1. Convert the file into HTML.
   This is one of the most natural things for me to do. Especially when I still had my flash cart working with my DSi. I used to have DS Libris as my e-book reader. That’s why I’d rather have it. If I have an e-book reader like a DSi or maybe even the ipod, then that means that I could simply use a different file format considering that usual e-book readers from open source teams would go that way. This way I could read it on mobile devices that handle HTML file fornats.
   One of the converters out there is convlit. Convlit is an application that you run on the command line. The command is basically: clit name_of_ebook_file.lit ebook_directory/ And you have to really indicate what the director is or it won’t convert the file. Aside from that, it will even show you a message about Baby Jesos becoming sad over distributing illegal copies of ebooks. *lol* But it’s true. This is the evidence:

   This is a tool for **YOUR OWN FAIR USE** and not for stealing
   other people’s ebooks.

   Please do not use this program to distrbute illegal copies of ebooks.
   … that would make Baby Jesus sad.

   So just keep that in mind while you’re converting files, ok?

2. Keep them LIT files as they are.
   
   This is another option for those you who already have been using the application called Calibre. It’s an ebook management application. At the same time, you could view your files here. Even if you have 3 formats of the same title, it’s ok. There will be an option for you to view a particular format.
   When it comes to using Calibre it’s very straightforward. If you just look at the menu/toolbar which practically has everything, decide on what to do: view or convert files, etc. As you can see, you could also convert files from Calibre. But the most awesome detail is that you can really have the luxury of reading the files on your computer so that you have a bigger screen. Neat huh? No need to convert, just let your files stay there and keep them in that format for convenience. And because Calibre’s an ebook manager, you could add tags, etc. to it too.

I do hope that you learned something today. If you have other LIT file or ebook tips, please feel free to comment or send me an email. That way we could share our knowledge with one another.

Post from: New Linux User

• Temporary files which never get cleaned up
• Duplicate files. Maybe those we’ve downloaded before. But never removed after using them or maybe we copied them in another directory aside from the download directory. (This happens to me too. Especially when I get careless.)
• Empty directories. We get lots of these when we move files around.

For us to manage our files, a tool such as FSLint would surely help.

This utility helps you search through your file system in order to find out if you’ve got duplicates, bad names, name clashes, temp files, bad symlinks, bad IDs, empty directories, non-stripped binaries, redundant whitespace. It also shows you what packages are installed.

One of the things I am guilty of is that I keep installing all these packages when I try them out but I forget to remove them and the other files related to it afterwards. No wonder I don’t have as much disk space as I think I should have. And lots of duplicates. Geh. I fail at cleaning up and I hope to change that with FSLint.

The nice thing about the user interface is that you could select which category it should be looking for. Once you have selected it, click the “Find” button and it will give you a list of the files it sees. Once you have a list you could select the files for deletion one by one or you could enter the wildcard for you to select multiple files in an instant.

Try it and see your directories cleaned up, hopefully giving you a whole lot of space left. Also, they have a blog that’s not just about FSLint, but Linux in general so maybe you’d like to add them to your list.

Post from: New Linux User

For the e-book worms

If you have an e-book reader, you have an application you might want to consider. Calibre is an open source application made for those who love reading e-books. This e-book management system can support a lot of e-book formats such as EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, PDB, PML, RB, PDF and TXT as output formats. For input it supports CBZ, CBR, CBC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TXT. This means that users have more formats possible for them to read and aside from that, conversion is possible. If I have LIT files, I could convert them to something else I could read in my DS. (LIT to TXT will be a good example, I think. Too bad there’s none for XHTML so I’d still have to use Tidy to do the work for me.)

Another thing about Calibre is its support for its users to add information about the ebooks through a ‘jacket’ for convenience.

If you need an e-book reader, well, Calibre has one too. You could verify if the conversion of your input files to your specified output files went well.

A book, my old phone and my old DS Lite. What do they have in common? They all feed my reading habit. There are times Ioad e-books on my phone and DS.

And for the writers…

And then there’s Writer’s Cafe. If you want your own ‘writing environment’ it seems that it’s a useful application. You can keep notes, get writing prompts, get tips, check the dictionary, etc. You could even keep a journal, write down your storylines, etc.

When you’re writing a story (or want to start one) sometimes you wonder if you’d be able to write anything at all. Sometimes you need to ask someone for help on names, locations, other details that matters when making a character. You could actually generate names in Writer’s Cafe. Amusing, right? But it’s true. It’s hard to come up with names every once in a while and it’s nice to have something supply you with one.

You could even have a place to stick pictures, etc. so you have references. It’s like having a board to play around with but it’s just on your computer.

I’d love to use Writer’s Cafe when I want to practice writing fiction again. It’s a nifty tool as well as an interesting environment that would really let me focus on writing and all related activities to my writing as well.

Post from: New Linux User

• Don’t change the operating system on the computers without warning. You might incur the wrath of the users. Give them ample time to back up their data, as well as learn something about the new OS.
• Don’t leave your sys ad alone in doing the migration process. What I mean here is that there should be enough coordination between the sys ad, management and human resources so that you could come up with a good migration strategy. The said parties might have specific concerns. As such you need to find ways to make the transition easier. It would be great if you could create a tech support team for that transition stage. It could be a small group of early adopters or users who are already familiar with the OS.
• Don’t leave the users hanging. Especially when they need help. When they get frustrated, the more resistance you will receive from them. However, don’t treat them like babies either or they will be too dependent on you. Your team of sys ads and tech support will not be able to handle it if you do that.
• Don’t force the users without even the slightest training. I think this will cause more headache for you. And less productivity.
• Don’t do the migration without any plans. If you have a really big organization, you’d probably have to divide the migration process into phases.

Some of these items I learned the hard way, through experience. Some are from the experiences of other people around me.

Got any tips to share? Just post them in the comments section.

Post from: New Linux User