Rocket eBook File Format?

Dodger_ asks: "Has anyone figured out the RCA eBook file format yet? The REB1100 looks perfect for carrying around to read technical papers and isn't too expensive($300) to boot. You can find even more info about it right here." These seem to be nice looking devices, and since they can be expanded up to 72MB (they come with 8MB) these would be able to hold quite a bit of documentation. Imagine converting the manpage library (or any other set of documents) to one of these puppies for some quality reading on your next long flight.

The format has been completely figured out

[AndyBarrow]

A complete SDK, called Merlin, has been created in Java, you can get it here. [shinui.com] Also, a very good open source html to rb converter called rbmake [sourceforge.net] is available. Both the Merlin and rbmake web pages include explanations on how rb files are complied.

Rocket (now RCA) eBooks kick butt - I've had one for over a year and it's by far the best way to get up-to-date english language reading when you are stuck in a foreign country for 6 months or so.

The original version of Rocket Librarian (for Windows) included an HTML to rb converter. Gemstar seems to have excluded that feature with the software they released for the 1100, but with rbmake, you can do the same thing.

Now, if someone would just create a nice Gnome or KDE client, I would be a happy camper.

Try This

[DAldredge]

Check out rbmaker.sourceforge.net [sourceforge.net]

You know, this only took a 30 second search on freshmeat.net

man page viewer on an airplane?!

[StandardDeviant]

Yeah, that sounds great! Think of all the money I'd save on sleeping pills for those long, bumpy flights over the Atlantic...

Honestly though, does anyone read man pages for fun? I consider myself a hardcore computer enthusiast and like nothing better than an afternoon spent on my computer, but reading man pages is about as fun as reading 12-year-old Newsweeks in a dentist's office waiting to get a root canal...

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OeB: Open eBook format

[ee23]

In the faq [ebook-gemstar.com] about the eBook it is mentioned that they support the Open eBook format, which seems to be mostly XML with well-formed HTML. The specification is at http://www.openebook.org/specification.htm [openebook.org].

So it should be quite easy to convert documents...

Screw reading them on your next flight...

[bonzoesc]

Wouldn't it be nice just to have a separate viewer for manpages so you can use them in the home library, or even when you're too lazy to switch consoles.

I can also see them being nice for Window$ users who are following online documentation, but don't have a GeForce 2 MX w/ dual screen support.

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