ebook 'reader' for Palm Doc format

[PeterSieg]

Hi, I own several old Palm PDA's and I just love to read ebooks.
Now with the included app 'txt2pdb', one can convert ascii text to and from
Palm's pdb Doc formats. The palm doc format is basically a compressed
text format to save valuable space on these small PDA's.

To convert a ascii text to palm doc:

Code: Select all

./txt2pdb "A good title.." <ascii file> <palm.pdb file>

To convert a palm pdb to ascii file:

Code: Select all

./txt2pdb -d <palm.pdb file> [<ascii file>]

To 'read' a palm doc file on Puppy:

Code: Select all

./txt2pdb -d <palm.pdb file> | more

The tar ball just expands in a 'txt2pdb' sub directory.
It contains the executable 'txt2pdb', the c source code and the manual
page.

Probably a nice tcl/tk wrapper with file open dialog would be a nice
enhancement..

There are a lot of such ebooks for free out in the internet...

PS

BTW: If someone interested, I also have the newest pilot-xfer app
compiled for Puppy..?

[PeterSieg]

Here goes the tar ball - hopefully...
So thats the problem: extension tgz is not allowed..?!
renamed to tar.gz

PS

[miriam]

I just found your post.

I, too, love to read ebooks on my Palm(s). Thanks for the converter. I've been using MakeDocW under Wine -- not a great solution.

I'd love your pilot-xfer app compiled for Puppy. I've been trying to compile pilot-link, without success and don't know what I'm doing wrong. This has meant I've had to use one of my old MSWindows98 machines to sync to the Palm or else PInstall running under Wine.

Hope you get this request.

I have a couple of thousand paper books, and about twice as many ebooks. I want to eventually replace all my paper books with electronic versions. Last time I moved house the great big truck I hired was three quarters filled with books. I can carry all my electronic books in my pocket.

[MU]

miriam,
you could install with "gslapt" the slackware packages pilot-link and bluez-libs

These contain a lot of stuff though, where some seems to depend on python.

If you just need pilot-xfer, please try the attached dotpet.

Install, then type in a console:
pilot-xfer-mu

It includes these files:

Code: Select all

/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/pilot-xfer
/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/lib/libbluetooth.so.2.5.0
/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/lib/libpisock.so.9.0.1
/usr/local/bin/pilot-xfer-mu
/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/lib/libbluetooth.so
/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/lib/libbluetooth.so.2
/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/lib/libpisock.so
/usr/local/Pilot-xfer-MU/lib/libpisock.so.9

I have no idea though, if they are sufficient.
More infos on the pilot are in this thread:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=12762

Mark

[miriam]

Thank you so much mu! I've downloaded it and will give it a go. I'm grateful to you.

It didn't occur to me I could install slackware packages. Doh! Thank you again.

I don't mind using python as I've been using it quite a lot previously on MSWindows for 3D work, though I haven't managed to get some of the 3D stuff to work properly in Puppy yet... a bit disappointing as I really like the idea of using Puppy as a minimalist 3D platform... but I'll keep trying.

There doesn't seem to be a gslapt command in Puppy. Hmmm... downloaded it from http://software.jaos.org/#gslapt and I'll play with it later. Meanwhile I went to the slackware site and simply downloaded the pilot-link package. I hope it doesn't put me through dependency hell.

[muggins]

On freshmeat FBReader is up to v0.8.13:

http://freshmeat.net/releases/271467/