One of the real joys of reading phlogs
and skulking through the depths of the
gopher underground is discovering new
software.
So I thought I'd share a really
impressive python application. I feel
a little like K.Mandla here[1]!
epr, as the title to this phlog
indicates, is a command-line interface
ebook reader[2]. So far it renders my
epub files flawlessly[3].
To invoke the program, you enter 'epr'
(without the quotation marks) followed
by the filename. If you simply enter
'epr' the program will launch with the
last file open at the point where you
stopped reading.
The in-program keyboard commands are
so intuitive that I guessed most of
them before going back to read the
README.md at Github.
Here's a short list of the commands I
use most frequently:
t - display the table of contents
down arrow - scroll down
right arrow, pg down, space bar - page
down
up arrow - scroll up
left arrow, pg up - page up
n - next chapter
p - previous chapter
o - open an image
q - quit image, quit epr
Note that you can also navigate
documents using the h, j, k, and l
keys.
In my estimation, epr is the epitome
of great programming, at least from
the end-user perspective. It's small,
uncomplicated, and does exactly what
it is supposed to do.
Installation instructions can be found
on the Github page. The program
requires python3 and curses, so you'll
have to have those installed before
proceeding.
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[1] I've said it here before, but if
you've never read K.Mandla's blogs,
you owe it to yourself to check them
out:
https://kmandla.wordpress.com/
https://inconsolation.wordpress.com/author/kmandla/
[2] https://github.com/wustho/epr
[3] the author of the app notes a few
limitations of the program on the
github page. They also provide a
couple of solutions.