RaspberryPi: Creating an eBook server

So I’ve set up my RaspberryPi to actually do something other than sit there: I’ve turned it into an eBook server using Calibre. I’ll admit it’s similar to the Library Box in concept but works a bit differently from the user’s perspective. (Mainly, the user needs to be on the same network as this server instead of connecting to a specific WiFi signal.)

How to set it up:

• I’m assuming you’re using Rasperian.
• Install Calibre via sudo apt-get install calibre. (This installs an older version of Calibre but it’s the only one I can find to work on the Pi.)
• Instead of running the Calibre GUI and manually starting the Calibre server, you can run the Caliber server from the command line instead. This allows the server to run in the background, using a lot fewer system resources and since it’s done at the command line, you can set it up to run at boot. To do this:

• $ cd /home/pi

• $ cd .config

• If you don’t already have an autostart folder here create it: $ mkdir autostart

• $ cd autostart

• Create the autostart file:

• $ nano calibre-server.desktop

• Enter the following into the blank file:[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Calibre Server
Exec=calibre-server --with-library "Calibre Library"
StartupNotify=false

  “Calibre Library” in line four above is the name of the directory containing your Calibre content. Change as needed. The quotes are not necessary if your directory name does not include spaces.

• CTRL-X | Y to save the file.
• Reboot

To access the Calibre content go to http://piIPaddress:8080 . (On my network I’d go to http://192.168.1.108:8080/.

It’ll look something like this: