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Ebook Readers on N8?

57 replies · 41,147 views · Started 21 October 2010

rootytooty 15 May 2011, 06:23

I have Ereader Pro on my N8 and my E-7 but I can't figure out how to get it to see books on my devices. It just get those two books that comes with it that I have no interest in. I went to Fictionwise like it says as one of the repositories for ebooks from my device and downloaded a epub book but I it doesn't show up in the library either.

Also I have tried Albite ereader and I really like the turning pages---but the problem is its all in funny symbols and numbers. Ereader was like that but I change the configuration and at least I can read the books if I can get the ones I like to show up.

I can't find any kind of configuration thing for Albite, so I don't know how to get rid of the symbols and read my books in English.

Any advice please????

Thanks,
Bobby

yellowcan 15 May 2011, 08:38

rootytooty wrote:I have Ereader Pro on my N8 and my E-7 but I can't figure out how to get it to see books on my devices. It just get those two books that comes with it that I have no interest in. I went to Fictionwise like it says as one of the repositories for ebooks from my device and downloaded a epub book but I it doesn't show up in the library either.

Also I have tried Albite ereader and I really like the turning pages---but the problem is its all in funny symbols and numbers. Ereader was like that but I change the configuration and at least I can read the books if I can get the ones I like to show up.

I can't find any kind of configuration thing for Albite, so I don't know how to get rid of the symbols and read my books in English.

Any advice please????

Thanks,
Bobby

you have to put the books in e/data/others folder on phone, hope this helps:icon14:

hummrubb 16 May 2011, 01:06

Dorian has nice text rendering and a pretty interface, but I don't like the white text/blue background of the darkest theme. It should have a black background for better readability on AMOLED screens.

I've used Zxreader for a while also, it's nowhere near as pretty as Dorian but it's totally customizable. I usually convert my e-books to text format though.

madmixe 18 May 2011, 12:40

i've tried most of them but none are very good.

lately i've been using mBooks 2.0, got it from ovi over at http://store.ovi.com/content/113558 .

it's much better than the first versions, they fixed a lot of bugs and also added a sort of free store with a bunch of books already converted. a good way to waste some time when you're bored 😊

evilweasel 18 May 2011, 14:24

madmixe wrote:i've tried most of them but none are very good.

lately i've been using mBooks 2.0, got it from ovi over at http://store.ovi.com/content/113558 .

it's much better than the first versions, they fixed a lot of bugs and also added a sort of free store with a bunch of books already converted. a good way to waste some time when you're bored 😊

.....does it work, the reviews are not crash hot and this is your 1st post, so excuse my cynicism 😃😃

hummrubb 18 May 2011, 18:09

I like Zxreader because you can completely customize everything from display settings to command shortcuts. It makes having a physical keypad a real blessing. I set it to use a black background to save power when reading and to move one page when tapping the screen. I just couldn't get used to Dorian's inertial scrolling - give me single page tap any day, forget the eye candy.

I've been trying Calibre on my Mac (calibre-ebook.com/download) to convert e-books into FB2, a format which Zxreader supports for basic graphics and bold/italics formatting. For basic documents I use TXT which also renders fine, if totally plain.

madmixe 19 May 2011, 13:20

Why should I recomended if it dosn't work? I used Dorian to...I'm just more pleased with mBooks, tought I spread the information. Thank you!

evilweasel 20 May 2011, 09:10

loading2 wrote:Hello!
Why do you think mbooks is so good?

....because of their viral marketing :tongue:

.........if someone with more than a couple of posts history says it works I may just pay for it, otherwise the reviews on Ovi are putting me off......

.....now if they did a 'lite' version for free to get a few people to try it and prove it works fine, then I'm sure a few more full version would be purchased 😉

watty1964 20 May 2011, 12:56

boothy wrote:Hi All

I have just received my N8 and ereader pro works fine - much crisper with amoled screen and much faster to load books\pages etc . As stated in previous post I now usually convert my ebooks to palm ereader pro format so I cannot see any reason for attempting to load mobipocket.

Boothy

Just wanted to say that I've tried the eReader pro/Calibre combination and it works very well. Just remember to use the right font and to put the .PDB files in the mass memory\data\others folder. Thanks Boothy.

One minor irritation I have is with turning pages. If I set eReader pro to use swipe then I have to horizontally swipe to turn a page (I hold the phone in portrait orientation) when a vertical swipe would seem more obvious. If I set it to tap then it works fine but I would prefer swiping so I can always see the next but one sentence.

Is this the same behaviour that you're all seeing?

boothy 20 May 2011, 19:36

watty1964 wrote:Just wanted to say that I've tried the eReader pro/Calibre combination and it works very well. Just remember to use the right font and to put the .PDB files in the mass memory\data\others folder. Thanks Boothy.

