Need help with PDFRead

pfisterfarm · 03-18-2009, 12:59 PM

I'm trying to find a way to get (non-secure) PDFs over on my Kindle 1. PDFRead (1.8.2) seems to be the best I've tried, but it's not going quite right. Lines are missing, sometimes lines are cut in half, and a lot of times half the page is totally blank (and I'm pretty sure something should be there). What could I be doing wrong? Are there better ways?

I've tried a lot of methods that haven't really worked all that well.

Also... would there by any chance be a Kindle 1 -> Kindle 2 trade-in? My wife got me mine in November (she saw it on Oprah and got it for me for Christmas...)

nrapallo · 03-18-2009, 03:37 PM

Ensure that you match the landscape Profile 'mobi-prc' with a landscape Layout mode or portrait Profile 'mobi-prc-p' with a portrait Layout mode; otherwise, strange things will happen.

See the thread Kindle 2 and PDFRead 1.8 for further information.

If you still need assistance, just provide a specific example of what's going wrong, if you can.

Sydney's Mom · 03-18-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfisterfarm

I'm trying to find a way to get (non-secure) PDFs over on my Kindle 1. PDFRead (1.8.2) seems to be the best I've tried, but it's not going quite right. Lines are missing, sometimes lines are cut in half, and a lot of times half the page is totally blank (and I'm pretty sure something should be there). What could I be doing wrong? Are there better ways?

I've tried a lot of methods that haven't really worked all that well.

Also... would there by any chance be a Kindle 1 -> Kindle 2 trade-in? My wife got me mine in November (she saw it on Oprah and got it for me for Christmas...)

I have had good luck with Mobipocket Creator for pdfs.

I am happy with my kindle 1, but I know some people have sold theirs on ebay, and have gotten kindle 2. Whatever floats your boat!

pfisterfarm · 03-19-2009, 12:08 PM

I played a little more with settings and I seem to be getting closer.

Now, if I try a whole book, I just get a title page "<title> by <author>". I see a temp directory with all of the png files in it and they look OK, but a book is never generated.

If I try just the first 10 pages, I get a book.

I don't think this is a disk space issue (there's at least 8gb free).

What could be happening?

nrapallo · 03-19-2009, 12:39 PM

Can you post the GUI screen capture (on a Windows computer, it's 'Alt-PrintScreen' and then paste into Paint)? It should be like this (except the pages 1 to 16):

Also, is there any message printed in the dos prompt screen after it creates the .prc?

When it failed to create the whole ebook, did a window pop up showing you the temporary .html and file? If so, can you open and view the .html in a browser? Can you import that .html into Mobipocket Creator or Calibre and create a valid .prc ebook?

Just thinking out loud...

pfisterfarm · 03-19-2009, 02:22 PM

I'll try and get a screen capture tonight when I get home...

I think my settings look about the same. When I try and do the whole book, the last line after all the pages get converted says something like "Output directory: /Documents and Settings/<username>/Local Settings/Temp/pdfread-blahblahblah". If I go there, yes, there is an html document and all of the png files. I never thought of trying to convert that with Calibre. I'll have to try that.

pfisterfarm · 03-22-2009, 12:30 PM

I think I've got it working now. I'm not sure what happened with the book not getting created... that seems to have went away (may have restarted or something).

The final problem I was having was sometimes on the Kindle (and this didn't show up on Mobipocket Reader on the PC), a page would display at about 25% size and was about impossible to read. If I put in a screen resolution in PDFRead, that seems to go away.

Basically, I use prc-mobi with landscape-third, and put in the screen resolution. Everything else is at the defaults. Are these the best settings for the Kindle 1?

nrapallo · 03-22-2009, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pfisterfarm

The final problem I was having was sometimes on the Kindle (and this didn't show up on Mobipocket Reader on the PC), a page would display at about 25% size and was about impossible to read. If I put in a screen resolution in PDFRead, that seems to go away.

Which screen resolutions did you have to enter? 520 x 640?

Quote:

Basically, I use prc-mobi with landscape-third, and put in the screen resolution. Everything else is at the defaults. Are these the best settings for the Kindle 1?

