Books: Difference between revisions
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Books are a concept, a collection format, a way of organizing ideas; including [[#Ebooks|ebooks]], textbooks, picturebooks and others. |
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We are no longer asking for books for inclusion in the XO laptop. Thank you all for your contributions! --[[User:Quozl|Quozl]] 01:07, 26 June 2014 (UTC) |
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= Ebooks = |
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---- |
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An '''ebook''' is simply a book that is stored in a computer and read on a computer screen. It is entirely data and does not include any application. This last point is stretched somewhat by recent versions of Adobe Acrobat's [[PDF]] reader which can handle embedded Javascript applications in a [[PDF]] document and for HTML files containing Javascript. But for the purposes of this page we should restrict ourselves to the simpler, pure data Ebook. There will be a place for rich documents containing Javascript, but these are really applications with lots of data, not Ebooks. |
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* According to Wikipedia page [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book Book] - "A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A set of text-filled or illustrated pages produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book, or e-book." |
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The OLPC [[literature]] page links to many sites offering collections of free (Public Domain out-of-copyright) and commercial e-books in many languages. There are also specific '''[[Ebook collections]]''' being developed by libraries and archives for OLPC (add your own!). |
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* According to Wikipedia page [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book E-book] - "An electronic book (variously: e-book, eBook, e-Book, ebook, digital book, or even e-edition) is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices." |
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== |
== Using == |
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Ebook formats should be compressed (to conserve space) and open. In particular, they must not be encumbered by patents, and must be inclusive - they should not favor any particular vendor. |
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There are several ways to put books on an XO laptop: |
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===DejaVU=== |
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* adding books to the [[Library]] as [[Collections]] using [[OSBuilder]], then deploying to laptops en-mass, suitable for large deployments, |
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The [[DJVU]] format was developed in order to provide a much higher level of compression for scanned paper books, than existing formats like JPEG and TIFF can provide. |
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* adding books after install but before use with the [[Customization stick]], or [[Tiny Core Linux]], suitable for small deployments, |
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* using the built-in [[Software update]] feature, |
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* by portable media such as a [[USB drive]], |
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* by download from a [[School server]], appliance, or internet. |
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== |
== Lists == |
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The [[PDF]] format is a simplified form of the Postscript programming language that only includes the commands necessary to paint ink on the page. It is easy for end users to create PDFs with the Print function of a word processing or drawing application. There are extensive Free/Open Source libraries of functions for creating, editing, and otherwise modifying PDFS, and applications built from them. For example, libpoppler and the Poppler PDF Utilities. There are also several Free PDF display programs, including xpdf, kpdf, evince, gv, and ViewPDF. |
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During the early years of the project, before e-books were popular, we asked for a list of books, and the community responded. See our [[/List|list of books]]. |
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===HTML=== |
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Although not particularly designed as an E-book format, HTML is widely used for E-books. Most |
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newer [[Project Gutenberg]] books are available as HTML. Both special purpose E-book readers and web browsers can be used to access HTML E-books. The OLPC does include a web browser. |
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== |
== Readers == |
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XML is not a directly usable format, but rather a meta-format. XML alone is not an E-book format, but many modern formats that can be used for E-books are XML based, such as ODF, and the XHTML variant of HTML. Other XML based formats are [http://www.docbook.org/ DocBook], popular for computer manuals, or [http://www.tei-c.org/ TEI], used in the Humanities. Modern web browsers can render XML directly, but to make such a display attractive some transform (expressed in CSS or XSTL) may be required. |
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An e-book reader is software that displays the book for reading. The XO laptop includes readers, and other readers are available. See the early [[/Renderers|page on readers]]. |
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===OpenDocument=== |
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[[OpenDocument Viewer|OpenDocument]] is a compressed format (zip-compressed XML) for documents, including books, presentations, and spreadsheets. Complex documents (with many images) can be sent as a single document (unlike HTML), yet it can flow in a display (unlike PDF). It is also editable. [[AbiWord]] runs on the OLPC and is capable of opening ODF files. |
