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NYT upbeat on e-books
by Alex Wilson 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

Just saw this note on Slashdot, though it'd be of interest. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/04/181228 "Sunday's NYT Book Review will carry an upbeat article on e-books, complete with mention of the New York Public Library's impressive 3,000-title efforts...." Links and discussion at the above link. Alex. http://www.alexwilson.com - Alex Wilson Studios http://www.telltaleweekly.org - Funding a Free Audiobook Library

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Update on eBookWise -more sanguine
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

I'm feeling a little better about the eBookWise reader than I did yesterday. The problem with getting ebooks from the online bookshelf into my reader turned out to be a problem with the telephone company serving the bookshelf. I checked on that and this afternoon I was able to download with no problem at all. The "handwriting" feature suddenly started working. I don't know why it wasn't working before. I'm still not happy about the contrast, and obviously, until an eBookWise Librarian program allows personal content to be used without limit, I'm not going to be happy about the present very limited personal content, especially since I like to do a lot of my editing on my Rocket. It will actually be far easier on eBookWise once unlimited personal content is allowed, because it's much easier for me to write in the changes and then transfer by hand to the computer than it is to monkey around with punching each letter on a teeny little keyboard with the stylus. eBookWise took care of a rather peculiar problem with my ability to order a book. Their technicians are noticeably quick to correct problems that do not entail new programs, and their customer service reps also are prompt. So I think that once the USB computer to reader problem is solved, thereby solving the problem of extensive use of personal content, the reader will be highly user-friendly. Obviously eBookWise would rather I purchase books from them than use my own content, and I will definitely be purchasing as many books as I can afford. As I have been saying for years, I can't imagine anyone who has given a fair trial to a good ebook reader chosing to go back to tree books if there's an ebook available. Anne

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Re: [gutvol-d] possible fix for overwide tables in PGTEI text (was:XMLversion of some books...)
by Joshua Hutchinson 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

----- Original Message ----- From: "Marcello Perathoner" <marcello(a)perathoner.de> > > Joshua Hutchinson wrote: > > > Would it be possible for the converter to assume that if no manual > > width is specified, that it should just divide the table width by the > > number of columns and apply that value automatically to each column? > > That is exactly what it does unless you specify some column width. > > Good. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Josh

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Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats)
by Joshua Hutchinson 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