One minor irritation I have is with turning pages. If I set eReader pro to use swipe then I have to horizontally swipe to turn a page (I hold the phone in portrait orientation) when a vertical swipe would seem more obvious. If I set it to tap then it works fine but I would prefer swiping so I can always see the next but one sentence.

Is this the same behaviour that you're all seeing?

Hi watty1964

I know its all personal preference but I much prefer the `tap` option as it is a much more minimal gesture. Ergonomically I much prefer to read in portrait mode and therefore a small tap with the same hand holding the device means I do not have to put down the glass of wine (or more importantly not spill any!) between page turns.

The only slight criticism is that whatever type font I use in ereader pro (the pre installed fonts are pretty naff) - (I am currently using a humanist bold derivative) the `leading`(vertical space between lines)is never perfect - within the regular and narrow settings options - it is either too wide or too narrow - certainly not as good as the font spacing on my kindle. I will probably have to copy over a few more true type fonts and have another play although I have probably tried 20-30 to date. Any suggestions on font type gratefully appreciated

Thanks

Boothy

rootytooty 21 May 2011, 06:05

I have a Nokia E7 and a Nokia N8. On my E7 I have Ereader Pro installed. I followed the instructions from one of the members of this forum who said to install it on mass memory, Data, other. I did that and they still don't show up on my E7. I even put them in the mass memory, Data, Other and Books but that didn't work either.

Any advice to what I am doing wrong. The two sample books are there but I am not real interested in them.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Pixel Spartan 21 May 2011, 08:05

Data/others is correct. Might not hurt to check the following

1) ereader is installed in mass memory (settings > application manager > installed apps)
2) The ebooks you put in the directory is saved in .pdb format
3) In ereader app make sure the Nokia Sans S60 font is selected (options > text settings)

The above is based on the ereader app on my n8.

If it continues to confound you maybe try the Dorian app. My experience however is that some characters get all wonked out. I could never be bothered to work out the kinks in Calibre since ereader works just fine for me and I love using the highlight/notes feature.

http://dorian.garage.maemo.org/

PS

boothy 21 May 2011, 10:02

Pixel Spartan wrote:Data/others is correct. Might not hurt to check the following

3) In ereader app make sure the Nokia Sans S60 font is selected (options > text settings)

http://dorian.garage.maemo.org/

PS

You can use any truetype font by creating a folder on mass memory (if not already there called `resource`then creating a sub folder called `fonts` and then copying truetype fonts to the fonts folder - any font in the folder should then appear in ereader text settings.

A word of warning only put in reource folder on mass memory - I originally created a second resource folder on SD card and for some reason it completely mucked up the ovistore app - do not ask me why

Edit: To copy fonts you will need to be in mass memory mode - the resource folder should already be there but will not be seen in `ovi suite` mode

Boothy

boothy 21 May 2011, 10:06

rootytooty wrote:I have a Nokia E7 and a Nokia N8. On my E7 I have Ereader Pro installed. I followed the instructions from one of the members of this forum who said to install it on mass memory, Data, other. I did that and they still don't show up on my E7. I even put them in the mass memory, Data, Other and Books but that didn't work either.

Any advice to what I am doing wrong. The two sample books are there but I am not real interested in them.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

What are your books ? - are they .pdb files ? if not download calibre book management and convert to .pdb files (there is a ereader option in the PDB output section).

Also the ereader app is quite slow in searching mass memory it does take a few seconds for book list to appear. Are the sample books in the data>others folder?

Boothy

boothy 21 May 2011, 18:41

evilweasel wrote:....because of their viral marketing :tongue:

.........if someone with more than a couple of posts history says it works I may just pay for it, otherwise the reviews on Ovi are putting me off......

.....now if they did a 'lite' version for free to get a few people to try it and prove it works fine, then I'm sure a few more full version would be purchased 😉

Hi All

On a quiet Saturday night I have just downloaded Mbooks to try - what a load of utter rubbish - The interface is awful - the settings incredibly minimal - I tried `importing`(this is the apps terminology) a couple of epubs - took forever and crashed once. Does not appear to have any basic text settings such as change of font - the apps design seems much more focused on flogging associated products than reading books - if it was not such a longwinded job I would try and get my money back from ovistore. This app is really not designed for anyone that loves to read.

On the other hand I have also tried Dorian which I think is much better - it certainly seems to format the fonts well. Only slight niggle it would be nice to mirror `tap`page turn positions on vertical axis. Picks up on all my additional ttf fonts in fonts folder. Full screen mode on my N8 does not seem to work all that well - it still retains the blue menu bar at the bottom of screen which occlude the last lines of text

Boothy

rootytooty 22 May 2011, 04:57

Hi Boothy,
Yes they are PDB and an epub as well. I put them in the same folder Mass storage, Data, others just like those two samples. They are the only ones that show up. I also found another folder with those two books in it so I added my others to that. Neither the pdb or epub books show up.

