Mobipocket shows the wrong page after a find

September 9, 2002

I've been using Mobipocket to view the pocket queries, but was having trouble losing my place in the book. Yesterday I found what was giving me trouble. After a search occurs (such as searching for "N 47 22"), the page number will show something like 250, when it is actually on about page 800.

The problem this creates is that when I go back one page, it will go back to the page displayed - 1, which is about 600 pages earlier in the book. Then when I want to go forward again, it won't take me back to where I was in the pocket query.

I'm using a Sony Clie (the newest model). I installed the software with the high resolution version, since this new model has double the resolution of previous models, but possibly that was a mistake.

September 9, 2002

I seem to be having similar problems using my Palm m125. Sometimes it just seems to go to a random page, rather than the one I need. I think it's a MobiPocket problem. There's got to be a better way!

September 9, 2002

Been using mine in high res for a while now and have had no problems. What size files are you dealing with? Mine are usually in the 700k range.

September 9, 2002

I've been creating two queries. One of the entire state that is about 1000k in size and one that is just the close ones, which is about 400k in size. I just did a little experiment. I opened the 400k one and went to the table of contents. Clicked on an entry a couple pages down. Then clicked the left side of the page (back), then the right (forward).

It didn't go back to the same page

September 9, 2002

I've been creating two queries. One of the entire state that is about 1000k in size and one that is just the close ones, which is about 400k in size. I just did a little experiment. I opened the 400k one and went to the table of contents. Clicked on an entry a couple pages down. Then clicked the left side of the page (back), then the right (forward).

It didn't go back to the same page

September 10, 2002

I posted the same question elsewhere, and received replies that loosing your place in the book is a standard feature (bug) of MobiPocket. It's most annyoing. I use a Clie 615C, so it's not just a hardware thing.

----------

One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.

1.7k · September 10, 2002

Simple fix: convert your MobiPocket files into PalmDoc files and use them with software that doesn't suck, like iSilo, TealDoc, or CSpotRun.

(Note: currently there is no bookmark for the appendix. The appendix is still there, though.)

September 10, 2002

I quickly checked out the readers you mention above. They all seem to have many more features than MobiPocket. I'm completely new to Palm handhelds. Does MobiPocket use a proprietary doc format? Whereas these others use a more standard format? If so, I'm confused why the queries are in a non-standard format.

1.7k · September 10, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by billwerth:
I quickly checked out the readers you mention above. They all seem to have many more features than MobiPocket. I'm completely new to Palm handhelds. Does MobiPocket use a proprietary doc format? Whereas these others use a more standard format? If so, I'm confused why the queries are in a non-standard format.

They're in a non-standard format because MobiPocket is available for PocketPC and Windows as well as PalmOS, and because MobiPocket - the company - made available a Windows DLL that made it easy for geocaching.com to put their data into the black hole that is MobiPocket's file format. It doesn't seem that this will change anytime soon, although when the GPX option becomes available it'll be a lot easier to do what I'm doing with this converter, possibly even on your own computer.

As to why MobiPocket uses their own proprietary format, it's partly about intellectual property - the MobiPocket format is encrypted, even when the data in it is free of license restrictions - and partly about formatting - the PalmDoc format has no standard way to represent bold, italic, and so on.

My converter (linked to in the previous message) undoes the encryption and repackages the data without the formatting and with added PalmDoc bookmarks. For geocaching.com data, this is usually sufficient. (And for other data, the conversion will fail. I don't want to run afoul of the copyright police.)

Unfortunately, the MobiPocket format isn't quite nonstandard enough. In creating it, the idiots at MobiPocket used the creator and type IDs of the existing PalmDoc format, which is why some (dare I say legitimate?) document readers crash when you have a MobiPocket document installed on your Palm.

1.2k · September 10, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:
Simple fix: Convert your MobiPocket files into PalmDoc files and use them with software that doesn't suck, like http://www.isilo.com/, http://www.tealpoint.com, or http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/cspotrun/.

