Create Your Own Cloud of Ebooks with Calibre + Calibre OPDS + Dropbox
14. Feb, 2010 | by Jane |
104 Comments
Print This Post
The big movement seems toward ebooks in the cloud but if you go with Google or Kindle or some other service, you are stuck with their rules of access. You can create your own cloud, however, and control your own library. Further, you can set up your cloud for free using open source programs and a free account at dropbox.
This cloud set up allows you to have access, either by webbrowser or by iPhone/iTouch, to your entire ebook catalog from anywhere you can get internet connection, whether by wifi or cellular access. The catalog generated is incredibly feature rich. You can browse your catalog by series, tags, author, title, and most recent additions. You can look up a book on Goodreads or check out the wikipage for an author. Take a look at these iPhone screenshots (click for bigger images):
Note: For your ebooks to be read using Stanza, they should be in ePub format.
Step 1: You need a cloud.
The cloud is essentially a computer harddrive space that you can access anywhere in the world so long as you can log onto the internet. Dropbox provides a 2 GB cloud for free and works on Windows, MAC, Linux, and the iPhone. Dropbox is particularly suited for this cloudy goodness because of its automatic synching abilities. Everytime your files change on your harddrive, Dropbox notes that and uploads the changed file.
So step 1 is signing up for a dropbox account. Sign up and install the software program. The software program will require you to designate a Dropbox folder on your computer. Within the Dropbox folder, you will put your ebooks.
Step 2: Set up your ebook cloud location.
In this step you are going to create a folder within the public folder of the dropbox folder. This public folder will allow you to access your ebook cloud anywhere. While the name of the folder is “public”, it is only public if you share the link (which is why mine is fake in this example) so don’t share the link. Also, you may want to use a random character generator to create a folder name to create a link that is even more secure. Just don’t make the name too long. 8-10 letters is good.
Step 3. Download Calibre
Calibre is the best ebook software out there. The Best. Even if you don’t use Calibre to create a cloud of goodness, it is still a great management tool. I highly, highly recommend it for every ebook reader out there.
When you install Calibre, just use the standard install rather than advanced.
Step 4. Set Your Calibre Library to be in the Cloud.
Open Calibre. Select Preferences and then change the location of the ebooks to the “My Dropbox\Public\SECRET FOLDER” that you created in Step 2.
If you already have Calibre, you will simply change your existing files to this new location. If your database is big, go take a big break. Calibre will copy over every file to this new location and that can take some time.
Step 5. Download Calibre OPDS
This is an open source program written by David Pierron. It runs without adding new software to your computer or changing drivers or anything crazy like that. This is the site for Calibre OPDS and this is the direct download link.
It is based on the Open Publication Distribution System cataloguing system.
Step 6: Download the Calibre OPDS installer
David is working to update this program all the time. The latest development are installers for both Windows and Mac. Simply download the program and follow the ordinary installation steps. A Calibre OPDS icon will be available. Double click on it and the program will open, showing a window like this (click for a larger image). The Database Folder is where the “metadata.db” file resides which should be the folder you created in Step 2. Catalog folder is where you want the catalogs to be generated. This will affect Step 2 of adding a catalog to Stanza explained below.
Step 6. Unpack Calibre OPDS
This has been deprecated because David developed a GUI (graphical user interface) for Calibre OPDS
Calibre OPDS comes in a zip file. You need to unzip the contents and place them somewhere. I put the set of files in the SECRET FOLDER but you can really place it anywhere. Remember this location. It is important. Also important, if you are using a MAC, move the zip file first to the location that you want and then unzip.
Step 7. Create a BAT file
I don’t have a MAC so I’m not sure how to automate things but for Windows users, you create what is known as a BAT file, short for batch. Once you create the BAT file, you will simply double click the file icon to regenerate new catalogs whenever you make changes to the Calibre database.
A BAT file is very easy to create. You open Notepad which should be in Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Notepad.
