[ale] [OT] how do I convert this web based book to pdf or doc

[JD]

If you can print a document from any program, then you can print it directly
into PDF on either Windows or Linux using a PDF printer driver.  This has been
available for PDF since the beginning.

There are a number of Free PDF drivers for Windows, in addition to the expensive
commercial versions from Adobe (which nobody needs).  For Linux, there is a free
PDF driver too - it shows up in CUPS. I don't recall how to make it happen, but
it is easier than pretty much any printer driver to get working, IMHO.


On 02/01/2013 01:54 PM, James Sumners wrote:
> What you linked to isn't really an "ebook". Yeah, it's digital content and
> they call it a "book," but eBooks have very specific formats. Those formats
> _are_ just HTML/XHTML, but the files are organized according to a standard.
> This website does not follow that standard at all. The links I gave you
> should have made the process easier. 1) Convert the CHM to HTML, 2) convert
> the HTML to PDF, and 3) print the PDF. I believe you could have converted
> directly to PDF with the first tool; but I've never used it.
> 
> As for people making eBooks easier to print -- good luck. The standard isn't
> designed for such, and it's a copyright violation. DRM free eBooks (e.g. all
> O'Reilly eBooks) are only DRM free so that you can use them on any
> _electronic_ device you wish to read it on. They're not DRM free so that you
> can print them.
> 
> That being said, using the second tool I linked to, Pandoc, you could 
> probably have made it even easier to print. Use Pandoc to convert the HTML to
> LaTeX, which should strip out the circular links, and then render the LaTeX
> to PDF.
> 
> On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 1:38 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) 
> <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> Just thought I'd post an update.  My main objective was to be able to
>> download and print the ebook.  They provide it in a CHM format, but I could
>> never read it for some reason.  I installed Calibre, then imported the chm
>> file and then saved it back out.  Now, for some reason, I'm able to read it
>> natively in Windows.  I printed it from there, which was somewhat of a
>> nightmare.  I had to go to each major topic page in the table of contents
>> then print it.  Fortunately, the print screen has an option to also print
>> all linked documents one level down in the hierarchy.  So, by printing each
>> main topic, I was also able to get almost all the sub topics.  Of course,
>> each page also linked to the previous and next topic, as well as things
>> like the company home page, etc., so I had a lot of redundant content that
>> I threw into the recycle bin.  But, over a period of a few hours, I got it
>> printed.  I took it to office max and had it bound.  It turned out to be 5
>> volumes each about 3/4" !
> th!
>> ick printed on my laser printer single sided.  Now I have to set about
>> learning the topic that's documented in the book, which relates to a
>> specialized currency trading platform.  There was no way I was going to try
>> to read all that on my computer monitor.
>> 
>> Maybe later, I'll get around to finishing converting this to PDF, RTF, or
>> EPub, but I couldn't figure that out with a cursory review of the Calibre
>> menus.  If any of you are thinking of publishing an ebook, PLEASE PLEASE
>> make it printable in one simple procedure.  I still have to go through and
>> hand number the pages and correlate that to the table of contents.  I'm
>> glad this info was provided to me free on the website by the software
>> maker, but it has not been free in either time or supplies to get it into
>> printed form.
>> 
>> Thanks for the help and suggestions.
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>> 
>> Ron
>