The hard part is getting the table info within PG text 80 column width. A typical table might be 4 columns wide and 5 rows tall. Here is a fairly simple one from a Basebal Guide text I'm working on... Club. Won. Lost. P.C. Chicago 42 14 .788 Hartford 47 21 .691 St. Louis 45 19 .703 Boston 39 31 .557 Louisville 30 36 .455 Mutual 21 35 .375 Athletic 14 45 .237 Cincinnati 9 56 .135 Here is one a little more complex... It has more text columns. THE RECORD OF 1875. Club. Won. Lost. P.C. Club. Won. Lost. P.C. Boston ........ 71 8 .809 St. Louis Reds .... 4 14 .222 Athletic ...... 55 28 .756 Washington ........ 4 22 .156 Hartford ...... 54 28 .639 New Haven ......... 7 39 .152 St. Louis* .... 29 39 .574 Centennial......... 2 13 .133 Philadelphia .. 37 31 .544 Western ........... 1 12 .077 Chicago ....... 30 37 .448 Atlantic .......... 2 42 .065 Mutual ........ 29 38 .426 FYI, this table becomes this in TEI markup (NOTE: I made the second Club column just continue under the first for simplicities sake): <table rows="16" cols="4"> <row> <cell cols="4" role="label">THE RECORD OF 1875.</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="label">Club.</cell><cell role="label">Won.</cell><cell role="label">Lost.</cell><cell role="label">P.C.</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Boston</cell><cell role="data">71</cell><cell role="data">8</cell><cell role="data">.809</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Athletic</cell><cell role="data">55</cell><cell role="data">28</cell><cell role="data">.756</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Hartford</cell><cell role="data">54</cell><cell role="data">28</cell><cell role="data">.639</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">St. Louis</cell><cell role="data"><sic corr="39">29</sic></cell><cell role="data"><sic corr="29">39</sic></cell><cell role="data">.574</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Philadelphia</cell><cell role="data">37</cell><cell role="data">31</cell><cell role="data">.544</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Chicago</cell><cell role="data">30</cell><cell role="data">37</cell><cell role="data">.448</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Mutual</cell><cell role="data">29</cell><cell role="data">38</cell><cell role="data">.426</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">St. Louis Reds</cell><cell role="data">4</cell><cell role="data">14</cell><cell role="data">.222</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Washington</cell><cell role="data">4</cell><cell role="data">22</cell><cell role="data">.156</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">New Haven</cell><cell role="data">7</cell><cell role="data">39</cell><cell role="data">.152</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Centennial</cell><cell role="data">2</cell><cell role="data">13</cell><cell role="data">.133</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Western</cell><cell role="data">1</cell><cell role="data">12</cell><cell role="data">.077</cell> </row> <row> <cell role="data">Atlantic</cell><cell role="data">2</cell><cell role="data">42</cell><cell role="data">.065</cell> </row> </table> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sebastien Blondeel" <blondeel(a)clipper.ens.fr> To: "Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion" <gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org> Subject: Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 16:16:02 +0100 > > On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 08:46:10AM -0500, Joshua Hutchinson wrote: > > I'm curious to see if your script can handle tables. That is our > > current biggest bugaboo when it comes to transforming to PG TXT > > format. > > My DTD doesn't mention them (yet?). It focuses mainly on the French > books of the ebooksgratuits site. I guess it can very easily be injected > in a more complete DTD (TEI, Docbook, whatever). > > I already did Perl (not XSLT!) translations of XML tables (Docbook, for > example) to other formats (HTML: easy; LaTeX: harder...; TXT: w3m -dump > of the HTML version is usually good enough) for other projects. > > I heard there were now Perl modules able to deal with XML and XSLT so it > should be even easier to take care of. XSLT-style of programming is not > for me... > > How complex are your tables and what do you need to do with them? Any > example of (input, output desired, and constraints [API, language...] of > the transformation)? > _______________________________________________ > gutvol-d mailing list > gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org > http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gutvol-d

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promo.net/pg
by Michael Ciesielski 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

promo.net/pg is still the second result for a Google search for "Project Gutenberg". Is there any reason why this site still exists other then as a redirect to gutenberg.org? At the moment, the top two choices are: ** <http://www.gutenberg.org/> Welcome to Project Gutenberg - Project Gutenberg PROJECT GUTENBERG OFFICIAL HOME SITE - INDEX -- Free Books On-Line ... Not knowing anything about PG, I'd be most inclined to go for the second, which is promo.net. Once opened, the promo.net site provides no indication that it is not the real PG website, and even the link to gutenberg.net is phrased such that a casual glance would make one think that promo.net/pg was the official site. Mike

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Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats)
by Joshua Hutchinson 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

I'm curious to see if your script can handle tables. That is our current biggest bugaboo when it comes to transforming to PG TXT format. Josh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sebastien Blondeel" <blondeel(a)clipper.ens.fr> To: gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org Subject: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 05:28:39 +0100 > > Hello, > > I hacked some scripts doing the following: > > RTF -> XML > > RTF: from Word, using a (very) simple stylesheet: just > paragraphs, 3 title levels, footnotes, and italics > Meta-information is in the properties of the document. > My script can extract images too, if wanted. > > XML: using a personal and simple DTD (embedded), probably easy to port > to any more complete DTD, such as TEI > > This is the hard part, and I am never quite sure it will not break in > case the Word file is weird. > > > From that, I then did other (proof-of-concept) scripts to produce: > > XML -> PG TXT > XML -> (LaTeX) -> PDF, DVI, PS (with hyperlinks) > XML -> valid HTML 4.01 (probably useless) > XML -> XHTML 1.0 Strict with some CSS (embedded) > > The programming is very defensive, so when all transforms finish I am > confident enough the stuff is right. > > You can find examples of those formats at > http://www.eleves.ens.fr/home/blondeel/ebooksgratuits/ > (most of the books there don't have the meta-info properly set up, > so don't worry too much about that). > > My scripts also clean up small typography mistakes (they are specialized > in French rules but can of course be taught any thing). They will be > used to help give PG nicer formats from the ebooksgratuits team (until > now their Word macros could only produce PG TXT, which is not very sexy > to read for the end user). > > Regards, > _______________________________________________ > gutvol-d mailing list > gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org > http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gutvol-d

