epub and kindle

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franklekens
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epub and kindle

Post by franklekens »

After the latest update, an option was added to automatically save a book into Kindle format to whenever you create an epub in Atlantis (as described here https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/e ... htm#kindle).

I let Atlantis install kindlegen, and the first time I created an epub a kindle file was generated too.

But with every epub file I created afterwards, I can't find any kindle file anywhere. (Presumably it is supposed to end up in the same directory, no?)

I do get an msdos window briefly, but before I can read what it says there, that is closed off.

Is there a setting I can tweak to make Atlantis create Kindle files again? Or is there a known bug with the kindle file generation that can cause this to happen?

MTIA.
Robert
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Post by Robert »

Can you find “kindlegen.exe” in “C:\Users\<user’s name>\Documents\Atlantis” on your PC? If not, put it there manually after downloading it from Amazon.
HTH
Robert
franklekens
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Post by franklekens »

The file is there, that doesn't seem to be the problem.
rstroud
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Kindlegen

Post by rstroud »

Can you find “kindlegen.exe” in “C:\Users\<user’s name>\Documents\Atlantis” on your PC?
Robert,

Did you perhaps mean to write that Kindlegen is in the Atlantis program folder?

On my computer, the location is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Atlantis\kindlegen.exe

I tried to re-create the problem that Franklekens was having.

In one of multiple tests I could not find the mobi file. I was saving to a folder in Dropbox, and I thought that maybe the speed of creation of the mobi right after the epub might have run afoul of the ability of Dropbox to process the two files.

I was not able to re-create the problem after that, despite many attempts to do so, performed in various ways involving Dropbox or not involving it.
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admin
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Post by admin »

Windows users are not supposed to create files under the "Program files" folder. So the preferable location for the kindlegen.exe file is "My documents\Atlantis".
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Re: epub and kindle

Post by admin »

franklekens wrote:I do get an msdos window briefly, but before I can read what it says there, that is closed off.
Did you adjust the kindlegen command-line of Atlantis in the Registry?
rstroud
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Kindlegen

Post by rstroud »

Windows users are not supposed to create files under the "Program files" folder. So the preferable location for the kindlegen.exe file is "My documents\Atlantis".
Yes, you are correct, and I knew that already. But apparently I forgot or I ignored the prohibition and put Kindlegen into the wrong directory a few years ago. Tweak is also there, so I guess I was dumping downloaded programs into that directory with the Atlantis executable.

This was not on my newer desktop computer, but on a laptop that is about four years old. I do not know if I forgot about the Windows prohibition, or just what. Maybe I thought that it would either work or it would not. Anyway, Kindlegen has been sitting there in the Atlantis program directory, and it works.

My desktop computer, which I set up less than a year ago, has Kindlegen in the correct Documents\Atlantis folder.

I am sorry about raising a point of confusion when I was wrong about the whole thing.

I would suggest that Franklekens should reinstall Kindlegen. If that does not work, the free Kindle Previewer also installs a copy of Kindlegen (but not in the Program Files folder and not in the Documents\Atlantis folder), so using the Kindle Previewer is an option to produce a mobi file.
rstroud
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Kindlegen

Post by rstroud »

Addressing this to Franklekens ...

I hope that you will follow up with us and let us know whether you are able to resolve this problem. I have been on a screenwriting board for about twenty years, and I have been the primary "go to" person for software issues. It has always been frustrating that people frequently present a problem, someone offers a possible solution, and then we never hear another word from the person who had the problem.

In "real life" I am a medical doctor ... and the same thing happens in medicine. You treat someone with a problem, and then the person disappears, and you never know what happened.

Here is something that you might try for the missing mobi file.

It would be interesting to know whether your copy of Kindlegen is working properly or whether the problem maybe lies elsewhere. It might be a registry problem. However, if it is, I doubt that you caused it. Almost nobody tinkers with the registry.

You could check your copy of Kindlegen in a couple of ways, but here is the best way, I think.

Find 'kindlegen.exe' (which I know you have done already). Copy it and paste it into a work folder or a junk folder somewhere. Also make a copy of an epub file and paste it into that same work/junk folder.

What you are going to do now is to maneuver your way over to the DOS prompt of that work/junk folder.

I do not know how familiar you are with the DOS command line. I go back to the era when we had to do everything from the command line.

If you do not know how to use the command line, then use the little window somewhere on your screen that lets you give commands and find files. Type 'CMD' (no quotes) to get to any DOS prompt. Then follow my example of what I would do for myself.

Let's say that I have a work/junk folder located at:

C:\Users\rolan\Workdir

(My name is 'Roland', not 'rolan', but either I mistyped my name when I set up my new computer last year, or Windows engaged in some of its usual idiocy and shortened my name.)

I have already put a copy of 'kindlegen.exe' and an epub file called 'Tutorial.epub' into 'Workdir'.

By typing CMD in the little window on my computer desktop, I am able to open a DOS prompt (in reality I keep a shortcut for a prompt on my desktop).

The prompt that opens might be:

C:\Users\rolan> or C:\Windows\System32> or maybe even something else. Who knows?

I need to get over to C:\Users\rolan\Workdir.

So at the prompt (whatever it is) I type a command to change to that directory:

cd \Users\rolan\Workdir

and I hit ENTER. My prompt then becomes:

C:\Users\rolan\Workdir>

Next I type a command to kindlegen to convert my epub (the '-o' in the command stands for 'output'):

C:\Users\rolan\Workdir>kindlegen Tutorial.epub -o Tutorial.mobi

It takes a few seconds, but then I see an output of lines that summarize what has happened. And a file named Tutorial.mobi is now in my Workdir folder.

Try it — it is fun to do!

And for more fun, I can generate an action report by adding a little more to my command. I would type it like this:

C:\Users\rolan\Workdir>kindlegen Tutorial.epub -o Tutorial.mobi > Report.txt

When I give the command this way, I do not see the report on screen. Instead it is redirected to a file called 'Report.txt' in the same folder where I have just created my mobi file.

Try it!
franklekens
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Post by franklekens »

Thanks for the help. I do report back if I have anything to say (it's just that i don't always have time to follow this message board on a daily basis).

My Kindlegen is not in Program Files, it's where Atlantis put it, in the Atlantis folder in My Documents.

I know about DOS enough to get there. I've tried it out with Power Shell and it worked fine. The report txt reported no special problems.

Funny thing is, I'd already found the epub/mobi export was working again in Atlantis too. The only thing I can think of that I changed in the meantime was that I had rebooted the computer.

Having said that it works well again, I have to note that when I tried it out 5 or 6 times this morning, there was one single instance where no mobi file showed up. (Even though I had my eyes glued to the DOS window before it disappeared, and I'm sure it said the mobi file had been created.)

But it's little use investigating this until I can find any system to this. Right now it seems to be working fine. (And if it gives up, I can always create a mobi manually with Power Shell, now that I know how that works.)

Thanks for the help, & will report back if I should see the mobi creation failing again in a consistent way that I can see any system to.
rstroud
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Kindlegen

Post by rstroud »

Thank you for reporting back. And sorry that I underestimated your knowledge of DOS. Really, though, most people are totally lost.

I also had one instance when the .mobi file did not appear, when I was running some tests. Honestly, I do not depend on the .mobi that is produced this way. And, though this is beside the point, I really wish that Amazon/Kindle would dump the .mobi and only use .epub, the way the rest of the world does. Life would be simpler.

Again, thanks for keeping us informed. :)
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