Tag Archives: geek

Calibre install on Fedora 11 Beta

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I just completed a from scratch, from source install of calibre on my Fedora 11 beta laptop. As documented a couple of posts back, the laptop was installed using the Fedora 11 live USB install method. Here’s what I had to add, to get calibre to build and install:

For building calibre, I needed the following; just do a yum install; there will be a long list of dependencies brought in:

  1. python-setupdocs
  2. python-setuptools
  3. sip
  4. PyQt4
  5. PyQt4-devel
  6. gcc
  7. gcc-c++

Finally, do this:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/qt4/bin

Then, python setup.py build should cleanly build calibre.

To install calibre, I had to yum install the following:

  1. python-mechanize
  2. python-clientform
  3. python-lxml
  4. python-dateutil
  5. python-imaging
  6. python-BeautifulSoup

The python setup.py install worked without complaints. The calibre icon appeared in the Fedora menu, and all is well.

For me, calibre segfaults when being called from the Fedora menu, and the “View MOBI” option is selected. “View PDF” works fine. When I invoke calibre from the command line, all the view options work, irrespective of format. Not necessarily a calibre bug; I’ll check out the calibre release notes and trouble ticket, and poke around my setup a bit.

-k-

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A High-calibre Upgrade Bonus

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Fedora 11 includes an upgrade to python 2.6. This is a good thing: I can now install the latest, greatest calibre. calibre is a tool for managing e-book libraries, and is the descendant of the libprs500 software suite, which I used with success on the Sony e-reader.

With the Sony, I would have been totally in the weeds without libprs500. There was no way short of using a Windows computer to get one’s own content onto the device. libprs500 kept my Windows-free streak alive. After getting my Kindle, I thought the libprs/calibre tools wouldn’t be needed any longer, since the Kindle shows up as yet another USB storage device.

I had a previous version of calibre installed, pre Fedora upgrade. It is much more robust than the libprs500, and the graphical interface is much neater and cleaner.

After sending several PDFs and other documents to Amazon’s conversion service, I have not been overly impressed with the quality and readability of the converted items. libprs/calibre’s MOBI conversions are typically much better than anything else I’ve tried.

So, with part of the Kindle allure being the possibility of having a lot of sysadmin manuals on one easy-to-use device, I’m back on the calibre bandwagon.

I always install calibre from source on my Fedora systems; there are a lot of dependencies to install for calibre to work. I use the time tested method of build, install, run, let stuff blow up as missing dependencies are found, install missing dependencies. Repeat process until everything comes up cleanly.

Maybe I’ll take a shot at making a Fedora RPM for calibre, if for no other reason than to be ready for the next upgrade to Fedora.

-k-

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Beta++

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The /etc/redhat-release from my Toshiba laptop, gypsy, the closest to a production laptop I have:

Fedora release 10.92 (Rawhide)

I backed up my home directory, installed F11 from the live USB, and yum updated everything. Restored the home directory back, and let the Gnome desktop complain and delete things it didn’t like, and I’m rolling. Kind of a ham-fisted upgrade approach, but effective and fast.

Now, I’m installing stuff I use that’s not on the LiveCD (Thunderbird, Sunbird, Xchat, devilspie, etc), and the gypsy will be on the bleeding edge again.

The most distressing thing that doesn’t work is the Enigmail Thunderbird plug-in. I presume a newer Enigmail version is in the works. It’ll shine when it shines.

-k-

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Fedora Rules, Again

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I’ve been mucking about trying to get the latest Fedora 11 Beta updates for my Dell Mini; there is some problem with the Fedora mirror sites, as it happens. yum update simply didn’t, well, update. When the Mini gets too far behind, it beats its brains out updating; it’s not exactly a speed demon. Hence, I update it frequently.

I applied my somewhat limited recovery methods in an attempt to rectify the problem. A yum clean all, rpm –rebuilddb, yum update yielded nothing.

I then logged on to the #fedora-qa IRC channel, and lurked for a bit. Sure enough, the Fedora Rawhide mirrors were in a state of distress, and the Fedorans were on it. I think the problem was identified and fixed, and all that remained was the syncing of the mirrors, which is a paint-drying process in terms of time. Then, this little clip from IRC:

<dgrift> edit /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-rawhide.repo
<dgrift> in the top repo there add:
<dgrift> baseurl=http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/fedora/linux/development/$basearch/os/

Right on! I made the change, a yum clean, yum update, and the Dell Mini stands tall, upgraded. I’ll back this change out, once the mirrors are healthy, and all’s good.

Where else, anywhere, could you get free software, and free support for same, by only hanging out and observing? With the closed model, I’d be paying for support, getting telephone ear while someone, in broken English, struggled through a “customer support” script, wherein I’d be asked to try things I’d already done.

Part of the “payment” for free software is a burning desire to be involved, on whatever level necessary, in the resolution of your own problems; to fire up Uncle Google, check some on-line fora and chat channels, and understand what you’re doing.

Today, it worked like a charm.

-k-

Beta’ed Up

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Fedora 11 Beta
Between answering the stinking on-call pager, NCAA basketball, and going into work to salvage a project due date that was arbitrarily dumped on me by a gang of nitwits, I managed to get my Dell Mini upgraded to Leonidas, the Fedora 11 Beta Version.

Not having anything of value on the mini made it straightforward; download the LiveCD, transfer it to a USB stick, boot the mini, and copy the stuff to it. No problems, other than my wireless connection didn’t work out of the box. Using the wired connection, I pulled down a gargantuan set of updates (350 or so packages, IIRC), rebooted, and all was well in wireless land.

I figure if Fedora runs on the Dell Mini, it’ll run anywhere. That little Dell has come close to being an expensive frisbee on occasion; I should have waited for the larger screened Asus.

Live and learn.

I’ll put the F11 graphic in the sidebar as well. Go get it. Don’t cost nothin’.

-k-

CREATE South Donation Day

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Free conferences cost money to produce and promote. CREATE South is an just such an event; the second annual conference takes place on April 25, in Myrtle Beach SC. Today is CREATE South Donation Day; if you have a few bucks to spare for a non hoity-toity conference where people can share, learn, and teach, then CREATE South is the place to funnel them. Just go to CREATE South, click the Donate button, and let the good times roll. If you plan to attend, you may want to kick in a tad more. Why? Two words: chicken bog.

I’ve ponied up a few ducats myself; I say this, not to boast of my largesse, but to note that I put my money where this old blog is.

-k-

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Kindle Reading List

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The Kindle has been getting a workout the last few days. I took it along when I took MLB to ER last Saturday; it was along for the ensuing trip to the surgical waiting room, and I’ve taken it on my daily visits. I spend around six hours a day over there with her, not that I’m bringing much to the party. I was the “walk the halls” coordinator, helping her get ready, and then accompanying her on walks of the corridors. With the removal of many of the external drains, tubage, and other medical paraphernalia, that role is diminishing. She’s getting stronger, and is perfectly capable of going on solo hallway jaunts. And she has been. This is a good thing. My chief value add now is schlepping stuff from the house to the hospital; her hot rollers, cosmetic articles, the Wall Street Journal, and such like.

Hospitals are terrible places to sleep, even at night, so it’s not unusual for Morpheus to take her in tow to during the day. It’s then Kindle time. Here’s what I’ve been reading, along with my ratings expressed in units befitting the circumstances:

The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta. My fascination with time and life management books rolls on. Rating: 3/5 bedpans.

Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, by Thomas E. Woods Jr. Timely analysis of the current economic mess that you won’t see elsewhere, and a great, easy-to-read intro to Austrian Economic Theory. It all clicked with me. Rating: 5/5 bedpans.

Southern Fried Plus Six, by William Price Fox. A bunch of short stories, mostly set in South Carolina, during the 30′s and 40′s. Rating: 4/5 bedpans.

The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch. Gutwrenching, sad, funny and uplifting all at the same time. Excellent, though probably not one to be reading while your wife is being operated on. Rating: 5/5 bedpans.

The King James Bible. No, I didn’t read the whole thing, just a few Psalms; Psalm 100 and 121 come to mind. No rating here, but the comfort provided was out of this world good.

On deck for tomorrow; started it today:

Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan, by Suze Orman.

Probably more reading of non job-related stuff than I’ve done in a long time.

-k-

One Expensive Bird Cage Liner

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The first full day of the Kindle 2 is in the books. It works well at work; downloads from the Kindle store come through rapidly. This didn’t shock me; Amazon’s Whispernet is powered by Sprint, and my Sprint wireless card has worked well within the confines of my cubicle.

I came across an interesting article today; it makes the claim, backed up with what I think are plausible numbers, that printing the New York Times costs twice as much as sending every subscriber a free Kindle.

Reading daily newsprint is not a custom ingrained in me. I will admit that there’s something comforting in the opening, folding, and turning pages of a dead tree newspaper, but it’s something I just don’t do anymore. If I read a paper daily, I’d consider a subscription via the Kindle.

And there are the Kindle disadvantages:

  • One may be averse to reading the Kindle in the crapper throne room.
  • It’s damned hard, and expensive, to either wrap a fish or line a bird cage with a Kindle.
  • It’s also hard to complete a crossword puzzle on a Kindle.

-k-

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Kindled

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It arrived a day early, not that I’m complaining; my Kindle 2 arrived today.

It’s still charging, but that hasn’t prevented me from renaming the device1, reconfiguring its email address, and establishing a whitelist for emailing to-be-converted documents. I also managed to download a few books as well, and also sent a PDF for conversion.

First impressions:

  1. The screen is as sharp as advertised.
  2. Amazon’s Whispernet rocks. The one-minute download is no exaggeration.
  3. The navigation keys are a little stiff. Not the tactile sensation I expected, but then I’m new here.
  4. The PDF conversion process worked well, and the PDF looks great.

I’m tickled so far. For the record, my first book download was Moonshine Light, Moonshine Bright, from South Carolina’s William Price Fox. Even though he lives in Baltimore now, this book is one of my all-time favorites.

More to follow, as we put this rig through its paces in the tbbs test labs. Thus far, I’m impressed with the Kindle, and with Amazon, for having the infrastructure in place to support it from the day one rollout.

Tomorrow, show and tell at work.

-k-

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1 Kenneth’s Kindle seems so pedestrian for such a device.

Fixin’ to Kindle

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I don’t know when or if I’ll ever learn that assing up in my chair, watching NASCAR, and sipping a few brews can be an expensive proposition. Especially with a too-handy netbook. Yesterday, I ordered a Kindle 2.

It should arrive later this week. My Sony 500 reader performs well; it is somewhat of a PITA getting manuals formatted to display properly on it.

I’m looking forward to the Kindle, and I’m anxious to email a PDF to the Kindle’s address, and have Amazon do the converting for me. If this works aceptably well, I’ll be tickled pink.

I also have an urge to read something which isn’t subtitled The Definitive Guide, and Amazon has many interesting titles for cheap.

Looking forward to it; prepare yourself for the rash of posts that will ensue, either lovin’ it or cussin’ it.

-k-