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Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats)
by Joshua Hutchinson 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

Anyone have a link to w3m in a windows executable (command line is fine, I just don't have access to a way to compile the source where I'm at right now)? This definitely looks interesting. Josh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sebastien Blondeel" <blondeel(a)clipper.ens.fr> To: "Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion" <gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org> Subject: Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 21:12:28 +0100 > > On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 12:07:31PM -0500, Joshua Hutchinson wrote: > > A web browser will generate line breaks within cells so that the table > > will end up looking very similar to the above. I haven't tried w3m > > ... will it handle the above scenario? I've tried lynx dumping to a > > You should have. Yes it does: > > -=-=-= > $ cat /tmp/toto.html > <table border="0"> > <tr> > <td>Data label that is extremely long and is broken up accordingly over > multiple lines.</td> > <td>Now we have a column of data that is also very long and broken up > over multiple lines.</td> > <td>Now we have a column of data that is also very long and broken up > over multiple lines.</td> > </tr> > </table> > > $ w3m -cols 72 -dump /tmp/toto.html > Data label that is Now we have a column of Now we have a column of > extremely long and is data that is also very data that is also very > broken up accordingly long and broken up over long and broken up over > over multiple lines. multiple lines. multiple lines. > > $ w3m -cols 48 -dump /tmp/toto.html > Data label that Now we have a Now we have a > is extremely column of data column of data > long and is that is also that is also > broken up very long and very long and > accordingly broken up over broken up over > over multiple multiple lines. multiple lines. > lines. > -=-=-= > > (Note: for the 72 columns version I don't know why there is an extra > space between columns 1 and 2. Probably a bug of w3m: it was already > there in the base-ball example. This is easy to detect and fix I guess: > use ``border=1'' and clean out the frames: > > $ w3m -cols 76 -dump /tmp/toto.html > +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > |Data label that is |Now we have a column of |Now we have a column of | > |extremely long and is |data that is also very |data that is also very | > |broken up accordingly |long and broken up over |long and broken up over | > |over multiple lines. |multiple lines. |multiple lines. | > +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > ^^^ ^^ > > You can detect those useless empty columns and remove them (or decide to have 2 > or 3 blanks between columns). Doing this without frames is more dangerous, and > the columns more difficult to detect: > > $ w3m -cols 72 -dump /tmp/toto.html > Data la el that is Now we have a column of Now we have a column of > extreme y long and is data that is also very data that is also very > brokenx p accordingly long and broken up over long and broken up over > over mu tiple lines. multiple lines. multiple lines. > ^^^ > this is not a column break. > > > text file and IE/Mozilla dumping to a text, and they all fail > > miserably. > > w3m is better than lynx for tables (and many other things: it is able to > display images in console mode and inside xterms!). links is good too. > > As for the example given in a later message: > > -=-=-= > $ w3m -cols 72 -dump teioutput.html | head > 150. Ptolemy publishes his geography. > 230. The Peutinger Table pictures the Roman roads. > 400-14. Fa-hien travels through and describes Afghanistan and India. > 499. Hoei-Sin said to have visited the kingdom of Fu-sang, 20,000 > furlongs east of China (identified by some with California). > 518-21. Hoei-Sing and Sung-Yun visit and describe the Pamirs and the > Punjab. > 540. Cosmas Indicopleustes visits India, and combats the > sphericity of the globe. > 629-46. Hiouen-Tshang travels through Turkestan, Afghanistan, India, > > $ perl ~/work/PGDP/ebooksgratuits/Fmt.pl 72 teioutput.html | head > <table border="0"> > <tr><td>150.</td><td>Ptolemy publishes his geography.</td></tr> > <tr><td>230.</td><td>The Peutinger Table pictures the Roman > roads.</td></tr> > <tr><td>400-14.</td><td>Fa-hien travels through and describes > Afghanistan and India.</td></tr> > <tr><td>499.</td><td>Hoei-Sin said to have visited the kingdom of > Fu-sang, 20,000 furlongs east of China (identified by some with > California).</td></tr> > <tr><td>518-21.</td><td>Hoei-Sing and Sung-Yun visit and describe the > -=-=-= > > Note: sometimes the columns in w3m are, weirdly, unbalanced. I don't have an > example right here but I guess you can help with percentage-width attributes in > the columns (if that is possible at all in TEI). I am using an old version of > w3m, too (Debian stable). > > With links: > > -=-=-= > $ links -dump teioutput.html | head > 150. Ptolemy publishes his geography. > 230. The Peutinger Table pictures the Roman roads. > 400-14. Fa-hien travels through and describes Afghanistan and India. > 499. Hoei-Sin said to have visited the kingdom of Fu-sang, 20,000 > furlongs east of China (identified by some with California). > 518-21. Hoei-Sing and Sung-Yun visit and describe the Pamirs and the > Punjab. > 540. Cosmas Indicopleustes visits India, and combats the sphericity > of the globe. > 629-46. Hiouen-Tshang travels through Turkestan, Afghanistan, India, > > $ links -dump toto.html > +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | Data label that is | Now we have a column of | Now we have a column | > | extremely long and is | data that is also very | of data that is also | > | broken up accordingly | long and broken up over | very long and broken | > | over multiple lines. | multiple lines. | up over multiple | > | | | lines. | > +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > $ links -dump toto.html # without border > Data label that is Now we have a column of Now we have a column of > extremely long and is data that is also very data that is also very > broken up accordingly over long and broken up over long and broken up over > multiple lines. multiple lines. multiple lines. > -=-=-= > _______________________________________________ > gutvol-d mailing list > gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org > http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gutvol-d