I do notice when I download an epub book to my PC it comes zipped with a whole bunch of files in it--not just a book file. I am not sure how to install that on my Nokia E7. Do I need to make a new folder, put those files in it and put it on my E7 or how do I go about doing it please.

I will look at Calibre and see what it is like. As a matter of fact I think I might have already downloaded it.

I am surprised that as many of who who like ebooks, that the E7 didn't come with some kind of ebook reader to use or some third party one.

I have used Dorian on my Nokia N900 and it worked fine.

I just tried to install it on my E7 and it got half way through the install and it quite and said it couldn't install it.

Do you have a good link to Dorian so that I am sure I have the correct one for my E7 and my N8 please.

Thanks for the great help.

Thanks,
Bob

evilweasel 22 May 2011, 07:29

boothy wrote:Hi All

On a quiet Saturday night I have just downloaded Mbooks to try - what a load of utter rubbish - The interface is awful - the settings incredibly minimal - I tried `importing`(this is the apps terminology) a couple of epubs - took forever and crashed once. Does not appear to have any basic text settings such as change of font - the apps design seems much more focused on flogging associated products than reading books - if it was not such a longwinded job I would try and get my money back from ovistore. This app is really not designed for anyone that loves to read.

On the other hand I have also tried Dorian which I think is much better - it certainly seems to format the fonts well. Only slight niggle it would be nice to mirror `tap`page turn positions on vertical axis. Picks up on all my additional ttf fonts in fonts folder. Full screen mode on my N8 does not seem to work all that well - it still retains the blue menu bar at the bottom of screen which occlude the last lines of text

Boothy

....many thanks for trying it and posting back your findings Boothy :icon14:
.........sorry you have wasted your money though :icon13:

Oh well, the search continues 😃

boothy 22 May 2011, 12:08

rootytooty wrote:Hi Boothy,
Yes they are PDB and an epub as well.

Hi Rootytooty

Ereader Pro will only read pdb files not epub and the pdb file should not be in zip or any sub folder. If you want to read epub files try Albite at the following link - this is a java based reader which is really good - it has many input options and the font readability is better than ereader pro. Download the `HD` version

http://albite.vlexofree.com/reader

Dorian here: https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=1757

I like Dorian also - would just like a little more input control (it seems very awkward to tap page forward at the top of the screen and fix full screen issue I am not sure about full screen problem - it seem to work ok at first but even using the debug mode it still seem sto retain bottom menu bar.

Thanks

Boothy

rootytooty 25 May 2011, 06:24

Thanks Dorian is working great for my epub files. I will try again with Ereader Pro to see why it isn't finding them on my phone. I put them where I they should go but are not showing up in the Library.

Thanks,
Bob

rootytooty 25 May 2011, 09:02

The "them" I am referring to in my previous post is the pdb files. I will look to see how to get them to show up in Ereader Pro.

Thanks,
Bob

navajeevan 01 Jun 2011, 10:42

i have installed pdb files in folder data/other but its still not showing the books................... i need some help........... i downloaded dorian and tried to convert my pbd files to epbu by calibre.......... but it gave me error mgs.... wz not able to convert those pdb files to epbu....... the books i have in pdb format is medical books downloaded from torrent.......... i want those books in my mobile nokia N8......... please help me.......................

boothy 02 Jun 2011, 17:42

navajeevan wrote:i have installed pdb files in folder data/other but its still not showing the books................... i need some help........... i downloaded dorian and tried to convert my pbd files to epbu by calibre.......... but it gave me error mgs.... wz not able to convert those pdb files to epbu....... the books i have in pdb format is medical books downloaded from torrent.......... i want those books in my mobile nokia N8......... please help me.......................

Hi Navajeevan

When installing the software did you choose to install on mass memory ? If you installed to C: it may be worth creating a others folder in the data folder on C - But If installed to C I would suggest reinstalling on E:

I do not have any experience with `technical` pdb files have you tried a simple pdb file to test to see if your setup is correct ? .You can download some free examples or samples from the ereader.com site.

This would not account for not seeing books in app. Also change font to nokia default in text settings just in case app as problem reading selected font or at least change to see if this makes a difference.

Different book formats \viewers have different limitations it may be the error in Calibre is caused by not being able to convert content - is the book DRM protected ? if so that may cause an error.

With reference to calibre - the PDB format may have some limitations in terms of converting non text based content such as diagrams images etc. I have no experience in this - it may be worth posting a query on the calibre forum at www.mobileread.com

Thanks

Boothy

boothy 09 Oct 2011, 17:40

Hi All

Fbreader as finally ported to Symbian 3 in QT you can find it here:

http://www.fbreader.org/symbian/

Bit fiddly to load (seems to require to be online to redownload ?) you seem to need your device connected prior to install albiet running from downloaded file

Touch scrolling seems a bit hit and miss

Still playing with it - it obviously is early days.

Great to have another reader though

Boothy