I have installed Books.app on my iPhone. It went fine. However, I'm having trouble getting the separate chapters to show up when I select them from the menu list in Books.app. For instance, I have a novel, in .txt format. I break it into several parts. Then I upload all the parts, via scp into the iPHone. Some of the parts load and are legible. But several others are listed but don't load at all.

Any idea what is going on? I haven't tried GutemMark? yet, as I haven't been able to d/l the tarball with the Mac OS X base package. I understand that you are working on that problem.

Is there an advantage to using an .html version? Other .html converter?

Thanks,

ROger

rdscow@gmail.com

Hi Roger, thanks for writing.

The primary advantage to using HTML at this point is that Books.app supports it better than plain text. But I hope that bug will be squashed soon.

I'm afraid without seeing the actual text files, I can't help you as to why some load and some don't. If you want, you can zip up the text files and post a link, and I'll take a look.

thanks for the response. I have also tried loading a .html file converted via textutil. This loads onto the phone, but the text doesn't load when book.html is selected.

I unlocked the phone using iPhoneOpener - a script someone wrote that jailbroke the phone and installed scp and ssh.

The apps I have installed Terminal.app, Books.app and LightsOff?.app all run, so it shouldn't be a CHMOD or permissions thing, I don't think.

I'm mystified.

I do applaud your hard work on this project, though and look forward to using it.

Thanks again.

Roger

More blatherings from a mystified mind:

I fired up ssh and logged onto the phone. I deleted the directory with .txt files as chapters, and the .txt file of the whole book. I left the .html file on there.

It loaded the .html file and all looks good. Very weird. But, I thought you might be interested to mix this into the pot of comments.

Thanks again,

Roger

The bug had to do with string encoding. It has been fixed in svn revision 60. I'll release a new version which includes the fix tomorrow.

Is there a way to delete a book? Or is it simply a matter of removing the file via the command line (using terminal)?

Hi Matt:

At the moment, the command-line delete is the only option. Deleting a book via the interface will be added in a future release, but I'm not sure when yet. Thanks!

This is currently one of my favorite native applications. I am currently formatting several books for this, and thought it would be a tremendous help if you could have more than one subdirectory for the books.

Hi, thanks for your comment. Arbitrary subdirectories is definitely on my to-do list; in fact it will probably be in the next major release (i.e. 0.7). No promises, alas; but it will happen before 1.0!

it may be just me, but I am unable to actually add the EBooks directory to the Media folder no matter what I try....any tips?

Naturefreak: how are you attempting to do so? Using iPHUC, or SSH, or...? The copybookdir.sh script automatically creates the directory if it doesn't already exist.

Thanks for this app! Using it regularly. Will the links in html documents work to jump to another part of the page in future documents? Really appreciate the reverse (white on black) option.

Hi indydenny: Anchor links (to use Web-speak) don't currently work, and making links work in general is not a high priority. Mostly this is because I'm using Apple's underlying TextView? code, which doesn't natively support linking (as far as I can tell). Future versions will include bookmarking, which will allow you to jump to places you define.

Can I use Manzana or iBrickr to copy over the ebooks?

i copy some books and text file but books.app is not finding the books. has anybody experience this?

wildonrio: I've never used those programs. Try it and see.

jhonhattanb: Are you copying them to an EBooks folder in your Media directory? If the files are text files, do they have a .txt extension? If they're HTML, do they have .htm or .html?

Version .6 working great. I find the most convenient way to add files is to use scp. I just scp -r bookfile root@ipaddress:/var/root/Media/EBooks To get rid of files, ssh works really well.

This is the most used non-phone app on my iPhone.

Roger

Thanks for your comment, Roger! Glad it's working for you.

Do these instructions apply to non-Mac PCs?

aetil: I honestly don't know, having no PCs on which to test anything else. Feel free to comment if you find a way, and I'll update the wiki.

Hey man, love the app.

Is it possible to make the file it reads from /media/dcim/100apple/ so that possibly windows (at least vista) users could just drag and drop files there?

