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

[JD]

Lots of tools for this, but why PDF? PDF should be used when page layout is
mandatory. If this is CHM or HTML, then that is NOT the case. Google found many
chm2epub converters too.

Why not use epub which will be easier to read on a tablet? Remember, I have the
same tablet you have. FBreader is nice.

I'd use wget with a name filter to download the parts you want. There is
probably a perl script on SourceForge that does it too.

$ wget -r -nd -Ahigh-quality.mp3 URL
man wget will explain everything.

While I was at it, I'd put all the data into a single file, then save as RTF
(.doc is evil!) and let Calibre convert to epub.

Android is not as open and easy from a scripting standpoint from what I've
experienced.  I'd do all this on my Linux desktop.

This sort of stuff is where the command line accels compared to PnC. Most
beginning Linux books show off many of the old tools (sed, awk, cut, ... ) and
teach how to use them together, but if you've picked up a little ruby, python or
perl, this is an easy task to write.  This is where the philosophies of
UNIX/Linux different greatly from Microsoft. We use multiple, little tools to
solve a problem, whereas Microsoft encourages a programmer to create a massive
tool with feature creep to solve it.  Though I have to admit that more and more
of the MS-ideals are coming to Linux which helps make the transition easier, but
leaves a hole class of people looking for specific, huge programs to solve
simple problems.

Not that you haven't made the thought shift to Linux, but a lurker might not
have yet. This
http://blog.jdpfu.com/2012/02/15/beginning-linux-thought-shift-needed tries to
explain the different way of thinking.

Good luck with your solution!




On 01/29/2013 09:54 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I need some more geek help.
> 
> There is a web based book that I need to download and convert to pdf or doc
> or open doc format so I can read it off-line and print it.  They have a
> downloadable copy as a windows help file but I cannot seem to read it at
> all.
> 
> I need to start with this page: http://book.mql4.com/ and add this page:
> http://book.mql4.com/overview and add this page:
> http://book.mql4.com/content
> 
> and all the pages that are the main body of the book linked to from the
> previous page, but not all the ancillary pages referenced at the bottom of
> every page, etc.
> 
> Can someone tell me how to do this in a relatively painless fashion.  Copying
> the text from the browser to a doc file is definitely NOT painless.
> 
> I prefer something that is cross platform, or something which runs as an
> android program, or something which is a Firefox plugin.  It would be
> preferable if all the content is stored in one pdf or doc file but if each
> web page is a doc or pdf file, that would be better than nothing.
> 
> As always, any help is appreciated.
>