Porteus

Posted: **25 Oct 2022, 02:36**

While there are some online converters for pdf2epub I did not manage to create a Linux based one, preferable as a slim module. (Port 5.0 x86-64 XFCE)

Some DDG results for "pdf2epub"

https://cloudconvert.com › pdf-to-epub
PDF to EPUB | CloudConvert
PDF to EPUB Converter. CloudConvert is an online document converter. Amongst many others, we support PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX. Thanks to our advanced conversion technology the quality of the output will be as good as if the file was saved through the latest Microsoft Office 2019 suite.

https://www.zamzar.com › convert › pdf-to-epub
PDF to EPUB - Convert your PDF to EPUB for Free Online - Zamzar
Choose the PDF file that you want to convert. Select EPUB as the the format you want to convert your PDF file to. Click "Convert" to convert your PDF file. Zamzar Pro Tip: If you are on a Mac then you can use the Preview application to open PDF files. Choose Files. Drag & drop files.

https://www.pdfchef.com › pdf-to-epub.html
PDF to EPUB | Convert PDF to EPUB Online for Free - PDFChef
How to convert PDF to EPUB online: Step 1. Add your PDF file using the Choose File button or by dragging and dropping it into the upload area. Step 2. Wait a few seconds while we convert your file from PDF to EPUB. Step 3. Click Download File to get your EPUB file.

Does anyone know of a working and reliable Linux solution?

Reliable as in: not as failure prone than, say, https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-epub :

At least https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-epub can claim

Thanks to our advanced conversion technology the quality of the output will be as good as if the file was saved through the latest Microsoft Office 2019 suit

all it wants, here are just 2 examples of how it fails (and this kind of errors are to be found all over the resulting epub which makes it quite bothersome to read):

Above the pdf (OLAF report on Frontex [that was not meant to get published, but fragdenstaat.de published the massive corruption and human rights violations the OLAF report unveiled anyway])

and this is the resulting epub with two errors highlighted:

Posted: **25 Oct 2022, 15:00**

It might have to do with "Adobe Systems", the creators of PDF format. I don't know which company controls that destiny today. They might not be very happy the user wants to get away from PDF format. Maybe it has to do with security. Probably the reason why online-only solutions are offered is because otherwise they are motivated to create payware for Linux to do this type of thing.

EPUB

There it reveals "EPUB" is actually a ZIP file, while PDF is self-contained -- a molecule and an atom. Therefore it's going to be a pain converting pictures, locating them precisely, unpacking the text, doing the formatting correctly and stuff like that. Check for malicious programs in the document, perhaps employing an Internet security suite, which could be a no-go for some people. "Give me more money" and suddenly it could be done. "Advanced conversion technology" away from an online site explains it clear to me.

Posted: **25 Oct 2022, 15:34**

gnintilgyes wrote: ↑
25 Oct 2022, 15:00
There it reveals "EPUB" is actually a ZIP file, while PDF is self-contained

Sure, a PDF is meant to be an electronic 1:1 copy of a hard copy / aka the same layout than on the paper.

But still, I think you get why most folks would prefer epub instead of pdf?

I sure so, I do not care about the page layout. As you can see by the screenshot, I set my FBReader to have black background and bright green text - that's the text layout they choose back in the 1970th and partially the 80th for PCs / terminals due to it be very pleasant to the eyes.

While a normal PDF hurts my eyes with all the brightness.