Love it! I used to read books on my Handspring Visor Edge, then a Palm, but when I got a Palm Treo the screen was just too small, so I really like this. I had no luck installing books with the first two choices above, then after looking at the third my brother and I came up with the easiest way yet! Some steps will be the same, and you don't need to jailbreak the phone!

1. Use the Installer to install SSH 2. Find out your iPhone's IP address: Settings -> WiFi?, then click the blue arrow to the right of your checked network. The IP address will be listed on the next screen. Mine is 10.0.1.4 and my wife's is 10.0.1.5 . 3. Go to http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8392/cyberduckMacUpdate?.com and download the latest version of CyberDuck?. Install as directed and launch. 4. Click "Open Connection," the top right button in the window. 5. In the "Protocol" drop-down select "SFTP." Leave the port field as 22. 6. In the "Server" field enter your iPhone's IP address. 7. In the "Username" field enter "root" and "dottie" in the password field (unless you changed the password of course). 8. Bookmark the connection: Click the "Bookmarks" button, then the "+" sign at the bottom of the bookmarks tab that just slid out.

This logs you into the root user folder. Now you you can make the "EBooks" folder in the Media folder and simply drag books and book folders from the Finder! You can also drag things out for a quick back up before upgrading to the next firmware.

Thanks again for the hard work. It is very appreciated!

Stephen

CountBunker?: I'm not going to do that. I really don't want to mess with Apple's folders.

Stephen: thanks for the tutorial! And you have changed your password, right? :)

I had the copybookdir idea a while back, only I used better tools. The attached script works much like copybookdir, except 1) it uses iPhoneInterface (must be in the current directory when you run the scrtip), 2) it copies the entire tree, and 3) It handles files with spaces and other funny characters in their names. I keep a directory that's an image of all the files I want to change on the iPhone, and just run this script pointed at that directory should I have to restore the iPhone (like after an upgrade).

#!/usr/bin/env python

from os import walk, chdir, getcwd, curdir, popen from os.path import join from sys import argv, stderr, exit

if len(argv) != 2:

print >>stderr, "Usage:", argv0?, "directory" exit()

iPhoneInterface = join(getcwd(), 'iPhoneInterface') chdir(argv1?) proc = popen(iPhoneInterface, 'w')

for dirpath, dirs, files in walk(curdir):

if files:

path = dirpath[2:] print "Doing mkdir", path proc.write('mkdir %s\n' % path) for name in files:

print "Doing putfile", join(path, name) proc.write('putfile %s\n' % join(path, name))

proc.write('ls\n')

proc.write('exit\n')

Mike: Excellent! I know zilch about python, but do you suppose it would also work with iPHUC? I think iPhoneInterface is just an earlier, closed-source version of iPHUC, is it not?

I've got sources to iPhoneinterface, so I don't think it's closed source. But the script just runs the command, and then send "mkdir", "putfile" and "ls" commands (the "ls" should probably be removed") to it's standard input, and then finally an "exit". If iPHUC does those commands the same way, it'll work.

I did make sure that it would work with the (rather antique) Python that comes with 10.4. Cut-n-paste might break things (it looks like the square brackets vanished), but I couldn't find an upload link on the downloads page.

Mike: feel free to email the script directly to me at zach (at-sign) brewstergeisz DOT cjb dot net.

For interested users, the free NeoOffice? will import Aportis doc (palm doc) files and will export them as HTML with most of the formatting intact -making for a good readeing experience on the iPhone. Hence any former Palm users with a stack of Palm doc files can convert those files for viewing on the iPhone with NeoOffice?. Also note that www.fictionwise.com is a great eBook store which sells a large number of titles in Palm doc format ( just look at their list of "multiformat" titles --Aportis Doc is one of the "multiformat" options)

So, Roosterspice, how do you change the SFTP password? I was lucky to find out the default password to start with! Not quite as smart as you thought, Stephen

Stephen: see the seventh step on this page from the iPhone Dev Wiki.

You can use iFuntastic v3.0.3 to create the EBooks directory as well as installing books on your iPhone. I tried some of the other methods and iFuntastic is the easiest, just drag and drop.

Rick

iBrickr also works really well. Developers, do you have any plan to support more fonts set in the future? I have an html page in VN-Tahoma or VN-Times and I can't read it ?

