PDFRead 1.8.2 released!

03:47 PM

PDFRead is a tool for converting non-DRMed PDF and DJVU documents for reading on eBook devices. It does this by creating an image out of each page, enhancing the image and then collating the images in a device-specific format.

The Windows GUI and Installer is NOT mac-friendly, but the source code is python which can be made to work on Mac OS X using the detailed installation instructions: PDFRead 1.8.2 working on Mac OS X or Update to Mac OS X 10.5.x (Tiger) and pulling together useful links.

SUPPORTS:
• Input Formats: .PDF / .DJVU / .TIFF / .CBZ / .CBR and also Imglist/Imgdir (i.e. .JPG / .PNG / .GIF / .TIF / .BMP)
• Output Formats: .IMP / .RB / .OEB / .HTML / .LRF / .PRC
• eBook readers: EBW1150 / REB1200 / REB1100 / PRS-500 / PRS-505 / KINDLE / CYBOOK GEN 3 / ILIAD

PDFRead was created by Ashish Kulkarni and announced, over a year ago, in the thread 'PDFRead 1.7 released'.

I (Nick Rapallo) have been hacking PDFRead v1.7 since fall 2007 (prior to my join date here) and became a developer along with Ashish Kulkarni.

REQUIRED: You must have the (free) eBook Publisher software previously installed to facilitate the conversions to .imp and .oeb. You can install the eBook Publisher software by going here. Then choose to download and install the current version ( Win_eBookPub_2.2.5.exe ).

EDIT: Note you MUST enter your own Title, Author and Category in the GUI screen for the Conversion to begin, otherwise it won't start. (If you don't really need them, just enter 1, 2, 3 or T, A, C.)

I have implemented some enhancements and fixed minor bugs in PDFRead 1.8.2

Changes in this release:

Changelog [2008-04-16] 1.8.2 (by NR)

• added an 'imgdir' In Format where you can select any image in a directory and have all images (files) in that directory loaded. This is similar to an 'imglist' but creates its own list of filenames without needing a (previously created) text file.
• for .prc output, removed current limitation on image sizes (480 max. width) and now use a modified 'html2mobi.exe' program. This should no longer cause large white margins. Cybook Gen 3 users are cautioned that images larger than 480x640 may crash your ereader. Please limit the Size H: and V:! An alternative solution exists with 'mobi2mobi --gen3imagefix' offered by tompe's MobiPerl.
• remembers last 'Output' directory upon startup, but you will need to edit destination filename or may overwrite previous output. To reset it, just type 'default'.

Previous changes:

[2008-03-30] 1.8.1 (by NR)

• can now install PDFRead to a different drive than your C: drive; just keep the same subdirectory structure for the GUI options file to be loaded properly.
• now uses, as a default, the input filename as the output filename (without file extension).
• added .prc output format support using opf2mobi.exe from Mobiperl by tompe on mobileread.com.
• added .cbz/.cbr input support for Comic books using unrar.exe and creating a (sorted) list of image filenames.
• tweaked and added Profiles for PRS500, PRS505, PRC-Mobi (Kindle and Cybook Gen 3), iLiad. On REB1200 only provides a 2 pixel left and right margin to avoid bleeding into the edge of the screen.
The default Profiles are:

Code:

        PROFILE      Hres  Vres  Layout Mode  Rotate  Colors  Colorspace  Format
       ebw1150   :  319   446   landscape      left           16     gray        imp2
       ebw1150-p:  319   446   landscape      left           16     gray        imp2
       reb1200    :  468   595   landscape      left           16     gray        imp1
       reb1200-p :  468   595   portrait         none         16     gray        imp1
       reb1200C  :  468   595   landscape      left         256     rgb         imp1
       reb1200Cp :  468   595   portrait        none        256     rgb         imp1
       reb1100    :  312   472   landscape      left             2     gray        rb 
       prs500     :   583   753   landscape      right           4     gray        lrf 
       prs500-p  :   583   753   portrait        none            4     gray        lrf 
       prs505     :   583   753   landscape      right           8     gray        lrf 
       prs505-p  :   583   753   portrait        none            8     gray        lrf 
       prc-mobi  :   520   640   landscape      right           4     gray        prc 
       prc-mobi-p:  520   640   portrait        none            4     gray        prc 
       iLiad        :   768   935   landscape      right          16     gray        prc 
       iLiad-p     :   768   935   portrait        none           16     gray        prc 
       generic    :   600   800   landscape      left          256     rgb         html
       generic-p :   600   800   portrait        none         256     rgb         html
        
        Note:  Profile appended with '-p' means portrait; with 'C' means Color.

