2e8b4ac77c
* Add: split option from left then right to manage some mangas * Add: the Kobo Aura H2o ereader (special resolution) * Fix: remove natsort dependency and use a custom function instead for natural sorting
96 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
96 lines
6.7 KiB
Markdown
# Mangle #
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Many years ago I received an [Amazon Kindle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle) gift. I immediately began playing
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around with it and reading about certain undocumented features that the Kindle has to offer. After a couple of hours I
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discovered it to be the perfect device for reading [Manga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga) is almost always
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grayscale, and the aspect ratio fits the Kindle's 600x800 pixel screen almost perfectly. Better yet, the Kindle's
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undocumented image viewer actually keeps track of the last image you viewed and thus you are always able to return to
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the page you left off on when you power on your Kindle. The device supports several popular image formats (jpeg, png,
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gif, etc), and is able to dither and downscale images to fit the screen.
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However... The Kindle's image viewer does have certain shortcomings:
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* The Kindle is very picky about file format; any additional embedded data (thumbnails, comments, possibly even exif
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data) can confuse it. As a result, images may not display properly or even not at all (which actually prevents you
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from reading the given book, as one bad panel will prevent you from viewing subsequent images).
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* The first image that you view in a Manga (until the Kindle first writes the "bookmark" file) seems to be arbitrary
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even when files are named sequentially. About half the time it will correctly pick the first file in the batch, at
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other times it will pick out some other image seemingly at random.
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* Normally for Kindle to find your Manga scans you have to press Alt+Z on the home screen. I haven't always had luck
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with it correctly identifying image directories. At other times, after finding an image directory the Kindle will
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appear to hang while trying to access it (forcing you to return to the home screen).
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* The Kindle image viewer has no functionality to rotate images. So if there is a horizontally large image (such as
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what often happens with dual-page scans), it can be difficult to make out the text because the image is simply
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scaled to fit (consequently leaving a lot of wasted space at the bottom of the screen).
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* Scanlation images are oftentimes much larger than the 600x800 screen; not only does this make them take more space
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on your memory card but it also slows down image loading (the Kindle has to read more data off of the slow SD card
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and scale the image). Scanlations often also include color scans of covers and inserts which take up more space than
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a grayscale equivalent (which is would be fine for the Kindle's limited display).
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* Kindle's image viewer provides no way to sort images (to determine in which order they are shown). This can be very
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problematic especially considering that scanlation groups have differing naming conventions, and as a result files
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from later chapters may appear before earlier ones when you are reading your Manga (spoilers ftl).
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I was annoyed with these issues and thus Mangle was born (the program name is a mix of "Manga" and "Kindle" in case you
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haven't figured it out yet; I thought it was pretty clever at the time). Fortunately you can get all the benefits of my
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work without really doing anything (and it won't even cost you anything since Mangle is free,
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[GPL](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt) software. With Mangle you can easily:
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* Sort and organize images from different directories; bulk rename feature for output to the Kindle.
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* Optionally re-save images in a format Kindle will be sure to understand with no visible quality loss.
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* Downsample and rotate images for optimal viewing on Kindle, convert to grayscale to save space and improve contrast.
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* Automatically generate book meta-data so that your Manga is always properly detected and viewable in-order.
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Here is a recent screenshot showing off some of the export options that you can configure on a per-book basis in Mangle:
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You can also check out what Mangle output looks like on the Kindle on the [action
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shots](http://foosoft.net/projects/mangle/action/) page.
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Mangle is cross platform, and doesn't require an install (it's a standalone executable that you can run from anywhere).
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It is also "environmentally friendly" by not messing with your registry or modifying your system in any way. If you
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ever want to uninstall it, just delete the executable and you're done.
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## Usage Instructions ##
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Mangle is pretty easy to use, so this won't be really in-depth. If you have any questions drop me a line though.
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1. Add images to the current book by selecting the `Book | Add | Files` or `Book | Add | Directory` menu items.
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2. If certain images are not in the order you want, select them in the window, and select the `Book | Shift | Up` or
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`Book | Shift | Down` menu items.
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3. Configure the book title and image processing options by selecting `Book | Options`; this will be the title you see
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in the Kindle home menu.
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4. Create a root-level directory on your SD memory card/Kindle called `pictures` (case might matter).
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5. Once you are satisfied with the your images and options select `Book | Export` and select the `pictures` directory
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you just created.
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6. After the export is complete your new Manga books will show up along with all your other books (if they don't for
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some reason, press `Alt+Z` while on the home menu).
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## The Usual Disclaimer ##
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You probably know how this goes by now... Mess around with your Kindle at your own risk. Honestly, nothing bad is going
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to happen; however if something *does* then it's your problem.
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## Running From Source ##
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Because Mangle is written in Python, a scripting language, it's trivial to get it up and running on the operating system
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of your choice. First you should make sure that you have the required dependencies installed:
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* [PyQT4](http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/download)
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* [Python 2.7](http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/)
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* [Python Imaging Library (PIL)](http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/)
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* [ReportLab](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/reportlab)
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* [py2exe](http://www.py2exe.org/) (optional, for Windows distribution only)
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Now you can fetch the [latest version of the code](https://github.com/FooSoft/mangle/) and run the `mangle.pyw` script
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to execute Mangle.
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## Downloads ##
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If you don't want to run Mangle from source, you can use the following pre-built binaries. As I don't have the means to
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make MacOS X releases myself, I am providing the slightly out of date (and unsupported) package built by Rob White in
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its place. Linux users should execute the Python scripts with the interpreter and libraries installed on their system.
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* [magnle_win.zip](http://dl.foosoft.net/mangle/mangle_win.zip)
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* [mangle_osx.zip](http://dl.foosoft.net/mangle/mangle_osx.zip)
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