Do you know, all in all it seems to me the easiest way to handle the books would be to package them for Installer and let it do the work. Of course, since at this point the Installer and PXL teams seem to be committed to getting together and open sourcing a unified code base maybe we'll be able to combine Books.app with the code to download book packages on it own.

Bob

Just got a 4gb iPhone, upgraded to 1.0.2 - used Apptapp and Install.app - loaded the BSD then SSH, accessed iPhone via Transmit. The program will not see any books in the media/Ebooks directory. I've tried reinstalling the app, having only the Sherlock Holmes book in the directory, restarting the iPhone, creating the directory with MobileFinder? - all shows nothing under the program. I'd really like this to work and will try again after the next update.

thanks to the Tarzan install - found where I went wrong...EBooks not Ebooks or ebooks which I had tried.

Okay, I've got Books installed on my iPhone, but I still have no idea how to install ebook files to the iPhone. This tutorial seems to be oriented towards Mac users. What about us PC users? How to we get the files on our iPhones?

Well, I'm going to answer my on question. I've got it to work. Here is how I get EBooks to my iPhone. In addition to the Books app, I also installed the iSpace and VT100 terminal apps. I then went into VT100 and created the EBooks directory under the Media directory (ie - chdir Media and then mkdir EBooks and then exit). I then used the SendSpace? (www.sendspace.com) service on my PC to upload my EBook (a text file). And then used the iSpace app to download the EBook to the EBooks directory. Works great.

for pc users 2 easy ways are: iBrickr, iPhoneDrive (http://www.lokkju.com/blog/archives/55)

I am a long time Treo user and Bought the iphone day one. I have been trying to follow the directions for installing eBooks and can't do it! Could someone walk me through this??? I have so far installed ifuntastic, installed the installer app and launcher app on iphone as well as terminal app on iphone and iphuc on my mac. I'm getting hung up on steps 2,3,4 on the code.google page for installing eBooks (step 1 i've mastered the plugging in your iphone!)

How can images inside my html files show? I can see a file named images but the images I placed in some html pages doesn't appear. By the way, GREAT SOFTWARE. I NEEDED the books app badly.

does it support ipod touch?

I need a kjv bible ebook for the iPhone can someone please help!

Thanks

lan: I clarified a few of the steps. See if it helps.

drftorres: Inline HTML doesn't work yet. See KnownIssues and stay tuned.

czhenq: I don't know yet; as far as I know, iPod touch hasn't been jailbroken yet.

waynesutton: Knock yourself out.

So, I see Zachary made an Installer package for 'Tarzan of the Apes', for which I thank him. I wasn't able to get either copybookdir or iFuntastic to work. I even tried iPhoneDrive and got nowhere so maybe it's just that I'm more clueless than I thought.

However, now that I have a book to try out, even if it's one I've read many times before, I want to tell you how much I appreciate the reader and ask how one goes about registering packages, books that is.

Thanks.

I just added the installer app and installed your app. Im a Windows XP user and recently discovered how to download books with utorrent. My ebooks are in word and pdf formats. Can I read them with your app? How do I get them to show up there?

Thanks

Three immediate requests: (1) Exactly what is the format for chapters? I'm not interested in how to run some app over existing content and have it use heuristics. I run a script to generate html files that are then pushed over to the phone. I can modify the script to do whatever is necessary to generate chapters, but I need to know what eBooks thinks chapters are. (2) Could you add a search button? (3) Could you make the right hand side of the screen, where the scrollbar "indicator" appears act as a quick scroll into the entire text --- like the column of letters to the right of lists in the iPod program.

With neither search nor a rapid way to get to arbitrary places in a large file, the program is limited to reading a book from beginning to end. That's a fine role, but one sometimes has large text files of reference material that one wants to interact with in a more random access fashion.

Chapters are individual files (chapter 1.html, chapter 2.html... chapter n.html).

At the moment, smaller, individual chapter files load, change/resize font, etc much faster than with one large single file.

This also helps slightly with your points 2) and 3).

---

Now, if CSS, and external style sheets worked, that would be cool.

