Calibre2opds on Windows 64-bit systems

[itimpi]

There have been some reports of issues using calibre2opds on Windows 64-bit systems. As it is purely Java based the calibre2opds program SHOULD be OS independent. However since the installer fails to run on such systems (hence the ZIP package) it is always possible this assumption is false.

As it tends to only be the users who are having problems that provide much of the feedback, I am looking for feedback on any users who have managed to get the calibre2opds 2.3 release to run successfully on Windows 7 64-bit edition (probably having to use the new ZIP package to get it installed) or even any of the other 64-bit editions. The Launchpad site stats show that a lot of users download the software but one never knows if they are actualy managing to use it, and if so in what environment.

If you are using it OK then please let me know whether your calibre library is on a local drive or on a network share (typically a NAS device). Any other special details about your use would be useful. Not having such a Windows 64-bit system myself I cannot run any tests myself, so if there are users who ARE using calibre2opds successfully on such system then it is useful to know as then the problem probably lies elsewhere in the code itself.

[texasnightowl]

What timing! I just tried Calibre2OPDS for the first time ever last night. And I run Win 7 Home Premium 64. Due to the note on the wiki page, I didn't even try the Win installer actually and just used the ZIP package. And everything seems to work fine. With the zip package, I extracted it on the same drive and same folder/level as my Calibre library. ie. I have d:\ebooks\Calibre Library and d:\ebooks\Calibre2OPDS and ran rungui.cmd from there. d:\ is a 2nd drive in my primary desktop system. It did generate a ton of files which I then synced to my dropbox folder and tested from my iphone via stanza.

After seeing this post a few minutes ago I went ahead and downloaded the actual installer and "installed". It installed to c:\program files (x86)\calibre2opds and after I clicked on the link in my start menu to launch and it launched fine. I have not at this point had it re-generate anything though since I just did that last night. But as I have some more books to add to my library, I will prob. be doing that in a couple days.

[itimpi]

Thanks for that feedback. Interesting that the installer seemed to work for you - others have said that it seemed to hang on Windows 7 64-bit systems which was one of the drivers for producing the ZIP package.

At least it confirms to me that there is not a fundamental problem on the 64-bit systems (as I had hoped). One variable that is not in your system is using a network drive for the Library - hopefully someone will comment about that as well.

I hope you find the calibre2opds software useful. My prime use is using it with stanza for myself and a few friends. I only wish iBooks would also add an ability to use OPDS catalogs as that is my prefered reader on my iPad, and Lexcycle seem to be very slow to update Stanza so it is losing the lead it had over other eBook readers on Apple devices.

[texasnightowl]

No problem. Glad to help. If there is anything else you would like to know about my config, let me know.

I use synctoy to sync my calibre library to my WHS (I only backup my c:\ by default to the WHS), so technically I could try running calibre2opds later and specify \\mywhs\ebooks\calibre library as my calibre location if no one else chimes in in the meantime.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

so technically I could try running calibre2opds later and specify \\mywhs\ebooks\calibre library as my calibre location if no one else chimes in in the meantime.

That would be helpful. I am interested in getting two cases checked out - the one with a UNC path as in your example, and the second where the share has been mapped to a local drive letter. Both SHOULD work, but I would still like to check they do. They work fine for me on my 32-bit Windows 7 system.

[texasnightowl]

as per my other issue, I have to re-run things tonight for epub (instead of mobi!) so I will give this a try tonight with UNC path.

[toddos]

I just tried calibre2opds with a UNC path last night and it failed miserably. I don't have the error on hand, but I could get it later.

Win 7 64-bit, manually "installed" using the zip file (the website warned me away from the installer).

[texasnightowl]

Well, so far so good for me. I deleted my existing _catalog folder and then ran Calibre2OPDS (the version installed to c:\Program Files (x86) ). First did this to my local drive (d:\ebooks\calibre library) and then did the same to my WHS location via UNC \\mywhs\ebooks\calibre library. Both worked fine and have the same number of files and folders in the _catalog folder. When running Calibre2OPDS, my settings are for epub files only. Also, I did not generate html catalog or downloads and I did not create the "All Books" catalog. Stanza compatible. Dropbox is syncing now so I'll verify from my iphone shortly.

[toddos]

Here's what I get when I try to run this off of my UNC share:

null
com.gmail.dpierron.calibre.database.DatabaseReques t.getStatement(DatabaseRequest.java:73)
com.gmail.dpierron.calibre.database.Database.text( Database.java:49)
com.gmail.dpierron.calibre.database.DatabaseManage r.databaseExists(DatabaseManager.java:32)
com.dpierron.calibre.opds.Catalog.createMainCatalo g(Catalog.java:115)
com.gmail.dpierron.calibre.gui.Mainframe$1.run(Mai nframe.java:164)
java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

For what it's worth, my calibre database is on a share on my WHS and works just fine in Calibre (read and write access). I think this has to do with the fact that for some reason my WHS doesn't show up as a "Computer" in Windows 7's Network control panel (it lists under Other Devices as a UPnP device and Media Devices as a streaming source, and the shares are accessible if I manually navigate to them, but it doesn't show up as a Computer). I'll try rebooting the WHS and see if that fixes the issue. However I don't see why that should break calibre2opds since it doesn't stop Calibre, Firefox, etc from working.

[itimpi]

If the UNC does not work have you tried:
- Using the IPAddress in the UNC path instead of the server name?
- Mapping the share to a local drive letter and using that?

I am trying to see the pattern for those that work OK and those that do not.

[toddos]

Okay, I got it sort of working.

First, I had to update my JRE installation (the Java control panel claimed it was up to date on update 18, but the website said the latest was 21 and I needed to update so I did). On my laptop where I can't see my WHS machine in the Network panel, I can't use UNC name or IP (\\whsname\software\calibre or \\x.x.x.x\software\calibre) but I can map a drive and use that. On a desktop Win7 64-bit machine I have, I can use the UNC path because the WHS server shows up in the Network panel on that machine. The difference between the desktop and the laptop, as far as I can tell, is that the laptop is domain-joined for work while the desktop is in the same workgroup as the WHS.

I had to install Java on the desktop machine, and when I did so it didn't put the java bin path into PATH so I got errors running rungui.cmd (fixed by opening a cmd prompt and adding c:\program files (x86)\java\jre6\bin to the path temporarily and then running the script from there).

I think this boils down to not being able to see the WHS computer in the Network panel, though I don't know why that should break java.

[itimpi]

Thanks for all that feedback. At least it proves there are issues at the system level rather than programing errors in the program. I can update the wiki pages with this information which should help any others who have issues.