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Re: [gutvol-d] possible fix for overwide tables in PGTEI text (was:XML version of some books...)
by Joshua Hutchinson 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

----- Original Message ----- From: "Marcello Perathoner" <marcello(a)perathoner.de> > > The new forthcoming version 0.3 of the PGTEI converter already does this. > (with a little help from the markup: you have to manually specify the width of > the column.) > I saw that in the preliminary document you sent me, Marcello. I haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet. (US Thanksgiving holiday has put me behind) Dumb, off-the-top-of-my-head question: Would it be possible for the converter to assume that if no manual width is specified, that it should just divide the table width by the number of columns and apply that value automatically to each column? That way, if a quick-and-dirty table will work, no further markup is needed. But if special formatting is needed (perhaps for a really big, complex table?), the etext preparer can take the time to do so. Josh

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Update 2 on the eFictionWise
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 04 Dec '04

04 Dec '04

Hi all-- My eFictionWise 1150 arrived this morning, and I have been fiddling with it ever since. Ten seconds after I got my Rocket out of its box, I was in love with it. If my first experience with a dedicated ebook reader had been an eFictionWise 1150, I would never have even tried to use a dedicated ebook reader again. It is nicely packaged. It feels good in the hand. The problem of having to point the down arrow to go up and the up arrow to go down has been remedied. BUT-- (1) There seem to be only two type sizes available, larger and smaller. Although the Rocket has the same built-in capacity, it also has a way to download other font sizes from the RocketLibrary. (2) With my vision problems, I need black on white. What I'm getting is grey-beige on white-grey-beige. The controls do not allow me to create black on white. I will be able to read the books in bed, because they are backlighted, but I'm not going to be able to do it without glasses, as I can the Rocket. (3) I still haven't figured out how to do most things. The biggest problem is that three of the four on-screen icons don't mean the same as they do on the Rocket. All kinds of pulldown menus are located in very illogical places. (4) I think I have figured out how to highlight passages, but not how to insert bookmarks. (5) The write-and-draw feature does not work. I have not checked out the keyboard yet, but it's pretty useless if I can't get back to the notes I have made. That's why I need bookmarks. (6) The method of downloading books is a total, utter, and complete nightmare. When I am downloading a Rocket or Microwave Reader from FictionWise.com, I pay for it and then I download it onto my screen and then, if it's a Rocket, I goes directly to the RocketLibrarian, which then asks me if I want to put it into the Rocket eBook reader. If I say yes, the job is done in a few seconds. If I say no, the file sits right there in my RocketLibrarian on my computer until I need it. If I want to import a personal file, from PG or any of several other sources, I make sure that I have saved it in .txt or .htm. Then I go into the Rocket Librarian, press a button and import the file, name the file, and then do exactly what I do for a book that is already .rb. Now, read the following eBookWise version of this task: I had put two ebooks in my eBookWise cart a couple of days ago, When I went back today and tried to buy them, the program didn't let me. Instead, it told me that I already had them. In order to try out capabilities, I picked out another ebook in which I was mildly interested and bought it. I had to jump through hoops to identify myself and my online "bookshelf." Then, in order to get it onto my eBookWise reader, I had to use a special heavy telephone cord to get it from the "bookshelf" to the reading device. Then I went to load one of my personal books onto the eBookWise. In order to do this, I had to go to my computer and then upload the file into my "bookshelf" online. This required me to jump through a few more hoops. I am allowed only 10 mg of "personal" stuff. Then I had to go back to the reader and play telephone games a while longer. I'll try it out again when the new program allowing USB uploads onto the eBookWise, and allowing the unlimited library that the Rocket allows, arrives. In the meantime, I'm using my Rocket. My own recommendation is that eBookWise take a VERY good look at a Rocket and then rewrite the abominable software for this device. I'm sorry. I wish I had better news. Anne

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Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats)
by Joshua Hutchinson 03 Dec '04

03 Dec '04

The problem I've always run into is where the table tries to grow beyond 80 characters wide. For instance, say that one row looks like this in the original book. Data label that Now we have a column Now we have a column is extremely long of data that is also of data that is also and is broken up very long and broken very long and broken accordingly over up over multiple lines. up over multiple lines. multiple lines. Most automated text converters will put each cell on one line with no line breaks. A web browser will generate line breaks within cells so that the table will end up looking very similar to the above. I haven't tried w3m ... will it handle the above scenario? I've tried lynx dumping to a text file and IE/Mozilla dumping to a text, and they all fail miserably. Josh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sebastien Blondeel" <blondeel(a)clipper.ens.fr> To: "Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion" <gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org> Subject: Re: [gutvol-d] XML version of some books of PG (and other formats) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 17:53:49 +0100 > > On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 10:52:25AM -0500, Joshua Hutchinson wrote: > > The hard part is getting the table info within PG text 80 column width. > > It is not always possible of course. > > > FYI, this table becomes this in TEI markup (NOTE: I made the second > > That looks simple enough. > > > Club column just continue under the first for simplicities sake): > > Change it to HTML: > > -=-=-= > <table border="0"> > <tr> > <td colspan="4" align="center">THE RECORD OF 1875.</td> > [...] > -=-=-= > > then replace: > row -> tr > cell -> td > > then "w3m -dump table.html" gives: > > $ w3m -dump table.html > THE RECORD OF 1875. > Club. Won. Lost. P.C. > Boston 71 8 .809 > Athletic 55 28 .756 > Hartford 54 28 .639 > St. Louis 29 39 .574 > Philadelphia 37 31 .544 > Chicago 30 37 .448 > Mutual 29 38 .426 > St. Louis Reds 4 14 .222 > Washington 4 22 .156 > New Haven 7 39 .152 > Centennial 2 13 .133 > Western 1 12 .077 > Atlantic 2 42 .065 > > (the star after St. Louis has disappeared). > > If you need it embedded in a program I can try to code the algorithm, > depending on the programming language you want (Perl should be easy). > > Then you can detect cells with just numbers in them should be > right-aligned, etc. > > It should also be easy to translate this to LaTeX for PDF/DVI/PS output. > _______________________________________________ > gutvol-d mailing list > gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org > http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gutvol-d

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