Compliments: This is the best ebook reader I've found, on any platform - including my desktop. It's more valuable than any feature I've seen listed in 1.1.1 - so my phone is staying where it is.

Suggestions:

Safari reads a tap on the status bar as "go to the top of the page". Every so often, I try that in Books.app out of habit. Be nice if it worked, as it doesn't otherwise do anything.

A progress indicator of some kind for the current document would be nice. Wiggling the page up and down to pop up the scroller works, but is sorta kludgy.

Thanks, <mike

Compliments: This is the best ebook reader I've found, on any platform - including my desktop. It's more valuable than any feature I've seen listed in 1.1.1 - so my phone is staying where it is.

Suggestions:

Safari reads a tap on the status bar as "go to the top of the page". Every so often, I try that in Books.app out of habit. Be nice if it worked, as it doesn't otherwise do anything.

A progress indicator of some kind for the current document would be nice. Wiggling the page up and down to pop up the scroller works, but is sorta kludgy.

Thanks, <mike

I love it and in and of itself is sufficient reason for me to stick with iPhone 1.0.2, especially since I found that iFantastic 3.5.5 gets files to and from the iPhone just fine.

thanks, Bob

It's impossible to get ahold of GutenMark at the moment. Does anyone have a copy of the source they can mirror?

I am using iPhone fw.v. 1.0.2, iTunes v7.42; My phone was working fine until I used the copybookdir.sh. the only unique information is that i had to chmod the script inorder for it to run. iTunes now shows my phone as 75% full when i was only consuming 25%. Any ideas? Someone had told me to upload a file called services.plist; but havent found any relative data to support that idea.

Has anyone found a solution to putting the Bible (any versions) on the iPhone ?

I've found http://manybooks.net/titles/anonetext90kjv10.html but the "experience" is less than enjoyable.

I use iFuntastic 3.5.5 (on MAC) to move files back and forth from the computer to the iPhone, it's much easier than SSH or many of the previously suggested methods.

When I open a book (downloaded from manybooks.net), like the Bible.pdb, I get the following error: unknown PDB magic of PNRdPPrs?. Anyone knows what this means ?

gungadoo: Currently, Books.app can only read Palm DOC or Plucker format PDB files. You're using some other format. See PalmFormats. And as I already told another user, all you have to do is search Gutenberg.

gfuller0: I really don't know what to tell you. Try iFuntastic, or try restoring your phone and re-installing.

Is there any way that it can read Chinese characters please?

tcflee: As long as your files are Unicode (UTF-16 or UTF-8), it can do so already. There is a bug where some characters are dropped occasionally, but there isn't anything I can do about that--it's an Apple bug.

When running iPHUC I get the following error on my Macbook Pro running OSX 10.4.10 Do I need some type of developer tools on my OS install for iPHUC to work correctly? If so, what version and where to get it?

xpprosp2g:~/Desktop me$ ./iPHUC dyld: lazy symbol binding failed: Symbol not found: getopt$UNIX2003

Referenced from: /Users/me/Desktop/./iPHUC Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

dyld: Symbol not found: getopt$UNIX2003

Referenced from: /Users/me/Desktop/./iPHUC Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

Thanks!

FYI, I put a link in iPhoneBrowser for Windows to the EBooks folder so you can easily go there and add books with drag and drop (it copies folders and their contents).

In the next version, I'll add an option to create a missing folder when you select it, like the EBooks folder.

I use Cyber duck , create folder Ebooks in Media and download TarzanOfTheApes? , drag to the Ebooks folder , reset iphone but no found ebook , anyone can help me please...

I truely enjoy your program and have used it to read entire novels. I've tried this on PPC and even laptops but.... your app on the iphone is best. It allows one to forget that a "device" is being used instead of actual book. For me it is killer app. Thanks. Quick question (I hope it hasn't already been addressed): Does anyone know of a way to convert pdf's to simple text files for use on iPhone?

Steve

derek.melton: I think that's referencing an installation of readline. See the iphuc build instructions at iphuc.googlecode.com.

NetMage?: thanks!

supprakorn:

The folder is EBooks, not Ebooks (note capitalization).

