Friday, July 23, 2010

How to Read Ebooks using PSP?

Posted by Alei at 7/23/2010 1 comments
I went to the bookstore the other day to look for something to read again. Out of boredom, I read the Twilight Series and the last two books of Harry Potter, twice. Its even more redundant if I did it the third time. Stephenie Meyer's "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" caught my attention. I held it and after seeing the price, I put it back at the shelf. Its $9, hardbound and yet, less than 200 pages. There's no way I'll buy it. I find it pricey. As I got home, without nothing to read, I found a solution, I downloaded e-books. I can't just sit infront of my computer all day. Good thing my cellphone has adobe reader and I saved it there. But, to my dismay, the letters were small to read. I blamed it to my phone's small screen and wished I had bigger. (I haven't let my XDA repaired yet). I thought of another idea, its brighter this haha. How about reading ebooks through PSP? Its feasible though.

I looked for a software and stumbled at a blog. I reposted his instructions here and edited some.

He listed 4 different ways:

1. Save the ebook as html file. Copy the content of the pdf format manually and paste it in MS Word. Click 'Save as', drop down option in the FILE TYPE box,choose html,not the htm file,ok? Name it in a way that it will be easily typed and remembered since you'll have to type it in your psp like, x.Html. Send to the root memory of your PSP (connect first the PSP to your desktop with usb cable then enable usb mode). Your drive name can be f: or g:. Unable usb mode in your PSP after transfer. Go to the 'Internet Browser' of your psp. Click 'no' if asked to connect to the internet. Press triangle and go to 'Tools' (the toolbox icon). Set cache setting to 'Do not use' and ok. Go to address bar and enter 'file:/x.Html'. 'file:/' input shortcut is under 'http://' button while 'html' is entered by pressing the GHI4. Enter. Your file will load now. The problem with this is that when you have long ebook, error will occur due to less virtual memory. And you cannot bookmark them, it starts from the top everytime you open it. It's tiring to browse long pages.

2. You can upload the pdf file in your e-mail address and open it using a PSP with internet connection. There won't be problem with the low memory. But of course, it needs active internet connection. You can't read your e-book while riding a bus.

3. You can use the PSP Ebook Creator. It's free! DOWNLOAD PSP EBOOK CREATOR. Install it in your desktop. Open the pdf file, ctrl+a, copy, paste in notepad, and save it as txt file. Or you can direct the conversion in adobe or foxit under FILE Menu. Plug PSP to desktop and enable usb mode. Run ebook creator. Go to FILE>load ebook and look for the saved txt file of your ebook. Ok. For the output folder, go to FILE>OUTPUT>PSP>PICTURE. With this application, you can instantly preview your ebook in the PSP image found at the center as you personalize the view (portrait or landscape), fonts and font color, background color and headers. I suggest you use dirty white background with black Georgia font in 12 pt. Enter the title of your ebook in the box beside BUILD EBOOK button then hit the build button. It takes time to convert the txt file to jpeg. Also, it eats about 20-30 MB of memory. When done, unable usb mode. Go to PICTURES in your PSP XMB and you'll find a new folder with the ebook title u have entered. Read it in jpeg format. Just press L or R in your PSP to turn pages. Sometimes an ebook takes up 1000+ images and psp only views 1000 of it. So to continue reading the remaining pages, erase the previous images.

4. Use Bookr, a free application that let's you read txt file and pdf formats (no conversion needed). Download BOOKR.

*Note:this installer works only with PSP CFW version (those with M33 like 3.71 M33). If you have the ofw one (no M33) then only the above 3 applies to you. To know your PSP's Firmware Versio, click here.

If you got confused on where is the download option in that page, you have to click the icon/picture below the warning that this file might harm your computer (but it won't). To install, plug your psp to pc and enable usb mode. Remember the drive path of your psp (f: or g:), you will need it in the installation. Run the bookr installer and type your psp drive and your done. Send your ebook files to PSP>GAMES>BOOKR>BOOKS. Disconnect psp from desktop and run bookr in GAMES. Read the help there. It will teach you how to use bookr. Sometimes you have to save your ebook with bigger font. Use comic sans 13pt. Zoom in or out the views to make the pages fit the screen. You can bookmark pages with this application. It takes less memory storage along with your saved ebooks.

Without even trying the first three, I used the 4th one. Glad it worked for me. My ebooks come handy now. I can read wherever I want. =) Happy reading!



Thursday, July 22, 2010

How To Find out which Firmware Version your PSP has

Posted by Alei at 7/22/2010 0 comments
I happened to need to know my PSP Firmware version. I thought of reading ebooks through my PSP and the software just works with a certain version. Just follow these easy steps to know your own.

1. Turn on the PSP. Push the "HOME" button so you can get to the top level navigation where you can move between functional areas.

2. Go to the "Settings" menu (it's the one farthest to the left).
3. Scroll down to the "System Settings" icon and press X.
4. Scroll down to "System Information" and press X. The screen will display the PSP's MAC address, system software version, and nickname. The "System Software Version" is the firmware version. Here is my PSP's system information.

Friday, July 9, 2010

My to-do list

Posted by Alei at 7/09/2010 0 comments
No drops, no comments, less traffic and once-in-a-blue-moon posts are some of the indicators my blog seem to be a barren land for quite some time now. Blogging has to take a backseat while I work on these stuffs on my (terrible) to-do list. This is still in connection with my father's account.



click to enlarge

I have already acquired those items with check and yet more requirements left to fulfill. The items with asterisk still need sub requirements that makes my task ever so grueling. I'll do whatever it takes just to complete them early this month. I want to have a job already before I turn 23 by August. (I lose track of how many times have I mentioned about it here hehe) How I wish fate will conspire with me this time.

 

This is so me Copyright 2010Think Pink Credits to Gisele Jaquenod Modified by Alei