Calibre OPDS server with windows apps?

nickdma · 10-02-2010, 01:22 PM

I'm using Calibre's content server to host my library. While it all works fine via web browsers, I'd prefer it to be more integrated into some of our readers.

Just last night I discovered how to get Aldiko to work with the opds feed. So that solved my "mobile" issue. The kids use Stanza on their ipods, we use Aldiko on our phones. (btw, if anyone knows how to make aldiko work with a password protected library, would be nice to know. I think it's bugged, and I've contacted Aldiko about this)

I also have a Tablet PC running Windows 7 that I'm now trying to find a nice solution to. I'm still amazed that there's such poor ereader apps for Windows.

I want something that will work with Calibre's OPDS feed for grabbing new books from my library. To that end, I've been hacking around at a number of apps, but not making any progress. Since there's such knowledgable folks here, I'm hoping someone else has already cracked this nut and has a solution they can share.

Blio reader. Pretty, and can convert an epub to XPS (and triple it's size in the process!!) I was hoping since it knew how to talk to feedbooks opds feed, I could hijack that to point it to my own. I can't see where that's configured though. Such potential in this reader too.

FBreader. Looks like it should work. I found the various "library" xml files, but haven't come up with the magic to get it to parse the calibre server.

Mobipocket Reader. Probably my prefered choice. I think it supports opds, and it looks like the magic lies in the stores.xml file, but again, no luck yet.

Lucidor.. Horrible touch support, not very finger friendly for reading. I don't want to "scroll" pages, and then "next" chapter.

Epubreader firefox plugin, same as lucidor, which isn't suprising since they both use firefox.

Anyone know of any tricks to make any of these readers talk to the Calibre OPDS server? I considered Calibre2OPDS, but I don't think that would solve anything, since I still need to figure out how to get the readers to pull the data.

kovidgoyal · 10-02-2010, 01:32 PM

Use Ibis reader

chaley · 10-02-2010, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickdma

Anyone know of any tricks to make any of these readers talk to the Calibre OPDS server? I considered Calibre2OPDS, but I don't think that would solve anything, since I still need to figure out how to get the readers to pull the data.

What you could do is a variant of this. As your tablet is running Win7, use your browser and the mobile or standard version of the calibre server. It is a full browser, so won't have problems. Find the books you want and download them into your reader's import directory. Voila!

I just tried it from my HTC phone and it works fine. I also know that Starson17 uses this method all the time, with happiness.

nickdma · 10-02-2010, 02:25 PM

The problem with using a browser is that it makes it difficult to navigate through a large library. Unless there's capability I'm just not aware of from the web.

With 1000's of books, you have to rely on search and sort. That can be rather tedious.

With the OPDS feed, I can go in and browse by newest, title, author, series (a big hit). That's not easy to do via the web.

I thought Ibis was going to be the solution, I'd forgotten to list that one. It's pretty nice, but it to has the scrolling issue. Books are paginated, they're broken into chapters. So you scroll through each chapter, then have to click the next/prev link to switch chapters.

Mind you, it works. But you can just "click" to go to the next page. So your immersion is occasionally broken because you have to look to see if you should be scrolling, my how much, and if you need to find the "next" link.

What's worse is the lack of a bookmark. It remembers the chapter you were reading, but since there's no "page", it doesn't know where you were in the chapter. This is the same issue I run into with the Firefox based readers.

The search continues... FBreader seems like it should be able to do it, if I can just figure out how.

Is there some form of list of "urls" the content server knows, or documentation on it?

I wasn't even aware of the /opds and /stanza paths. /opds was the trick to getting Aldiko to work. Likewise, I just discovered through experimenting, that /xml works. Are there any others?

chaley · 10-02-2010, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickdma

The problem with using a browser is that it makes it difficult to navigate through a large library. Unless there's capability I'm just not aware of from the web.

With 1000's of books, you have to rely on search and sort. That can be rather tedious.

With the OPDS feed, I can go in and browse by newest, title, author, series (a big hit). That's not easy to do via the web.

Try using firefox to browse the calibre-server-ip-or-name/stanza link. You get almost all the opds features. The one that is missing is search, which you don't seem to want.

eilonwy22 · 11-01-2010, 06:49 PM

"The search continues... FBreader seems like it should be able to do it, if I can just figure out how."

In order to get /stanza to work with fbreader, I had to leave the user name and password blank for the content server.

itimpi · 11-01-2010, 08:05 PM

There are a number of readers that seem to have trouble handling sites that user username/password access control.

nickdma · 11-05-2010, 12:46 PM

Hmm, I'll have to re-try FBreader, I could swear I tried it with /stanza, and without a password, but it didn't work.

Can you post your xml you're using for FBreader?

For the most part though, the new web interface makes this less important, though I still like the idea of browsing the library from within the reader.