HELP. Can some1 give me detailed idiot proof step by step instructions on how to install my ebooks. My friend installed ebooks the software for me likewise installer but cant find any of the programs you mentioned.

what is ssh

why cant i find it in my installer

I've gotten by without using SSH at all... but by using iFuntastic 3.5.5 (on Mac)

I have just jailbreaked my ITouch and after a few little difficulties, have loaded you app and several books (I am on a PC). When the book app comes up, it shows a dark gray header area and then a lighter gray body area and a dark gray footer. Nothing else displays and after about 15 - 30 seconds it goes back to the main ITouch screen. THe Books Icon displays properly on the main screen.

Has everyone ever tried to compikle the wikipedia offline data? It would be extreemly cool to have a searchable wikipedia offline in your pocket...

Seems I am really to stupid: I just cant find the "MEDIA"! FOlder where i have to put the books in. Can someone tell me the complete path like "/usr/media/ebook" ?

daniel

daniel: /var/root/Media/EBooks

kelley: Do you know how to SSH into your iPod touch? If so, try running the file from the command line and posting the output here. Otherwise, I don't have enough information to help.

The only Media folder I could find is in the /private/var/root/ directory. I put in two e-books from manybooks.net, and Books.app is not seeing them. Did I put them in the wrong dir?

Thanks! Rob

crap, my bad. I made an Ebooks folder, not an EBooks folder. Stupid capitals. ;)

Great software, thanks! I'm donating. Anyone else?

Rob

Since, GutenMark and GutenSplit? are GPL can you not just post the source/tarballs to your repository? I ask because it seems impossible to actually download them and I assume that you already have the files since you recommended using them. Thanks for the great app!

Hello, is there any way (or plans to) make this work in landscape

I suggest downloading books from http://www.manybooks.net/

They added an iPhone Books.app format for all (if not most) of their books.

Works great on ALL the books that I have tried so far.

I would also like to comment that the books you have provided for Books.app are good choices to include with the application.

Yes hi, im interested in submiting a religious e-book so you guys can publish it on the installer.app for the iphone. Please contact me, this is important to me. Zashmanson@gmail.com

I wanna create e-books and bibles for Brazil Portuguese. How I create my own books for Books.app for iPhone?

Thanks

The application you mention GutenMark, doesn't work for UTF8 Greek encoding files :-(

Hey, I have a suggestion:

Can you make a "Books feed" feature similar to the Installer.app feeds, so we can have people publish libraries online? Coupled with it would be a download option for offline reading. This would also simplify the work of getting meaningful literature on the iPhone, because not everyone can use scp to copy a file to the phone. I am sure there will appear a number of repositories and Books.app will really take off with it. I already consider Books.app the most valuable third party native app (excepting those who deal with the iPhone hacking). It is the most useful development on iPhone. One might not have his books with him at all times but he has the phone. Also, the text size can be set large enough to read without any eye strain. This is a killer advantage in my oppinion.

Thanks a lot!

can you make eBooks yo work lil bit quicker with big TXTs? that would be the best improvement!! and thanks for such great app!

For people looking to convert PDF documents you can use pdftohtml under Linux or Windows (probably under OSX as well).

http://pdftohtml.sourceforge.net/

I'm using Ubuntu Linux (gutsy) and it was already installed. The conversion isn't always the prettiest but it works. Make sure to use the -noframe option.

hello all, pls let meknow step by step how upload txt file to iphone i am windows user thanks

For you Science Fiction fans out there - free ebooks from Baen.com

http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm

Hi Sorry how do I convert a pdf to .html do I have to divide it on chapters? it's a pdf of 387 pages when i export it to html it create a html file and an images folder

thanks if you can give me step by step instructiions I will appreciate it thans again

I forgot to say that I have mac os x leopard if it helps

When trying to use GutenMark on a text file I keep getting an error message:

GutenMark PG-to-HTML markup tool, build 07/14/02 Copyright (C) 2001,2002 Ronald Burkey (info@birdsproject.org) LaTeX support Copyright (C) 2001 Joe Cherry (joe@vimaster.org) GutenMark comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL. Using configuration file "./GutenMark.cfg". Unknown globbing error. Bus error

Anybody know what to do?

