Using your eBookwise eb-1150 with Linux

[derrell]

The most recent version of this howto is at https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBookwise-1150-Linux

My eb-1150 has so far been a very nice reader. The only complaint that I have had is I am a Linux user and it seems that all of the software for it is windows only. At first glance that seems to be true but like most hardware you can use this reader with your favorite OS.

Using the book creation software from eBook Technologies in wine has works just fine. Iv'e had no problems with it so far. Just download the software from http://www.ebooktechnologies.com/sup...r_download.htm and install it with wine. All full Linux distros have wine packages that can be installed with whatever package management software they use. This will let you create the imp files that the reader will convert to its internal format once you have loaded them in the reader.

If you haven't used wine before just use your distros package manager to install wine then open a terminal and change to whatever directory you downloaded the Win_eBookPub_2.2.5.exe file to and use the command below to install it.

>$ WINEPREFIX=/home/yourusername/.wine
>$ wine Win_eBookPub_2.2.5.ex

Then follow the prompts as the windows installer runs just as you would installing any application in windows.

To get my books into the reader after they were created I have been copying the imp files created with eBookPublisher to a smart media card using a card reader. Then plugging the card back into the eb-1150. While this really isn't much of an inconvenience it does put some wear on the card and with SM cards not that easy to find anymore I really would like to be able to use that nifty USB cable that came with the reader. Not to mention I might want to purchase a book and download from my personal online bookshelf without having to use a phone line and dialup internet service.

After some digging around and some help from nrapallo I now have a setup that will let me do just that. This is my attempt at sharing what Iv'e gotten to work so that someone else might not have to sit around and do so much head scratching.

To start off you need two small pieces of software. The first is eb1150-0.1.1 this runs as a daemon and lets your eb-1150 communicate with the computer though a USB port. The second is one that nrapallo has worked over so that it works with the newer readers instead of their older reb brothers linreb.0.2.1. You can download both from the links to the attachments below.

After you have them downloaded start with eb1150. This program needs libusb installed before it will compile. With most Linux distros you will also need to install the libusb-dev or libusb-devel package as well. After that is done unzip eb1150 archive and change to the created directory. From here just do the ./configure, make and make install steps as you would for any other source package.

>$ ./configure 
>$ make
>$ sudo make install

Once it is installed find that USB cable that came with eb-1150 and plug it in. Don't turn on the eb-1150 just yet, first open two terminals in the first one issue this command. NOTE you might have to be root for this to work.

tail -f /var/log/messages

This will let you see what is going on when the eb-1150 is turned on and the computer notices it. Here is what shows on mine. You should see something similar.

Aug 24 03:12:19 festus kernel: [30230.144230] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 49
Aug 24 03:12:20 festus kernel: [30230.231330] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

Now that the computer knows the reader is there its time to try out eb150. In the second terminal start eb1150. For now we just want to see if the installed program is going to work so it will need to be started with root privileges. We'll fix that later for now just start it and let it run as root.

>$ sudo eb1150

or if you don't have sudo

>$ su
enter root password:
>$ eb1150

You should see this in the terminal.

eb1150 0.1 (Dec 19 2007) - eBookWise/GemStar 1150 communication daemon
Licensed under the GNU General Public License. ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
See the GNU GPL for details.
Found eBook 1150, attempting to open ...Success
Socket created 4

If you got that its working and you can now try going to your personal bookshelf. Try tapping the Online Bookshelf tab in the library screen of your eb-1150. You should see something like this in the terminal.

gethostbyname : 207.158.6.50
Socket created 6
Connected to 207.158.6.50:80
Sent: 183 byte(s)
Recv: 560 byte(s)
socket closed
Error: Recv failed (errno = 9)
gethostbyname : 207.158.6.50
Socket created 6
Connected to 207.158.6.50:80
Sent: 611 byte(s)
Recv: 914 byte(s)
socket closed

The eb-1150 will show you your online bookshelf if you have already registered the device.

