Quick Start

Tomes allows you to download many free titles directly over the Internet, but best of all (we think!), you can load your own e-books from your computer using the free ShelfServer application.

ShelfServer is written in Java so that it can run on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or most anything else where a JRE is available. In order to run ShelfServer, you must have a Java version 1.5 JRE (or newer) installed. On Windows, the installer will automatically download and install a JRE from Sun if none is available. For Mac OS X, Apple ships a suitable JRE on all versions from Panther on up. For Linux, well... Sorry... You're on your own there. ;-)

Download Here

Mac OS X Full Install (~20MB) Net Install (~500KB)

Windows Full Install (~20MB) Net Install (~350KB)

Linux & Others Tar Archive (~20MB)

Note that "Net" installs require an active Internet connection to complete the install process. "Full" installs will work without any additional download. Both Net & Full installs will automatically download updates when they become available.

Advanced Users

While the majority of users should pick one of the packages above, advanced users may find one of the following alternative packages useful.

ShelfServer is also available as a WAR package suitable for deployment in Java application servers such as Apache Tomcat.

ShelfServer's source code is available under the GPLv3 license.

What's a ShelfServer

It's where you keep your electronic books, of course!

While iTunes provides a nice all-in-one interface for syncing contacts and music and such, unfortunately Apple hasn't provided access to the sync framework for iPhone applications. ShelfServer gives you a way to load books onto your device over a WiFi network.

Tomes uses Apple's Bonjour (ZeroConf) networking technology to locate any ShelfServers on the local network. For most users who have WiFi for their iThing attached to the same network as their desktop, this means that Tomes will "just find" any ShelfServers in the area. If your network is split up so that WiFi and wired are on different segments, a bit of advanced ShelfServer configuration will get you reading in no time.

How's it work?

ShelfServer is a Java application and should run on Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows with a minimum of difficulty. ShelfServer uses Apple's Bonjour / ZeroConf API's which may need to be installed separately.

Once ShelfServer is running, you're able to add one or more directories which contain book content. All of these shared directories and any sub-directories underneath them will be available to Tomes on your iThing. You can choose to download files one at a time or recursively download entire directories in one go (space permitting).

Installing Bonjour

Mac OS X

For Mac OS X, everything is ready out of the box.

Windows

For Windows, the necessary libraries are usually installed as part of iTunes, but the Java portion of the libraries doesn't always get installed automatically. If you see something about an "InvocationTargetException" when you try to start ShelfServer, you need to install (or re-install) Bonjour for Windows.

If Bonjour was installed before the Java JDK on your machine or if you're using a JRE instead of a JDK, you may need to reinstall Bonjour. First, download the latest Java JDK (Click the "Get the JDK download" link near the top of the page, the follow the prompts, accept the license, etc.) Any version of 1.5 or newer should work, but get the 1.6 version unless you have a specific reason not to. See Installing the JDK on Windows for specific instructions.

Once the JDK is installed, Apple's documention suggests that doing a "repair" install of Bonjour should install the necessary libraries. So far, this hasn't seemed to work for many users. To fully reinstall Bonjour, go to the Windows Control Panel, choose Bonjour and click Remove. Once the uninstaller completes, download Bonjour from the Bonjour for Windows site and run it.

Here's a direct download link for Bonjour for 32-bit Windows (2.1 MB). If this link expires, try the one above for the Bonjour for Windows website.

Linux

For Linux... Well... Apple says it should work. I haven't tested it yet and would appreciate any reports of success or failure. There's a mailing list post with instructions for Linux.

New in Tomes 2.0:
Download Books without using ShelfServer

Click to Install Tomes with iTunes or AppStore

Latest News

• Mar 1, 2011BookShelf is now Tomes - v3.0 Released![More...]
• Apr 3, 2010v2.3 Approved w/ native iPad supportBookShelf 2.3 is approved for sale. This version adds native iPad support, an improved download screen, and many small fixes and enhancements.[More...]
• Nov 3, 2009iPhone presentation @ Tech Valley Code CampIntroduction to iPhone Development at the free Tech Valley Code Camp, November 7, 2009 at SUNY Albany, NY[More...]
• Apr 29, 2009ePub Support addedShelfServer now supports the ePub format[More...]
• Apr 29, 20092.0.1738 submitted to AppleMinor bugfixes & iPhone 3.0 support[More...]
• Mar 24, 2009BookShelf 2.0 Released!FeedBooks.com support and cover art[More...]
• Feb 22, 2009BookShelf down southBookShelf goes to college in New Zealand![More...]
• Nov 11, 2008Temporary Support Slow down [Click 'All News' for details]Developer is moving house.[More...]
• Nov 6, 2008Version 1.3 AvailableStability & Plucker fixes[More...]
• Oct 8, 2008Server issues nearly resolved[More...]

[All News]