After doing the 1.1.3 upgrade, none of the books work. i download them and they are not showing up. i only use the instaler.app to install all of the books, what might i be doing wrong?

I'm also having the same problems ive also tried copying the book folder over with the html files inside of it, deleting the EBooks folder and making a new one and multiple times uninstalling and reinstalling. I blame the update totally! Its a shame because the program looks really good!

Ok I have 2 questions. I have to ebooks, one is in 1 .txt file, tried to convert that using gutenmark and split it using gutensplit, and the result was a huge 3 html pages 2 with just links to the huge middle one. How do I go about splitting that or converting it you iphone ebook format. The second ebook I have is HTML, I get the same results after using gutensplit, am I doing something wrong, and is there any one here who can make a nice converter with a gui based on gutenmark

Those people who are having trouble getting their eBooks to show up using firmware 113 might like to try the following which worked for me.

Using an ssh connection to your iPhone make sure your books are all stored in subdirectories in the directory:

/var/root/Media/EBooks

cd /var/root/Media; chown -R mobile EBooks

This should reset ownership (which changed in v113) and allow the reader application to see and work with the book content files.

Thanks for your help softeky, but your suggestion had no effect. I used WinSCP and Putty to send the commands to the iPhone, and I didn't get any errors, but I still can not access any books. They are in the right place too...well, technically they are in /private/var/root/Media. I can't seems to get into /var/root/Media because every time I click on var, it puts the /private/ in front of it. Anyhow, any more help is appreciated.

Here is the fix that worked for me...

Follow softeky's instructions but instead of changing ownership change permissions.

cd /var/root/Media

chmod -R 755 EBooks

Man, I know I am following your instructions correctly. It's simple enough, but still nothing. Is that 755 number different for different phones? Or should I run it before I install the Books.app? I can see the books in Winscp and they are in the correct directory, but books.app is still not showing anything.

none of the methods above worked for me. it seems like there is a problem in Books with the 1.1.3 firmware.

: /

Worked perfectly for me once I changed the permissions for the ebooks folder and then the books in the ebooks folder. Thanks a ton!

Here's what worked for me, essentially I was doing the same thing as seanmccain.

Use WinSCP, right click on the EBooks directory (root/private/var/root/Media), and under the Common tab, click the following permissions:

Owner R W X Group R X Other R X

Once clicked the number in the 'Octal' box should be 755. Click 'Ok' and hopefully that works....of course you should verify that your books are in the root/private/var/root/Media directory.

Thats correct, you can also ise fileZilla and just right-click on the Media folder and under file atributes type in 755, you can check the option "Recurse into subdirectoties" Apply to all files and directories.... and Voila!

None of your suggestions have worked for me. I'm using a 1.1.3 iPod touch with Mac OS X. Did a: chmod -R 775 /var/root/Media

And I'm still seeing Books app empty...

Greets

Didn't work for me at first, but now it does! what i did was: chmod /private/var/root/media to 755, /private/var/root/media/ebooks to 755 and everything below also to 755. (CAPS not included) yay!

This worked for me:

Here is the fix that worked for me...

Follow softeky's instructions but instead of changing ownership change permissions.

cd /var/root/Media

chmod -R 755 EBooks

THANKS!!!! Make sure you have CAPS just right for each word!

what version of Books are you using? the 1.4 series?

After about an hour of frustrating moving and throwing of files around I have done what was suggested above and it now works.

From a terminal in my Mac: $ ssh root@10.0.1.31 $ ... I entered my root password here on my iPhone which is alpine # chmod 755 /private/var/root/Media # chmod 755 /private/var/root/Media/EBooks

and it works. :-) Phew.

Works on 8GB iPhone cracked using ZiPhone? with 1.1.3 iPhone Software.

Some of you are changing permissions in the /private/var tree and some are apparently working directly in the /var tree - which is it? Does either one work? Where can I find out where I should place these files in order to get them to work?

FYI -

1.3 is to /var/root/Media/EBooks 1.4 is to /private/var/mobile/Media/EBooks

more importantly in 1.4 make sure you chmod 755 /private/var/root/Media as doing it to just the EBooks folder did not seem to work

i need help. When i found the file in /private/var/root/Media/Ebooks i see one of the few files i downloaded. Do i move it, or copy or duplicate. I dont understand the instructions.