• FIX: fixed simple bug in imglist routine which halts process using text file with image filenames
• FIX: portrait modes now ignore rotation preference
• cover page used in resulting ebook now includes author in addition to title and TOC (if any).
• changed default category to 'PDFRead_Converted'
• added PDFRead source to MobileRead Dev Hub

[2008-03-12] 1.8 (by AK and NR)

• improved Windows GUI; added more user options and now remembers most choices using the 'pdfread.ini' configuration file. (to revert to program's defaults, just erase 'pdfread.ini')
• added 'generic' Profile along with two new output formats: 'oeb' (OEBFF) and 'html'. ('html' opens the temp directory where the images are stored)
• added new landscape Layout Modes: 'landscape-third' (with three fixed pages); 'landscape-full' (with one fixed page); 'landscape-2col' (with four quadrants/pages);
• added new portrait Layout Modes: 'portrait-full' (with one fixed page); 'portrait-2col' (with four quadrants/pages);
• now strips output document file extension, and appends 'Out Format' extension to it automatically.
• tweaked Profiles and changed maximum display size for EBW1150 and REB1200. Now allows for a 2 pixel left and right margin to avoid bleeding into the edge of the screen (only for REB1200). The default Profiles are:

Code:

  • ebw1150   = {hres: 315, vres: 440, mode: landscape, rotate: left,  colors: 16,  colorspace: gray, format: imp2}
  • reb1200   = {hres: 468, vres: 595, mode: landscape, rotate: left,  colors: 16,  colorspace: gray, format: imp1}
  • reb1200-p = {hres: 468, vres: 595, mode: portrait,  rotate: none,  colors: 16,  colorspace: gray, format: imp1}
  • reb1200C  = {hres: 468, vres: 595, mode: landscape, rotate: left,  colors: 256, colorspace: rgb,  format: imp1}
  • reb1200Cp = {hres: 468, vres: 595, mode: portrait,  rotate: none,  colors: 256, colorspace: rgb,  format: imp1}
  • reb1100   = {hres: 310, vres: 468, mode: landscape, rotate: left,  colors: 2,   colorspace: gray, format: rb  }
  • prs500    = {hres: 565, vres: 754, mode: landscape, rotate: right, colors: 4,   colorspace: gray, format: lrf }
  • prs500-p  = {hres: 565, vres: 754, mode: portrait,  rotate: none,  colors: 4,   colorspace: gray, format: lrf }
  • generic   = {hres: 600, vres: 800, mode: portrait,  rotate: none,  colors: 256, colorspace: rgb,  format: oeb }

• added command-line option '-r' to indicate rotation; '--colorspace' to specify gray or color output; '--color' to override number of colors used; '--overlap_h' and '--overlap_v' to override default overlap between pages.
• added 'colorspace' type to specify output color: gray (max. 16 shades) or rgb (max. 256 colors from 16M)
• added 'color' as an option to use images with fewer colors and thereby reducing output file size proportionately.
• fixed imglist option to allow for relative files to the directory where the text list resides; no longer need full pathnames. (DaleDe's suggestion)
• fixed problem with (broken) list generation introduced by eBook Publisher.
• placing an empty file called 'debug' in the PDFRead home directory will allow the temp directory to not be deleted at completion.

I will continue to maintain PDFRead, hopefully only minor bug fixes and/or enhancements will be needed.

TO DO:
- add GUI option to select between MinFilter 3 (orig) or MinFilter 5 (new) dilate.
- add Mini tutorial to get the best use out of converting into supported ebook formats for the various eBook reader devices.

Enjoy!

INSTALLATION (extras!):

EDIT: 14 Oct 2008 - FOR SONY USERS (fixed that Sony .lrf bug that stretched short pages!)
After executing the PDFRead Installer, from pdfread-MinFilter3-mod-bin.zip unzip the modified PDFRead 1.8.2.1 bin files (using the original MinFilter 3 dilate) into the bin directory and overwrite the existing files. Should you wish to try the new MinFilter 5 dilate, unzip pdfread-MinFilter5-mod-bin.zip into the bin directory instead! (Note: you may have to increase the DPI to 500 when using the MinFilter 5 dilate to get acceptable results!)

EDIT: 8 Mar 2009 - FOR KINDLE/iLIAD/CYBOOK USERS (fixed that .jpg quality compromise imposed on .prc files!)
After executing the PDFRead Installer, from NRhtml2mobi.zip unzip the modified NRhtml2mobi.exe into the bin directory and overwrite the existing file. It's a hack that may render the .prc unreadable on Palm PDA's or even the Cybook Gen 3. In those cases, use mobi2mobi with the --gen3imagefix switch as indicated above.

Note: A Kindle 2 specific resolution (480x622) has been found to best work with no blank pages in between.

EDIT: 7 Jan 2011 - A (original).pdf** to (enhanced/cropped).pdf method has been devised, but not yet included within the PDFRead GUI program. It's available in this post. Contains a modified pdfread.exe executable that now limits the expansion of small cropped pages to a more reasonable level (finally!).

**Actually, you can use any Input Format (.PDF / .DJVU / .TIFF / .CBZ / .CBR ) in lieu of just .PDF!

Previous version downloads: 249

03-13-2008, 04:40 PM

Reserved for updated Tutorial and FAQ.

FAQ: What does a 'Profile' do?

The 'Profile' box contains the default settings for each "device". If you select a profile from the drop-down box, then the various default options are loaded in. Afterwards, 'Processing' options can be selected to override these defaults. The 'Out Format' box selects the resulting ebook format to be generated. It also overrides the default settings.

The 'reb1200C' Profile retains 256 colors (but uses 16M colors prior to doing the conversion) while the 'reb1200' (note no 'C' suffix) produces a 16 grayshade image. A profile name with the a '-p' suffix denotes a Portrait one as without it defaults to landscape.

FAQ: When I view a 1150 .IMP why does it open up as a 1200 .IMP?

What can go wrong is a 'bug' that has reared its head before, namely the 1150 .imp "thinks" its a 1200 .imp. The solution, in the past, has been to re-install the eBook Publisher software. That usually cures the problem!

FAQ: Why does GEB (eBookwise) Librarian fail to properly transfer/load the resulting .IMP?

GEB Librarian can get confused if BOTH the 1150 .imp and 1200 .imp are in the same bookshelf when being uploaded. I think it has to do with the same 'Unique Edition ID' being used for both versions made from the same input. The solution here is to NOT put BOTH in the same bookshelf; use one for your 1150 ebooks and another for the 1200 ebooks.

FAQ: I am converting to .imp output format, but I get an error from the 'generate_imp' module. Why does it fail?

REQUIRED: You must have the (free) eBook Publisher software previously installed to facilitate the conversions to .imp and .oeb.

You can install the eBook Publisher software by going here. Then choose to download and install the current version ( Win_eBookPub_2.2.5.exe ).

FAQ: Why does PDFRead create stray pages or small leftover bits?

When rotating your input, if you want the output to be split over just two page flips, then select 'landscape-half' as your Layout Mode. For everything on one page only, select 'landscape-full'. The default 'landscape' mode will split over the maximum number of page flips so that the full width is displayed. There is also 'landscape-2col' which will display quadrants of the page over four page flips.

FAQ: What is an 'imglist' in the 'In Format' drop-down box?

To use the 'imglist' input format just create a text file with a list of filenames in any image directory, then you can get a mini color photo album. The easiest way to get this list of filenames is to open the command prompt in your image directory and issue the dos command:

Code:

dir /b /on >list.txt

Then open list.txt from PDFRead. Happy Converting!

FAQ: What is an 'imgdir' in the 'In Format' drop-down box?