The AT Library contains the full text and images from over 1050 of the best books dealing with all areas of do-it-yourself technology. Portable and easy to use on 1 USB. The AT Library is currently in use in over 74 countries worldwide. It’s like a portable internet of appropriate technology solutions!

The new USB Edition contains book covers and metadata (where available) that can be synced with your favorite eBook reader using the open source Calibre ebook management software. Alternatively you can use any ebook management software that can read Adobe PDF files. Additionally, the USB version contains complete 32bit and 64bit Linux operating systems bundled with Calibre, office suite, internet browser and many other commonly used programs - making the AT Library a turn-key solution for most hardware configurations.

We have chosen to include the Xubuntu Linux distribution which operates under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and all of the application software installed by default is free software. Xubuntu is developed by a community of programers whose goals are to “provide an easy to use distribution, based on Ubuntu, using Xfce as the graphical desktop, with a focus on integration, usability and performance, with a particular focus on low memory footprint. The integration in Xubuntu is at a configuration level, a toolkit level, and matching the underlying technology beneath the desktop in Ubuntu.”

The minimum system requirements for Xubunutu is a 32-bit processor, a minimum of 1GB of RAM and 7.5GB of free space on your hard drive. This makes it a great operating system for breathing new life into older systems that struggle or can no longer run the latest versions of Windows or MacOS. Plus, with an internet connection you have access to the Ubuntu software repository with thousands of free applications for graphics, video editing, desktop publishing, utilities, and more. Learn more about Xubuntu at https://xubuntu.org/

About the AT Library USB drive

The AT Library USB drive is formatted with two partitions. The first partition includes the AT Library and Calibre software installation files. The second partition is formatted as a “live” USB drive that your computer can boot from. With a bootable Linux USB drive, you can:

IMPORTANT: YOU HAVE THREE OPTIONS FOR UTILIZING THE AT LIBRARY

OPTION 1: Use AT Library on your existing operating system. Install Calibre ebook management software in your Windows or MacOS and connect it to the AT Library folder on the USB Drive OR transfer folder to a location on your hard disk. Alternatively, you can use your own ebook software.


OPTION 2: Use AT Library completely from USB drive and included Linux OS. For this option you boot into the included Linux OS, Open Calibre and connect it to the AT Library folder (without installing any software and without touching your Mac or PC configuration).


OPTION 3: Install Linux OS and AT Library onto your PC or Mac. You can choose to replace your existing operating system (Mac, Windows, etc) OR install it on a partition as an alternative OS.

OPTION 1: Use AT Library on your existing operating system

How to install Calibre ebook management software.  

Calibre is compatible with Windows, Windows 64, OSX, Linux and can be synced on OS, Android, Kindle, Nook or any other tablet, phone or eReader capable of viewing Adobe PDF files.

Note: This USB includes the latest version of Calibre version available at the the time of manufacture. Once installed you can run the updater to upgrade to latest version for free. Alternatively, you can download the latest version of Calibre by going to: https://calibre-ebook.com/download.

Install bundled Calibre software

Insert USB into available drive. Your computer should open a dialogue asking what you would like to do with it. Choose to open it in a file manager like “Windows Explorer” or “Finder” in OS X. Open the “Install Calibre Software” folder and double-click on the appropriate installation folder. .msi for Windows or .dmg for OS X.

When you first run calibre, it will ask you for a folder in which to store your books. Whenever you add a book to calibre, it will copy the book into that folder. At this step we recommend that you create a generic library folder that way if you decide to add other ebooks they will note be merged into your AT Library.

Open AT Library using Calibre

  1. With Calibre installed and open, navigate to the “Documents” icon in the main menu. Here you can create a second (or more) Calibre Library to house your AT Library.  
  2. Choose “Switch/Create Library…”
  3. In the “New Location:” field, navigate to the “AT Library” folder in your AT Library USB drive. (Alternatively, you can copy this folder to a directory on your hard drive and point Calibre to it).


Note: if you decide to point Calibre to your USB drive you must have it inserted in your USB drive to access your library. The advantage of this approach is that you save space on your hard drive.

The complete instruction manual for Calibre is include in the Calibre Install Folder in your AT Library USB.

OPTION 2: Use AT Library completely from USB drive and included Linux OS

Booting your PC from the live USB drive

BIOS (Basic Input Output Subsystem) is a programmable chip that controls how information is passed to various devices in the computer system. A typical method to access the BIOS settings screen is to press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10 during the boot sequence.

BIOS settings allow you to run a boot sequence from a hard drive, a CD-ROM drive or USB drive. You may configure the order that your computer searches these physical devices for the boot sequence.

The first device in the order list has the first boot priority. For example, to boot from USB drive instead of a hard drive, place the USB drive ahead of the hard drive in priority.

Before you set boot priority for a USB device, plug the device into a USB port.

To specify the boot sequence:

  1. Start the computer and press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10 during the initial startup screen. Depending on the BIOS manufacturer, a menu may appear.
  2. Choose to enter BIOS setup. The BIOS setup utility page appears.
  3. Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab. System devices appear in order of priority.
  4. To give a CD or DVD drive boot sequence priority over the hard drive, move it to the first position in the list.
  5. To give a USB device boot sequence priority over the hard drive, do the following:
  1. Save and exit the BIOS setup utility.
  2. The computer will restart with the changed settings.

Boot Priority Options

Some computer manufacturers allow you to select the device that contains the boot sequence from a special device selection menu. The example below uses a Dell system board.

To set boot priority using a device selection menu:

  1. When the computer starts to boot up, after the manufacturer's ID screen, press F12 several times. The device selection menu appears.
  2. Use the up and down arrows to select USB Flash Drive.
  3. To boot from the selected device, press ENTER.

Choosing boot priority in Windows 10

  1. Connect a bootable USB drive to a USB port on your PC.
  2. Boot to Advanced startup options from within Windows 10.
  3. After the computer restarts, click/tap on the Use a device option.

Choosing boot priority in your Mac from the live USB drive

  1. Turn off the MacBook if it is powered on by clicking on the Apple menu and then selecting "Shut Down..."
  2. Restart the MacBook and press the "Option" key while the restart process is going on. Release the "Option" key when the Startup Screen appears.
  3. Click the startup icon that represents the Drive you want to boot (e.g. USB Drive), then click on the arrow beneath the icon to boot that operating system.

Booting your system from USB

When your system boots from the AT Library USB you will see a screen that gives you the following boot options:

  1. Boot from Hard Disk
  2. Load GRUB2 BootManager
  3. PLoP BootManager
  4. xubuntu-32bit
  5. xubuntu-64bit

To boot to the Xubuntu OS on the AT Library USB choose either the 32bit or 64bit Xubuntu option depending on your system configuration. A Xubuntu option screen will appear (below) with the following options:

Once Xubuntu has loaded you can launch Calibre by clicking on the Xubuntu start menu button at the top left of the screen. Calibre is located in the office applications category. Once launched Calibre will ask you which directory to connect to, point it to the AT Library Folder in the USB.

OPTION 3: Install Linux OS and AT Library onto your PC or Mac. You can choose to replace your existing operating system (Mac, Windows, etc) OR install it on a partition as an alternative OS.

To install Xubuntu you can either choose to install from the initial Xubuntu menu OR you can can click on the install Xubuntu link on the desktop of the Live USB version.