I cannot believe I am asking for help on a computer problem, but I’m going in circles and cannot figure out what my problem is:
I have a BUNCH of PDF eBooks that people have sent me. I also have a Treo 600, and I can sync it to my Apple PowerBook, or to Hubby’s PC. But I cannot get a PDF reader onto the Treo so I can READ the freaking eBooks! I have loaded the PDFs themselves onto an SD card, and yet I can’t get a reader onto the Treo to open them.
I’ve tried Adobe Reader for Palm: when I install it via the Mac, it doesn’t see the PDFs on the SD card. When I try to install on the PC, I run the .exe file and get… nothing. Not even a file to install on the Treo.
I’ve also tried PalmPDFReader, I think it’s called, and every freaking time it said, “Oh, I can’t find my fonts!” Well, I can’t install your freaking fonts either! GAAAAH!
So – anyone have any suggestions as to what program I should install and use to read the nice files I have to entertain me? HELP!
I’m guessing you’re going to have to read it on the laptop.
See, now that is just a pain in the petard. But I think you may be right. Either that or I go score myself an ebook reader device off ebay or something. Gah!
What version of Adobe for Palm OS did you try? Version 3.0 doesn’t support Treo 90 (don’t know what you have), so you may need to try an earlier version. Download.com probably has them.
I have a Pocket PC, so really can’t help much. Hope you get it figured out.
Are you running OSX 10.2 on the Mac? Any other sys info that might be relevant?
http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/support/index.php?pf=kb&page=index_v2&id=8&c=
try posting the forum here or writing to the guide
http://palmtops.about.com/
Euri
I went through hell with readers trying to read a pdf on a Windows CE OS (Viewsonic V210) and I learned to just call it a day. The PDA handheld world will suck up your soul if you let it. Nothing is compatible from version to version. If those bastards don’t merge and set a standard platform they are going to end up calling themselves door~stops~R~us.
I use Palm personally and program Windows CEs for work.
Well, I did get Adobe Reader to work great on my PPC. I have more trouble with MS Reader, actually.
Also, are you up to date on your current Adobe on your computer? I had to do some things through that to get mine to work with everything.
You are so right about compatability issues with handhelds, FFlB. It’s beyond irritating.
I’m going to try an earlier version of Adobe reader for Palm, but I might just have to convert the PDFs to text and try another reader, like iSilo or something else.
I am running OSX 10.3.9 on a Powerbook, and have a Treo 600 running Palm 5.2.1
And seriously, this thing is going to be chucked into the snowbank very very soon.
Hmm. Perhaps what I need is to download a Palm ebook reader, and convert the PDFs to that format. Good Lord – how do epublishers manage this for customers?!
Sarah, I’m running the Palm eReader 2.6.1 on my Clié, and its files are in PDB format. My PalmOS version is 5.2. I think there are some freeware utilities that will allow you to convert from PDF to PDB. I’ve never tried Adobe on the Clié because I got started with the Palm reader first. It has worked so well that I never got around to trying Adobe.
I agree—managing the different formats must be a big headache for epublishers!
I have a PDF reader on my Palm Tungsten E. I don’t about Treo.
Question: were they just gifts, or were they handed off for review?
If they were review copies, try contacting the publisher and asking for HTML or Palm, which you should be able to work with. Publishers in general don’t mind helping out reviewers with different formats.
I found this version recommended by someone who uses a Treo 600..
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
BUT…it appears to only work under Windows XP. You may have the classic Micro$oft war issue.
OK… First the good news – you shouldn’t have a problem with either the OSX or the Palm OS 5.2.1., which, according to this page, http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforpalm.html shoul,d work.
The bad news. you are about to enter DRM hell. No – it’s not a rootkit, it’s just the only way (that I know of) to get the PDF books on your palm PDF reader is to install them through Adobe Reader (v. 6 or 7 – nothing earlier) ON your computer… Yep. That’s right. Can’t just load ‘em up on an SD card. The computer and the Palm must communicate the PDF DRM voodoo to one another (plus, Adobe on your computer does do some file optimization to the PDF in preparation to put things on your palm). You also need to use Adobe Reader (or Acrobat) to “authorize” your handheld as a “yes, I will bow down and let you read this hallowed content on the go”-known device.
Now, I have Acrobat Pro 7.0 and am working on a PC, but I believe you will find what you need on the Advanced->Digital Editions menu pick. If you can get that far with just Adobe Reader, the online help should take you the rest of the way. If you’ve got Acrobat Pro, hey cool. You’re in business.
Unfortunately (ready for the worst?)…
Acrobat on the Palm is not the greatest reader out there. Weird things happen to PDF files when they are optimized for the Palm and text gets moved around in wonky ways. I try to avoid Adobe Reader for eBooks except for those that come in no other format but PDF. (Which is becoming less and less true unless you want to read something like a high level computer language book. Then you’re screwed.)
I use Adobe Reader on the Palm for library books I can check out from the New York Public Library (a perk of living in the Adirondacks, believe it or not). But only if I’m not patient enough to wait for the MobiPocket reader version to become available.
Of the 3 readers that do DRM on the Palm, I prefer MobiPocket. eReader is right behind MobiPocket. There are zounds of PDA nerds on mobileread.com who will poo poo this because I’m not trying to get around or away from DRM as quickly as possible. Personally, I’d rather read a legal copy (translation: **works for publishing company**).
Oh – and the PDF and MobiPocket books I check out from the library do time bomb after 21 days – but you can always go check it out again (if there isn’t a waiting list).
Hope this helps you decide whether or not it’s worth going through the time and pain of loading up the Treo, or if you just wanna chuck the Treo in the snow and read a paperback.
-Meezergrrrl
The good news: I found a converter that has easily turned my PDFs into Palm eReader documents.
Gemini 5
The bad news: the trial substitutes random words with “Xxxxx” – and the full version?
$160. Dear LORD.
Oh my, and when they say “random words substituted with XXXxxx” they mean EVERY OTHER FREAKING WORD.
But wow, the converter works like a damn dream.
Hmm. $160. Worth it?
I had the same experience with the Adobe Reader on my old Psion, Meezergrrrl, which was one of the reasons I moved to PocketPC and the Microsoft Reader. That PPC was on the hefty side because it was one of those early PDA phones, so eventually I sold it for a much smaller Clié UX-50. I’ve used both MobiPocket and Palm eReader, and either is a good choice. When I reloaded my PDA software a year ago, I installed only one reader, and if I recall correctly, it was pretty much a toss-up between the two of them.
Celeste –
I’m with you. I was carrying a Kyocera 7135 Palm phone, but made the decision to go back to a “phone is a phone, and a PDA is a eBook reader/MP3 Player/Toy” when my car broke down between a cow passing sign and a tractor passing sign on my way to work one day.
The 7135 was a shitty phone on a good day. The Palm features were resource intensive, and this meant the thing pretty much crashed whenever I tried to make a call without a completely charged battery.
I got the $100 off deal from Audible on my Tungsten E2 and now I’m a happy camper as I have at least 15 eBooks and 10 audio books on one SD card. I’m ready to be bored anywhere, anytime.
Sarah –
Yikes! $160 is not the solution, unless you can find a way to deduct it as a business expense. As much as I hate to say it, try the Advanced->Digital Editions menu in Acrobat. It actually does work once you figure it out. Of course, if you bill hourly, $160 could equal the time you took to figure it out… hmmm. But then there’s that who to bill thing, and…
How many eBooks are we talking here? 100s? I wouldn’t spend $160 for any less than that.
‘Yikes! $160 is not the solution, unless you can find a way to deduct it as a business expense.’
If the books are being read for review purposes, you most likely can. Smart Bitches qualified as a business once the ad sales started.
If youre going to spend hours trying to fix the Adobe you might as well spend the time converting the stuff to text then moving it to Mobipocket or isilo. I never got Mobipocket to work correctly for me, but I do heart iSilo. So much so that I’ve considered paying for the full version, which, if you knew me, would really mean something. I also use Plucker on occasion but I’ve found that it conks out after a while and stops converting stuff. That might just be my wonky version though.
Unless all of your ebooks are 1) brand new or 2) from large publishers and not the Ellora’s Cave sort I can’t see why they’d have DRM on them. Last I checked EC didn’t use DRM and therefore the loading them into Acrobat then converting shouldn’t be necessary.
If the PDFs aren’t copy-protected, go to eReader.com and grab a copy of DropBook for Mac. Convert the PDF to text, drag the file into DropBook and you have Palm Reader files.
They will lack formatting, but they will be readable.
I’ve been following all of this with great interest, not because I understand any of the technical end of it, but because as an ebook author I’m concerned with anything that stands in the way of readers accessing my novels.
If Sarah’s having such a hard time, and she’s highly motivated to make this work, what’s going to happen with all the less tech savvy people I’m trying to lure to ebooks?
I will say that most publishers give you a choice of formats when you download. Nonetheless, we need more standardization and ease of access if this new world of reading is going to be successful. It needs to be almost as easy as pulling a paperback off the shelf.
I can expense the purchase of Gemini5 as a SBTB business expense, but we’re not talking hundreds of eBooks. We’re talking, like six! The discussion of Palm vs CE, Phone/Handheld vs. Phone and Handheld separate is curious, but Darlene is right – somewhere there must be a way to make eBooks easy for people to read without proprietary formatting issues that still allows for protecting the author’s copyright.
Off to try DropBook.
See, all this talk just gave me a panic attack and a techie headache. Since all I really want is to be able to read e-books, and I don’t have enough stuff going on that I actually need a Palm for organization, etc, I went ahead and invested in the ebookwise. http://www.ebookwise.com A lit.tle over $100 and it works like a dream. I use rocketbook format when I can get it, but .html also works.
And Sarah, if any of the e-books are ones that I sent you, let me know and I can send you an alternate format, no problem.
Try asking on the Fictionwise loop. Most of their posts focus on formats and conversions and other technical stuff on readers and files. There’s bound to be someone there who knows where you can get a free or reasonably priced converter that will allow you to change your PDF files into files that are more friendly for your reader. Heck, your question may have already been answered in their archives, even.
And all this time I thought it was more embarassing to be a pornographer than a romance writer.
Thank you Smart Bitches for disabusing me of that misapprehension.
-TC
Assphincter says what?
Have any of you tried http://www.blackmask.com? They have an immense library of public domain works in eBook format. At one point, I had over 100 of them on the PDA’s memory stick.
I love Black Mask. It’s where I get all my Doc Savage books. Rowwwwwwr!
Or the forbidden novels of Mrs. Radcliffe! I’d always heard them mentioned in historical romances, but blackmask.com was the first place I ever saw them.
Give repligo a try: http://www.cerience.com
It’s $30 and can turn any document that can be printed into a repligo doc. I love the zoom and text reflowing options and performance always sizzles compared to that of handheld pdf readers. I can squeeze more on my sd cards due to the smaller repligo file sizes.
I’m an old school palmdoc user, but like that repligo files can be read on my palm, my pocket pc and windows desktop.