Keeping Up With The PBB's
I am very happy to announce two programs which will be of great help to the more neurotic PBB users among us. PBB Updater and PBBMover.
Most of you know that Stilltruth.com hosts a rather large and growing assortment of PBB files. The Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary also has a growing collection. Happily there are now so many it's getting difficult to ensure that you have all of them. So I asked a friend to build a program which would keep you all up to date.
gephartr thankfully agreed and created PBB Updater. It acts very much like the Libronix Resource Update Script. It first downloads two very small files from stilltruth.com and uses those to compare the PBB's available on both Stilltruth.com as well as the Walther Library with those already on your hard drive. Then it offers you check boxes so you can select and download the PBB's you either don't have or don't have the latest version of.
All of these files are downloaded to a very helpful "tree" which segregates the books by author. for example:
C:\PROGRAM FILES\LIBRONIX DLS\RESOURCES\PBB
|
+---StillTruth.com
| +---AbrahamKuyper\{ccel_kprhlysprt.lbxoeb | kuyper_calvinism.lbxoeb | kuyper_near_God.lbxoeb}
| |
| +---AJGordon\gordon_moh.lbxoeb
|
\---Walther Library\{augustinesermon112.lbxoeb | barryunchangingtruth.lbxoeb | birdcalledandordained.lbxoeb}
However that creates a potential problem. It takes a lot of bandwidth to download all of those files (roughly 800+MB!) If you've already downloaded most of them then you're in a bit of a pickle. It not only uses bandwidth but it also takes up precious hard drive space. So I whipped up a nifty little Batch file called PBBMover which will automatically create the needed directories and then move all the books you've already downloaded into their homes as shown above.
So if you run PBBMover and then download and run PBB Updater you'll be able to stay up to date.
IF you happen to have a website which holds PBB files and you wish to be included in this tool it should be rather easy. Contact me directly and I'll let you know what information you need to collect.
Now:
if you're sufficiently interested to get up to date
1. Download and Run PBBMover (see Below)
2. Download, install and run PBB Updater (Also Below)
Be sure to leave a thank you note on the site to gephartr!
I'm no prophet but I predict a bandwidth spike over the next few days. :-)
My only fear is that you all won't come back to see me very often now.
PBB Mover
EDIT: 11/15/2007---
This has been superceded. gephartr placed this functionality into PBBupdater. Thus PBBMover has been removed from download
-----
gephartr's new PBB Installer is a great tool. It very helpfully downloads all of the PBB's on stilltruth.com (and the Walther library!) and places them into subdirectories by author or collection in your resources directory so that your directory tree looks like...
C:\PROGRAM FILES\LIBRONIX DLS\RESOURCES\PBB
|
+---StillTruth.com
| +---AbrahamKuyper
| | ccel_kprhlysprt.lbxoeb
| | kuyper_calvinism.lbxoeb
| | kuyper_near_God.lbxoeb
| |
| +---AJGordon
| gordon_moh.lbxoeb
|
\---Walther Library
augustinesermon112.lbxoeb
barryunchangingtruth.lbxoeb
birdcalledandordained.lbxoeb
...
But what if you've already downloaded most of these PBB's already to a different location? I know several people have just downloaded them into the regular resources directory. (c:\Program Files\Libronix DLS\Resources\) Duplicating an 800+ MB download can be rather cumbersome so I wanted a way to move all of my previously downloaded files into the right directories so that only those files I needed got downloaded. The result? PBBMover version 1.0.
Run this from anywhere, type in the current location of all of your downloaded PBB files and it will automatically create the necessary directories and then move the PBB's over there.
Then go run gephartr's PBB Installer and save your self a bandwidth headache.
Oh, and don't forget to refresh your resources from within Libronix.
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
![[file]](http://www.stilltruth.com/sites/all/modules/webfm/image/icon/f.gif "Download GNU Public License 2.0"){kind=icon} GNU Public License 2.0 | 11/13/07 2:46 pm | 17.57 KB |
Development Projects on SourceForge
In case there is anyone out there wanting to either look at the code, or get involved with the code behind PBB Updater or the CCEL Processor - these projects have been created on SourceForge.net.
PBB Updater: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pbbupdater/
CCEL Processor: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ccelprocessor/
Also, attached to this post are the installers for both applications. And the PBB Updater should get an update within the week. Final touches going on the new version right now.
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| CCEL_Processor_Setup.msi | 02/16/08 4:07 pm | 425.5 KB |
| PBB Updater v1.2.0 | 08/27/08 4:28 am | 482.5 KB |
Other ways to get the PBB's
Bittorent
If you have a Libronix Bible study package from Logos Bible software you'll want this collection of nearly 900 Personal Book Builder books covering a massive selection of topics and authors like AT Robertson, AW Tozer, Luther and many many more.
