Reading on iPhone

[aloimonon]

Hello all,

I wonder if any of you who have iPhones have started to load their texts for reading on the go? Myself, I'm very new to the iPhone, and so far I use this for reading:

iFiles (NOT iFile)
http://www.ifilesapp.com/

Yes, it does cost $0.99, but it supports folders, PDFs, and a lot more (see website). I can read Smyth and many other of my texts with no real problems, but since they are graphically scanned PDFs, the usual restrictions apply (no search!).

I have two questions:
a) How are those with iPhones (or other devices) reading their classics on the go?
b) Concerning the iPhone, iFiles so far works great, but even though it can handle Smyth, it chokes on Kaegi (10-15 seconds rendering time per page!):
http://www.archive.org/details/shortgra ... l002689mbp
Does anyone have a solution for this? Of course, since Kaegi is a small book, I could carry it with me, but it would be nice to be able to read it electronically also. Graphically scanned PDFs are far from the holy grail, but so far, it's the best way through which I know to read free texts.

Any comments are welcome. Note that iFiles allows one to carry their PDF texts stored on the iPhone, and once transferred, no network is required. However, in order to transfer files from a computer to iFiles on the iPhone, wireless network is required, but most modern PCs and Macs have this already. This approach does NOT require jailbreaking the iPhone, and iFiles is a legitimate app from Apple's store.

[edonnelly]

Interesting that you have to jump through so many hoops on the iPhone just to copy and read pdf files. My phone is a windows mobile and that's all just part of the built in software (including syncing to a computer with a usb cable). However, I tend to copy and paste text from Perseus into a word file and read things that way. The down side of that is that I also get all the asterisks and other markups that occur on nearly every word. That works ok for sections of the Iliad (I just need a little at a time, and with copy-and-paste I can take what I want). I haven't tried anything like bringing an entire grammar with me, though, and I think the pdf route might be the only reasonable way to go. You might try to break the grammar into smaller files based upon the different "part" sections. I'm not sure why one pdf would work but another not. It might be the overall filesize. There is a Kaegi grammar on Google books [ http://books.google.com/books?id=uSYtAAAAYAAJ ] that appears to be about half the filesize of the internet archive one you linked to, so you might try that one to see if it goes better. It looks like a different edition.

By the way, if there are any other windows mobile people out there, I wrote a little app to quiz Pharr vocabulary by chapter (up through chapter 45). I'd be happy to give it to anyone who might want it.

[aloimonon]

Thanks a lot for that link, I'll try it when I get home. It's strange how Smyth which is far longer than Keagi works without a hitch (though much shorter in pages, Kaegi is almost as large in bytes, implying, perhaps, more tables?). As for Apple locking down the iPhone, this is quite unfortunate. Since I've "liberated" my iPhone, I have full access to the file system and can upload any file that I wish, unlike the normal iPhone experience. Apple absolutely forbids syncing via a USB cable, though syncing via wireless network with some apps (like iFiles) is allowed. The iFiles PDF reader is pretty good otherwise, as it allows seeking to any page, and viewing a page list to the right. I only went with the iPhone for Lexiphanes, which is an app that has the LSJ lexicon in a convenient format. Do you have something similar? With the iPhone jail broken, the freedom is there to do a lot, but it takes some research and some cash for what should be free.

I'll try that link when I get home! Thanks!

[edonnelly]

I only went with the iPhone for Lexiphanes, which is an app that has the LSJ lexicon in a convenient format. Do you have something similar?

I don't have an app, but I can readily use an online diogenes server (like the one Will set up at http://www.aoidoi.org/diogenes/ ) with the web browser to access LSJ (for Greek) and Lewis-Short (for Latin). It's nice because it will analyze the inflections of the word, too. Of course this all requires an active internet connection as opposed to having all the data on the phone itself.

[aloimonon]

*sigh*

It appears that the Google Books link does not work for me...is this a restriction for non-US IPs? If so, I'm going to have to find a free proxy server somewhere.

[Adelheid]

I use Stanza to read Greek on my Ipod Touch. Stanza is perfect for reading ebooks in the epub format. I use Calibre to create the epub ebooks from the various sources I have for Ancient Greek texts. Calibre is available for Windows ànd for the Mac.

Both applications are free.

As far as LSJ goes: try this app for the Iphone. It's slow, but handy. Oh, well, perhaps not as nice as Lexiphanes ...

[aloimonon]

Thank you for the reply, I'll have a look at epub, but IIRC, it cannot be used for charts (I hope I'm wrong). But in any case, I will give it a try and check the results. Obviously it's good enough for Greek, so it will be useful for me.

Just a request: could any non-US posters check and see if edonnelly's link to Kaegi on Google Books works for them (i.e. allows for the PDF to be downloaded)?

Thanks to all!

[spiphany]

Nope, I can't access it either. There's a version at archive.org which I think you should be able to read, though: http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021601145 (it works for me at any rate). Funny, I was hunting for this just the other day because I needed his Repetitionstabellen and google wouldn't let me see any version of his books in full...

[aloimonon]

Incredible...even with the new version provided by spiphany I cannot view this file, even when I manually ssh it over to a random directory outside the purview of iFiles. So far I am cursed with this book. In fact PDF viewer locked up and I had to kill it manually (-9) as root from a shell...

So far I'm cursed with Kaegi on iPhone.

[paulusnb]

That Diogenes link is nice. I use the lexidium app. 1.99 and it is Lewis and short dictionary. I am writing this on my iPod, by the way. That is why all my posts are now so short.

[aloimonon]

Yes, thanks for the Diogenes link and for all the responses that I've received from all. I'll have to look at this another day in more detail, as I've been really stymied thus far. I'm really new to mobiles and taking my e-texts with me, but there is nothing like the real thing. Like edonnelly said, chopping up PDFs is a great solution if I'm away from my library.