The default profiles use fairly decent choices for the PDFRead parameters, so you may not need to tweak them too much except DPI and Edge Level. I do prefer landscape-half if the resulting text is large enough to read comfortably, otherwise landscape-third is OK (but I don't like seeing a small, 5-10 lines, third page and all that blank space

)

pfisterfarm · 03-23-2009, 10:19 AM

Yes, 520 by 640 is what I've been using. I think I'm going to need to just experiment with different PDFs and see what I get. The main thing I'm concerned with is getting the size of the type as large as I can (old eyes...)

03-18-2009, 12:59 PM	#1
pfisterfarm Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Device: Kindle 1	Need help with PDFRead I'm trying to find a way to get (non-secure) PDFs over on my Kindle 1. PDFRead (1.8.2) seems to be the best I've tried, but it's not going quite right. Lines are missing, sometimes lines are cut in half, and a lot of times half the page is totally blank (and I'm pretty sure something should be there). What could I be doing wrong? Are there better ways? I've tried a lot of methods that haven't really worked all that well. Also... would there by any chance be a Kindle 1 -> Kindle 2 trade-in? My wife got me mine in November (she saw it on Oprah and got it for me for Christmas...)

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03-18-2009, 03:37 PM	#2
nrapallo GuteBook/Mobi2IMP Creator Posts: 2,958 Karma: 2530691 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: REB1200 EBW1150 Device: T1 NSTG iLiad_v2 NC Device: Asus_TF Next1 WPDN	Ensure that you match the landscape Profile 'mobi-prc' with a landscape Layout mode or portrait Profile 'mobi-prc-p' with a portrait Layout mode; otherwise, strange things will happen. See the thread Kindle 2 and PDFRead 1.8 for further information. If you still need assistance, just provide a specific example of what's going wrong, if you can.

03-19-2009, 12:08 PM	#4
pfisterfarm Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Device: Kindle 1	I played a little more with settings and I seem to be getting closer. Now, if I try a whole book, I just get a title page "<title> by <author>". I see a temp directory with all of the png files in it and they look OK, but a book is never generated. If I try just the first 10 pages, I get a book. I don't think this is a disk space issue (there's at least 8gb free). What could be happening?

03-19-2009, 12:39 PM	#5
nrapallo GuteBook/Mobi2IMP Creator Posts: 2,958 Karma: 2530691 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: REB1200 EBW1150 Device: T1 NSTG iLiad_v2 NC Device: Asus_TF Next1 WPDN	Can you post the GUI screen capture (on a Windows computer, it's 'Alt-PrintScreen' and then paste into Paint)? It should be like this (except the pages 1 to 16): Also, is there any message printed in the dos prompt screen after it creates the .prc? When it failed to create the whole ebook, did a window pop up showing you the temporary .html and file? If so, can you open and view the .html in a browser? Can you import that .html into Mobipocket Creator or Calibre and create a valid .prc ebook? Just thinking out loud...

03-19-2009, 02:22 PM	#6
pfisterfarm Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Device: Kindle 1	I'll try and get a screen capture tonight when I get home... I think my settings look about the same. When I try and do the whole book, the last line after all the pages get converted says something like "Output directory: /Documents and Settings/<username>/Local Settings/Temp/pdfread-blahblahblah". If I go there, yes, there is an html document and all of the png files. I never thought of trying to convert that with Calibre. I'll have to try that.

03-22-2009, 12:30 PM	#7
pfisterfarm Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Device: Kindle 1	I think I've got it working now. I'm not sure what happened with the book not getting created... that seems to have went away (may have restarted or something). The final problem I was having was sometimes on the Kindle (and this didn't show up on Mobipocket Reader on the PC), a page would display at about 25% size and was about impossible to read. If I put in a screen resolution in PDFRead, that seems to go away. Basically, I use prc-mobi with landscape-third, and put in the screen resolution. Everything else is at the defaults. Are these the best settings for the Kindle 1?

03-23-2009, 10:19 AM	#9
pfisterfarm Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Device: Kindle 1	Yes, 520 by 640 is what I've been using. I think I'm going to need to just experiment with different PDFs and see what I get. The main thing I'm concerned with is getting the size of the type as large as I can (old eyes...)

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