ebooks and pdf?

[Dan Ritter]

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 06:31:54AM -0400, Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> There is a book I am interested in, and it is available in ebook
> format.    I'm new to the ebook scene.   What options are there to
> convert it to pdf if I want to view it on my linux laptop?   I don't
> have any interest, at this time, of investing in an ebook reader (such
> as Kindle, etc).

Most ebook formats are basically wrapped around HTML, or
something semantically equivalent. (It's not unusual to see a
ZIP archive with one or more simplified HTML files and one or
more JPEGs for covers and illustrations, plus a file carrying
the metadata.)

Assuming there is no DRM or you can break the DRM, your options
are:

1. Use a general ebook-format reader on your Linux laptop, such as
FBReader.

2. Use a conversion program such as Calibre.

3. Look into the format and see what you can pull out.

You are unlikely to have to get to (3).

-dsr-


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