So becoming a grownup seems to entail buying expensive electronics, and I need a way to read books without bashing my head against the office printer until it does landscape double-sided, so I was thinking of getting an e-reader of some kind.
I kind of want a Kindle because it’s cheaper than an iPad and it isn’t an LCD, but I had heard they can’t do pdfs. The ads for the Kindle 3 say they have native support now, but the fine print has a lot of weasel words about formatting. Given that I’d be exclusively reading .pdfs formatted in TeX, that’s not a good sign.
Tl;dr - can the new Kindles read TeX? If not, what does?
The strong points of any ebook reader (Kindle, Nook, iPad) are formats that allow the text to re-flow to conform to your device. Think about it. You have a small screen. Anything formatted as an 8.5x11 inch “image” using 12pt or smaller fonts is not going to be a very good fit. You are either going to wind up with painfully tiny text or you are going to be continually scrolling back and forth and up and down.
The Epub & Mobi formats to which most ebook readers are primarily aimed are more like HTML (in fact, they are derived from HTML). Change the size of your browser window or choose a differnet font size adn the text is reformatted to your preferences. Similarly, the text from an Epub or Mobi book formats itself to your e-reader’s viewing area. Rotate to landscape and it re-flows to fit. Decide you want a larger/smaller font and it re-flows again.
Yes, e-readers can be used for the occasional PDF document, but it’s usually not a comfortable fit.
Since you mention TeX, though, you open up the possiblity of processing your documents to specifically look good on an ebook reader. Of course, if you really want to, you can generate HTML (and therefore mobi/epub) from TeX. But it’s not the easiest thing to do.
However, I often process LaTeX documents in which I create two distinct header files. Each header file sets up the style parameters and then uses a \input{} to load the actual body of the paper. One header is the normal article format with normal pages and 11pt fonts. The other header, for publishing the same content on the web, uses either the pdfscreen or web styles (look on CTAN) to specify a considerably larger fontsize and a page size (typically 4:3 ratio) designed so that each page looks comfortable in a typical browser window without scrolling. I would imagine that the PDFs produced from this second style would also work quite nicely in an ebook reader.
Here’s an example from the pdfscreen website and here’s an example of the web style.
I’ve read one PDF book on my Kindle 3. I rotated the display sideways so the text was bigger and more readable. That improved things, but was still pretty annoying. I’d only do it again if I really wanted to read the book a lot and there was no other format available.
PDF to MOBI conversions are usually worthless, the formatting goes haywire and you end up with garbage.
So I agree with the other posters; Kindles are great for proper eBooks, but not for PDFs.
I have a Kindle 3, and it DOES do PDFs just fine. It may depend on the content, but any PDF that is mostly text and represents something that can be printed to letter sized paper should load just fine, Infact, I use my Kindle to carry my work documents (which often change/get updated) rather than printing them out,
I’ve found the Kindle to be less than ideal for PDF documents created by TeX. You may have better luck converting the TeX file into HTML, if you have the source file. But if you’re an academic or student (presumably), I suspect you’ll often read PDF files created by other people, and therefore don’t have access to the original TeX file.
The Kindle DX is much better; you can display a document full-page and read it without reformatting or scrolling. But at that price point ($379) it becomes harder to justify, especially compared to the crop of 10" tablets that recently came out. The ASUS EEE Pad Transformer (a 10.1" tablet running Android 3.1) is only $20 more than the Kindle-DX. The screen size and resolution are roughly the same, though of course the screen technology is different (the EEE Pad Transformer has an IPS LCD, same kind the iPad has but higher resolution than the iPad).
p.s. I do own an EEE Pad Transformer and it is a very good tablet. Works very well for reading papers. I also find it easier to manage data on it - currently I use SugarSync to synchronize a folder on the tablet with a specific folder on my work computer. I use that folder for storing all my reference material (papers I need/want to read, manuals, documents, etc), and it’s automatically synchronized to my tablet. I use their paid version so I can also sync between multiple desktop/laptop computers, but I’m pretty sure you can synchronize at least one computer with one tablet with the free account.
I just got a latest generation Kindle (wi-fi only), and I’m loving it. Easy to read, lots of book options, easy to carry. I haven’t tried PDFs yet, or any of the “experimental” functions, but I’m thrilled with my purchase so far.
I’m probably not the right person to chime in but I hate all kindle, etc types of products. have you used one before? i got one as a present and won’t use it at all. tried it on vacation as my sister said it was easier than carrying a book.
nope, don’t want it, don’t need it, won’t use the one i have.
I have a Kindle and it’s great for e-books, but when I try to read PDFs created in LaTeX it’s just too hard to read comfortably. It’s made even worse by the fact that there’s only a discrete number of zoom levels on the device, so it’s impossible to get the magnification so that the text fills the entire screen.
I got one for a Christmas present when they first came out. Didn’t think I’d like it, but gave it a whirl because it was from my husband. I loved it. I read so much more than I did before, because my eyes have lost their short-distance ability and it was a PITA to use reading glasses. Now I just adjust the font to a readable level.
I also loved that I could read a review for a book that intrigued me and instantly buy it vs. having to write it down and trying to remember it.
Last June, I took it on vacation with me and cracked the screen by putting it next to a really heavy object in my carry-on. Stupid.
After a year without, I broke down and purchased the third generation 6" one for $114 and love it. I also purchased a leather cover that has a little light attached that runs off the Kindle battery, so no separate battery. I’ve had it over a week and still haven’t had to recharge it even though I’m reading several hours daily.
The five biggest downsides are:
Unlike a novel, it can and will break. And it’s not cheap to replace, though friends of mine have said that they called Amazon when there’s broke and Amazon sent them a new one for free.
I never worried about leaving my trashy novel on my lounge chair and hopping in the pool/ocean on vacation before. I did worry about my Kindle.
Battery - if you take it on vacation, you have to lug along the charger. I hate that.
Expense - it’s expensive (over $100) and even though the e-books are less expensive than their paper counterparts, I’m spending way more on books than I used to.
E-books are definitely contributing to the demise of brick-and-mortar bookstores. I still love browsing through bookstores, but they’re failing at a rapid rate. And I’m contributing to that.
Much more comfortable to read, actually. Something I hadn’t thought of before I got mine, but if you’re laying in bed on your side reading a book, you always have that problem of how to read the left side vs. the right side of the book. One is always easier than the other depending on what side you are laying on. I find that the “up” side is easier, and you just lay the “down” side on the bed.
But, with the kindle, it’s much easier, and you don’t have to shift with every page turn. Just push the button.
I’m in the “I love it” camp. I just replaced my v1 and all I have to say about the new one is Scrabble on the Kindle rocks! My husband doesn’t like to play, but I love Scrabble and other word games. I’m up to 55% games won against the computer and have learned some new (albeit obscure) words. It makes a nice change from reading while traveling, too.
