Zein’s place on the net

Once upon a time, the options available to Linux users interested in managing their book collections were limited. The situation was so bleak that I attempted to create my own web-based application. That app was fine until I tried to host it on my 64MB VPS and failed (RoR had a footprint of 60MB all by itself)!

Lately, I have been missing the ability to browse through my books. I started thinking about having another attempt at a book collection manger. Maybe this time I would try and write a desktop application. I could use python or even try out mono. So today I did a bit of googling and stumbled upon Alexandria, a book collection manager for GNOME.

This application is brilliant! It is almost the perfect application. All I needed to do was get a list of books in my old app:

echo "select isbn from books;" | sqlite3 mybooklist_production.sqlite > import-list.txt

I was then able to import all my old books into Alexandria using the import ISBN list feature. I would like to recommend this app to anyone who is looking for a book collection manger for Linux. The site also has deb packages for those who use Debian or Ubuntu.

hmm very interesting
they even have a free (as in freedom) book!

from the project:

The massive popularity of wireless networking has caused equipment costs to continually plummet, while equipment capabilities continue to increase. By applying this technology in areas that are badly in need of critical communications infrastructure, more people can be brought online than ever before, in less time, for very little cost. We hope to not only convince you that this is possible, but also show how we have made such networks work, and to give you the information and tools you need to start a network project in your local community.

After looking for a simple clean application to hold my book collection and coming up empty, I decided to write one myself!

The application is written in Ruby on Rails (ROR) and will have the following features!

• admin user to update and edit
• book grabber from amazon (enter the ISBN and all the data is entered automagicly -including the image of the front cover-)
• search by author, category ,book title or publisher
• list or grid view
• sexy smart looking with a very clean interface!
• rate books
• wish list
• mark as borrowed with the borrowers name

I have registered a project at sourceforge.com and will upload the source as soon as the project is approved!

here are a couple of screen shots: