PDAs and eBook Readers How-To
From Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free ebooks.
One of the nice things about Project Gutenberg eBooks is that they can be easily displayed on virtually any type of computer. Because we insist, whenever possible, on a plain text copy of our eBooks, in addition to other formats (such as HTML), readers are guaranteed to have a file they can easily display and edit.
Of course, some eBooks have particular formats (such as audio eBooks) or languages/character sets that might limit display capability, but the vast majority are also available in plain text. As time goes on, Project Gutenberg is adding more HTML eBooks, as well as eBooks in XML.
A common request is to convert Project Gutenberg eBooks for display on various handheld computers: PDAs, eBook readers, Pocket PCs, etc. There are many different brands and models of these devices, with different versions of software. We cannot try to keep track of every possible device here, but most devices have one or more Web sites dedicated to their use.
Here is some general guidance we have received from Project Gutenberg readers:
- Nearly all PDAs and eBook readers can display the Project Gutenberg plain text (.txt) files. Most can display HTML (.htm) and PDF files, as well.
- The greatest part of Project Gutenberg eBooks are available in the Plucker format. You have to get a Plucker Reader.
- A small number of Project Gutenberg files are available in .prc and .lit format. These can be found through the Advanced Search Page using the 'Filetype' option.
Tips and Tricks
Here are suggestions we have received from our readers:
- Palm OS up to release 4, and probably later, does not support .txt files stored on internal memory. You will have to convert to .pdb or .prc in order to store Project Gutenberg texts on these machines. However, some of these computers will support any text file on an external storage, like a memory stick. If you have any external storage, you should try storing it and reading it before converting it, just because converting it can be quite troublesome.
External Resources
We offer these links to external resources, in the hope they may be useful to people who wish to convert Project Gutenberg files to eBook formats, or to more effectively display the files on their devices:
- 10,000 eBooks for your PDA, the Gutenberg collection in different PDA formats.
- Blackmask Online offers many Project Gutenberg eBooks in different formats, including some eBooks and services that are fee-based. Unfortunately the website is down due to a lawsuit about the copyright of the Doc Savage books.
- Plucker, an ebook reader for your Palm. Comes with a 'distiller' and a 'desktop' for Linux and Windows. The distiller converts any HTML file into a Plucker file.
- Microsoft's reader software is available for download.
- A Mac OS X application, Pordible, can to convert .txt files to .pdb. It can be found at at http://pordible.victoly.com/
- Two applications for Game Boy Advance systems: http://www.bookreader.co.uk/ and http://members.optushome.com.au/dancotter/ebook.htm
If you know of other useful tips or sites for eBook reader software for PDAs and similar devices, please email webmaster@pglaf.org.
