[Nebraska-Senior-Blind] Our NLS Ebook Reader - comments and work arounds

Mon Sep 12 17:28:31 UTC 2022

Thanks Robert, this is great information to have. 

CB

From: Nebraska-Senior-Blind <nebraska-senior-blind-bounces at nfbnet.org> On
Behalf Of Robert Leslie Newman via Nebraska-Senior-Blind
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2022 12:21 PM
To: NE senior division listserv <nebraska-senior-blind at nfbnet.org>
Cc: robertleslienewman at gmail.com
Subject: [Nebraska-Senior-Blind] Our NLS Ebook Reader - comments and work
arounds

Hi You all

I got this from a list that I am on; all blindness related tech, and
happenings that may influence our tech.

From: Library-Talk at acblists.org <mailto:Library-Talk at acblists.org>
<Library-Talk at acblists.org <mailto:Library-Talk at acblists.org> > On Behalf Of
Deborah Armstrong

Disclaimer: I am not an NLS insider, and I have no special relationship with
Humanware. What I am is a curious consumer with a programming background.
Some of this information may not be completely accurate but  I've tried to
the best of my ability to eliminate any errors in the below. I only have the
HumanWare e-Reader,so I'm unsure how much this applies to the E-Reader from
Zoomax. 

With its 16 gigabytes of storage plus the ability to connect an SD card, the
NLS Humanware E-Reader should be able to hold all the Braille you could read
in a lifetime. Plus it lets you read content from Bookshare and NFB Newsline
as well, meaning an enormous book library could potentially be held on the
device.

Sadly, though the larger the library grows, the longer it takes the Book
reader to open. This occurs because it has to build a book list first. And
building that list involves opening each book to look at a data file which
gives specifications about the book -- title, number of volumes and names of
the files comprising that book.

But there's a way to mostly bypass the booklist to get your books to load
faster. Here's how:

1) Using the File manager, locate the book you wish to read. It's in a
folder, likely under Online-Books.

2) Press a routing key or ENTER when you are focused on that folder.

3) The folder opens. If it's a Newsline folder, it will have four files. A
bookshare folder has at least eight and probably more files. A NLS BARD
Braille book has a file for each Braille volume plus one extra file. 

4) You are seeking a file with either an OPF or a BOPF extension. Daisy
files from Bookshare and NFB Newsline have an OPF file; Braille from NLS has
a BOPF file.

5) Press a routing key on the BOPF or OPF file.

The Book reader opens and displays your book.

What's happening here? There's a concept called Open Ebook format, used by
commercial publishers to cope with the problem that an ebook is comprised of
multiple files. The Open Ebook standard allows a file in a computer language
called XML to reside in the folder with the other files comprising the book
content. OPF stands for Open Packaging format and BOPF is Braille Open
packaging format.

A "package" is a nerd term for a file that identifies and documents a bundle
of files. In this case a BOPF or OPF file contains technical detail about
the book: title, filenames, subject, creator and other information. The
process of building the booklist involves getting each book's title from
that file.

After you are finished reading, if you press Space with E, to Exit the book,
you do return to the book list. But at least you don't have to wait for it
to load.

Also using the file manager, you can organize your library. You can  move
books to different folders and create new folders, and the Book reader will
still be able to locate them. As long as you keep each book in its own
folder, you can create categories such as nonfiction and mysteries,
textbooks and pleasure reading. If you are a student, you can organize books
by the courses you are taking. 

On the E-Reader your Braille books are in a zipped folder, but the E-Reader
treats them like regular folders. All the files comprising the book are
simply "zipped up" to conserve space. The Newsline books are downloaded and
then unzipped by the firmware on the E-Reader. 

If you have bookshare Daisy, you'll also want to copy those books on to the
E-Reader after you unzip them, but be sure to keep intact the folder
containing the files comprising each book. It's fine to rename the folder,
just not the files inside.

On my  E-Reader, I have categories like cooking, history, drama, thrillers,
textbooks, etc. Under each, I have the actual folders containing the books,
one folder per book. 

Hope you enjoy the geeking out experience!

--Debee

Reference:

https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-guidelines/contract-spe
cifications/braille-oeb-package-file-bopf-requirements-2022/

and

https://daisy.org/info-help/document-archive/archived-projects/daisy-ansi-ni
so-z39-86-2002-archived/

David Goldfield,

Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist

 <https://www.freedomscientific.com/Training/Certification> 

NVDA Certified Expert <https://certification.nvaccess.org/> 

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Respectfully yours,

Robert Leslie Newman

NFBN Senior Division, President

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