Looking for a software to manage my ebooks. almost everyone recommends to calibre
Installing
Binary installation
sudo -v && wget -nv -O- https://download.calibre-ebook.com/linux-installer.sh | sudo sh /dev/stdin
once installed i am able to open the calibre
Library path
you can change the location where the books are stored by clicking the Calibre library in tool bar. The default location will be
~/Calibre Library
Appearance changes
Default appearance of the calibre looks pretty old let's change it. select preference and click look & feel
- Dark mode
- Set the font to Jet brains Mono nerd font (My preference)
- Change the icon pack to Monstre
You can select different layout option using layout button in the status bar
Adding book
You can start adding books
- By drag and dropping the books
- Add books button
- Using calibredb command
When you are trying to access calibre functions from the terminal ensure the GUI application is not opened or it will raise some errors
Calibredb
One of the coolest way to add books is to use calibredb command line tool. Check whether calibredb is accesible from terminal using the following command
calibredb list
This will list all the books available in calibre. To add new books to the library
calibredb add [options] file1 file2
you can more operation using calibredb like editing meta data, remove ebook.
Calibre web server
Start the web server using following command
calibre-server
Web server with custom port
calibre-server --port=9876
OPDS
- OPDS is a protocol to access your ebook library in other devices
- URL for your OPDS is HOSTNAME:PORT/opds eg: 192.268.1.10:8080/opds
- Software that i use to consume content from OPDS
- Foliate (linux ebook reader)
- Librera Reader (Android)
- https://github.com/foobnix/LibreraReader
- Download the Pro version from github repo.
- Network tab in the app
- If network tab is not there then reset(not reinstall) the app
Convert ebooks from terminal
you can convert books from GUI. i prefer terminal tools
ebook-convert input_file output_file [options]
Backuping up
To backup the library all we need is to copy the content of Calibre Library like a monthly once or twice. Depends on your needs
Others
- https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web
- If you are not satisfied with web server that comes with calibre you can look into this.
- If you are okay with self hosting you can try Kavita - https://www.kavitareader.com/