GeoffM · 11-11-2010, 03:42 PM

Use Blio Reader absolutly the Best! uses .xps (Google books) is Free! hope Calibre will someday be able to output xps

http://blio.com
http://blioreader.com

jwouters · 02-02-2011, 04:09 PM

Use Moon+ reader.
It can list and import your Calibre library without any problem.
Both on the free and on the payed version Calibre OPDS works fine

lostcowboy · 03-03-2024, 03:53 PM

Connect Thorium Reader to Calibre using OPDS

Thorium Reader is the EPUB reader of choice for Windows 10 and 11, MacOS and Linux.

10-02-2010, 01:22 PM	#1
nickdma Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 12 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Tablet PC	Calibre OPDS server with windows apps? I'm using Calibre's content server to host my library. While it all works fine via web browsers, I'd prefer it to be more integrated into some of our readers. Just last night I discovered how to get Aldiko to work with the opds feed. So that solved my "mobile" issue. The kids use Stanza on their ipods, we use Aldiko on our phones. (btw, if anyone knows how to make aldiko work with a password protected library, would be nice to know. I think it's bugged, and I've contacted Aldiko about this) I also have a Tablet PC running Windows 7 that I'm now trying to find a nice solution to. I'm still amazed that there's such poor ereader apps for Windows. I want something that will work with Calibre's OPDS feed for grabbing new books from my library. To that end, I've been hacking around at a number of apps, but not making any progress. Since there's such knowledgable folks here, I'm hoping someone else has already cracked this nut and has a solution they can share. Blio reader. Pretty, and can convert an epub to XPS (and triple it's size in the process!!) I was hoping since it knew how to talk to feedbooks opds feed, I could hijack that to point it to my own. I can't see where that's configured though. Such potential in this reader too. FBreader. Looks like it should work. I found the various "library" xml files, but haven't come up with the magic to get it to parse the calibre server. Mobipocket Reader. Probably my prefered choice. I think it supports opds, and it looks like the magic lies in the stores.xml file, but again, no luck yet. Lucidor.. Horrible touch support, not very finger friendly for reading. I don't want to "scroll" pages, and then "next" chapter. Epubreader firefox plugin, same as lucidor, which isn't suprising since they both use firefox. Anyone know of any tricks to make any of these readers talk to the Calibre OPDS server? I considered Calibre2OPDS, but I don't think that would solve anything, since I still need to figure out how to get the readers to pull the data.

02-02-2011, 04:09 PM	#10
jwouters Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Moon+ on Adroid	Moon+ Use Moon+ reader. It can list and import your Calibre library without any problem. Both on the free and on the payed version Calibre OPDS works fine

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10-02-2010, 01:32 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,560 Karma: 24495948 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Use Ibis reader

10-02-2010, 02:25 PM	#4
nickdma Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 12 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Tablet PC	The problem with using a browser is that it makes it difficult to navigate through a large library. Unless there's capability I'm just not aware of from the web. With 1000's of books, you have to rely on search and sort. That can be rather tedious. With the OPDS feed, I can go in and browse by newest, title, author, series (a big hit). That's not easy to do via the web. I thought Ibis was going to be the solution, I'd forgotten to list that one. It's pretty nice, but it to has the scrolling issue. Books are paginated, they're broken into chapters. So you scroll through each chapter, then have to click the next/prev link to switch chapters. Mind you, it works. But you can just "click" to go to the next page. So your immersion is occasionally broken because you have to look to see if you should be scrolling, my how much, and if you need to find the "next" link. What's worse is the lack of a bookmark. It remembers the chapter you were reading, but since there's no "page", it doesn't know where you were in the chapter. This is the same issue I run into with the Firefox based readers. The search continues... FBreader seems like it should be able to do it, if I can just figure out how. Is there some form of list of "urls" the content server knows, or documentation on it? I wasn't even aware of the /opds and /stanza paths. /opds was the trick to getting Aldiko to work. Likewise, I just discovered through experimenting, that /xml works. Are there any others?

11-01-2010, 06:49 PM	#6
eilonwy22 Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: ipod and stanza	"The search continues... FBreader seems like it should be able to do it, if I can just figure out how." In order to get /stanza to work with fbreader, I had to leave the user name and password blank for the content server.

11-01-2010, 08:05 PM	#7
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	There are a number of readers that seem to have trouble handling sites that user username/password access control.

11-05-2010, 12:46 PM	#8
nickdma Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 12 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Tablet PC	Hmm, I'll have to re-try FBreader, I could swear I tried it with /stanza, and without a password, but it didn't work. Can you post your xml you're using for FBreader? For the most part though, the new web interface makes this less important, though I still like the idea of browsing the library from within the reader.

11-11-2010, 03:42 PM	#9
GeoffM Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Tablet PC	Use Blio Reader absolutly the Best! uses .xps (Google books) is Free! hope Calibre will someday be able to output xps http://blio.com http://blioreader.com

03-03-2024, 03:53 PM	#11
lostcowboy Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2020 Device: kindle paperwhite	Connect Thorium Reader to Calibre using OPDS Thorium Reader is the EPUB reader of choice for Windows 10 and 11, MacOS and Linux.