(Note: currently there is no bookmark for the appendix. The appendix is still there, though.)

http://216.202.195.127/warm.gif

YEAH!!!!!!!!! This free software you were so nice to give to me doesnt work perfectly(like any software does?). I want my money back!!!!

Seriously, Its easy to take pot-shots at freeware. but does it serve any purpose? If you dont like it you are free to not use it. Personaly I find it useful, quirks and all.

Anyone know where I put my Nomex Fire suit??????

Lapaglia

"Muga Muchu" (forget yourself, focus).

1.2k · September 10, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:
Simple fix: Convert your MobiPocket files into PalmDoc files and use them with software that doesn't suck, like http://www.isilo.com/, http://www.tealpoint.com, or http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/cspotrun/.

(Note: currently there is no bookmark for the appendix. The appendix is still there, though.)

http://216.202.195.127/warm.gif

YEAH!!!!!!!!! This free software you were so nice to give to me doesnt work perfectly(like any software does?). I want my money back!!!!

Seriously, Its easy to take pot-shots at freeware. but does it serve any purpose? If you dont like it you are free to not use it. Personaly I find it useful, quirks and all.

Anyone know where I put my Nomex Fire suit??????

Lapaglia

"Muga Muchu" (forget yourself, focus).

1.7k · September 10, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Lapaglia:
YEAH!!!!!!!!! This free software you were so nice to give to me doesnt work perfectly(like any software does?). I want my money back!!!!

Actually, I've never even downloaded it. I have a severe problem with software that actively violates standards. Software that can make my Palm crash without even being installed is simply beyond the pale.

And my conversion software is free, too. It doesn't even install crapware on your desktop system.

quote:
Seriously, Its easy to take pot-shots at freeware. but does it serve any purpose? If you dont like it you are free to not use it. Personaly I find it useful, quirks and all.

It's not really free if the price you have to pay for using it is never being able to use your data anywhere else. The fact is, MobiPocket is only free because it's a loss leader to sell their proprietary ebooks. And once you buy - or download - one ebook, you're no longer free to not use their software. As far as I know, there is no program anywhere, other than mine, that is able to get data back from the MobiPocket black hole after it's been sent there.

Anyway, you're misunderstanding my point (probably deliberately; I can't say as I've ever seen you agree with anybody.) My point is exactly the same as yours: if you have a problem with MobiPocket, don't use it. However, I offered something you should have offered but didn't: a constructive suggestion on how to go about not using the program that the format of the pocket queries tries to force you to use.

September 10, 2002

Settle down.... But seriously... Are you saying that I can take the Mobi files & translate them to Palm Reader? I have serious issues w/Mobi. Mainly it causes my Prism to crash, nevermind the memory card problems when I place a bookmark. How do I do this conversion thing?

September 10, 2002

Settle down.... But seriously... Are you saying that I can take the Mobi files & translate them to Palm Reader? I have serious issues w/Mobi. Mainly it causes my Prism to crash, nevermind the memory card problems when I place a bookmark. How do I do this conversion thing?

September 10, 2002

Thanks for the help.

When I have time, I will try out one of the readers you suggested. They all seem to have trial versions. Next step will be to delete Mobipocket and install one of the trial versions.

One feature that they have that Mobipocket doesn't is the ability to scroll a line at a time. That is a feature I really want.

Another short coming is that the cut and paste didn't work in the find dialog. I'm hoping one of the others will be able to do that. A common thing I was doing was searching for a cache, then searching for the hint in the Appendix. It was a pain entering the text both times from scratch.

September 10, 2002

Just did my first conversion using the link above. All seemed to go well.

(5 minutes later) Darn, spoke to soon. The conversion program uses the same file name as Mobi for the doc title. Since I have both installed on my PDA how do I know which is which?

When in Palmreader both data files show up as (doc) with the same name. If I open the wrong one (Mobi file with Palmreader or vise-versa) my prism crashes. Can I rename the converted file during the conversion process??

