>
>On Sat, 27 Oct 2001, Jon Glass wrote:
>
>> on 10/27/01 1:18 AM, Bill davis newton at newton_at_mail.ecity.net wrote:
>>
>> > Now if I can just get Newton ebook makers to compress ebooks as small
>> > as the Palm does. Most of my ebooks compress to half or less of the
>> > text file size in PalmDOC format, but the version of PaperBack I have
>> > seems to make docs that are TWICE the size of the original text file
>> > (due to Newtons use of Unicode, I assume.)
>>
>> In a word, yes. Two-byte, vs one byte per character. Ouch.
Yep, I know about Unicode. Used to have the huge book listing the
character set at a previous job (CE Software) where I build translated
versions of software and worked on international/translation issues.
>Yep. Kinda painful with text. The built-in package compression sometimes
>helps, but usually doesn't get better than 2:1 for books. I remember Paul
>(Guyot) and I ran into this problem over the summer while working on
>Fortunes. The fortune packages were double the size of the original text,
>and package compression barely helped. So we ended up using binary
>objects containing the ASCII text, or something like that, to break the
>need for double-byte characters.
No kidding! I played with NewtonPress last night with a 2.5MB text
file. The little drag-and-drop PalmDoc app I use to make Palm DOC files
condensed that to 1.5MB. PaperBack 2.0 increased it to 5MB! And
NewtonPress to 5.4MB. Unacceptable - I have a bunch of 2MB cards, but I
could only fit one or two more "normal" sized books on it (most ebooks
are 250-500K; the 2.5MB book was a Tom Clancy novel....and as you may
know, most of his hardcover books shouldn't be left on the edges of
chairs or tables, because if the fell off and landed on your cat or small
dog, it'd squash 'em....love 'em anyway, though.)
And NewtonPress took FOREVER to do it (10-15 minutes, not counting the
several false starts due to not enough memory being allocated to the
app). The PalmDoc drag-and-drop app took maybe 30 seconds to a minute.
Actually, with my latest eBook reader, I don't even need to turn it into
a Palm DOC file; it'll read text files right off my CF card. I do "doc"
'em though, because it compresses 'em. Even on a 128MB card, compression
is worth it - you almost double your available space. Before I got a
Palm with memory cards, I had 6-8 full size novels (not Clancy ones) in
my 8MB Palm's RAM at all times, not to mention a lot of software and
thousands of notes, about a thousand address book entries, lots of to-dos
and dates and such (all convereted from my Newton) and still had about
2MB free! Now with the ability to run apps and access docs off the CF
card, I don't worry about space at all.
I should try the old BookMaker, but I doubt it'd be better, though.
But I think I REALLY need to try Newt's Cape's PalmDOC plugin. That
sounds like a much better solution. I've been avoiding that because I
just never could deal with Newt's Cape's user interface (Sorry, Steve!)
It'd be nice to be able to make use of my 2100's and memory cards for
ebooks, such as reference works. The main reason I got my HandEra was
because you can hide the Graffiti area and use the 320x240 screen for
text in ebooks, etc, versus the old 160x160 of my old Palm IIIx. Makes a
big diff. But of course the Newton's screen is far bigger (if far less
portable/pocketable.)
- Bill
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