Guys I realy need help, I am using windows xp, how to ad ebook to iphone.and also i just wondering is every one here using apple pc? thank you anyone

Erm, it says "Permission denied." Am I not logged in at root? How do I get logged in as root?

Hi All, I am 1.1.4... eBooks by Chris get installed in directory /Private/Var/Mobile/Media/EBooks (note first char are capital) and other eBooks get installed in directory /private/var/root/Media/EBooks... I managed to create symbolick link to both directories by following command.

ln -s /private/var/root/Media/EBooks /Private/Var/Mobile/Media/EBooks

the problem i am facing now is that, ebooks getting installed in /private/var/root/Media/EBook are with rights 0755 and are ok on iphone, while the ebooks by Chris getting installed in directory /Priave/Var/Mobile/Media/EBooks are with rights 0000, so Book is visible in application on iphone but chapters are not visible.

Is there anyway, by which, new ebooks by chris installed in directory /Private/Var/Mobile/Media/EBooks get rights 07555 automatically.

can someone please provide a step by step guide to fixing the book install problem in leopard, iphone/touch 1.4, latest books app please. This is all very perplexing to the uninitiated.

Im pretty confused with the mess of multible directories, methods and access-rights. Isnt there a simple way to get books on a hacked 1.1.3 Touch ?

could anybody please help with how to add ebooks to the iphone using Windows XP.

Thank you so much

Super Easy Method for installing books on iphone:

Steps for installing books on a mac and then into an iphone: 1. Open url: manybooks.net 2. Find book 3. Click on book title 4. Click on select format 5. highlight "iphone books.app" 6. Press download button 7. Double click zip file (blue folder with book enclosed will show up) 8. Make folder on desktop & drag book folder into it - (iphone ebooks or whatever title you will remember) 9. Plug in iphone to usb port of computer (make sure itunes is closed) 9. Open "ifuntastic" app. (google search for this app and download) 10. Click on "file Manager" in left column of ifuntastic. 11. Click on home file button at top. 12. Click on var/ root/ media/ EBooks and drag opened ebook file from the file you created into this EBooks file.

Books with proper chapter headings, book cover, etc. will show in your books.app located on your iphone springboard. Much simpler method than all the discussed above and it works every-time.

My solution to adding Ebooks to Book.App 1.4x with Windows XP:

1) Install IphoneBrowser? v1.5.2.0 to Windows.

2)Install Ziphone Ibrickr fix through Installer by adding i.unlock.no to the source libraries.

3) Open IphoneBrowser?, connect Iphone. You should now be able to explore the folder view to get to /Private/Var/Mobile/Media/EBooks.

4) Drag and drop/delete ebooks through the folder view.

Hope this helps.

I have started a project to create repositories for various freely available eBooks. (http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebooks/)

The first source of books with installers is the Baen Free Library. Set the repository source to http://library.pollock.ca/baen_books and enjoy the reading!

Note: currently the installers only support 1.3.7-1, the eBook reader version currently available on Ste Packaging.

Hi -- I'd really love to start using this app, but unfortunately I seem to be encountering a problem. I've created the /var/mobile/Media/EBooks directory (with all caps shown as I've typed them here), using SCP. I've then copied a single text file called DNation.txt into the EBooks directory. Unfortunately, the app isn't showing me any file. I bring it up and I'm presented with a blank, dimly lined page.

Any idea why it may not be finding my files?

Also, in creating the /var/mobile/Media/EBooks directory I've also created a /private/var/mobile/Media/EBooks directory with the same .txt file. This was, apparently, done automatically when I careated the /var/mobile/Media/EBooks directory so I'm lead to believe that they're actually one and the same.

Anyway, some help would be appreciated as I'm looking forward to building a healthy library of novels on my iPhone. Thanks!

Ahah, never mind. I was running on Books version 1.3.7. Once I upgraded to 1.4, it managed to find my EBooks, but now it seems to be playing hell with system memory as I'm having performance issues and the phone keeps locking up on me. Weird.