In the notepad file, you would past two lines of code:
The first line of code tells your computer that you want it to find the directory where you have the Calibre OPDS folder saved in Step 6. Inside that folder is a “bin” folder. The bin folder is where the Calibre OPDS program resides. You are telling the computer to find the Calibre OPDS program. As I said, I have my files saved in the SECRETFOLDER so my first line of code is:
cd C:\Documents and Settings\Jane\My Documents\My Dropbox\Public\SECRETFOLDER\1_Calibredb\bin\
cd= “change directory” and the rest is the path name to where the bin folder is. If you go back to Step 6 and copy the address bar you can paste the entire thing after the letters “cd”
The second line of code runs the Calibre OPDS program. You need the command “calibre2opds.bat” and then you need the file to where your calibre metadata file is or the folder you created in Step 2, the location of your ebook cloud aka SECRET FOLDER. The second line of code looks like this:
calibre2opds.bat C:\Documents and Settings\Jane\My Documents\My Dropbox\Public\SECRETFOLDER\
Save the file as “calibre.bat” or “mycataloggenerator.bat” or whatever in a location you will remember. You should now have a file that looks like this:
STEP 8. Create the catalogs:
If you’ve done everything correctly, you should be able to double click on the above icon and it will show a window like this which means your catalogs are generating:
Another way to double check this is to go to your SECRETFOLDER and look for a folder called _catalog.
Done yet? Yes, if all you want is web access. You just need the path to html catalog file. You can get this path by doing the following:
Go to your SECRET FOLDER and click on the “_catalog” folder created above in Step 8. Look for the file named “catalog.html“. There will be a catalog.xml (this is for the iphone) but you want catalog.html. Highlight that file. Right click, scroll to Dropbox, and in the fly out is “copy public link”.
Once you have the public link, paste it somewhere (like in a word document or a notepad file, etc). It should look something like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/212378/SECRETFOLDER/_catalog/catalog.html
212378 is your dropbox id. (I made this up so don’t use it looking for my SECRET FOLDER). Paste this in your webbrowser address bar and ogle your catalog.
Take a break. Come back. We are going to set up the iPhone next.
Step 1. Open up Stanza on your iPhone.
Step 2. Add a new catalog.
Tap “Get Books“. A new screen will open:
Tap “Edit” (or if you don’t have any catalogs “Add”):
Tap “Add Book Source“. A new screen will open:
Make sure “catalog” and not “web page” is tapped. Enter your catalog name. It can be whatever you like. The URL is the path to your dropbox public folder. You can get this path by doing the following (yes, this is the same thing you do to get the catalog.html path):
Go to your SECRET FOLDER and click on the “_catalog” folder created above in Step 8. Look for the file named “catalog.xml“. There will be a catalog.html but you want catalog.xml. Highlight that file. Right click, scroll to Dropbox, and in the fly out is “copy public link“.
Once you have the public link, paste it somewhere (like in a word document or a notepad file, etc). It should look something like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/212378/SECRETFOLDER/_catalog/catalog.xml
This entire path must be typed into the URL of the iphone.
Click “Save”.
You are now done. Whew. Check out your fancy catalog:
In the future, anytime you make a change to your Calibre database, you will want to update your catalogs by clicking on the bat file you created in Step 7.
Have questions? Leave them in the comments.
Author of This Post
Open Threads at Dear Author. Want to know what new releases are out this month and what readers are excited about reading? Check out the threads below. 
I would love to do this, but I have a Mac so I’d love to hear from someone who replicated the steps for Mac users.
ETA: I found instructions for Mac users here http://rmp135.posterous.com/ but am unable to try them, because I get an error message when I try to extract the opds files (I tried twice, have no idea what I’m doing wrong to get an error message unzipping a file, for pete’s sake!) Maybe someone will have better luck and can report back for Mac users!
I’m having the same problem as Angela James. I’m also getting an error when I try to unzip the opds file on Mac Os X 10.5.8.
But thank you so much for writing out the instructions, I’ve been wanting to try this, but had no idea where to start.
Angie and Dana,
There’s something screwed up about the most recent version; you can manually unpack it but even plain text files are screwed up. Use this version instead:
http://launchpad.net/calibre2opds/trunk/1.0.8/+download/calibre2opds-1.0.8.zip
Also, Jane, this is awesome. If you do this, I am fairly certain that you should be able to use the Kindle’s experimental web browser to download the books via Whispernet (for free) with only minor modification, so long as you navigate to the right address and have the right format in your database.
I don’t have a Kindle any more so can’t experiment.
Um, I haven’t read the post because it looks…confusing. Well, no, It looks brilliantly step-by-step and NOT confusing. But it looks…long. And because I’ve had a LOT of luck with GoodReader on my iPhone. Most of my ebooks are in PDF which does NOT flow well when converted into ePub and I’ve found I can’t deal well with the lack of or change in paragraph breaks. But saving the PDFs to DropBox and then pointing my iPhone to them from the GoodReader app ($0.99, I think) is working AMAZINGLY well. GoodReader is feature rich too and downloading the books to my iPhone is super-easy, even for tech-challenged me. So, if you’re PDF-heavy, just another option.
