[TUTORIAL] Turn Your NDS Console Into An E-Book Reader For R4DS Users

I've seen many people asking about how to make use of their NDS Console as an E-Book Reader. And so I've decided to bring up this topic as a tutorial for those of you; who besides playing games on their console also like to read books. Reading is good for your soul, besides chicken soup.

Most of you may not know that there are lots of good and interesting books floating around the internet sites in the various form of text files such as; .pdf , .lib , .txt , .mobi , .xhtml , .epub , etc. Though the majority of the free books are those with expired ISBN registration (expired copyrights written materials a.k.a no more copyrights protection), there are also those that are still valid and infact some are brand new books recently released. Which is really thrilling for book readers who either unable to locate the books that they want to read from their local bookstore, no money to purchase it, or simply too lazy to go to the bookstore.

I for one am excited about this fact, because I had difficulties acquiring a novel book series written by an award winning author by the name of Clive Cussler. I had accumulated 8 out of over 40 titles. The books are actually not expensive, but its a collector's item that makes it difficult to collect and find, especially in the country where I live. And thanks to this recent e-book trend, I'm now able to acquire 97% of his titles in the form of e-books. The books that I don't have are his 2 children oriented books and 1 of his non-fiction book; am waiting for his upcoming book that is due release in a few days time.


Enough of my opening nonsense, lets get into business; as the title of this topic hinted, this topic focuses on the method to run on the R4DS, specifically the R4DS Original v.1.18. But if your cartridge can be DLDI patched or run the MoonShell, by all means try it out. (The DLDI Patching tool is provided in this topic page for download, and it contain all the various DLDI patch file for Slot-1 and Slot-2 carts provided by Chishm.)

There are several e-book programs for NDS Cosole to choose from, but for now I shall introduce 5 programs that can run on the R4DS, all of which are homebrew programs.

The Homebrew Program Files

1. DSLIBRIS (Made by: kiscsirke and rayh23)
Source : NDSLIBRIS SourceForge Project Site
Direct download : Download DSLIBRIS.NDS v.1.49

Personal Review:

Spoiler

To use this program, you must DLDI patch the program file that end with .NDS in order to load on the
NDS Console using the R4DS. In the package there are 5 files:
# NDSLIBRIS.NDS # Book Folder # Font Folder
# Install.txt # dslibris.xht
Add all the files into your R4 Cart, except the install.txt file.

2. ReadMoreAlpha (Made by: Björn Giesler)
Source : ReadMoreAlpha Blog Page
Direct Download : ReadMoreAlpha.NDS

Personal Review:

Spoiler

To use this program, you must DLDI patch the program file that end with .NDS in order to load on the
NDS Console using the R4DS. In the package there are 4 files:
# ReadMore.NDS # Font Folder
# ReadMe.doc # ReadMe.pdf
Add only the .NDS and the Font Folder. You may create a 'Book Folder' for convenience.

3. DSReader (Made by: Eddie Park)
Source : DSReader HomeBrew
Direct Download : DSReader.NDS

Personal Review:

Spoiler

To use this program, you do not need to DLDI patch the .NDS file. In the package there are 4 files:
# DSReader.NDS # Ariel Font
# Gara Font # Alice.txt
Add the .NDS file and create a 'Font Folder' and insert those 2 fonts into that folder. The same goes
for the text files, create a 'Book Folder' for convenience. The Alice.txt is short for 'Alice in Wonderland'.
At first run, you need to set the font to either Ariel or Gara, and then complete the other setup asked.
It will then self create a 'Settings Folder'.

4. MoonShell (Made by: Krishen V. Persaud)
Source : MoonShell Homepage
Direct Download : MoonShell v.2.10 Stable.NDS

Personal Review:

Spoiler

To use this program, simply install it direct into the cart, and it should come with at least 2 files:
# _MSHL.NDS # moonshl folder
If version v.2.10 stable is too large for your cart, try the v.1.71. Its the same. Look for one with
.dpg ability to make it equivalent to the v.2.10.

5. Ikureader (Made by: No_please a.k.a Chintoi)
Source : Ikureader Homepage
Direct Download : Ikureader.NDS

Personal Review:

Spoiler

To use this program, simply install it direct into the cart, and it should come with these files:
# iku.NDS # books folder # data folder
# info.txt # install.txt # how-to-control.png
Only add the iku.NDS , books folder and the data folder into your cart.

#DLDI Patching Tool (Made by: Chishm)
Source : Chishm Homepage
Direct Download : Complete DLDI Patching Tool

As promised, the above is the patching tool. Open the Win 32 patch program, choose the patch to use
and then choose the .NDS file to patch. As simple as that.

