Calibre eBook catalog

[Goner]

Has anyone already tried to install 'calibre2opds' and if so, what were the results ?

I have installed it in Windows using the .zip file, (ie Manual Install, platform independent).
It's pretty straightforward, you can even forget about the rungui.cmd as all it seems to do is determine where to find your Java install (?).
So I just unzipped the archive in a folder and installed running "java.exe -Xms128m -Xmx512m -cp OpdsOutput-3.0-SNAPSHOT.jar Gui". I'm now checking what it did (create folders & settings), to have an idea of what will happen if I do the same in Linux (not sure if I can even install the GUI version on the DS, maybe only the CLI version is possible).

In Linux you would use "java -Xms128m -Xmx512m -cp ./OpdsOutput-3.0-SNAPSHOT.jar Gui %*"
You would have to change the memory parameter as my DS212j does not even have 512MB of memory.

is there a way to run calibre2opds on the synology to update the catalog e.g. every night, when the metadata.db has change its date ?

You can use 'crontab' to schedule jobs.
Have you installed calibre2opds on your DS ??

[jokemeister]

We ran into problems with calibre2opds crashing on our PC due to not enough memory allocation. Working with the author it was ultimately resolved by increasing the memory allocation so while you state you think it'll be necessary to reduce it as the DS doesn't even have as much as the parameter is trying to allocate, the allocation will depend on how big your database is. Our database is over 30,000 books and 512MB still wasn't enough. There's no hard and fast rule though and would depend on what switches have been set for the catalog generation.

Personally I don't believe it's a good idea to run c2o on the DS itself but instead host the database there and run it on a PC when necessary. We have an AMD quad core Phenom II 965 and it takes most of the night to complete a C2O run from scratch. The DS would take forever. I'm not sure why some people want to run it every night or very frequently but each to his own.

[Goner]

OK, so you did manage to run (& crash) calibre2opds in CLI mode ? (for GUI you would need X-Windows and I don't think that's available for the Syno).

I have installed C2O in Windows now and let it create it's catalog on the NAS in the Calibre library folder (/volume1/books/_catalog). I will edit Apache to create an Alias to point there, so I can connnect with http://<ip-address/c2o or something).

Since I don't have a load of books, I will to run C2O in CLI mode ; does it ask for settings (folders etc) when you run it for the first time ?

[jokemeister]

Apologies again. I've made a slight edit to previous post to clarify. C2O was installed on our PC, never on DS so references to crashing was on PC as a result of not enough resource allocation. This is why I dont believe the DS has the grunt to run C2O on it directly. Not enough memory and not enough CPU horsepower. No problem whatsoever serving up the files exactly as you mentioned doing yourself.

[Goner]

Ah, OK !!
I'm still hoping on running c2o on the NAS in CLI mode for updating the catalog every now and then we'll see ...

I set it up a bit different than you as I did not want the Calibre library in the /web folder. So I made a /volume1/books with the library in it and generated the _catalog in there.
Now struggling with Apache to set up an Alias to point to the _catalog ; it works, but the covers are not showing so I'll have to look at the c2o settings (Base URL ??)

[warfab]

Hi all, firstly my apologies for not having been back to the forum for so long. To answer your inquiry kas23, using Calibre, we (my wife is the Calibre expert whereas I sort out the IT issues) moved the calibre database to the DS /web/epubs folder thus you end up with a host of subfolders with all your books and associated files. Note that the folder epubs can be whatever folder name you set up in calibre. Under /epubs you'll have a folder for each author etc. just like you do now on your PC. So once moved you run calibre2opds to create your catalogue. When you set up your calibre2opds (c2o) profile you tell it where the database is located which is now \\synologyIPaddress\web\epubs where synologyIPaddress can be either the physical IP address on your network or if supported by your network, the DS's device name you set up in the DSM network set up. The catalogue folder you set up in your c2o profile I think defaults to _catalog but you can call it whatever you like. c2o will create the catalogue as a sub folder to the folder where your Calibre database is located, eg. \\synologyIPaddress\web\epubs\_catalog . Since the /web folder is accessible to everyone there is no password protection if you allow access from the internet, ie. you set up a DDNS service via the likes of no-ip.org and forwarded port 80 to your DS in your routers set up. Having said that, the only way someone can access your catalogue from the internet is to know the exact location, ie. my_syno.no-ip.org/epubs/_catalog. The /web is implicit so no you don't put that into the URL. I'd strongly suggest changing the default _catalog (and in fact the /epubs folder name as well) to something unique as any casual attempt to access my_syno.no-ip.org from the internet will expect to find an index.html file in the /web folder which is the root folder for the webserver. Not finding it will result in a page not found error and no clue to the person trying as to the name of the folders where the index.html file actually resides which will in fact be my_syno.no-ip.org/epubs/_catalog based on my examples. The fact that anyone trying to access your catalog needs to know the exact location makes this as good as a password anyway.

To specifically answer your question re "Do you mean to say that any file in the /Web folder will automatically available to the public internet?" the short answer is no. Access from the internet using a url like my_syno.no-ip.org will result in a page not found error as your browser expects to find an index.html file which wont be there unless you've created it and put it there for some other reason like hosting your own website, but c2o will create the index.html in my_syno.no-ip.org/epubs/_catalog so you have to type that specifically into your browser address bar.

BTW, I've used my_syno.no-ip.org/epubs/_catalog where the slashes are forward / as that's the format used for specifying web address and is also used by linux. On the flip side I've used \\synologyIPaddress\web\epubs\_catalog with backslashes \ for paths entered into windows explorer, c2o etc. Also, \\ designates that synologyIPaddress is a server location, not a folder so it's not a typo. Lastly, don't confuse windows explorer with internet explorer as they are 2 different applications. I know I'm spelling out the obvious to a lot of people but this forum caters to the less IT savy as well.

Hope this helps. I'll try and keep an eye on this post in case anyone has questions.

I use htaccess to protect my wife's ebook catalog (both html and xml catalog). I used this guide.

[Survivor]

I have my online library based on COPS:
http://blog.slucas.fr/en/oss/calibre-opds-php-server

Download latest version and follow this instruction to install:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpo ... stcount=79

It works for me !

[warfab]

I have my online library based on COPS:
http://blog.slucas.fr/en/oss/calibre-opds-php-server

Download latest version and follow this instruction to install:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpo ... stcount=79

It works for me !

I've almost forgotten about this thread here in synology forums. If my instructions on mobileread forums are still not clear, try following doncaruana's post on mobileread