[GNC] Build 4.8 docs issue

Mon Oct 4 15:01:58 EDT 2021

That seems to be about the formats that are accepted through their KDP publishing service, not the readers themselves, and that if one wants one's book to be usable on e-ink Kindles like Arthur's the choices are now plain text or PDF. 

We don't use that service so it's a bit irrelevant, isn't it?

Regards,
John Ralls

> On Oct 4, 2021, at 8:16 AM, Dale Alspach <alspachde at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> An explanation of the *conversion process* used by Amazon for kindle is
> given here https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200634390.
> Note that MOBI is not supported for new documents.
> 
> Dale
> 
> 
> On Sun, Oct 3, 2021 at 9:32 PM A Harvey <gah1178 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Addressing the messages in reverse order.
>> I should have been more precise.  All my comments have assumed the user has
>> an Kindle e-reader, i.e. "Kindle", "Kindle Paperwhite" or "Kindle Oasis".
>> I thought the "Kindle Fire" was or is a tablet, not just an e-reader.  I
>> know very little about the Fire.  I think it has a color display and does
>> stuff one might expect a tablet to do including download and run apps.
>> 
>> With respect to how to get documents onto a Kindle, either of the methods I
>> briefly described will work for any format supported by the Kindle.  I have
>> a bunch of books I bought from a non-Amazon site that lets one download a
>> purchased book in multiple formats.  This site offers PDF, ePub and MOBI.
>> I uploaded books in all 3 formats (including ePub) from my PC to my Amazon
>> account by emailing the books, as attachments, to the email address
>> supplied by Amazon for that purpose.  My Kindle will display all of these
>> in the list of documents for my personal library.  WiFi connection
>> required, of course. If I want to read them, I can download them from my
>> library at Amazon to my Kindle device over the network. They remain stored
>> on the device until I decide to remove them.  I can read the PDF version,
>> with some pain as I mentioned. I can read the MOBI version without any
>> trouble.  If I try to read the ePub, I get an error essentially telling me
>> it can't decipher that.
>> 
>> I have also loaded various format docs from my PC to my Kindle via a USB
>> cable.  I find the email method to be much easier and faster than
>> connecting the device to my PC.  Also, I can load the books from my library
>> to the Android Kindle app and to the Windows app in the same way as I do
>> for the Kindle device.
>> 
>> With respect to handling HTML as a document, it works fine if there is only
>> a *single* HTML file with no other files required.  I don't think this
>> would work very well for the GNC documentation if it requires any other
>> files of any type including HTML or a directory structure.  I think
>> Amazon has a section on its web site with information for authors.  I have
>> not looked at this and don't know if it has suggestions that would help for
>> the GNC documentation.
>> 
>> Regarding Amazon dropping MOBI, I hadn't heard about Amazon dropping MOBI
>> support from their readers.  There would be a large number of pissed-off
>> people who bought content from Amazon in MOBI years ago. I'm guessing they
>> require any new books that are sold through Amazon to be one of the AZW
>> formats as I think they have better formatting capabilities and make it
>> harder to remove DRM.  I haven't investigated that carefully so don't quote
>> me.
>> 
>> I tried the link from flywire
>> https://gnucash-docs-rst.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
>> in the "Experimental Browser" (I'm thinking that the browser has been
>> around maybe 10 or more years.  An endless experiment).  I was happy that
>> it loaded more quickly than I expected.  Most of my time was spent trying
>> to correctly type the url.  Using links to navigate worked fine.  One must
>> remember that the Kindle display is black and white only so everything is
>> grayscale.  Also, it has the same size issue as does PDF.  The entire page
>> is loaded and the only way to enlarge text is by zooming in.  No reflow of
>> that document.
>> 
>> I also loaded a single HTML document to the device and displayed it as I
>> would any other book . It works fine. Text reflows and it follows links to
>> locations that are within the document.
>> 
>> Hope some of this information proves useful.
>> -Arthur
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Sun, Oct 3, 2021 at 7:24 PM D. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> The app question depends on the type of Kindle you're using. The Fire has
>>> supported apps in the past, but more bare bones Kindles don't.
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* A Harvey
>>> *Sent:* Sun Oct 03 15:30:50 EDT 2021
>>> *To:* "D."
>>> *Cc:* flywire , Gnucash Users
>>> *Subject:* Re: [GNC] Build 4.8 docs issue
>>> 
>>> Flywire and D.
>>> Thanks for the suggestions.  I will try them tonight and report back.
>>> 
>>> The Kindle has what Amazon calls the "Experimental Browser".  I have
>> tried
>>> it a few times in the past just to see what it's like.  What it's like is
>>> pouring molasses, but it works.  I will try entering the link in the
>> Kindle
>>> browser.  I will also try to display an HTML document loaded to my Kindle
>>> to compare the speed.  I assume that would be much faster. To get an HTML
>>> document to a Kindle, I either have to email it to an address that is
>>> unique to my account which will store it with the rest of my docs on an
>>> Amazon server, or plug my Kindle into a PC and copy the document from the
>>> PC to the Kindle.
>>> 
>>> With respect to downloading an app, I don't think the Kindle supports
>> apps
>>> of any kind. I should say I have never seen any downloadable apps on
>> Amazon
>>> or on the web. I have seen a few grumbles about Kindle not having
>>> downloadable games.
>>> -Arthur
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Oct 3, 2021 at 9:29 AM D. via gnucash-user <
>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> If Arthur can load the html in your link on his Kindle, he could install
>>>> an epub app (such as Overdrive) and get his flow going using that.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>>> From: flywire < flywire0 at gmail.com>
>>>> Sent: Sun Oct 03 07:25:44 EDT 2021
>>>> To: Gnucash Users < gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>>>> Subject: [GNC] Build 4.8 docs issue
>>>> 
>>>> Arthur, that's a nice summary of a
>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflowable_document
>>>> 
>>>> The issue has been raised and
>>>> https://gnucash-docs-rst.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html was
>>>> offered as a format. Does it work on a Kindle?
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