I've finally gotten around to crafting a torrent file for all of the PBB's thus far (6-17-2008).
If you don't know anything about bittorrent I'll suggest hitting Bittorrent.com and clicking on "GET BITTORRENT NOW".
This particular torrent will help save hard drive space by actually recreating a directory structure the same created by Randy's excellent PBBUpdater. It will all be created within a PBB directory. So wherever you save your files to you can simply point Libronix to it.
For example the directory being downloaded is PBB. Thus your books will appear as:
pbb/stilltruth.com/authorname/bookname.lbxoeb
I'll leave the torrent up as long as it's being used. When I go two weeks without anyone using it either as a seed or a leach it'll come down.
Foldershare
I've got my PBB files on a foldershare folder. I'll make it public /read only if someone wants to download and install foldershare - then zip me an email (Use the contact form in the left column). Put the words "PBB FOLDERSHARE" as the subject and I'll email you back an invitation to the foldershare.
NOTE: The foldershare experiment is a failure. Not only was it populating my directory twice but my home bandwidth went through the roof. Sorry to those that have been using it but I've had to cut it off!
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Libronix_PBB_files_from_stilltruth.torrent | 07/20/08 2:22 pm | 440.08 KB |
PBB Updater
Recently Tom approached me about creating an updater program for all the wonderful PBB resources available here. Tom and I have been working together over the past couple weeks to implement his ideas. Attached is the new installer program for the PBB listings available both here and at Walther Library.
This is a new development project and you may run into some issues. If you do, please let me know the error messages that you get and I will try to correct them. When you run this installer, it will add a custom toolbar to the Libronix program to start the updater - as well as an icon on your desktop and start menu. No downloads will begin while Libronix is running though.
Features
1. Supports PBB files, Collections, Resource Associates, Annotations, and Workspaces.
2. PBB files go to %PROGRAM FILES%\Libronix DLS\Resources\PBB. StillTruth.com files will have their sub folder and Walther Library will have their sub folder.
3. Collections, Resource Associations, Annotations, and Workspaces all go to MY DOCUMENTS\Libronix DLS, into their own appropriate sub folder
4. Automatically will move existing PBB files to their new expected location (new 11/14)
5. Support for automatic location finding in 64-bit editions of Windows (new 11/29)
6. Abililty to specify a custom location for resource, automatically moving existing files to the new location (new 11/29)
7. Throttled to only 4 active downloads at a time (new 11/29)
8. Added "Auto Updating" capabilities. The application now shows up as a provider in the list. If you select to download it, then the update will download, shutdown the application and install the new version - automatically moving over your custom resource file location (as part of the auto update). (new 12/2)
We are hoping to add support for other resources and file types in the future, but wanted to make this available to you all. If you download everything from both sources, there is approximately 830 MB of resources currently available.
Hope you like it.
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| PBB Updater v1.2.0 | 08/27/08 4:28 am | 482.5 KB |
Easiest Way to Download PBB Resources
The entries on the PBB_Updater have fallen off the radar and every now and again we get new visitors here that would like some of these PBBs. There are a couple ways that you can use the PBB resource (presuming you have the PBB reader key).
1. Download each file you want independantly and place them into the Resource folder (PROGRAM FILES\Libronix DLS\Resources)
2. Install the PBB_Updater, pick which resources you want, and click Download
Personally I recommend the PBB_Updater method - as I find it to be much easier (and I built it). At this point in time, there are a couple things to do to use it. First is to install it, and second update the configuration file to tell your client machine of a change on the servers.
Coming very soon is the update to the PBB_Updater that will take care of these things - along with fix some date issues we've had, and some new features as well. Stay tuned to here more about that!
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| PBB Updater v1.2.0 | 08/27/08 4:28 am | 482.5 KB |
| updated mySettings.xml Incorporates the path changes to ../public/.. | 01/29/08 8:23 am | 712 bytes |
PBB Updater Updated
So, I have placed v1.1.7 of the PBB Updater on the site now. It has been fairly stable the last week or so and provides all of the recent fixes for the site changes. It no longer uses the file date/time stamp to determine if a file has been updated - but instead a checksum value for the file. If the file changes, the checksum will be different and it shows up as updated. Additionally, the updater now displays a status screen to let you see what it is doing while it is doing it.
And finally, the method by which it tracks what resources are available at StillTruth and what resources you have is now different. Site level changes may now happen and it will not break the updater - as that change will now be made to the resource listing on the server and downloaded each day (that you run updater) to your computer so it is always up-to-date.
Thanks to these changes there will be some other updates coming in the future. Such as support for providing the timeline files and other types of Libronix resource files. And hopefully, the updater will be able to provide you a list of resources on your computer that may be stale and no longer provided due to file updates (such as 14 volume works being combined into a single work).
