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Suggestion: A book reader application (epub, pdf, txt, mobi) [answered]

asked 2014-01-05 03:20:34 +0200

krig gravatar image

updated 2014-02-01 19:42:52 +0200

hzb gravatar image

Key features:

  • Format support (epub and pdf are the most important ones)
  • Bookmarking / remembering the position in each book
  • Speed
  • Font choice

Is anyone working on an app like this? Is there an open source library for epub parsing that could be used?

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The question has been closed for the following reason "the question is answered, an answer was accepted" by tokaru
close date 2015-07-15 20:39:53.411957

Comments

2

Perhaps some Fbreader - AFAIR there is a N9/950 version ?

flywheel ( 2014-01-05 05:12:37 +0200 )edit
2

PDF is already handled by the Documents Jolla app. It would be nice if the other formats would be supported by it as well, in order to make it your central documents "hub" (pardon the Windows Phone jargon).

pycage ( 2014-01-05 11:22:58 +0200 )edit

I'm also looking for an E-Book app. I have tried some Android apps, but some want the epub files in directories that do not exist or are readonly (e.g. /media). Something like Ionic for the N9 would be cool.

Venty ( 2014-01-05 13:55:08 +0200 )edit
2

pycage: Yeah, I know about the PDF support in the Documents app, but it's not really suitable for book reading. It doesn't remember the reading positions, and there is not much control over page display. But I'd be happy with Documents gaining epub support!

krig ( 2014-01-05 18:03:23 +0200 )edit
2

@krig, @Venty Try "Document Viewer" from F-Droid repo. It is MUCH faster than the builtin Documents app

See also FBreader (from F-Droid) until there comes (I hope) port to Jolla. For book format conversion try calibre.

ortylp ( 2014-01-05 18:13:00 +0200 )edit

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35

answered 2014-01-07 10:37:53 +0200

I'm working currently on EBook reader. It's current features:

  • FB2 support (with other formats in mind, it's a matter of a time or help)
  • Speed (I see mostly no lugs and it works much faster than FBReader in alien dalvik)
  • Font settings (Family, size, weight, italic and so on)
  • Remember of current position for each book
  • Local library

TODO:

  • More settings
  • Bookmarks
  • OPDS
  • More formats (epub, mobi2).

Don't see any reason to implement pdf, isn't it document viewer task?

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Comments

Awesome! All my books are in epub format so I'd be happy for epub support, but since this is open source, I might even be able to add that myself :)

For PDF support, what I want really is for the document viewer to be faster and to remember position in the document. I have some books in PDF format.

krig ( 2014-01-07 11:09:20 +0200 )edit

please stop duplicating work, just port fbreader... or use its parts as library

ortylp ( 2014-01-07 18:21:24 +0200 )edit
5

I'm author of FBreader's port to MeeGo Harmattan (n9/n950). There are several critical issues in FBReader's C++ version: 1. Rendering engine supports only rendering of 1 page per time. 2. Network library is totally broken. 3. Synchornous architecture which leads to slow and unconvinient behaviour.

Elessar ( 2014-01-07 18:33:58 +0200 )edit

@Elessar so thanks for the N9 port. As I have to work with (very) legacy code myself I can understand your view. Anyway it would be useful for the community if it were possible to create a few libraries with cleanly defined interfaces for some clearly defined subtasks. Target: reuse libraries.

ortylp ( 2014-01-07 19:11:34 +0200 )edit
2

PDF support in Documents Jolla app is terrible and extremely slow. Document Viewer (F-Droid) beats it by far.

ortylp ( 2014-01-07 19:15:35 +0200 )edit
7

answered 2015-07-15 13:13:14 +0200

dez gravatar image

@slava published his FBReader engine-based application "Books" in the Jolla Store.

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5

answered 2014-03-12 16:50:48 +0200

tokaru gravatar image

An FBReader port is now available on openrepos.

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The ported FBReader is still in early alpha according to the author. It crashes a lot and not properly using Sailfish UI conventions in addition to other bugs. So at this stage it's more a "better than nothing" app, while you can find android apps that work better. So I'd really like a proper Sailfish native app.

spacenewt ( 2014-03-12 17:19:25 +0200 )edit

@spacenewt - is the source available on git anywhere? Maybe people, myself included, would be able to help.

mikelima ( 2014-03-12 17:52:18 +0200 )edit

@mikelima, you'll need to ask the author directly somehow. He's not even allowing comments on openrepos, so I don't know. Here's the link to the openrepos page: https://openrepos.net/content/ellefj/fbreader

spacenewt ( 2014-03-12 17:58:35 +0200 )edit

Could this project be expanded with a browser for project Gutenberg titles too? https://together.jolla.com/question/26242/reader-for-project-gutenberg-books/

vattuvarg ( 2014-03-12 18:59:40 +0200 )edit

Great! Do you want to have a port page on fbreader.org?

geometer ( 2014-03-12 19:55:16 +0200 )edit
3

answered 2014-03-12 19:15:40 +0200

corsarium gravatar image

updated 2014-04-02 11:38:11 +0200

Hello everybody!

It will be posible to add that functionality to the jolla document application?. In my opinion is better to have a "really good" application with several backends to deal with the X type of file, but well, its just my opinion.

  • Media, for handling audio and video
  • Gallery, for handling photos and image stuff (png, jpgs, bmp, gif......)
  • Documents, for handling (txt, doc, xlt, pub, mobi.......)

Regards

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1

answered 2014-04-01 23:43:39 +0200

umko gravatar image

Currently, there is a indiegogo campaign set up by the author of NSRReader, a great app for MeeGo for viewing PDFs, TIFFs etc. He needs support for porting it professionally for Sailfish: https://together.jolla.com/question/37136/nsr-reader-pdf-djvu-tiff-and-txt-app-crowd-funding-campaign/

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Asked: 2014-01-05 03:20:34 +0200

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Last updated: Jul 15 '15