The Download Munkey : Download This, Download That :)

Recently installed the J2ME text file reader, TequilaCat Book Reader, on my mobile phone to kill time during my daily commutes to work. Highly recommended for avid readers except if you’re driving of course

Download TequilaCat Book Reader from Alexey Vdovichenko (aka TequilaCat)’s website, which is essentially a Windows application to create the necessary .jar file to install the actual Book Reader onto your mobile phone.

Select your phone model from the list (choose MIDP 2.0 + JSR75 if you have a fairly modern model which supports flash cards) and click on the first button which reads Build to generate .jar and .jad files in the test subfolder in the TequilaCat BookReader installation folder. Copy these files to your mobile phone together with some text files, install and you’re all set

Before that you might want to embed some books into the text viewer (necessary for older phones which do not have a file system) by clicking on Add Book. Multiple text files can be embedded into the .jar file and if you need to add books in Word or PDF format, install Kryloff Technologies’ GetText utility - read the detailed instruction manual or the shorter FAQ on the usage of Book Reader.

Embedding books into the Book Reader is actually optional if you have a modern mobile phone as you can simply load your text files into flash card and browse to them from the Book Reader application on your phone.

Some useful options to tweak when using TequilaCat Book Reader:

Settings -> Wrap : I find that text formatted by option 5. Like TiBR to produce the most readable text for my phone with option 6. Justify By Width a close runner up.
Settings -> Fonts : I prefer a black background with white text so I checked 5. Use phone colors. There’re three different fonts sizes by default so cycle through them via the Prev. font and Next. font options.
Settings -> Scroll bar : If you find the scroll bar distracting like I do, you have the option of hiding it here.
Settings > Scroll options : If lines are being cut off when you scroll by page, you might need to check 1. Show incomplete line and/or 2. Leave one line.

You can also change these options in the Windows application before you build the actual .jar file.

The current position of each text file that you read is saved by TequilaCat Book Reader when you load another text file or exit the application so you can read different text files as and when you see fit. Right now I’m alternating between Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea downloaded via Project Gutenberg (subscribe to their RSS of newly added and updated ebooks), Jeff Head’s free techno thriller Dragon’s Fury and even the Ableton Live 6 LE manual.

My current reading List

TequilaCat Book Reader also supports handy functions to keylock your phone within the application as well as show your current progress via Info - Show Book Info.

Another Java-based textreader, ReadManiac, has the ability to rotate the text to read in landscape mode which is definitely useful, but I much prefer the text justification and formatting features of TequilaCat BookReader.

Download Tequila BookReader 2.28.

© Games Workshop

The Disciples of the Dark Gods supplement for the Warhammer 40,000 pen & paper RPG Dark Heresy, has been officially announced as the last product from the Games Workshop subisidary Black Industries which also probably means the end of Black Industries but not the Warhammer Fantasy & Warhammer 40,000 RPG since Fantasy Flight Games is officially the new publisher for these products. Yeah!

© Games Workshop

Dark Heresy is rather interesting as it allowed players the chance to delve deeper into the Imperium and play as Arbitrators, law enforcers of the Imperium (see ilustration of a grim Arbitrator armed with power maul by Andrea Uderzo above) or as part of an Inquistorial retinue as seen in the Shattered Hope, a demo adventure downloadable for free on the Black Industries site.

Preview assorted artwork like the cover for Shattered Hope (above) illustrated by Adrian Smith or check out the imaginative character art by Dave Gallagher - if you ever wished to know how some of the rarely illustrated characters in Warhammer 40,000 like pest controllers, Imperial cultists (below) or Imperial Chiurgeons look like, now you can

© Games Workshop

© Games Workshop

There’s also previews (above) of the lavishly illustrated and formatted 400 page Core Rulebook but it’s already sold out. Fantasy Flight Games will be reprinting the rulebooks and stuff soon

Download the demo adventure (11.4 MB) or view the artwork for Warhammer 40,000 : Dark Heresy.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Andrea Uderzo - Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator
Kevin Chin - Warhammer 40,000 Illustrator
Warhammer 40,000 : Medusa V Booklet + Codex Catachans

A brand new year and brand new downloadable PDF catalogs from manufacturers of tactical (military/law enforcement) firearms. Firearm enthusiasts and catalog collectors are in for a treat

Most of the major manufacturers such as FN Herstal, Remington, and Benelli are represented here, with a selection of last year’s catalogs further down this post for some of the other manufacturers like Bushmaster and Sabre Defence Industries.

