Comments on: Sony PRS-505 Review http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998 Instant wisdom about any random thing I feel like. Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:53:56 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Axel http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-13730 Axel Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:25:02 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-13730 You should try pdflrf availiblefrom link below, for pdf to lrf conversion. It's availible in both Linux and Windows. Since it does rasterization rather than text extraction (like pdftotext) pretty pictures, figures and tables come out pretty good. http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13135 You should try pdflrf availiblefrom link below, for pdf to lrf conversion. It’s availible in both Linux and Windows. Since it does rasterization rather than text extraction (like pdftotext) pretty pictures, figures and tables come out pretty good.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13135

]]> By: landon http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-13501 landon Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:25:48 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-13501 Two or three weeks in: The reader is still great. I've read maybe half a dozen books on it. I'm still looking for a way to read PDFs on it. The tool 'pdftotext' (runs on Linux, maybe elsewhere) does a pretty good job, and most documents only need a little cleanup, but obviously this only works for stuff that's all right as pure text; it doesn't work as well for books with pictures or papers (e.g., from the ACM). The "free" books from Baen.com are available in LRF, and they look fantastic, btw. Two or three weeks in: The reader is still great. I’ve read maybe half a dozen books on it.

I’m still looking for a way to read PDFs on it. The tool ‘pdftotext’ (runs on Linux, maybe elsewhere) does a pretty good job, and most documents only need a little cleanup, but obviously this only works for stuff that’s all right as pure text; it doesn’t work as well for books with pictures or papers (e.g., from the ACM).

The “free” books from Baen.com are available in LRF, and they look fantastic, btw.

]]> By: Paul R. Potts http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12827 Paul R. Potts Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:18:37 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12827 I'm with you... I always have a book with me. Often more than one. It's kind of a security blanket, since I rarely actually have time to read them. If I'm going on a trip, I usually take three, but generally only get to read a few pages in one. As for why a 40-year-old software engineer needs a security blanket, that's possibly better left un-investigated... I’m with you… I always have a book with me. Often more than one. It’s kind of a security blanket, since I rarely actually have time to read them. If I’m going on a trip, I usually take three, but generally only get to read a few pages in one.

As for why a 40-year-old software engineer needs a security blanket, that’s possibly better left un-investigated…

]]> By: Tom http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12759 Tom Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:37:00 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12759 I vote you just blat out the Atari stuff either in 'super boring “we did things A, B, C in order.”' or just as a series of interesting anecdotes like Raymond Chen does. You're a good writer and the material is very interesting, don't worry too much about style. It's a blog after all. I vote you just blat out the Atari stuff either in ’super boring “we did things A, B, C in order.”’ or just as a series of interesting anecdotes like Raymond Chen does. You’re a good writer and the material is very interesting, don’t worry too much about style. It’s a blog after all.

]]> By: slerch http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12626 slerch Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:42:47 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12626 I have the Amazon Kindle and love it. Check out the Gutenberg Project for tons of public domain books. Free. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page The Purple Cloud by MP Shiel was tremendous. Even better because it was free! I have the Amazon Kindle and love it.

Check out the Gutenberg Project for tons of public domain books. Free.

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

The Purple Cloud by MP Shiel was tremendous. Even better because it was free!

]]> By: Josh http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12438 Josh Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:36:01 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12438 So where do you find your HTML ebooks? I like my ebooks to be split into pages, just like their real-world counterparts for easier bookmarking, and because having an entire book on one page does bad things to my PDA phone. What's been giving me the best results so far, is to download a PDF, use this Java PDF to HTML converter I found, then use a PHP script to split the result into pages. (Yeah, it sounds horrible, but I got it working in less than an hour.) That ugly process gives me something my phone doesn't choke on, and something that can be easily bookmarked. So where do you find your HTML ebooks? I like my ebooks to be split into pages, just like their real-world counterparts for easier bookmarking, and because having an entire book on one page does bad things to my PDA phone. What’s been giving me the best results so far, is to download a PDF, use this Java PDF to HTML converter I found, then use a PHP script to split the result into pages. (Yeah, it sounds horrible, but I got it working in less than an hour.)

That ugly process gives me something my phone doesn’t choke on, and something that can be easily bookmarked.

]]> By: Stuart http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12421 Stuart Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:18:27 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12421 I'm still waiting for something that is a good approximation of Alan Kay's Dynabook. Nothing anyone has built really comes close. Many thanks for your tale of the ST. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I still have my 1040ST in storage and plan to get it out and fire it up when I finish my new house. I've spent a lot of time programming 6502 and 68HC11 assembly language. Somehow the farther I got from 8 bit assembly code the less fun I had. Finally gave up on programming after spending a couple of years writing IBM PC programs. I’m still waiting for something that is a good approximation of Alan Kay’s Dynabook. Nothing anyone has built really comes close.

Many thanks for your tale of the ST. I’m looking forward to the next installment. I still have my 1040ST in storage and plan to get it out and fire it up when I finish my new house.

I’ve spent a lot of time programming 6502 and 68HC11 assembly language. Somehow the farther I got from 8 bit assembly code the less fun I had. Finally gave up on programming after spending a couple of years writing IBM PC programs.

]]> By: landon http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12396 landon Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:27:27 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12396 I don't write in books. Well, sometimes, if they're really, really wrong. You'd be a sucker for a handheld device with Ted Nelson's Xanadu on it. (Though I have yet to see a decent handheld input mechanism -- cellphone keyboards suck, chord keyboards don't cut it, handwriting recognition still doesn't work great, and reliable voice input is not there and needs lots of crunching). I don’t write in books. Well, sometimes, if they’re really, really wrong.

You’d be a sucker for a handheld device with Ted Nelson’s Xanadu on it. (Though I have yet to see a decent handheld input mechanism — cellphone keyboards suck, chord keyboards don’t cut it, handwriting recognition still doesn’t work great, and reliable voice input is not there and needs lots of crunching).

]]> By: Nate http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12395 Nate Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:23:58 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12395 The forums and wiki at MobileRead[1] are great E-Book resources. [1] - http://www.mobileread.com/ The forums and wiki at MobileRead[1] are great E-Book resources.

[1] – http://www.mobileread.com/

]]> By: manuelg http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-12394 manuelg Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:20:24 +0000 http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=998#comment-12394 I always carry around: * book * 2 double-ended highlighters (for a total of 3 highlighter colors) * mechanical pencil and lead * Hello Kitty 5 color pen (if you count black as a color) (also _emergency_ mechanical pencil in there as well) * Post-It flags All my books eventually become full-color illuminated texts, and twice as thick as they were fresh off the presses. When they invent a book reader that can infuriate my wife to the same degree, I may consider it. I always carry around:

* book

* 2 double-ended highlighters (for a total of 3 highlighter colors)

* mechanical pencil and lead

* Hello Kitty 5 color pen (if you count black as a color) (also _emergency_ mechanical pencil in there as well)

* Post-It flags

All my books eventually become full-color illuminated texts, and twice as thick as they were fresh off the presses.

When they invent a book reader that can infuriate my wife to the same degree, I may consider it.

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