Dave, I said an excellent contribution on your part--few will do as much,
here I just repeat what I have already said...
Nothing wrong with .pdf, except it is too large... and in the case of all
graphic content--not text searchable... .lit just gets things a bit more
right, the format is easier to read, and it provides "text to speech", it
will read the book in audio for you--even the visually handicapped can
"read" it... and it is all free to make and read... (well, you have to have
MS Word access)
I have access to a scanner which, if the back rib is cut off a book, and
pages freed, scan a whole thick book in minutes--I have hand scanned books
on my home scanner, a high speed scsi HP, and it does take a bit of time and
effort--I am sure you did the same with the book you are speaking of, and
know well that task... on a fast computer, conversion of a page by fine
reader is seconds... it really just depends on how good the scanned images
are... much less than 5 secs a page for good quality--scanned images...
I was hoping the "bookworms" on Linux would have come up with a compatible
reader for Linux for .lit--I haven't searched--but is an excellent format to
just ignore for petty battles--however, MSs' rights on it may make this
impossible...
However, there are other routes to take too, one is .html, all platforms can
read it and there are ebook creation tools which create to this format (pics
can still be .jpeg's)--and can be read with any browser, ms word, the
freeware star office for linux, html editors, etc...
We live in the land of computers--no task is impossible--many roads all lead
to the same destination(s)... a good broad picture of what is available is
good to have... I am sure I have not been able to find all which is
available... still got the eyes open...
The ONLY "fault" I was finding is the size... download time... storage on
disk (forget floppies, fill up a zip disk, cdrom quick with books that size,
etc)...
I did not intend for you to see my comments as a "slur", rather I respect
your work and your contribution... and like I said on my first post here,
THANKS!!!
I think "Linux Warrior" is accurate... even your post I respond to here
seems to mention and reinforce your commitment to Linux... no big deal...
the corp. I work for does work in both Windows/Linux, I don't have an option
to ignore one or the other, I have no real problems with Windows XP,
Microsoft finally started doing something right... I came from the
commandline prompt in UNIX, then to DOS... was shocked when Linux went
GUI... but got used to it quickly...
Nothing wrong with Linux Warriors... one of my best friends is a general in
the army...grin I just think of myself as living in a "neutral country"
(like Sweden) when it comes to religious and political commitments to an
OS...
Warmest regards,
John
"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
In article ,
John Smith wrote:
Ahhhh, a "Linux Warrior" serving in the Linux Army seeking world
conquest...
You might consider being a bit less quick to toss off those
stereotypes, John. They can blind you more than they illuminate.
Probably about 90%+ (at the very least 80%) of all computer users are
windows based... I simply think of the biggest audience (greatest
good-greatest number, America used to be like that--I miss it...)
... and all of those Windows users can, if they choose, view PDF
documents. "Portable", y'know? The Adobe software is free, and works
fine.
What I'm not particularly interested in doing, is creating a
non-portable (Windows-specific) version. Why restrict the usability?
If you want to do so, go right ahead... as long as you comply with the
simple "noncommercial, share and share alike" copyright terms on the
PDF, you can create a further derivative work to suit yourself.
I'll be curious how many tens, or hundreds of hours of work it takes
to develop a suitably-high-quality textual representation of this
book. Do let us know!
I go between Linux and Windows as necessary, my recreation machine is
Slackware based (mp3s, movies, personal coding, etc...) ... Mac I avoid
(but, they can run Linux)... those guys (Mac'ers) are worse then Bill when
it comes to proprietary rights and control...
And that's pretty much why I stopped using (and developing software)
for my Mac, put it into retirement, and switched to Linux. (Could
have been a *BSD derivative, but there was a big two- or three-way war
going on within the *BSD camp at the time).
.pdf is great, but huge...
By today's standards?
I thought you were more interested in the free sharing of info than
fighting
operating system wars...
I am. You raised the subject, and I simply answered the question to
explain why I'm not personally interested in doing what you want.
I've done what I set out to do - get this work back into public
availability, in a useful form. If that form does not suit your
desires, that's your issue, not mine, and you're free to correct the
situation.
--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
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