The /var/mobile/ directory came in with iphone FW 1.1.3, and was used in v 1.4 of EBooks. Previously, it used /var/root/...

I've essentially created a soft-link from /var/root/Media/EBooks to /var/mobile/Media/EBooks so that both versions work. :)

It seems like a lot of people have created e-books from plain text files and are only hanving trouble getting them onto their phones.

Wouldn't it be easier (and more benficial to the public) to send the e-books to host the user created e-books and then have a source to download them directly to the iphone via installer. That way everyone can download an e-book if just one person took the time to put it in ebook format (ie with chapters, etc)

@lonelycrusoe:

That's my plan. :) Have a look at jason-pollock.blogspot.com for instructions on how to setup my iPhone eBook repository. The repository currently contains packages for the entire Baen Free Library (SciFi?). I am currently working on a repository for Project Gutenberg books as well.

There is a google code project if you would like to report errors:

http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebookrepo/

Ok I can't figure this out for the life of me. I'm trying to use the copybookdir.sh method and I don't know if I'm supposed to use the copybookdir.sh terminal window or a new terminal window. I am also having trouble with what to type. It seems simple which is why I feel like a moron. After everything is done right how does it get on the iphone?

If I have copybookdir.sh on the desktop, and want to copy the folder books from my desktop to my Touch, then what is the correct syntax ?

./copybookdir.sh /books ?

In response to "jo...@hampel.at" and his error with GutenMark: I got the same on my Tiger/Interl MacBook?. I emailed the developer and he replied that he doesn't have a Mac to test, and has formally dropped direct support for Mac OSX.

I'm no programmer but I tried to build the source code, but no dice.

Any programmer out there want to take a crack at rebuilding even the old source code for Mac?

(full e-mail from developer: ""Globbing" is the technique of specifying filenames with things like ".txt". Globbing works (or worked) differently in FreeBSD than on the other computer platforms I was trying to support, so I was forced to add code to imitate what was being done on other platforms. Since Mac OS X is somewhat related to FreeBSD, I assume this is the origin of the problem.

In all recent questions I've received that were similar to this, the problem simply went away if the program was recompiled on the platform that was giving the problem.

Unfortunately, I'm no longer in the position to work with the Mac OS X platform. In other words, while I suspect that the program can still be compiled on Mac OS X, or could be compiled with relatively minor effort, and that it would fix the problem, I simply have no way to do it myself. What makes it really unfortunate is that I just now --- immediately before reading your email --- released a bunch of changes, including a graphical front-end to the program for Windows or Linux. But alas! there is only so much time, and only so many computer resources, so I'm at a loss as to what I can tell you that will be helpful.

. ... Unless you happen to have a Windows machine laying around that you were willing to use for the formatting, or if you can run the Windows version under Parallels. There's now (as of today) an installation program (for Windows) that makes the installation really easy.

But I fear that the Mac OS X version of this software may simply have reached the end of its useful life, unless someone miraculously steps forward to carry the ball."

Guys...

I've just created a source for the Project Gutenberg's SciFi? collection, details on my blog:

http://jason-pollock.blogspot.com

The repo source is:

http://library.pollock.ca/gutenberg_scifi

As for GutenMark, I've gotten it to compile and run on the iPhone, and it is used as part of the repository. If anyone has a book request, or would like to create/manage a selection of books, drop me a line.

FYI.... There is nothing preventing GutenMark from being run by hand once you've got it installed. Feel free to push the text files across and use GutenMark over there. It takes a little longer, but it does work.

To do that, you will need access to a command line, either through ssh, or terminal (I haven't tested using terminal though...).

For example, here's how the source installs "The Emancipatrix" (No I didn't invent that name):

 /usr/bin/GutenMark --profile=en --no-toc --config=/etc/GutenMark.cfg /var/mobile/Media/EBooks/The_Emancipatrix/5699.txt /var/mobile/Media/EBooks/The_Emancipatrix/5699-h.htm
/usr/bin/GutenSplit --no-toc /var/mobile/Media/EBooks/The_Emancipatrix/5699-h.htm /var/mobile/Media/EBooks/The_Emancipatrix/Chapter_