Utility to format ebook txt to proper width?
 

Before I go and write one, does anyone know of a utility that will reformat a txt file to nicely fit the screen width of the mp4 player? I think its about 26 chars wide.

brokencase , none that i know of. It would be great if you could write up a software for doing so.

Re: Utility to format ebook txt to proper width? - Resolved
 

I found one here:

http://www.woundedmoon.org

Seems to work pretty good.

Additional tips:

In Windows, set up a generic text only printer connected to FILE. You can then print to ascii from most windows apps.

Plenty of free books in ascii format available from project gutenberg.

One more thing. When you run the above utility set the max chars per line to 24 and left margin to zero.

Thanks for sharing this, brokencase.
I don't have a plan to insert a book on my MP4 but I'll download this utility!

Re: Utility to format ebook txt to proper width?
 

Thanks a bunch! I have downloaded and will be testing it shortly :-P

...Hurrah! I just tried it on Grimm's Fairy Tales from Project Gutenberg (thanks brokencase for the tip!) and this little app works wonderfully. Oh and for the 1st generation nano clones, set maximum characters in a line to 14. No hyphenated words at all, YES!

brokencase...thx for posting

Sorry, forgot the different screen sizes. I must use 24 chars wide on my sunplus based, 2.5 inch display. Other displays sizes will need a different char width.

I notice that my display will show up to 26 characters, but the wordwrap algorithim in the player kicks in at 25 characters, thats why I set it to 24 now.

Chiclete - Would you believe the e-book function was a deciding factor in my buying this player?!

Now, It would be nice if I could find a way to alter the foreground and background colors of the ebook display.

Thanks mucho, this is the program we all needed. (I asked about something like this quite a while back, but never found a solution). It's 26 characters max for the Glacier's 2.0" screen. Do you know if there's a way to set the parameters you need in one of its text files, instead of having to repeatedly enter them? It does seem to have a setting file in the TEMP directory called "preferences", but I don't see any info about how to change it.

mfrog, The first time you use the program it will ask for the settings you want to use. It will save these settings. The next time you use it just hit 9 and it will use the previous settings.

If you go to the original web site there are instructions on how to set it up to use the "send to"
feature of Explorer. Once configured this way, you can select multiple files in explorer to convert all at once. You need only select "9" once before it starts the batch conversion.

@brokencase
HUaHuAuha... really!? kkk... You know... My MP4 has not arrived yet but I thought the screen would be to small to read books on a MP4. And I also think that I won't read as I hate reading :P... I'd like to read, but I prefer watching movies and that is the reason I bought one for me. :D

Thanks brokencase.. i've had my player for about a month and only just started uploading books to it.. this will come in handy.

chiclete!!.. you still haven't got your mp4 player? :(

Re: Utility to format ebook txt to proper width?
 

I was excited when I saw this post, but I'm still having problems with word wrapping.
When I use the program and set the line to 12, I get this when looking at it with notepad:
However, on the player I see:
The .... are place holders for blank spaces. I had to put them in there so the forum would show the line indent.

Is it me that's retarded or is it my player? :(
It's a 1.5 screen. A line length of 16 should work for that size and that is how many the player is showing, however I was using 12.
It's a nano clone
MP3 PLAYER
LSD_9301_10
2006-10-31
9.0.48
2005-01-09

My program settings were:
1: Strip __ lines from beginning of file : 0
2: Indent paragraphs __ spaces : 4
3: Left margin right justified __ spaces : 0
4: Characters per line __ : 12
5: Strip double spaces between sentences : YES
7: Wipe TEMP.TXT __ times : 0
8: Watch the wiping process on screen? : NO

When I was searching for a solution to formatting before, this is the same result I got when trying a bunch of different text editors and formats. My conclusion was that the player just won't recognize line breaks.
Has anyone else tried it with that size screen or that firmware?

Thanks brokencase for the link.
I will have to try that and give you feedback. Don't use the telbook all that much to be honest, but definately a handy tool if it works.

Anyone else who has tried this tool to make an ebook for their player, would love to hear your feedback on it to add to what is already here.

jctoad,

I am sorry that I can be of little help, as I do not have a player with such a small screen.

However, I suspect that the problem may be inside the player. It is difficult to go to such a narrow width without out having to split words occasionally.
Indeed I think you will find that reading at 12 char width to be cumbersome. You ebook function might be better used for simple notes and addresses.

You may also want to make sure there are no embedded tabs inside the source text file. I believe I have seen utilities that remove tabs from text files.

I did get a chance to use my ebook function on a plane trip today. The only issue I found was having no bookmark feature means that I must remember my page.

I am using a Uxcell Magnesium. Very happy with the unit so far. I will post a review shortly.

BTW, I notice "Brookstone" airport store in Chicago is selling something similiar to the Magnesium for $199. That's one heck of a markup!

I did some more testing and still can't get it to work. I think it has to do with the firmware.

Hi,

I had the same problem! I came up with a solution, but I'm using linux so it might not work under windows.

Step 1. format the book for 16 character lines

Step 2. copy the book over to the mp3 player

Step 3. edit the book on the mp3 player (i used vi)

Step 4. make a minor change and save the file

The action of having the editor save the file seemed to correct the problem (I've not a clue why), but when I do it, my lines break properly.

Re: Utility to format ebook txt to proper width?
 

Thanks for the post lusth and the PM.
I tried that using notepad for step 3, but it still didn't work on mine.
Is vi a linux editor? I just use Windoz.
Is your firmware 9.0.48 also?
I don't know why doing that would make a difference either, but it wouldn't be the first time that strange things like that have worked.

Firmware is

core:ACT9x-0.50
Date:2006=10-30
FW:SRX-1.5c-007
Date:2006-12-10

oops, yes, vi (www.vim.org) is primarily a linux editor. It is the best editor in the world (to paraphrase Celine Dion).. There is a version that runs under Windows.