That said, it has been in limited release. You may experience some bugs that I have not come across yet. If so, please leave a comment here and I will try to address it quickly. I hope that this resolves some of the irritations that have plagued you recently and provide you with an easy way to access these public domain resources that Tom is so kind to host for us. Hopefully he will be able to keep this site here for a long time to come - as it is a great ministry to help many of us who just can't afford to purchase all of these resources.
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| PBB Updater v1.2.0 | 08/27/08 4:28 am | 482.5 KB |
PBB_Updater: Auto Updating
So, today an update to PBB_Updater was made that will allow it to update itself. No longer will you need to pay attention to the Recent Comments to know if I have made an update!
How do you get this functionality, you ask?
1. Open Windows Explorer and make a backup copy of the mySettings.xml file - naming the backup mySettings_Upgrade.xml. You will find this file at: C:\Program Files\StillTruth.com\PBB Updater (unless on a 64-bit edition in which case C:\Program Files (x86)\StillTruth.com\PBB Updater).
2. Download and install the latest PBB_Updater_Setup.msi.
3. Run PBB_Updater and go to Application/New. Select the updater and download it. This is the same version that you just installed, but you need to download this file if you want to know when there is an update. When you finish downloading, a message will popup asking if you want to install it - just click Cancel.
Now you will know if an update to the application occurs! You will find it under Application/Update inside of PBB_Updater.
Note: in the initial build of the PBB_Updater all date/times are in local time format. I discovered that this made everything show up as updated due to daylight savings time. (The code now ignores DST.) But, since this happened you may notice a lot of files show up under Updates. If you do, please let me know and I will try to troubleshoot. Also, in the future an update may occur to change time format to GMT time based operations. Please make sure your collection is up-to-date in the next month or so (not necessarily "New" but "Update" books). Thanks!
| Attachment | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| PBB Updater v1.2.0 | 08/27/08 4:28 am | 482.5 KB |
How do I clean up my Libronix book Files?
An excellent question with a two part answer.
You especially need this tip if you've just used PBBMover or PBB Updater.
Libronix keeps it's "book" records in an internal database so if you move or delete a file you should tell Libronix to rebuild it's cache, then we'll get rid of some duplicates through a special Libronix report built just for that purpose.
Rebuild Your Cache
First navigate to Tools > Options > General...
In the resulting dialog, click the resources button, check that your paths are correct and click "Refresh Resources".
You probably should close and restart Libronix twice and give it plenty of time to sort through and re-recognize all of your resources.
Remove Duplicate Resources
Second you'll want to consider removing some duplicate resources.
Navigate to Tools > Library Management > Remove Duplicate Resources
Select the books to remove
these will be removed from both the database as well as your hard drive so make sure!
Notice the three types of boxes in the image. The grayed out box means that it's in the database but not on your hard drive. This is a clue that you need to refresh your resources as above. The other two boxes show resources on your hard drive and the check indicates the one that will be deleted.
Why can't I read these Personal Book Builder (PBB) books?
There may be a variety of possibilities as to why you cannot read the book (yet).
- Location is everything.
First, make sure it is saved at a location which Libronix is searching for resources. By default the program searchesC:\program files\Libronix DLS\ResourcesIf you save your PBB files there the program will automatically search for and find it (providing the next option is in place).- If you wish to check, than open Libronix and Click Tools -> Options -> General.
- Locate the Resources Tab (1), Check to make sure that the location you have saved your PBB files is listed (2) if not add the location (3) and click OK.
- Are you Licensed to Read? To read them you need to have a PBB reading Key. Electronic books built with the PBB will be readable only by users who have a Libronix PBB Reading Key. The reading key is free and is available only to users who own one of the boxed products (e.g. Scholar's Library: Silver, Scholar's Library, Original Languages Library, Leaders Library, Bible Study Library, Christian Home Library, Or The Spanish Library.) This key is also included with the Personal Book Builder Standard or private use editions. It has also been included in boxed Logos Bible Software collections since the "QB" release. It is not included in free downloadable viewers. Users who own a boxed product predating the QB release can determine their eligibility for the free reading key and download it
- here. (The private use Edition is licensed for building books that will only work on the system that built them; the private use Edition does not build books for distribution but only for personal use.) See:
http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/readingkeyfor more information. - Are you up to date? Certain books on this site were compiled using different versions of Libronix. If a book is built using Libronix 3.0d and you are using the Libronix 3.0a engine you will not be able to read it. In the Menu click
Help -> Aboutand see what version you are using. If you are not currently using the latest version than I suggest upgrading. - Close and restart Libronix and you should be able to read to your hearts content.