Calibre Brings E-readers and E-Books to Ubuntu Linux

Little electronic gadgets are popping up everywhere. Small Netbooks, iPhones, iPads, Huwei Tablets, Galaxy Tablets, the list goes on and on. All of these devices have e-readers installed that allow you to take along your portable device to read your favorite novels while you are on the go. These gadgets have streamlined interfaces that work with Windows XP and Mac's OSX operating systems. Luckily, you do not have to look far if you want to load content onto these devices if you are using Ubuntu Linux.

With all of these new devices hitting the market, it would seem that Ubuntu Linux will need a long time to catch up when it comes to compatibility. However, there is a piece of open source software for Ubuntu called Calibre that helps you manage your electronic library on your PC, where lots of disk space is available. Calibre allows you convert book formats and push them to your favorite e-book reader. Sony eReaders, Kindles, iPod Touches, and even iPads will work with Calibre.

Convert Web Pages to an E-Book
Calibre has a unique feature that allows users to convert websites that are dedicated to news and information into an e-book. Calibre can then take that e-book and place it onto your portable e-reader device. Whole news web sites, commercial newspaper sites, and many other informational web sites can be downloaded right onto your portable device for later viewing.

There are several hundred news websites that are available for reading. The downloads can be scheduled, or can occur on an as needed basis. Users of the Calibre software are continually adding more web sites to the Calibre database and making them publicly available. You can also add your own sites information and make it available to Calibre users. Sites in multiple languages are available from around the world. You can read download top news from around the world from CNN, The New York Times, and the American Spectator. International sites like the BBC, The Econonic Times India, and many others are available. If you are interested in local news, and happen to live in a larger city, you can latch onto newspapers from many larger cities, and have the information converted directly into an e-book for later viewing.

Free Literature Sources
If your wallet is tight and you do not own a spiffy handheld e-book reader like a Kindle or a Sony eReader, then you can still use Calibre for Ubuntu Linux. Calibre has a built in e-reader that displays any of the material in your e-book library on your PC. The built in e-reader has many features. It saves your bookmark automatically upon exiting. There is a table of contents, and tabs that allow you to adjust the font size. The display is clear and crisp, especially when adjusting fonts to your preferred size.

Many free books are available at Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is a web site dedicated to making "public domain" material available for download. Many of these titles are more than 50 to 100 years old, and a copyright is no longer held on the material. Project Gutenberg's goal is to become a text repository, allowing material to be "freely" distributed throughout the Internet.

There are nearly 20,000 titles that are available for download at Project Gutenberg. These titles include many classics like, H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, works by Jules Verne, and even The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana. Books on the Gutenberg site are available in multiple formats, and if you are using Calibre, you will be able to covert any of these materials into your format of choice for reading on your PC, or to download or send to your favorite e-reader.

There are also many other features that are available in Calibre that will help you enhance your experience when trying to interface with e-book readers. You can manage your e-book content, and make changes to the meta-data without any adverse effects to your e-book. For example, if you do not like how the book is tagged, then you can make changes to how your book is classified from within your e-book library.

If you are a Ubuntu Linux user there are ways to manage your library and connect your favorite e-reader to your PC using Calibre. Calibre is open source software, and is also available for Windows XP and Mac OSX.

Source: Project Gutenburg Website, and personal use of Calibre