Thanks, Jane. For some reason I can’t find where to select Apple – Iphone + Stanza on my calibre. I already had Calibre installed so I thought maybe I needed to uninstall and do it through wizard. But the Wizard never came up on my Macbook… it just went directly to the calibre interface. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Thanks, Courtney, I was really feeling silly and abnormally technologically inept when I couldn’t even unzip the file!
@Courtney Milan: Interesting. I’ve never tried that but it would be a great experiment.
Sorry about the MAC errors guys. I guess I need to buy a MAC so I can write up good explanations for the MAC readers. Wonder if I can sell that to the husband.
@KJ: What step are you stuck on? If you have Calibre installed, you should be able to go to “Preferences” in Calibre and change the location of the calibre library.
@Jane: @Jane: I was able to change my Calibre location, but in the instructions for Mac that Angela posted it said you had to:
Next, make sure you select Apple and iPhone/iTouch + Stanza for the optimisation. This will ensure the correct file format for imported books.
I tried doing it without the above step and my IPhone won’t recognize my dropbox/calibre contents… It might just be a Mac thing. Anyone with a Mac find this not to be the case? Thanks!
If you are running a MAC, it looks like an AppleScript can be used to automate tasks (which is just what a BAT file does).
@KJ: I see what you are talking about now.
This is the output format for your books when you convert. You access this by “Preferences” and then “Conversion” and then “Page Setup”. But honestly, I think the default ePub is fine.
Were you able to generate a _catalog folder?
Jane, is the problem with unzipping the files a Mac-specific error? It looks like this might not have always been a problem since it wasn’t mentioned in the Mac instructions I found (and the developer uses a Mac, doesn’t he?) It’s almost like it’s a glitch in the newest version, though.
@Jane: Yep, I have a catalog folder and was able to get a link from the catalog.xml. However after I’ve saved the http: link in Stanza and clicked on it it says Catalog Error: Error reading Catalog data. Also when I put my catalog.html link in Safari it changes from http:/ to an RSS feed… not sure if that’s normal or not. Since I followed all your well set up steps I figured the only thing that I wasn’t doing (selecting Apple as the device) is what is hindering the reading…
Oh, I figured it out! I was typing in html in the url instead of xml. My goof. Thanks so much, Jane! It works great.
Jane you are the most awesome of the of the awesome. (insert fan girl squee) :)
I’m going to try this again with my sugarsync account. (my calibre file is bigger then 2GB)
Thanks for Laying it out so clearly!
@KJ did you figure out how to automate the BAT file step for Mac users?
@Angela James: Not yet, but I’m working on it! lol If I figure it out I’ll post how I did it.
I can’t create the catalog, I keep getting an error when I do this step, something having to do with Java, according to the list of errors I get back in the command terminal window. Bleh.
@Angela James: Have you updated Java recently? I just did a system update a couple of weeks ago and Java was one of things needing to be updated… maybe that would help?
@Angela James: Angela, when I just moved my calibre2opds file from the original bin location it gave me that Java error. But if I left it where it was when I first unzipped it, the catalog file came up.
I’m probably a neo-luddite on this, but I don’t trust the cloud. I want my books stored on my own computer, backed up on my own backup device. Control of my files is more important to me than cross-device portability.
This all looks so familiar to me. ;) Since this has been set up, it’s made everything so much easier.
Hello everyone,
I’m the author of calibre2opds, and first I’d like to thank Jane for this awesome tutorial ; if you’re ok with this, I’d like to link to it from the FAQ section on the Launchpad project’s page…
The bad archive problem should be solved now, if you were not able to extract the 1.0.9 installation archive, please try again. If you’ve still got problems, please ask and I’ll do my best to help.
About the automatization of the parameters (BAT file) on a Mac, I’d recommend creating a shell script (which is exactly the same as a batch file) with the text that Jane has provided (use UNIX paths, of course, with /’s and not \’s). Simply create a text file that you’ll name whatever you want (usually ends with .sh but it’s your call), add the commands and save. Then, issue the command “chmod u+x MYFILENAMEHERE” to make it executable and you’re all set…
In the next version, I’ll include a GUI tool that will allow the user to set all his(her) preferred options, and write a configuration file. Then a simple command will be used to run the tool – exactly like the bat file or shell script, without all the geeky frosting ;)
Well, that’s all ; happy sharing of your library, and please do ask questions if you want me to help, I’ll be delighted…
Oh, and you can reach me online on Skype : davidpierron is my name there…
Good evening,
David.