Now that you know the eb1150 daemon is working hit ctrl-c in the terminal where it is running to stop it. Now it needs to be fixed so that it doesn't need to have root privileges to run. This means that a udev rule needs to be added so your normal user has permission to read and write to the USB port that the eb-1150 is hooked to. This rule is just a simple text file added to the directory /etc/udev/rules.d along with all of the files full of rules about how to handle different devices in your computer. Open a text editor as root and add this line to a file.

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{product}=="eBook", MODE="0660", GROUP="plugdev"

Save the file as /etc/udev/rules.d/99-ebook.rules. The 99 at the beginning of the file name should insure that this is the last set of rules that get read and will change the permissions for the eb-1150 when it is plugged into one of the USB ports. You may or may not have to restart udev to get it to use the new rule. To restart it go back to the terminal with this command.

>$ sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart

Now to test it out as a normal user. Close the terminal you were using and open another one or just make sure you are no longer root in that terminal. If you used sudo in front of the commands you are not. Just like before but without root privileges...

>$ eb1150

You should get the same results as the first test but now you are no longer running it with root privilege. When you are through experimenting go ahead and stop eb1150 with ctrl-c again.

linreb-0.2.01
While it is nice to be able to use eb1150 with the USB ports on your computer to get full speed access to your online bookshelf it is even nicer to use it with linreb so that you can have a local bookshelf where you can put your own personal content without having to go through the hassle of uploading files and then downloading them again with the eb-1150. The program linreb works something like GeB Librarian. It intercepts the eb-1150's requests to the online bookshelf server and uses content on your personal computer.

Unzip the linreb-0.2 archive and change to the directory that it creates in a terminal. There all you need to do is issue the command:

>$ make

It should compile and leave you with an executable named linreb. Now then before we are ready to try it out some set up on the eb-1150 needs to be done first. Go to Settings Phone Connection in the eb-1150. On this page check mark the Use proxy for USB box. Then tap the HTTP proxy address box and the keyboard will pop up. Put the ip address of your computer here 127.0.0.1 should work. Then tap the next button and enter the port number 1026 and tap enter. You might need to change the port number but that was one I wasn't using. I think it may be most often used for webcams but since I don't have a webcam it was open. Go back to the library page when you are done and turn off the eb-1150.

Back to the terminal where you compiled linreb. Start it running with this command.

>$ ./linreb -p 1026 -v

It needs to be started in the same directory where the sub-directories content, shelf and store are. The shelf directory is where you can put your imp files to be transferred to the eb-1150. The -p option is the number of the port that you set in eb-1150 setting page. After starting it up you should see a message in the terminal similar to this.

LinReb v0.2 Build 23-Aug-2008
Simple eLibrarian for REB1200/EBW1150
Bookshelf from     "shelf/"
Bookstore from     "bookstore/index.html"
Html content from  "content/"

Listening on INADDR_ANY:1026
Loaded 2 files in bookshelf

Now turn on the reader and open another terminal and start eb1150 with the -h option which is the proxy host ip you entered in the eb-1150 settings.

>$ eb1150 -h 127.0.0.1

Tap the Online Bookshelf tab on the reader and it should show you the contents of the shelf directory on your reader just like it would your real Online Bookshelf. You should see something similar to this in the terminal that is running linreb.

GET http://bookshelf.ebooksystem.net/bookshelf/default.asp?INDEX=1&REQUEST=100&SHOW_HIDDEN=NO
        Sent BOOKLIST 175 bytes.

Once that works you can download the files to your reader just as you normally would. You can also try tapping on the bookstore icon in the main tool bar of the reader and it will show you a test page that is being served from store directory. Most people will be most interested in the fact that the bookshelf works though. After trying to download some of the books that are in the bookshelf you can turn off the eb-1150 and stop the running programs linreb and eb1150. This all needs to be done manually for now. I might try cobbling together a script of some kind that uses zenity dialogs to make this a little friendlier, but for now I am happy that there is a way to get the content off of the computer and onto the eb-1150.

