Convenient text books on the PDA
I just installed a free reader for the highly popular "Pilot DOC" text format on my PDA (Palm Vx, 8MB, greyscale), and converted* some free eBooks from Gutenberg.org that I put on there - 12 volumes of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and the complete (according to the title) notes of Leonardo da Vinci. Plenty more where that came from, too. Now I'll have something to read when I'm trapped on set (say for background acting), or stuck somewhere for a few hours with only my PDA.
*-The converter I'm using is an extremely old program called MakeDocW 0.71, freeware, that still runs fine under XP**, and converts TXT (text) and HTML (web) files into Pilot doc files. A lot simpler than any sort of proprietary solutions that need a matching reader, or want money. I can always create text files out of anything using notepad or wordpad, even just by selecting a bunch of text and pasting it into notepad, and then after converting the documents (which takes about a second) and downloading them into my PDA, I can read them using any reader that reads the standard Pilot doc format - CSpotRun in this case, which is also freeware.
CSpotRun also lets me turn rotate the text in 90 degree increments, so I can read it in any orientation on my pda. I favor landscape mode, because the lines are wider and it puts the controls under my left thumb. And one aspect I very much like about CSpotRun is that it returns to the place where I left off***, so I don't have to remember to set bookmarks (although I can), unless I want to read another document (since it loses its place when you switch documents). It also uses a lot less storage space than TomeRaider, and seems much snappier.
**-I found that it crashes if the file you're trying to convert has a long name or oddball symbols in it, such as quotes, commas, ampersands (&), etc. Rename the file before trying to convert it, and it works fine (remember to add a title before hitting convert, or it will only be known by its filename on your Palm). Turning off auto-install may help too, if you still have problems, and then just double-clicking the created .prc file to add it to the Hotsync queue.
***-I have my PDA buttons mapped; most of them are assigned to what you would expect, but since I use DateBk5 for my To Do lists, I assign the checkmark button to CSpotRun. Since my PDA power switch doesn't work, I turn it on using one of those four program buttons, so it's nice to be able to kick directly into what I want. If I had a fifth button I'd probably assign it to SpellCheck (see Palmgear.com -> Spellcheck search results), but I use it rarely enough that having it under Applications on the home screen is ok.
*-The converter I'm using is an extremely old program called MakeDocW 0.71, freeware, that still runs fine under XP**, and converts TXT (text) and HTML (web) files into Pilot doc files. A lot simpler than any sort of proprietary solutions that need a matching reader, or want money. I can always create text files out of anything using notepad or wordpad, even just by selecting a bunch of text and pasting it into notepad, and then after converting the documents (which takes about a second) and downloading them into my PDA, I can read them using any reader that reads the standard Pilot doc format - CSpotRun in this case, which is also freeware.
CSpotRun also lets me turn rotate the text in 90 degree increments, so I can read it in any orientation on my pda. I favor landscape mode, because the lines are wider and it puts the controls under my left thumb. And one aspect I very much like about CSpotRun is that it returns to the place where I left off***, so I don't have to remember to set bookmarks (although I can), unless I want to read another document (since it loses its place when you switch documents). It also uses a lot less storage space than TomeRaider, and seems much snappier.
**-I found that it crashes if the file you're trying to convert has a long name or oddball symbols in it, such as quotes, commas, ampersands (&), etc. Rename the file before trying to convert it, and it works fine (remember to add a title before hitting convert, or it will only be known by its filename on your Palm). Turning off auto-install may help too, if you still have problems, and then just double-clicking the created .prc file to add it to the Hotsync queue.
***-I have my PDA buttons mapped; most of them are assigned to what you would expect, but since I use DateBk5 for my To Do lists, I assign the checkmark button to CSpotRun. Since my PDA power switch doesn't work, I turn it on using one of those four program buttons, so it's nice to be able to kick directly into what I want. If I had a fifth button I'd probably assign it to SpellCheck (see Palmgear.com -> Spellcheck search results), but I use it rarely enough that having it under Applications on the home screen is ok.
posted by Wireball at 9:45 PM
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