Thanks for fixing the archive so quickly, David! I’m going to try doing the autoscript per your instructions, though it still reads a little like Greek to me.
@KJ Yes, you’re exactly right. Mac users: you must move the zip file BEFORE you unpack it. So move the zip file to whatever folder you want it in (in my case, I put it in the Public folder) and then unpack it. If you unpack it and then move it, you’ll get the Java errors that I got.
Yay! It worked. It’s so pretty, though I haven’t updated my Calibre library in awhile and it’s a bit of a mess. But it’s very cool to have it all there on my phone. Thanks, Jane and David. Now I just need to figure out the autoscript and I’ll be set. Very useful tool.
David, is there somewhere we can donate to you for your time in developing this? I’ve already donated for Calibre and I’d like to be able to donate to you as well.
Angela,
I’m happy that you could install and use calibre2opds.
Concerning donations, let’s say that I’ve developped this tool primarily for my personal use, for the fun, and for warm feeling of being useful and loved :p
If you want to make me even happier, please fill the survey at http://davidp57.wufoo.com/forms/help-me-make-calibre2opds-better/, and tell me how I can make this tool better…
This being said, I’m always opened to beer money : I’ve got a Paypal account linked to my email address (dpierron at gmail dot com), feel free to chip in if you want – but please try to stay under the million dollars ceiling, I don’t want to have problems with the IRS ;)
All best,
David.
@David: Feel free to use it however you want. Thank you so much for making this program available to us readers
David: you have beer money! Thank you.
For random information to Mac users: I’m very close to having an executable script. When I double click on it in Finder, it shows that it’s executed, and goes through the process, but it appears to not actually update the catalog. I haven’t figured it out, and perhaps someone will before I do, but I’ll keep trying.
Jane: thanks, I’ll do the link ASAP… Your tutorial will be very useful to every calibre2opds user in need of help !
Angela: thanks for the beer, cheers !
Everyone: if you want to stay informed of all the evolutions of calibre2opds, please either visit the project’s Launchpad page regularily, or subscribe to the annoucements feed (http://feeds.launchpad.net/calibre2opds/announcements.atom).
FML I generated the catalog but the catalog url is missing….
@Keishon: what do you mean ? that you don’t have a “copy public link” menu option ? or that the catalog.xml file was not generated ?
@David: That the catalog.xml wasn’t generated. I am rerunning the batch file now to see what happens. I see it generating but what am I doing wrong?
Here is my script:
cd C:UsersKeishonDocumentsMy DropboxPublicsecretfolderbin
calibre2opds.bat C:UsersKeishonDocumentsMy DropboxPublicsecret folder
I did it! *dances around the room* I created an executable, clickable command file in Finder and it looks like it works. Wheee!
Here’s how I did it, with the provision that I pieced this together from David’s instructions and some info I found using Google, so if it doesn’t work for you, I’m unlikely to be able to help work it out but it LOOKS like it works. Turns out I’d turned one / around and had it as a \ and that was keeping it from working. Duh.
1. Open TextEdit
2. Go to Format–Make Plain Text
3. Type in the following commands, subbing your own file path, of course, I’m just showing you mine so you get the idea of how it looks:
chmod 777 /Users/babybookworm/Desktop/Dropbox/Public/calibre2opds-1.0.8.zip/Folder/bin/calibre2opds
/Users/babybookworm/Desktop/Dropbox/Public/calibre2opds-1.0.9/bin/calibre2opds /Users/babybookworm/Desktop/Dropbox/Public/MYSECRETFOLDER
4. Save as FILENAME.command (filename being whatever the heck you want it to be) and put it wherever is easiest for you to access and click it in Finder.
5. Now, double click it in Finder. A terminal window should open and the script should run. Should.
If anyone has any corrections to my process, I’d love to hear them, but I thought I’d give Mac users like me a little assist!
@Keishon: The most common source of problem is that the tool does not find the Calibre folder ; by default, it expect it to be the current directory (i.e. the directory in which the tool is executed, the one you have specified in your CD command at the first line of the recommended batch file).
Another possibility is that you have no books in ePub format, which is by default the only books that the tool is listing.