Finishing up:
You can copy the linreb binary to another location that is in your path. I use ~/bin for small binaries like this. It could just as well go in /usr/bin though. Pick a location for the directory structure that linreb needs to serve you the content and copy the three directories there. Something like ~/Books/EB1150/bookshelf then I can move files into and out of the shelf directory as I want and still keep them sorted by author in ~/Books/EB1150. Just remember to start linreb from within ~/Books/EB1150/bookshelf or whatever the path is to where the three directories are.

That's it enjoy being able to use your eb-1150 with your Linux box.

08/25/08
Added eb-control script
*******************************
08/27/08
Get linreb from the link below. Points to the latest version from nrapallo linreb-0.2.02.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...2&d=1219839151
********************************
01/17/2010
Added source package eb1150-0.1.2.zip that will compile under ubuntu 9.10.
Added binary package eb1150-0.1.2-bin.tar.gz with eb1150 binary that was compiled under ubuntu 9.10 64 bit.

[nrapallo]

Wow, derrell, excellent tutorial on getting the most of your reader on linux!

I feel like I've learnt a year's worth of linux by reading your post. Very informative and timely too. I just got a new netbook, ASUS eee 1000H (typing on it now-Thanks, Alexander for turning me onto this baby!) and just finished installing Ubuntu 8.04 onto a 8GB SDHC. Now you KNOW I'm going to try this right away!!!!!

I've got a lot of ideas for extending the usefulness of the Linreb program, and to avoid duplication, I suggest we make all future mods to my original post and then, once stable, update this post with the next version!

Thanks for helping out, Derrell (The Linux Guy)!

We're off to the make the "wiki", the wonderful wiki of mobileread.com... (hum to the Judy Garland song from the Wizard of Oz)

Thanks to Derrell for the EBookwise-1150 wiki entry under the Adding Books heading.

[derrell]

Thanks, hope it works all works out with Eee. Hardy is what I'm using now so there shouldn't be any problems there.

As to linreb sounds good to me. I was going to pm you and ask about the change in the source of linreb. I was planning on linking back to your original. Lots of small changes floating around are just a way to kill a project by causing mass confusion.

[shighfield]

Great post Derrell! I was able to follow your insturctions quite easily and it works great on my Gentoo box as well.

[nrapallo]

Derrell:

I followed your tutorial and now I too have the ebookwise 1150 running on Ubuntu 8.04!!!!

Not one stumbling block encountered on my way to success! I liked your tutorial, perhaps we can see more of your work in the future!

I only changed one thing, the HTTP proxy address and port number. When using GEBLibrarian my EBW1150 is set to: 192.168.0.X where X is the last octal of my computer's IP address and the port is 9090. To find out the IP address in linux, right-menu click on the network icon in the top status bar and choose Connection Information. It's displayed beside IP Address: (no figure ).

I still couldn't get any of my links to make the EBW1150 'surf the internet'! Check out the second page in Content (directory)...

Thanks again for an invaluable write-up! Kudos!

EDIT: I just wanted to add that Linreb works just fine in linux connecting to the REB1200 without needing the eb1150 usb driver since it uses ethernet to communicate. For those like me who have multpile devices...

[derrell]

Added a quick dirty bash script that uses the zenity dialogs to control eb1150 and linreb with sort of a gui look, to the main post. Just to automate things a little.

The origninal settings are hard coded but you can change them and the script will create an rc file in your home directory with your changed settings, book shelf directory, ip and port information. It will then use that from the beginning the next time it is run.

It shouldn't hurt anything as the only file that it ever writes or reads is its own rc file.

[derrell]

Added a section to the wiki on how to integrate the eBook Publisher software with a file manager.
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBoo...Book_Publisher

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by derrell

Added a section to the wiki on how to integrate the eBook Publisher software with a file manager.
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBoo...Book_Publisher

Derrell, thanks for this!

Very thorough and helpful! A Linux user's dream come true...

