Read Books, Files, Webpages, eBooks Off-line Easily for FREE

[gHari]

If like me, you save every cool thing you find on the net. Now there is an easy way to read all those articles and books you've found. You can get a free eBook reader here for your Windows PC: http://www.gowerpoint.com/uBook_down_nf.html , and there is also a small dictionary with it.

 

If you have a megabyte free on your disk, you should definitely consider installing this free eBOOK reader. It autoscrolls through a number of different types of files and makes reading much easier. It allows you to make notes, highlights and bookmarks in books/files. It also allows you to store your files in zipped format and will automatically unzip them for you when you read them, thereby saving tons of disk space while you still remain organized for instant nectar.

 

Called uBook, it will run on Windows PCs, palms and handhelds. It renders .PDB, .PRC, .TXT, .RTF and .HTML files book-like. It displays PRC, RTF and HTML images, .JPG, .GIF, .WMF (in RTF) or .BMP images. This means you now have access to a thousand free classical books on the web. Not that that is important, but perhaps kids would like to read Robinson Crusoe or Jungle Book. It makes reading that huge text file of Sri Ramanuja's commentary offered here last week much easier than using notepad.

 

Sit and watch the computer scroll you automatically through all that nectar. It is a good thing.

 

<center><img src=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/BrahmaSamhitaASeBOOK.JPG>

 

Looks almost like actual Brahma Samhita manuscripts found by Sri Caitanya 500 years ago!</center>

 

gHari

 

TECHNICAL STUFF:

Step One: Download zip file from website

2. Unzip file into it's own directory (likely in Program Files folder)

3. Make a shortcut to get to uBook.exe

4. Download the small dictionary from the website and place it still zipped in the DICTIONARY folder in the directory where you installed the uBook reader (default is the micro version which is too small).

5. Download the skins you like from the website and unzip them into the subfolder called SKINS. (I especially like the first one by Magill since it makes Brahma Samhita actually look like an ancient text.)

 

That's it. That's ten minutes, with another ten minutes to become proficient using it, and from then on reading will never be the same.

[gHari]

Here's <a href=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/JaivaDharma.zip>Jaiva Dharma</A> by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura to get you started (1.5 Megabytes)

[gHari]

Here are some more interesting ones:

 

Various Writings from India Divine (317K)

 

<A href=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/RamanujaVedantaSutra.zip>RÂMÂNUJA'S SRÎBHÂSHYA</A> (524K)

[Guest guest]

who makes the e-books from real books?

 

just curious.

 

jai sri prabhupada!

 

[gHari]

In addition to a number of University repositories, this Gutenberg organization has created over 6,000 for free http://www.gutenberg.net/ <blockquote>From that site: "Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of Michael Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who share his vision.

Now, more than thirty years later, Project Gutenberg has the following figures (as of November 8th 2002): 203 New eBooks released during October 2002, 1975 New eBooks produced in 2002 (they were 1240 in 2001) for a total of 6267 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks." <a href=http://gutenberg.net/history.html>THE HISTORY</A> of the project would be of interest to computer geeks, although I've never really considered myself a geek per se. I doubt that these visionaries ever anticipated that man would hold a tiny computer in the palm of his hand or in his shirt pocket that would carry thousands of Gutenberg books and three dozen music CDs all at once to be enjoyed with twenty hour rechargeable batteries while linking over air waves to the world via the internet. The technology will only get more and more accessible, so eBooks are a definite long-term boon. Buy a computer, save a tree.</blockquote>

They use public domain books, often electronically scanning them using optical character recognition software to turn a printed page into a data file. Then volunteers edit the result. Judging from the errors I found in Siddharta I would guess that this process requires significant manual editing.

 

Eventually as eBooks become more and more popular we will have to arrange to get Vedic public domain books into eBook format (although simple .txt files are still common). Right now only the Sir Edwin Arnold translation of the Bhagavad-gita is available. I may try to find out what is involved and who has to give approval for copyrights to put a better Bhagavad-gita translation eBook on the web.

 

There are other links for books provided on the uBook Reader website, but some of them will surely want money.

 

But any text file or html file or rtf file (convert doc to rtf using Word) can be read as an eBook. Files with extensions .pdb or .prc can only be read by eBook readers.

 

gHari

[Guest guest]

The below web site of omkaranda ashram

has a lot of sanskrit texts also on web the site.

 

http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html

 

[gHari]

This link from that page: http://www.sanskrit.org/ArticleIndex.htm contains good words about Madhvacarya, Caitanya, Rupa Goswami, and Srila Bhaktivinoda - a pleasant surprise.

[Guest guest]

I do not understand this proggram at all. Why do I need this programm, how can I install it? Sorry, I am little bit stupid.

[Guest guest]

Ohw, Now I know how to use. Thank you. Do you have more links to ebooks?