September 10, 2002

Just did my first conversion using the link above. All seemed to go well.

(5 minutes later) Darn, spoke to soon. The conversion program uses the same file name as Mobi for the doc title. Since I have both installed on my PDA how do I know which is which?

When in Palmreader both data files show up as (doc) with the same name. If I open the wrong one (Mobi file with Palmreader or vise-versa) my prism crashes. Can I rename the converted file during the conversion process??

1.7k · September 11, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by billwerth:
When I have time, I will try out one of the readers you suggested. They all seem to have trial versions. Next step will be to delete Mobipocket and install one of the trial versions.

Of the three I referenced (there are many more) one of them is free and open source. If you're looking to not spend a lot of money on this, get CSpotRun. It doesn't have as many features as the other two, but it's still pretty good and it does support bookmarks, which you'll find very useful when you want to jump to a particular cache description.

1.7k · September 11, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Crusso:
(5 minutes later) Darn, spoke to soon. The conversion program uses the same file name as Mobi for the doc title. Since I have both installed on my PDA how do I know which is which?

Thanks for pointing this out. This is, in my opinion, the single biggest bug in MobiPocket, and it's one they could have avoided if they'd spent 20 seconds Reading The F* Manual. I've modified the form and the script to allow you to specify your own name for the document, or use the one provided. I never noticed this problem, since I don't have Mobi installed.

If you'd like to use the document you have without having to convert it again, you might be able to edit the name of the .pdb file in WordPad if you're really careful to make sure it is the same number of characters it used to be. It's the first few characters of the file, so it will be easy to find.

Also, for those of you who persist in sending .zip files instead of .prc files, I've modified the script to notice that and do the right thing.

[This message was edited by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy on September 11, 2002 at 06:42 AM.]

1.2k · September 11, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:
Anyway, you're misunderstanding my point (probably deliberately; I can't say as I've ever seen you _agree_ with anybody.) My point is exactly the same as yours: if you have a problem with MobiPocket, _don't use it_. However, I offered something you should have offered but didn't: a constructive suggestion on how to go about not using the program that the format of the pocket queries tries to force you to use.

http://216.202.195.127/warm.gif

Fuzzy, in reality it was a really poor attempt at humor. Sorry it went over like a lead balloon.

Hence my comment about the Nomex fire suit. My wife keeps telling me that NO ONE understands my humor. Perhaps one day Ill gert smart enough to listen to her......

Lapaglia

"Muga Muchu" (forget yourself, focus).

1.2k · September 11, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:
Anyway, you're misunderstanding my point (probably deliberately; I can't say as I've ever seen you _agree_ with anybody.) My point is exactly the same as yours: if you have a problem with MobiPocket, _don't use it_. However, I offered something you should have offered but didn't: a constructive suggestion on how to go about not using the program that the format of the pocket queries tries to force you to use.

http://216.202.195.127/warm.gif

Fuzzy, in reality it was a really poor attempt at humor. Sorry it went over like a lead balloon.

Hence my comment about the Nomex fire suit. My wife keeps telling me that NO ONE understands my humor. Perhaps one day Ill gert smart enough to listen to her......

Lapaglia

"Muga Muchu" (forget yourself, focus).

1.2k · September 11, 2002

gee and then I double post. Its just not my day

1.2k · September 11, 2002

gee and then I double post. Its just not my day

September 12, 2002

Mobipocket works well for me. I think perhaps I use it a bit diffrently than some, I dont know. I've never searched for coords. I have Easy GPS loc. files matching all my mobi searches, which I download on my GPS. I use the nearest waypoint feature to see potential sites and then look up the GC # to see the details. Never have had a search problem on the Jornada 540 series.

1.7k · September 13, 2002

quote:
Originally posted by Ish-n-Isha:
Never have had a search problem on the Jornada 540 series.

Which is not a PalmOS handheld, and thus not running the same software.

Mobipocket shows the wrong page after a find

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