Time Out with Companion and Samsung Galaxy Tab

K Kris · 03-03-2013, 05:03 PM

I have about 1200+ books (about 8 or 9 GB) on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. I've transferred them from my PC via Calibre before purchasing Calibre Companion.
I have changed the book-folder to the correct one so everything should be fine. But somehow only 396 books are displayed in CC. The devices connect perfectly well. But time and time again (this whole Sunday), when syncing, the devices get disconnected (Calibre says "timed out"). I've followed the syncing process and apparently my GT2 gets disconnected for a few seconds every now and then from the network (but really for just a few seconds) but CC and Calibre never reconnect. I might have my WiFi badly set up, but my GT2 reconnects to the network very quickly after losing contact.
Fact remains that I cannot get enough "online time" (shortest was about 30 minutes, longest about 64 minutes, probably just short of syncing all of the books) for CC to sync all the books.
Is there anything I could do about this. Is there a workaraound? Couldn't CC just read Calibre's metadata that's already on the device. Maybe if I move it to the Books-folder on the device? Is there a way to lengthen the "time out" time? Anything? I'm running out of ideas.
Thank you.

chaley · 03-04-2013, 06:50 AM

I am afraid that this is one that might not have a solution.

When CC connects to calibre, it (like the vast majority of network programs) creates what might be thought of as a "pipe" between the two programs. The information exchanged goes through that pipe. When your device disconnects from wifi, even if only for a few seconds, the pipe is broken. Information can no longer flow. The only way to recover is to construct a new pipe, something that is very complicated to do given that "things" are half-done. This is something that neither calibre nor CC are prepared to do.

There are some actions that might help.

1) Determine why your device is disconnecting. This absolutely should not be happening and will cause you grief in the future. Some reasons I can think of for spontaneous disconnects are:
- The device is too far away from the wifi hub.
- (The most likely reason) There are too many neighbor wifi hubs using the same wifi channels as yours. Use some wifi site survey software to look at which hubs are using which channels, and of possible pick the least-full channel for your hub.
- You are using a high-bandwidth wifi protocol (g or n), and either the device or the hub is buggy. Try limiting the speed to b. Another advantage of limiting the speed to b: it uses a narrow channel, limiting collision opportunities.
- You have a cordless phone or a microwave oven near your wifi hub or device. Both of these use the same radio channels as wifi (2.4 GHz).
- Your device has bluetooth turned on and it is interfering with wifi.

2) My guess is that you are using CC's scan books feature, and further that the books are not all epubs. CC can extract metadata from epubs, but depends on calibre to do it for all other book formats. If I am correct, it might be faster to resend the books instead of scanning and sending the books to calibre for analysis. Each book received by CC is a separate "transaction", so any received before the network dies will remain.

If you cannot make progress, we can give you a refund. Send email from CC's help dialog. Be sure that you use the same email address that was used to purchase CC, provide the date of purchase, and if possible the Google Play transaction ID.

K Kris · 03-04-2013, 08:47 PM

Thank you very much for your prompt and informative reply. I appreciate it.

The 396 books that were recognized by CC before were all indeed epubs, the others are mostly pdfs. Haven't paid attention to that before.

I have solved the problem by following means: I moved the books from the folder "Books" on my device to a new folder I created especially for that purpose. Then I started moving the books back in again, but not all of them. Instead I moved them in packs of a hundred or so. Then CC scanned those smaller packs. I did get interrupted a couple of times due to "timeouts", but the job's done.

Now I can actually start using Calibre Companion

Thank you all for Calibre, Calibre Companion, and all the support and updates. Life's just nicer with software like this.

03-03-2013, 05:03 PM	#1
K Kris Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: prs-600	Time Out with Companion and Samsung Galaxy Tab I have about 1200+ books (about 8 or 9 GB) on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. I've transferred them from my PC via Calibre before purchasing Calibre Companion. I have changed the book-folder to the correct one so everything should be fine. But somehow only 396 books are displayed in CC. The devices connect perfectly well. But time and time again (this whole Sunday), when syncing, the devices get disconnected (Calibre says "timed out"). I've followed the syncing process and apparently my GT2 gets disconnected for a few seconds every now and then from the network (but really for just a few seconds) but CC and Calibre never reconnect. I might have my WiFi badly set up, but my GT2 reconnects to the network very quickly after losing contact. Fact remains that I cannot get enough "online time" (shortest was about 30 minutes, longest about 64 minutes, probably just short of syncing all of the books) for CC to sync all the books. Is there anything I could do about this. Is there a workaraound? Couldn't CC just read Calibre's metadata that's already on the device. Maybe if I move it to the Books-folder on the device? Is there a way to lengthen the "time out" time? Anything? I'm running out of ideas. Thank you.

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03-04-2013, 06:50 AM	#2
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,032 Karma: 7257323 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	I am afraid that this is one that might not have a solution. When CC connects to calibre, it (like the vast majority of network programs) creates what might be thought of as a "pipe" between the two programs. The information exchanged goes through that pipe. When your device disconnects from wifi, even if only for a few seconds, the pipe is broken. Information can no longer flow. The only way to recover is to construct a new pipe, something that is very complicated to do given that "things" are half-done. This is something that neither calibre nor CC are prepared to do. There are some actions that might help. 1) Determine why your device is disconnecting. This absolutely should not be happening and will cause you grief in the future. Some reasons I can think of for spontaneous disconnects are: - The device is too far away from the wifi hub. - (The most likely reason) There are too many neighbor wifi hubs using the same wifi channels as yours. Use some wifi site survey software to look at which hubs are using which channels, and of possible pick the least-full channel for your hub. - You are using a high-bandwidth wifi protocol (g or n), and either the device or the hub is buggy. Try limiting the speed to b. Another advantage of limiting the speed to b: it uses a narrow channel, limiting collision opportunities. - You have a cordless phone or a microwave oven near your wifi hub or device. Both of these use the same radio channels as wifi (2.4 GHz). - Your device has bluetooth turned on and it is interfering with wifi. 2) My guess is that you are using CC's scan books feature, and further that the books are not all epubs. CC can extract metadata from epubs, but depends on calibre to do it for all other book formats. If I am correct, it might be faster to resend the books instead of scanning and sending the books to calibre for analysis. Each book received by CC is a separate "transaction", so any received before the network dies will remain. If you cannot make progress, we can give you a refund. Send email from CC's help dialog. Be sure that you use the same email address that was used to purchase CC, provide the date of purchase, and if possible the Google Play transaction ID.

03-04-2013, 08:47 PM	#3
K Kris Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: prs-600	Thank you very much for your prompt and informative reply. I appreciate it. The 396 books that were recognized by CC before were all indeed epubs, the others are mostly pdfs. Haven't paid attention to that before. I have solved the problem by following means: I moved the books from the folder "Books" on my device to a new folder I created especially for that purpose. Then I started moving the books back in again, but not all of them. Instead I moved them in packs of a hundred or so. Then CC scanned those smaller packs. I did get interrupted a couple of times due to "timeouts", but the job's done. Now I can actually start using Calibre Companion Thank you all for Calibre, Calibre Companion, and all the support and updates. Life's just nicer with software like this.

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