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== |
== Formats == |
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[http://www.greenstone.org/cgi-bin/library Greenstone] is a monolithic format for document collections. A Greenstone library allows quick full-text search access to large collections, and is typically smaller than the full-text it contains, due to the compression scheme it uses. A Greenstone library can be both accessed via a web server or locally on a (read-only) disk. A complete Greenstone collection can be large, which makes it less useful, given the storage constraints of the OLPC. |
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E-books come in different formats, for which a compatible reader is required. See the early [[/Formats|page on formats]]. |
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==E-book Readers== |
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===Evince=== |
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The [[Evince]] E-book reader is part of the OLPC project. Currently it supports [[DJVU]], [[PDF]], Postscript and DVI. The OLPC project will likely include only DJVU and PDF as well as an XML/HTML based format. It will also likely have a modified UI targetted to kids. |
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===Plucker=== |
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A popular Ebook format for PalmOS devices. A [http://cvs.plkr.org/index.cgi/viewer-GTK%2B2-POSIX/ reader for Linux/X11/GTK+] already exists in the plkr.org CVS codebase (and is distributed in the Plucker 1.8 source tarfile). It should run on OLPC machine's OS. Most [[Project Gutenberg]] books are already available in Plucker format at the URL |
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<pre>http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/plucker/NUMBER/NUMBER</pre> |
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where NUMBER is the PG book number for that book. For instance, John Stuart Mill's autobiography is available from PG in Plucker format as http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/plucker/10378/10378. |
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== |
== See also == |
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An open source Ebook reader. |
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* [[Books/Spanish|Spanish]] (and [[Libros]]), |
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===OpenBerg=== |
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* early discussion on [[Book reader]], and [[Book reader feature set|feature set]], |
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[http://www.openberg.org OpenBerg] Reader is a multiformat e-Book reader based on Mozilla technologies. It's far from complete but it can already display rich XML/HTML books and organize libraries. Livesearch is in the works, as well as Plucker compatibility. The project could use help. |
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* early discussion on using [[Wiki as a book reader]], |
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* [[Deployment Guide]] for how books can be put on the XO laptop prior to deployment, or as downloads once classes start. |
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===OpenDocument Viewer=== |
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The ODF Fellowship's [[OpenDocument Viewer]] could be used as a reader for OpenDocument files. |
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Open source. |
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==OLPC Features== |
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There are some pages already discussing how Ebook formats and Ebook readers could be specially adapted to the OLPC. |
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*[[Discussion of eBook feature set]] |
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*[[Wiki as an ebook reader]] |
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[[Category:Developers]] |
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[[Category:Software ideas]] |
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[[Category:File formats]] |
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Latest revision as of 02:37, 26 June 2014
We are no longer asking for books for inclusion in the XO laptop. Thank you all for your contributions! --Quozl 01:07, 26 June 2014 (UTC)
- According to Wikipedia page Book - "A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A set of text-filled or illustrated pages produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book, or e-book."
- According to Wikipedia page E-book - "An electronic book (variously: e-book, eBook, e-Book, ebook, digital book, or even e-edition) is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices."
Using
There are several ways to put books on an XO laptop:
- adding books to the Library as Collections using OSBuilder, then deploying to laptops en-mass, suitable for large deployments,
- adding books after install but before use with the Customization stick, or Tiny Core Linux, suitable for small deployments,
- using the built-in Software update feature,
- by portable media such as a USB drive,
- by download from a School server, appliance, or internet.
Lists
During the early years of the project, before e-books were popular, we asked for a list of books, and the community responded. See our list of books.
Readers
An e-book reader is software that displays the book for reading. The XO laptop includes readers, and other readers are available. See the early page on readers.
Formats
E-books come in different formats, for which a compatible reader is required. See the early page on formats.
See also
- Spanish (and Libros),
- early discussion on Book reader, and feature set,
- early discussion on using Wiki as a book reader,
- Deployment Guide for how books can be put on the XO laptop prior to deployment, or as downloads once classes start.