eReader Pro 3.0.0 and SD card

[dhdurgee]

I just obtained a 1 GB SD card and am happy to find that it works with my m500 as expected. I have copied the applications I had loaded prior to obtaining the SD card over and removed them from the main memory. All of them are working as expected after the transition with the exception of eReader Pro 3.0.0 here.

When I opened eReader after moving it to the SD card I get a message "This device has no books installed. Please go to www<dot>ereader<dot>com" and even using the menu to attempt to open a book gives similar results.

As I plan on loading quite a few books onto the m500 I need to use the reader on the SD card. Did I miss something in setting this up? Do I need to delete and reinstall? Is this reader simply incapable of working with an SD card?

On a related topic, I would like to organize my books on the SD card into a directory structure. In part this is to avoid problems I have seen about slow operations with large numbers of files in a directory on the card. In part it relates to what I plan to load on the card, which at first will consist of individual files for stories in a magazine. So I would organize this as a directory for the magazine, a sub-directory for each issue and the stories in that sub-directory.

I have yet to see any documentation on how I need to structure this to be acceptable to the m500, in fact I don't see any documentation on this in the m500 manual at all. Looking at the card from Linux shows a directory structure is being used, so I assume there are rules I need to follow for this to work. What I need to know is are there m500 specific rules? Do the applications make their own rules?

Any assistance or pointers are appreciated.

Dave

[Hook]

I believe, as always, you need to have one book in main memory. That has always been required by ereader. You can pick one of the very small public domain freebees.

Remember, Palm apps do not *run* from the card. When you run a program that is stored on the card, it is copied to main memory and runs from there.

[raspabalsa]

Hook is right, eReader will complain when no books are installed on RAM or SD card. eReader will see and open compatible books stored in the Palm/Books folder in the SD card. However, you can't create a directory structure as you want, because eReader will only detect books in the Palm/Books folder and not in any subdirectory within it.

Other readers can open books from any directory within an SD card, meaning you can create the folder structure you want. However, none of them will be able to read eReader books, since this is a propietary format.

Readers that support folder structure include PalmFiction (freeware), TealDoc (shareware), and iSilo (shareware). I prefer iSilo because it supports images, hyperlinks, bookmarks, etc. It has its own propietary format, but can also open PalmDoc and *.txt files. PalFiction can also open these formats, plus it can also handle *.rtf files (but with no image support). There are several other readers such as TiBR, but I'm not very familiar with them.

As for the "rules" you ask about, there are a few, and apply to all PalmOS models, not only to the m500. Basically, all programs must go to the Palm/Launcher folder (unless you want to use a 3rd-party launcher). Music and voice memos are stored in the /AUDIO folder (but the m500 supports neither). Images are often stored in the /DCIM folder to mantain compatibility with digital cameras. For documents (books, etc) you must check each program's requirements.

[dhdurgee]

After reading your post I used hot-sync to bring fresh copies of my pdb books over. At that point I was able to see them in e-Reader and then used e-Reader to copy them to the card and delete them from the main memory.

So that appears to get things working with everything stored on the SD card.

I still need to figure out how to organize things on the SD card, but at least things are working and I now have plenty of storage on the m500 available.

Dave

[dhdurgee]

Thank you for the the information, raspabalsa, it sounds like I am going to need to change readers. I am not using e-Reader format books, so another reader is certainly an option.

The main "books" I am reading at this point are magazine articles in PDF format. I have read that the Adobe Acrobat for Palm is a dog, so I have been using an web-based conversion utility to create Doc files from them.

Given it is freeware I will check out PalmFiction first. Does it have the capability of building a sub-folder structure, or do I need another tool to do so? Can I build and populate the structure on the card directly from Linux and then work with it? If not, I assume I need to hot-sync files to the m500 first and then move them around.

Dave

PS: I have located the PalmFiction software, but it seems to be rather poorly documented. The Readme.txt and History.txt are unreadable to me in the zip file. There appear to be multiple .prc files I will need to hot-sync to my m500, assuming I need the ones with EN, US and LO in them as well as what appears to be the main file.