Converting Files

There are many e-book extensions floating around the internet, most common are;
# .pdf # .epub # .doc # .docx # .rtf # .xhtml
# .html # .lit # .txt # .mobi # .xht # .fb2

There are many more. But remember that the above programs can run only a few of it. So you need to convert it.

1. Calibre E-Book Management Program (Made By: Kovid Goyal)
Source : Calibre E-Book Management Homepage
Direct Download : Calibre E-Book Management Download

The program is easy to use and has multiple converting and saving types. It basically accomodate
all e-book formats, except the audiobook types. Act as a ebook convertor, PC ebook reader, and
manager.

Image:

Spoiler

How to use (See the Picture):
1. Press + to add the files to convert (Illustrated as marked no.1)
2. The file to convert will show up with a picture of the cover to the side of it (Illustrated as marked no. 3)
* You may double click on the info to rename/change it
3. Press the brown book icon to convert (Illustrated as marked no.2)
* At default the end format will be .epub
4. The converting process is shown at the bottom right (Illustrated as marked no.4)
5. The original and end result format is also shown (Illustrated as marked no.5)

2. Online ePub Convertor (Made by: Time2Talk)
Source : E-Book Online Convertor

This online convertor (specifically for ebook converting) supports converting files source format;
# .epub # .lit # .mobi # .fb2 # .pdf # .lrf # .pdb # .tcr
Convert the above file extension into the other supported extension only!

3. Online 2ePub Convertor
Source : Online 2EPUB Convertor

This online convertor supports;
Input formats : # .doc, # .epub, # .fb2, # .html, # .lit, # .lrf, # .mobi, # .odt, # .pdb, # .pdf, # .prc, # .rtf, # .txt.
Output formats: # .epub, # .fb2, # .lit, # .lrf, # .mobi

4. Online PDF to TEXT Convertor
Source : Online PDF to Various Text Convertor

This online convertor supports converting .PDF to (and vice versa);
# Words Doc # Image File # .txt # .html

Of cause there are also other converting tools. For .txt you can either simply block the entire text file and copy paste it into the NotePad program, or use a text convertor which is unnecessary, given the fact its easier to copy paste it directly. But I prefer using the Calibre, as it also has an additional function of managing the books I converted into specific folder and help find the proper book cover.

E-Book Sources

There are lots of ebook sites around the internet, to name a few source to look into;

1. Project Gutenberg
Source : Project Gutenberg Free Ebook Wiki Homepage

In it mostly old books with expired ISBN copyrights, so its alright to download as mostly the books are
from the 18th century or early 21st century. There are around 33.000 books to choose from.

2. ePub Bud
Source : ePub Bud Browse Free E-Books

3. Free EPUB eBooks
Source : Free EPUB eBooks Homepage

4. Free eBooks from ebook3000.com
Source : ebook3000 Homepage

5. MobileRead
Source : MobileRead Forums A Place to Share eBooks

6. OnRead
Source : OnRead - Instant Free eBook

And so many more sites to look ........

Simply use the Search Engine for assistance if you can't find the specific book you want to grab. Convert the file using the above convertor to turn it into an .epub , .xht , or .xhtml to run on DSLIBRIS or change it into .txt for the other programs. Remember if its originally for example an .epub file, and let say you are using the ReadMore program, this means you need to first convert the .epub file into .pdf using the convertor, and then you have 2 choices, use a .pdf to .txt convertor or simply open the .pdf and manually copy paste it into a text reader such as NotePad to save as .txt file.

After you convert or copy paste, depending on what file extension that fit the e-book program you decide to use from the above choices, simply copy the text file into the 'Book Folder', and run it on the NDS. So that's it, very simple.

Happy reading on your NDS.....why carry a heavy book when you can use the NDS as a pocket e-book reader! Enjoy! ;D

 

;D

Well....as long as you get the change to enjoy free ebook copies....why not....

PS:
The best homebrew in the above list so far as I've tested is Ikureader. It get continuous update too from the developer and you can have as many ebook in your SD Card's folder. As for DSLibris, its also good but if you have too many ebook in your SD Card's folder, it will crash when you want to re-load the program. If that happen for DSLibris, simply remove the DSLIBRIS.xml and DSLIBRIS.txt. Its should normally resume. Or in some cases you will also need to remove the DSLIBRIS.SAV too.

 

From the internet of cause, lots of good books circulating. With the help of Calibre program, you can convert various files into the extension that you need.

Here are some of my sources of info, but googling will surely turn up more :

1. freebook.be
2. ebooks.softarchive.net
3. exbii.com (Note: some internet provider block this website)
4. ebook3000.com

There are many more, but its all available via google search.