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Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

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Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#11

Post by zaptheimpaler »

I put all my books into a Calibre library on Dropbox and open them in Apple Books via files or CC. Does ubooquity offer something more?

I’m missing something that can markup on PDFs and highlights/notes on epubs dont sync back to the original file because iBooks has it’s own copy. But I haven’t found a clear solution to this yet - one app that supports reading both PDF and epub and will sync annotations back into the file or a server. Send me recommendations please! Can ubooquity help here?

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#12

Post by red0point »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #11

I put all my books into a Calibre library on Dropbox and open them in Apple Books via files or CC. Does ubooquity offer something more? I’m missing something that can markup on PDFs and highlights/notes on epubs dont sync back to the original file because iBooks has it’s own copy. But I haven’t found a clear solution to this yet - one app that supports reading both PDF and epub and will sync annotations back into the…

Cool solution, however, what does CC stand for?

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#13

Post by quesera »

radicalbyte wrote: post #7
tleb_ wrote: post #6

I find it sad that we need a specific software for ebook hosting. Couldn't we find a solution that doesn't require a special server for hosting each file type? Then front-end plug into that?

We can probably blame Apple for that; there are basically no good solutions to getting your comic / eBook collection on to the iPad.

Agreeing with your main point: Apple does not provide a great solution for ebook library management and sync to iOS.

But there are good third-party options.

I recommend Kybook 3 on iOS for ebooks. OPDS sync from Calibre works well.

I only have occasional use for an iOS CBR/CBZ reader, but ComicFlow has worked for me, without any memorable problems.

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#14

Post by inquirerofsorts »

avery42 wrote: post #8
tleb_ wrote: post #6

I find it sad that we need a specific software for ebook hosting. Couldn't we find a solution that doesn't require a special server for hosting each file type? Then front-end plug into that?

Nextcloud is exactly this.

My exact thought reading the link, there's plenty of ebook reader apps for nextcloud. It may even work out of the box, I'm not sure.

Same goes for most formats you can imagine, overseas family puts up lengthy holiday videos on my server and nearly everyone just watches it in the browser.

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#15

Post by zaptheimpaler »

red0point wrote: post #12
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #11

I put all my books into a Calibre library on Dropbox and open them in Apple Books via files or CC. Does ubooquity offer something more? I’m missing something that can markup on PDFs and highlights/notes on epubs dont sync back to the original file because iBooks has it’s own copy. But I haven’t found a clear solution to this yet - one app that supports reading both PDF and epub and will sync annotations back into the…

Cool solution, however, what does CC stand for?

Calibre companion. It’s an iOS app that i can point to a Calibre lib in Dropbox and browse/import into iBooks. It’s nicer than going through the files app because it can read the calibre DB.

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#17

Post by djrogers »

radicalbyte wrote: post #7
tleb_ wrote: post #6

I find it sad that we need a specific software for ebook hosting. Couldn't we find a solution that doesn't require a special server for hosting each file type? Then front-end plug into that?

We can probably blame Apple for that; there are basically no good solutions to getting your comic / eBook collection on to the iPad.

That’s not an iPad problem, it’s an app problem. And there are tons of iOS apps that have solved that problem.

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#18

Post by toomuchtodo »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #15
red0point wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool solution, however, what does CC stand for?

Calibre companion. It’s an iOS app that i can point to a Calibre lib in Dropbox and browse/import into iBooks. It’s nicer than going through the files app because it can read the calibre DB.

Can CC read a Calibre DB and ebooks out of Files/iCloud Drive?

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#19

Post by petemir »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #11

I put all my books into a Calibre library on Dropbox and open them in Apple Books via files or CC. Does ubooquity offer something more? I’m missing something that can markup on PDFs and highlights/notes on epubs dont sync back to the original file because iBooks has it’s own copy. But I haven’t found a clear solution to this yet - one app that supports reading both PDF and epub and will sync annotations back into the…

For PDFs, I use Documents by Readdle on iPad. Great for the markup and includes syncing (files accessible offline). Lots of options for the latter (OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, I use WebDAV), although syncing is a pain because you have to keep the app open (it seems to be an iOS limitation).

For EPUBs, sadly, it doesn’t do highlight... for this I think you could use Marvin, which can read from a Calibre Server.

Re: Ubooquity: Free home server for your comics and ebooks library

#20

Post by bane »

I know lots of people use Calibre, but I find it fussy and don't like how it organizes things in the library interface. I've been using Ubooquity instead and it's pretty drop-dead simple to use and I like the web-reader more, especially on tablets.

1) Start the application

2) Tell it where your stuff is

3) Wait while it indexes it (it does not replicate your content into a book index just grabs front pages for thumbnails)

4) Go to the server address:port with whatever browser.

It really works well if you organize your reading material by folders as Ubooquity simply uses that in the application.

It works really brilliantly on the kinds of full-page-image books you might find on the Internet Archive.

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