[Sanderella]

I got as far as this:

After that is done unzip eb1150 archive and change to the created directory. From here just do the ./configure, make and make install steps as you would for any other source package.

I don't know how to change to the created directory, or ...install as for any other source package. I'm not a linux geek, just a little old lady trying to use my linux box to transfer books to my eBookwise. Any help greatly appreciated.

[mbernardi]

Originally Posted by Sanderella

I got as far as this:

After that is done unzip eb1150 archive and change to the created directory. From here just do the ./configure, make and make install steps as you would for any other source package.

I don't know how to change to the created directory, or ...install as for any other source package. I'm not a linux geek, just a little old lady trying to use my linux box to transfer books to my eBookwise. Any help greatly appreciated.

I have to agree, even though I'm a bit of a geek

For example WHICH programming languages are required to configue and make eb1150?

Can these programs be packaged for the main linux versions?

[derrell]

The daemon that lets you connect your ebookwise through usb to is eb1150. It is written in c++ by Mitch Reierson. If you know how to create packages for whatever distro you are using I don't see any reason why it couldn't be packaged. The version available here from the mobile read forums has been patched so that it would compile on ubuntu 8.04. If I remember right there was an issue with compiling for the newest version of ubuntu. The original Source Forge link is here. I tried to contact the original author to submit the patch but never got any kind of reply.

As far as linreb goes I don't think anyone uses that much anymore. The impserve program included in ebookutils from ashkulz is what I currently use as well as many others with both linux and windows computers. The wiki page has information about setting that up as well.

There is a meta package, build-essentials in ubuntu that should cover what is needed to build eb1150, at least I think that is what the name is. As for impserve its a python script and pretty much every linux install has python.

[mbernardi]

This is a really good documention,and I manages mostly to get everything working. But one of the weaknesses of Linux is installatin, and particularly for non techies, having an insta script would be ver handy, A Bash file called wbook_setup that would do the following:
Check that the correct archive files had been dowloaded, if not generate an error eg Please download eb1150.zio to the same location as this scriot.

Check for dependancies eg You must have Python 2.5 installed first.

unzip all te packages to a shared location eg /opt/ebook

Configure and install as approriate create / document how to add symlinks

generate a menu program that allows selection of tool and an appropiate way

ie the correct eb1150 usb device setup for the server

Include documentaion om where to put imp files.

I haven't got Bash skill myself or I'd try to do it

[derrell]

Added source package eb1150-0.1.2.zip that will compile under ubuntu 9.10.
Added binary package eb1150-0.1.2-bin.tar.gz with eb1150 binary that was compiled under ubuntu 9.10.

See the first post in the thread to find the new files.

[dblack]

Hey there..

I tried running eb1150 (the binary version) on my ubuntu 9.10 machine, but got this message:

/usr/bin/eb1150: 1: Syntax error: "(" unexpected

Is this an error in the program, or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

[derrell]

Issuing the command sudo eb1150 from the command prompt without your ebookwise 1150 connected to the computer should give you something like this.

derrell@festus:~$ sudo eb1150
eb1150 0.1 (Dec 19 2007) - eBookWise/GemStar 1150 communication daemon
Licensed under the GNU General Public License. ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
See the GNU GPL for details.

Error: Device was not found on the USB bus.  Please make sure that it is
plugged into a USB port and turned on.

Error: Device was not found on the USB bus.  Please make sure that it is
plugged into a USB port and turned on.

If you have already made the changes mentioned in the wiki to your udev rules that might be where the problem is coming from. Try removing the rule for the ebookwise and then see if eb1150 will give you the output above. If it won't then there might be something wrong with binary. It is a direct copy of the one that I use on my ubuntu 9.10.

It is compiled for 64 bit processors not 32 and I just realized that I didn't mention that when I posted it. So that also could be the problem. I'll edit the top post in this thread to reflect that as well as the wiki entry. I

f you are running 32 bit ubuntu then you will need to recompile from the source file as per the wiki entry.