[gHari]

Here are some lists of eBook sources:

 

http://www.gowerpoint.com/uBook_ebooks_nf.html

 

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/Corporate/External.asp

 

http://search./search?p=ebooks

 

[NOTE: On sites offering eBooks for Palm and handheld devices, choose only doc and txt formats (even though they have .pdb extensions). Formats like PalmReader, iSilo3, TomeRaider and MobiPocket are all specialized and will not be readable, except on those specific devices or readers.]

 

In addition, any webpage you find (save it as .htm or .html) can be read; any .txt Text file or .rtf (Rich Text Format saves formatting) file can be read. Convert Microsoft Word .doc files to .rtf using Word.

 

Thinking I might have time to become cultured (hah!), I downloaded all the works of Shakespeare from the University of Virginia - I will offer them <a href=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/Shakespeare.zip>zipped (2.7 Meg) HERE</A> for your kids. Remember you don't have to unzip them on your computer. This will be easier than downloading them one at time if you too want to get some culture (hah!).

 

Shakespeare was likely for Stoneheart. And for Gauracandra we have the <a href=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/VarietiesOfReligiousExperience.zip>"Varieties of Religious Experience" by William James</A> at 466K.

 

gHari

[gHari]

In addition to highlighting important passages as below, one can add notes to key passages and later peruse them from an Annotations Menu, and then jump to those spots in the book.

 

<center><img src=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/CAP0000.JPG></center>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your links. I think prabhupada would call most of this books cheap literature. I liked your link to the bhaashya of ramanuja. Do you have more such links to religious work?

[gHari]

Those files are books and things I have downloaded from various places on the internet. I zipped them up and placed them on my web space for the Audarya zealots. My ISP gives me 20Megs but I'm not sure how much room I have left. I will see if any more will fit; perhaps late tonight when the congestion leaves the wires.

[gHari]

<center><a href=http://canoeparts.ca/KINGDOM/JaivaDharma.zip>Jaiva Dharma</A> Zipped 600K</center>

gHari

[gHari]

Pictured mini-biography from the web:

<CENTER><a href=http://canoeparts.ca/KINGDOM/PrabhupadaLila.zip>Prabhupada Lila</A> 1 Meg</center>

 

[Priitaa]

Is this like Abode Reader? I dont understand that thing. Its always so clumsy, so I took it off my comp. How is this one better? (Other than appearance. I'm referring to 'functionability.')

[gHari]

Here are some of the features I find useful:

 

1. You can highlight sections and they will be remembered, so that two years from now when you come back to that book, you can see your highlights.

 

2. Similarly you can make notes attached to a piece of text and jump there from a menu. Again two years from now all your efforts will pay off since that menu of notations will lead you straight to the passage you want.

 

3. It will automatically scroll at a variable pace as you read. No hands required.

 

4. You can leave your books in zip format, thereby saving a lot of disk space. The reader automatically unzips what you are reading.

 

5. It will handle a variety of formats including webpages (html).

 

There is a sample of highlighting the Brahma-Samhita a few posts before these. Interesting text too I see.

 

All in all, after having investing perhaps an hour in the uBook Reader to become proficient in its use, I'm very happy I did. It will save me hours and hours over the years, and it's an elegant way to read computer files.

 

This is really not in the same class as Adobe Reader. Adobe Reader is required to read .pdf files which are like a zipped up .doc file, but not exactly. The uBook Reader is simply a tool to help read books. So we get features like highlighting, auto scrolling, annotations, etc.

 

So with scrolling one could be flipping chapatis while reading. (Perhaps a bad example). Whenever you see a passage in a computer book file that you want to remember you'll realize it would be nice to have those uBook features like in the Brahma-Samhita passage above. That may be the criterion for using or not using uBook. Unless, of course, you like to read while you flip chapatis.

 

 

[Guest guest]

 

makes reading that huge text file of Sri Ramanuja's commentary offered here last week much easier than using notepad.

 

 

Where's the commentary to be found?

[gHari]

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vedanta-Sutras with the commentary by Ramanuja, by Translator George Thibaut:<center>

 

Zipped text format: <a href=http://canoeparts.ca/KINGDOM/RamanujaVedantaSutra.zip>Ramanuja Vedanta Sutra</a> (Sri Bhasya - 524K)</center>

 

[Guest guest]

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext05/8sutr10.txt

[Guest guest]

I have a book in TXT file. The illustrations are in GIF.

 

The TXT file says...Figure 1..... so I open Figure 1.gif and see what is there.

 

Is there a way I can embedd or insert the image along with the text in proper places?

 

With regards.

[gHari]

A .rtf file is much like a .doc file only smaller. You can open the .txt in Word, then insert the pictures in the proper places. Then you can save it in .rtf format (under FILE choose SAVE AS, then in the drop-down box select rtf format). The .rtf format can be read by the uBook reader, showing the embedded pics.

 

[Guest guest]

thank you very much.