meaning it probably never even occurred to him.) but it was also the case i wasn't quite happy with the files yet, and wanted to do some fine-tuning. i've just now gotten them to my own satisfaction, and will be uploading 'em soon; if they meet with more general approval from objective observers, then i will proceed to more complicated examples. and once _they_ are satisfactory as well, then i will release the program. but probably not before then. *** jim said: > Really? Show it to us. i've already showed _output_ from the program, you fool; you will see the app itself soon enough. -bowerbird

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Re: Calibre: Open Source Software for Managing eBook Collections
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

you're the one confused, jim. not me. you're the one who can't get stuff to work. i'm the one giving end-users a program that lets them click a button to generate the format which _they_ want to use, on _their_ machinery, customized to _their_ own particular preferences. you're not just "confused", you're _seriously_ confused. and you have 35 minutes to display some competence... -bowerbird

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for those of you who are just "skimming" the posts
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

so, from an easy-to-author z.m.l. master-file, you get out: 1. nice-looking .pdf, customized to your preferences... 2. nice-looking .html, customized to your preferences... 3. nice-looking .epub, customized to your preferences... 4. nice-looking .mobi, customized to your preferences... all by setting your preferences, and then clicking a button, and then drag-n-dropping some files... simpler than pie. or, if you are using a mac or windows or linux machine to do all this, you can also just use that z.m.l. file in the app which handles them -- i.e., the same app which is doing all these conversions -- which _also_ renders the e-book according to your preferences, such that you don't even need all those stupid conversions to other, worse, formats. once your hand-held machines support the z.m.l. format, you won't need those other inferior formats _there_ either. and you'll wonder why you ever did... -bowerbird

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