Can you send me a copy of the tool’s output ? I’ll try to help…
@Angela: you did it wrong I’m afraid… The first line you suggest (chmod …) is setting the “executable” attribute on a calibre2opds file in the calibre2opds-1.0.8.zip/…/bin folder, whereas the second line executes the one on calibre2opds-1.0.9/…/bin ; this first line should be modified to point at the right file, and it is not necessary to include it in the script : running it once is enough…
But hey: it works, and that’s what’s important : congratulations !
David: there’s a translate button at the bottom of each comment. I almost hit it on yours to see if it would help, lolol! I’m totally muddling through this, so I’m glad you’re here. The script worked as written (I’ve tested it a few times) but I’d love to understand how to correct it, so people following me can have it correctly as well.
All right, I’ll try :
According to the FAQ (available on the project’s Launchpad page), if you’re running an Unix system, you’ll need to set execute permissions on the InstallFolder/bin/calibre2opds script. This means, for Mac users (a BSD Unix system), that when installing a new version of calibre2opds they’ll have to extract the files from the archive, and then go into the extracted “bin” directory using a Terminal window and issue the “chmod u+x calibre2opds” command.
Then, if you want, it’s possible to write a shell script which will run the tool with all the options set to the values they prefer ; here is my shell script :
cd ~/Applications/calibre2opds
./bin/calibre2opds –maxbeforepaginate 20 –maxbeforesplit 20 –booksinrecent 99999 –splittagson : /Users/david/Dropbox/Public/calibre_library
The tool is installed in “~/Applications/calibre2opds”, and my Calibre library is located in “/Users/david/Dropbox/Public/calibre_library” ; these are obviously two things you’ll want to replace with adequate values.
Name this script ANYTHING.command, and Mac OS will pick this extension and know that it must run the command in a Terminal window.
Before running it, you’ll have to make it executable in the same way you did with calibre2opds (use the chmod u+x command).
Btw, I just created a new FAQ about this : https://answers.launchpad.net/calibre2opds/+faq/960
I think I understand. I think my folder name is partially misleading. The zip file is actually the unpacked files, I just didn’t change the name and left it what the Mac called it when it unpacked it (which is the same as the zipped file), but now I see the problem with that will be that I’ll have to change my script when I install a new version, since the folder name would change.
So the tool part and the Calibre library part I got right, I just have more information then I actually need in there and could refine the language.
Oh, now I see that my explanation also looks like the script is pointing to two different files, but the actual script is pointing to .9 in both lines, so I see what you were saying about that. Thanks for pointing it out!
Thanks for taking the time to explain!
Wow. Just wow!
Okay here’s what it is doing: spits out 258 items when I execute the file with 0 kb for the catalog.xml.
How I did this: My ebooks transferred over to my new dropbox folder (in ePub). My metadata folder is there as well. Second time I execute this file, it spits out 1758 items. I see tags, thumbnails of my ebooks but no catalog.xml or html urls are generating.
David, How do I get you a copy of the output file? Sorry, am not techno savvy here. I did get Calibre2Web to work for me so I can’t understand what I am doing incorrectly. Will take a brief break and start over.
Thanks so much Angela and David for the instructions! I tried doing it myself but kept getting errors.
If you want to email me, KJ, I’ll send you my file and you can play with putting in your own settings to see if you can get it to work. angelajameseditor at gmail dot com
Well, I got it up and running with the assist of Jane and it looks just gorgeous. I don’t know what it was that was keeping it from generating but I ended up dumping the ebooks I had in that folder and used another set and the codes worked beautifully. Now am in the process in propagating it back to where it was. Good night all. Thanks Jane and David.
So I think I did it right. I have a catalog with all my books in it. But the catalog takes me to a page with these options:
Tags
Alphabetical index of the 351 tags
Authors
Alphabetical index of the 194 authors
Recent additions
100 most recent books
All books
Alphabetical index of the 354 books
When I click All Books you have to link to all the books that start with A, all the books that start with B, and so on. Is that right? Is there anyway for me to just get my full list of books all on one page?
Thanks
@teebee I know that there are ways to customize the catalog output, but I’m not very familiar with them. If David is still following along, he might be able to point you in the right direction.
Thanks Jane. It sure isn’t the end of the world if I can’t change it. But yeah I would love that.
@teebee: There’s an option you can use to disable the “split by letter” behavior ; it’s “–maxbeforesplit”, which takes a parameter : the maximum number of elements a catalog can hold before it is split by letter.
If you use a large value (e.g. –maxbeforesplit 999999), it will never split (or shouldn’t, anyway).
It’s good to know that you can get a description of all the options along with their default values by using the –help option (i.e. calibre2opds –help).