This could use better documentation in english.

[raspabalsa]

After reading your post I used hot-sync to bring fresh copies of my pdb books over. At that point I was able to see them in e-Reader and then used e-Reader to copy them to the card and delete them from the main memory.

So that appears to get things working with everything stored on the SD card.

I still need to figure out how to organize things on the SD card, but at least things are working and I now have plenty of storage on the m500 available

Sounds like you would find a file manager useful on your m500. Check Filez, it's a good, free file manager. It will let you copy/move/delete files from the m500's RAM and SD card. You'll have to be very careful, because if you delete any needed file you may cause some serious troubles. Since you're using hotsync you have a backup of the m500's RAM on the computer from which you can restore if something goes wrong, but still better take it slow until you learn the inner workings of the m500.

Thank you for the the information, raspabalsa, it sounds like I am going to need to change readers. I am not using e-Reader format books, so another reader is certainly an option.

You're welcome. But you don't absolutely need to change reader. eReader is freeware, and you can just keep it on your SD card. You may run into eReader books some day and need it. On my TX I keep iSilo, eReader, TomeRaider, CardTXT, PalmFiction, and PalmPDF (they are all readers). I mostly use iSilo for my reading, and TomeRaider just to browse the Wikipedia offline. The others are there just in case.

The main "books" I am reading at this point are magazine articles in PDF format. I have read that the Adobe Acrobat for Palm is a dog, so I have been using an web-based conversion utility to create Doc files from them.

You're right, Abode did a crappy job when they launched the PalmOS version, and then they just abandoned it. PDF files are not easy to display on a PalmOS device (not enough resources, small screens, etc), so converting to other formats is often best.

Given it is freeware I will check out PalmFiction first. Does it have the capability of building a sub-folder structure, or do I need another tool to do so?

Yes, PalmFiction can create sub-folders and move files around by itself.

Can I build and populate the structure on the card directly from Linux and then work with it? If not, I assume I need to hot-sync files to the m500 first and then move them around.

Yes, you can create folders and files on your Linux box. Actually this is always easier than doing it on the Palm, since you have a larger screen, more processor power, and a mouse. This means it's not necessary to hotsync the files to the m500 and then move them around, but if you find this method convenient, then that's ok. It's a good method too.

PS: I have located the PalmFiction software, but it seems to be rather poorly documented. The Readme.txt and History.txt are unreadable to me in the zip file. There appear to be multiple .prc files I will need to hot-sync to my m500, assuming I need the ones with EN, US and LO in them as well as what appears to be the main file.

This could use better documentation in english.

Yes, PalmFiction lacks documentation. What there is is written on some language that appears as gibberish onmy computer. But you've already figured it: you need the EN and LO files, plus the font files if you want them. There are some hyphenation files that I have never installed and I don't know what they are for.

[philpalm]

Mobipocket is the e-book reader of choice for me. You can download their computer desktop and read your book on the computer and download it to your palm device and read it there too, (there won't be a reader for IPhone though). The desktop can get you news (I use it now that avantgo is no longer around) from BBC, CNN and USA Today.

Additionally you can get text, HTML and PDF files converted to Mobipocket format using the Mobipocket desktop.

[dhdurgee]

Is Mobi-Reader appropriate for my m500? I downloaded the .prc files and they total about 1.6MB, which seems a bit much given I only have 8MB available to work with. Palm-Fiction takes a while to load and it is only half as large.

I have room on my 1GB SD card for it, of course, but it seems as if the reader itself is larger and the books themselves as well seem larger than the Doc format books.

I am also a Linux user, so unless the desktop software is available there I don't have those options available.

Dave

[philpalm]

Mobipocket is based in France, and unfortunately Linux and Apple are not supported platforms. Some people might like it for the symbian usability but otherwise if you aren't going to be using a Kindle, maybe you should shy away from Mobipocket.