© FNH USA, LLC

First, we have the latest FN Herstal catalogs - one for military (29 pages, 15 MB), the other for law enforcement (108 pages, 24 MB). The military catalog (above top) is the one to grab if you’re interested in the FN SCAR since it’s in double spread format as opposed to the LE catalog’s less readable single page format. The LE catalog showcases more firearms though including info on the new FNAR (above bottom).

© Remington Arms Co, Inc

Remington’s Miltary/LE catalog is available from their Military Products Division as an 39 page PDF (5 MB). There’s the Model 870 shotgun, Model 700 rifle as well as the derivative M24 and M40 sniper systems.

© Benelli USA

A 22 MB, 76 page catalog of Benelli’s mainly sporting firearms with several combat shotguns like the M4 above.

© Heckler & Koch

The best 2008 catalog I’ve seen is the Heckler & Koch Military and Law Enforcement 2008 catalog (15 pages of high resolution photos packed in a whopping 47MB PDF - check out the cool HK417 above). Chen Lee of CL Tactical for posted the download link at the HKPro forums but this link has been removed. It was up two weeks ago while compiling this list - I’ll see if I can upload my copy somewhere for download soon)

Some of the other major manufacturers of military arms - ArmaLite (AR-15), Knight’s Armament Company (M110, SR-25) and Barrett (Model 82A1, M107, etc) strangely do not have downloadable PDF catalogs

© D S Arms, Inc

The catalog I’m most interested in - D S Arms, Inc - mainly for the Mini SA58 FAL OSW, but it’s only available in print

Nonetheless, I have added a list of 2008 catalogs from American maufacturers of AR-15 type rifles and carbines.

© Rock River Arms, Inc

Rock River Arms’s 2008 catalog (56 pages in 2 MB) downloadable from their official site.

© DPMS Firearms, LLC

DPMS Firearms’s 2008 catalog (128 paegs, 12 MB)

© Olympic Arms, Inc

Olympic Firearms has a 2008 retail catalog (60 pages, 25 MB) and a 2007 Law Enforcement catalog (36 pages, 4 MB) both available for download from their catalog page.

© Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson’s 2008 catalog - mainly pistols and revolvers with the their take on the AR-15 rifle - the M&P series - in Part I of the catalog. A 2007 Law Enforcement catalog is also available from the same page @ www.smith-wesson.com. M&P 15T image above from the 2007 LE catalog.

© Stag Arms

Stag Arms’s 2008 catalog (40 pages, 21 MB). Learnt of Stag Arms from Airborne Combat Enginner’s feature on Stag Arm’s L series AR-15s for left-handers.

A list of 2007 catalogs for those manufacturers without the latest 2008 catalogs.

Archives of Sabre Defence Industries catalogs for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Browse to Produktinformationen > Sabre Defense-Waffen to download the files.

© Sabre Defence Industries, LLC

The 2007 catalog is pretty well designed, hope to see a downloadable 2008 PDF catalog on their official site @ www.sabredefence.comsoon

© Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC

A 2007 catalog (84 pages, 9 MB) from Bushmaster. I think they’re probably busy adding their newly licensed Bushmaster ACR (Magpul Masada) to their upcoming 2008 catalog Magpul Industries has their own classy downloadable 2008 catalog of their firearm parts and accessories (link from calguns.net)

© Magpul Industries Corp

© J.P. Sauer & Sohn GmbH

Sig Sauer’s 2007 Law Enforcement catalog (20 pages, 1 MB) - last year’s catalog meaning there’s no info on the SIG 556.

© Springfield Armory, Inc

Springfield Armory’s catalog promoting their range of M1911 pistols and M1/M1A rifles (33 pages, 3 MB) - see M1A SOCOM II above.

A selection of even older military/LE firearm catalogs to wrap things up.

© Colt Defense LLC

Colt Law Enforcement 2003 catalog (18 pages, 26 MB) - Excellent artwork on the cover of this PDF (above)

Colt Defense Weapon Systems catalog (14 pages, 20 MB)

© Colt Canada

Colt Canada 2006 Catalog (36 pages, 6 MB) - Includes some rifles not found in the American Colt catalog like the Colt C7CT as well as SFW and CQB variants of the Canadian version of the M16 (C7)

Swiss Arms Law Enforcement Catalog (14 pages, 1 MB) - SG550, SG551, SG552

© Beretta USA Corp

Beretta Law Enforcement catalog (24 pages, 2MB) - link from Impact Guns.

JP Enterprises (112 pages, 5MB) - the JP15 Viking Tactics Specialized Rifle looks great (more pictures in Part 2 of the four-part catalog).

The above listing is by no means comprehensive, do drop me a mail @ downloadmunkey@gmail.com to add any 2008 catalog that I might have missed out to this list.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD M”UNKEY:
2nd Amendment Fonts (Firearm Silhouettes) & Other Cool Dingbat Fonts
M4 Carbine Accessories
High Resolution Photos of FN Herstal’s Firearms
Airborne Combat Engineer’s WTFs
Heckler & Koch 2007 Catalog

Fans of the two tough-as-nails mercenaries, impulsive and aggressive Elliot Salem and the cool-headed and analytical Tyson Rios from the EA game Army of Two will be glad to know that that two characters now have their own graphic novel - Army of Two : Dirty Money, written by John Ney Rieber, illustrated by Brandon McKinney and published by Prima Games.

© Prima Games

While I don’t have the game (heck, I don’t even have a Xbox360), it seems as action-packed, no-holds-barred and OTT as the stuff I see in the trailers for this game itself, like using car doors as makeshift shields

© Prima Games

Download the 9 page preview PDF (6.0 MB) from Xbox.com or the Prima Games site.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Soldier of Fortune - Payback Trailer
Death Jr Comic Series 1 Issue #1 Preview
What’s That on the (Old) Army of Two’s Coat of Arms
E3 2007 Killzone 2 Trailer

Received an email a few days back from one of my favourite military history publishers, Osprey Publishing, about a 25% (!) discount code for purchases made at their online store. Since Osprey Publishing have already announceed it on their official blog, I think it should be OK to spread the good news here

Some of the general military titles are really value for money even without discount as they combine material from several previously published books and with the current discount code which lasts until 8 Feb 2008, it just serves to make new purchases much sweeter. If you haven’t read an Osprey Publishing book before, you can browse the selection available at Borders, Page One (Vivocity) and especially Kinokuniya (Ngee Ann City).

I’ve finally narrowed my shortlist to the following books from the 10+ books that I was orginally interested in. I mainly opt for the paperback editions over the hardback versions where available in order to purchase as many books within an approx £50 budget but that’s just my personal preference

© Osprey Publishing

1. Warriors of Medieval Japan by Stephen Turnbull - Paperback, 288 pages, £12.99 before discount.

A book on samurai, ninja, Buddhist warrior monks and ashigaru (common spearmen/arquebusiers/archers). Being a avid enthusiast of samurai and ninjas, picking this book was a no-brainer. Comprises content from previously pubblished books - Warrior 29: Ashigaru, Warrior 64: Ninja and Warrior 70: Japanese Warrior Monks which retail around 34-38 SGD individually so it’s pretty value for money.

© Osprey Publishing

2. Out of Nowhere - A History of the Military Sniper by Martin Pegler - Paperback, 352 pages, £12.99 before discount.

Tracing the origins of the military marksman from medieval times to the present day snipers, this should be a good read for anyone interested in the field of sniping as well as the personnel, weaponry and tactics involved.

As an example of the savings involved as opposed to purchasing these books from local (in this case, Singaporean) bookstores which are selling Out of Nowhere at ~41 SGD (~£14), buying this book from the online store after discount costs less than £10. Do note that shipping to Singapore is a flat rate of £5 so you do need to purchase several paperbacks or at least a hardback before the savings are substantial enough to warrant an online purchase.

© Osprey Publishing

3. Airborne - World War II Paratroopers in Combat by Julie Guard - Hardback, 304 pages, £20.00 before discount.

A book on the German, US and British paratroopers of WWII as well as the tactics and airborne campaigns of WWII (Crete, Operation Market Garden (Arnhem) and Utah Beach).

© Osprey Publishing

4. War on the Western Front - In the Trenches of World War I by Gary Sheffield - Hardback, 272 pages, £20.00 before discount.

Describes the troops of WWI as well as the tactics formulated for trench warfare of that war.

Other interesting titles include Rome and her Enemies (only hardback available, waiting for the paperback edition ), Aztecs and Conquistadores and God’s Warriors (The Crusades)

Buy Osprey books at the official Osprey Publishing site. (remember to enter your discount code 8JAN before checkout)

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Osprey Publishing’s Military Art “Advent Calendar
Armada International’s Complete Guides
Free Military History Books @ Focal Point Publications