Calibre looks fabulous, David, congratulatons. And huge thank yous to Jane, Courtney, and everyone else who’s provided tips and answers in the comment thread.
However, before I download and get busy, I have one question. I notice that you specify your device in the initial set-up. I don’t have a dedicated reader yet (am using Stanza and Adobe Digital on my Mac for now). Will I be able to switch devices later? Or if I end up with two different devices (an iPad and an Asus Eee Reader, for instance), will I be able to switch back and forth so I can move books to both? I assume I can, but I’ve poked around the Manual and help FAQs, but can’t seem to find any specific info.
Thanks in advance.
@Lisa: First, I want to clarify something : I’m not the author of Calibre, Kovid Goyal is, and it’s true that his software looks fabulous ! I only developped the conversion tool calibre2opds, that Jane described in her tutorial here.
To answer your question, the choice of device you make at startup is not permanent : it is only there to help Calibre set default options values for different things like conversions, formats, drivers and so on. You’ll be able to change it later, no fear ;)
@David:
David, I am very much a newbie to this. Would my batch file look like this?
cd C:UsersteebeeDesktopMy DropboxPublicfoldercalibre2opds-1.0.9bin
calibre2opds.bat –maxbeforesplit 999999 C:UsersteebeeDesktopMy DropboxPublicfolder
Thanks so much
EDIT : this site messes with backslashes, so I replaced them with £ …
Er, no, there are a lot of backslashes (£) missing… Is it when you pasted to this site ?
It probably should read :
cd “C:£Users£teebee£Desktop£My Dropbox£Public folder£calibre2opds-1.0.9″
bin£calibre2opds.bat –maxbeforesplit 999999 “C:£Users£teebee£Desktop£My Dropbox£Public folder”
Use french quotes because of the space in the path ; also, it’s not necessary to store calibre2opds in the Dropbox folder… It’s only a program…
@David:
Ah! Cool. That I understand. I think I can do that and that I get it. I will let you know how it goes. And thank you so so much
@David:
It worked. You’re the best! I now have a good incentive to clean up my metadata! Thanks!
You’re welcome, enjoy ;)
For anyone wondering, this will not work with the Kindle’s experimental browser. Apparently something in the download links in the catalog or something Dropbox does cause it to fail and produce a 404 error.
The K’s browser is pretty basic. I’ve done something similar to this using my own web space and an htaccess password protected folder and some freeware that generates an html list of the files in the folder and that works fine with the K, I guess the html generated by this method is too complex for the K’s wimpy browser (although the links look pretty standard and you can browse the catalog just fine) or Dropbox does something when initiating the download.
@Brian:
Hi Brian,
I’m not sure this is due to the K’s browser ; of course, if the browser is basic, it’s gonna miss some of the eye candy generated using CSS and Javascript, and maybe the links will not even work.
But a 404 problem comes from the server, it’s his way of saying “no sir, sorry but the file you’re asking for does not exist…”.
I’ve seen this often with Dropbox, and it has to do with the fact that sometimes, the Dropbox server thinks that you’re using too much bandwidth and simply kills your public URLs.
Try with a regular, desktop browser and you’ll see if, at the same moment, both it and the K’s wimpy browser have the same problem.
Cheers,
David.
Hi David,
Yeah, I did try it from a regular browser and everything works fine. I’m thinking it’s something with the K.
I’m going to mess with getting it to work with my HTC Hero and Aldiko.
I was already using DropBox to keep my books on two computers so I was already halfway there!
The thing is, my DropBox directory is different for each computer, so your batch file doesn’t work for me. Instead, I just have the following batch file in my calibre2opds-1.0.9 directory (which is itself in my Calibre Library directory):
cd .\bin
calibre2opds.bat ..\..
Works well! Can you see a downside?
Nope, you’re doing it well…
Note : don’t take too much time playing with custom scripts, I’m finishing a new release with a graphical user interface and a configuration file… Should be ready soon, I’m struggling with installers…
@Jonathan Harford: You can store the Calibre OPDS folder anywhere. I believe David stores his in the Calibre program folder. You can set up two different batch scripts to run: one for Computer A path and one for Computer B path and they won’t conflict.
Arghh! It has generated a .xml file but not a .html for the catalogue. Any ideas??
You should simply not use the –nogeneratehtml option…
Again, for a list of the available options, use the –help command.
@David – Thanks for that but unfortunatley it means nothing to me. I am a complete moron if it doesn’t have detailed instructions.
