That 75 year Kalmbach DVD collection...

[PJPickard]

So after spending a bunch of time loading this up on a macbook pro it not surprisingly doesn't work. Should I bother with my Dell laptop?
Or this is $200 down the drain?

[reinhardtjh]

You aren't the first to have this problem.  Read though this thread...  Effin' Kalmbach


That said, if your Dell is an older Windows (Win 7) then I think you can get the version of Adobe Reader that will work.  Or if you something like VMWare Fusion you can install a windows on your MacBook or possibly an older macOs and the Adobe software. 

[PJPickard]

Thanks, yeah I read through that thread(and many others). At this point I don't have a working Windows 7 machine. My old macbook starts up about 1 in 10 tries!

Pitiful that this is what Kalmbach has done for the consumer.

[Chris333]

I'll take the DVD set... surly there is some way to get them to work. 

[reinhardtjh]

Thanks, yeah I read through that thread(and many others). At this point I don't have a working Windows 7 machine. My old macbook starts up about 1 in 10 tries!

Pitiful that this is what Kalmbach has done for the consumer.

Is the old MacBook where you installed the DVD contents?  If it's on a newer model with 8GB or more of memory then using Parallels or VMWare Fusion to run an older macOS (I don't remember what the last version that supported the DVD was. 10.9?) inside your current macOS on that MacBook.

[sirenwerks]

I'll take the DVD set... surly there is some way to get them to work. 

If you figure it out, do let us know.  I tried everything I could think of in Windows land before I gave up that OS and am now working on Linux possibilities, between Raspberry Pi projects.

[Chris333]

If you figure it out, do let us know.  I tried everything I could think of in Windows land before I gave up that OS and am now working on Linux possibilities, between Raspberry Pi projects.

Did you strip the DRM from them?

[PJPickard]

Yes I installed the library on the mac 10.14.6

I emailed support at Kalmcrap and got this response

[Chris333]

I don't know anything about the Mac part. But where it says "internet access required" that is to verify the DRM. Take the DRM off and it will work like a normal .PDF file.

https://www.techradar.com/news/software/how-to-remove-ebook-drm-with-calibre-1291960

Says it works on Mac too https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/calibre-plugins-the-simplest-option-for-removing-most-ebook-drm/

[PJPickard]

Curious if this will work...I would be stepping out of my comfort zone in terms of ability...

[Chris333]

Lol I'm a complete computer idiot and I figured it out. I'm sure there is a video https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=calibre+drm+removal

I "bought" a Morning Sun book that was e-book only. (later on they did end up sell a printed version). The e-book needed an internet connection and the PDF would only open in a special reader that I had to download. I stripped the DRM with Calibre and now it worked just like a regular PDF file.

In Morning Sun's defense it was early on and their later e-books were just regular PDF files.


Hey if you figure it out burn me a copy of the DVD 

[reinhardtjh]

I use Calibre for my Kobo eReader and, when I'm forced to buy a Kindle book, I use it to lessen the DRM.  You can't get rid of it entirely but enough to load the book on a non-Kindle reader.  Adobe DRM is different.  It does it for the Adobe Digital Editions ebooks but you still need to have an Adobe account to register the book to.

[sirenwerks]

There's supposed to be a Calibre add-on called De-DRM for the Linux version but I haven't been able to get it working yet.