I’ll just wait on the version with the GUI. I’ll figure that out. I have my Library synced to Dropbox, that was my main goal.
As promised, here is the new version 2 !
It has a graphical user interface, you’ll be able to generate your catalogs much more easily. The configuration you set up will be saved to a file, and the next time calibre2opds is run from the command line it will use these settings.
There is a Windows installer, and a specific Mac Os X version (bundled as a real Mac application).
http://launchpad.net/calibre2opds/release2/2.0.0
oddly enough everything works nicely except for the stanza part. I just get Catalog Error. Any thoughts?
That’s weird ; can you access the HTML catalog on the URL you’re trying to access in Stanza ?
What I mean is, use Safari on your iPhone to try and access the same URL, replacing the .xml at the end with .html
If it does not work, you got the URL wrong somehow. If it does, then there is a true problem with the OPDS catalog, in which case I may be able to help you if you’re willing to share it with me (privately, by email, of course).
I sometimes have problems with Stanza not recognizing the catalog, but it’s sporadic, and always solved by trying again.
All best,
David.
Thanks. I had HTML eater than xml. So it works now.
New release : 2.0.1
Lots of bug corrections, and some interesting new features (all asked for by users!)
Get it here while it’s hot : http://davidsoft.free.fr/calibre2opds/index.html
Also, I’ve been told that Aldiko is now capable of importing calibre2opds catalogs !
There was a bug in this release, and a re-released it with a correction patch.
Simply redownload the new version (it has the same release number) and try again.
Tell me if it doesn’t work !
Here is the new release : https://launchpad.net/calibre2opds/release2/2.0.2
It fixes the cover bug, and another bug with the tags catalog in large libraries – like Jane’s :p
What do I do if my Library is too large?
@Alexandra How large is too large? I have over 3000+ ebooks.
@Jane: Pretty big, the Calibre library by itself is 4.4GB, I really wish there was a good way to clean it up… and that’s not even all the books either, and a lot of those are .rar so they could theoretically get bigger if I unpack them. Should I go through and unpack stuff manually and only save EPUB/LIT formats and delete all the rest?
Hi Alexandra,
There are several ways of restricting the data that you want published. The first two only concern the catalog, and then the whole library will be published anyway. The third is probably what you’ll want to do, but it will need to be combined with the first or the second one (or both).
1/ restrict the catalog to make it publish only certain tags, or skip certain tags altogether
Using the “List of tags that will generate a catalog” and/or “List of tags that will be excluded from the catalog” options, you can choose which of your tags are published. This directly translates into publishing a smaller part of your library.
2/ restrict the catalog to make it publish only certain file types
Using the “Included formats” option, you can choose which eBook file will be referenced in the catalog. Books with no files of this type will not get published at all.
3/ use the “Publication mode” feature
This new feature has just been introduced in the new 2.2 version. By selecting “Publication mode” in the list of device-specific modes, you’ll make a specific subset of your Calibre library, including only the books referenced in the catalog.
This means that, by not choosing to put the whole Calibre library under Dropbox control (keep the folder out of the “My Dropbox” directory), and then setting up calibre2opds to use “Publication Mode” and tell it to create the catalog in the “My Dropbox/Public/some folder name that I like” directory, you’ll only publish the part of the catalog you want.
Remember that ALL the books referenced in your catalog will be published. This means that you have to use one of the other methods (or both) to actually restrict what gets in your catalog…
Hope this helps,
David.
For the record, I added this answer to the documentation wiki…
@David Pierron:
The tag option unfortunately won’t work for me since I downloaded the social metadata with tags for the books. I’m going to try do with only making a catalog of those published as EPUB, since that is the most friendly format for Stanza on my iphone. I’m about to attempt. Wish me luck!
(10 minutes later) I got it working! It’s wonderful! thank you so much. Now I just gotta go through and weed out the books I do/don’t want to read!
Hi Alexandra,
I’m happy to hear that you succeeded !
Again, for the record, I want to add that you can ADD a specific tag to the books that you want to publish (or to those you DON’T want to publish), without removing the other tags that you already have (as you said, downloaded metadata).
All best,
David.
David, if you are still here. I am using one of the earliest versions of calibre2opds and haven’t updated because what I have is working just fine. But will the newer versions put my topaz files in the catalog too?
Hi teebee,
I’m not sure what the Topaz format is, and which device you intent to use it with – is it the Kindle, accessing the HTML catalog generated by calibre2opds ?
Supporting a format is just a matter of adding it to the list of known formats, and giving it a coherent mimetype (for example, EPUB has “application/epub+zip”, and RTF has “text/rtf”)
As of the latest version, calibre2opds recognizes these formats : EPUB,TXT,ZIP,PRC,PDB,MOBI,LRF,LRX,FB2,RAR,PDF,RTF,LIT,DOC
If you give me the file extensions that TOPAZ uses, I can add it to the list for the next version…
All best,
David.
@David: It uses .tpz and .azw1. And yes it would be for a kindle through the html catalog. I downloaded the new version and looked at it a little. Is there any way on there to customize the catalog.html page by adding code/text? I found a way with the old one which is part of the reason I don’t want to upgrade. Thanks so much.
This is a great solution for those who don’t have a static IP address or who don’t want to leave their computer on 24/7. However, if you do have a computer with a persistent Internet connection and static IP that can be left on all the time, Calibre has a built-in server that generates both an ODPS catalog and an HTML listing.
In my opinion, it is error.
I could cry, I really could. I followed this tutorial, and everything is installed. I can see my books in my catalog on the website and on my iPad with Stanza, but how on earth do I read the books on Stanza? I can get the book information, I can get the front cover, but what I don’t have is a download button so I can actually read the damn book.
@Mary – with the new CalibreOPDS, you have the option of choosing what kind of catalog to create. The default is OPDS but you need to choose Stanza. Try doing that.
@Jane – Wow, I think I love you just a little now. In a non-creepy way. It works! Thank you so much. You have just neutralised half an hour of aneurysm-inducing frustration.
@Mary I had the same problem so I am glad that the solution worked for you.
Thanks Jane and Dave for all your help – I have worn my screen out going through all your tips, but I’ve finally got my catalogue on my Iphone with the facility to download (the last couple of posts were helpful there). Along the way I managed to duplicate my library into my catalogue and blew my Dropbox 2 gb limit, so had to delete and start again.
I have a couple of questions:
Dave, you were discussing above dividing the book catalogue by letter, but at the time people were using the pre-gui versions. To make the catalogue more manageable on my iphone, I would like to be able to look at the titles by letter ie all those starting with A, then B etc. But I’m not clear what boxes to check on the gui to achieve this.
My second question is about automatically updating the catalogue when new books are added. I noticed on MobileRead that Kovid mentioned that a plugin could do this. Do you know if anybody has written one? If not is it difficult, and how do I do it? (Nothing like running before I can walk).
Thank you once again for all your help.
Rachel
If someone out there could help me I’d be eternally grateful. I created the cloud and calibre is pulling up on both computers. YAY! But now I can’t add any books. This is the error message I’m getting from calibre
—————————
ERROR: ERROR: Unhandled exception
—————————
DatabaseException:no such function: uuid4
RemoteTraceback (most recent call last):
File “calibre\library\sqlite.pyo”, line 135, in run
OperationalError: no such function: uuid4
—————————
OK Hide Details…
—————————
I have tried putting files directly into calibre and also into dropbox (they went into dropbox but don’t show up in calibre and can’t be uploaded from dropbox into calibre)both attempts resulted in the error message. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks
@Jade I would go to MobileRead and ask there. Kovid, the creator of Calibre is there and is super helpful.
@Jane: Thanks!
Thanks for the directions. i am able to see the catalog from my iPhone, but am unable to download the actual book to my iphone. I can only look at the ebook cover. There is no dowload book option. Could you please help?
Thanks
@Ian the new OPDS required you to generate Stanza catalog. Look at the bottom center of the OPDS window for a dropdown selection of catalog type.
Followed this excellent guide.
Books from calibre to dropbox worked fine.
calibre2opds generated catolog.xml fine
Stanza sees catolog but has no download button?
Any ideas why?
@Matt:
oops just seen previous post sorry!
One easy way for people who jailbroke their idevice, just access the /private/var/mobile/Applications/xxxxx-xxxxx through ssh, where the folder has a folder named stanza.app. Then put files in /document.
Got a Nook? This are the steps to browse and download book from the cloud:
Calibre2opds side
1. Use the Default mode
2. Chose TROOK in the compatibility level
3. Press button Generate the catalogs
4. Exit Calibre2opds
Nook Side
1. use Trook
2. Go to My Feeds
3. Open using url from catalog.xml´s dropbox.
4. Bookmark it
5. Refresh… and voilá
You got a cloud e-book library on your Nook
This the other way to have an e-books on the cloud. http://www.nookboards.com/forum/index.php?topic=3263.0