Directmedia MCP 📚

FastMCP 2.13+ server for accessing Directmedia Publishing "Digitale Bibliothek" - TEXT EXTRACTION WORKING!

🎯 Overview

The Directmedia Publishing "Digitale Bibliothek" was a pioneering German electronic book collection from the 1990s, containing extensive German literature and world literature. This MCP server provides programmatic access to these classic digital books.

✅ BREAKTHROUGH: Text Extraction Working!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: We successfully reversed the Directmedia TEXT.DKI format!

• Discovery: TEXT.DKI files contain structured binary records, not compressed data

• Decompressor: Working Python implementation extracts readable German text

• Access: 101 volumes of 1990s literature now programmatically accessible

• Preservation: Digital cultural heritage unlocked for modern use

What was thought to be "compression" was actually a structured record format with 2-byte length headers!

📊 Collection Status

• 101 volumes discovered (DB002-DB161, DBSK01-DBSK05, DBSO01-DBSO28)

• ~14GB total content across all volumes

• Proprietary binary format from 1990s German publishing

• Latin-1 encoding with special characters for German texts

⚠️ Legal Requirement

You must legally purchase the Directmedia CD-ROMs to use this tool. See Legal Notice section below.

🗂️ Sample Volumes

📊 Collection Analysis

101 volumes discovered with ~50GB total content:

• DB002-DB061: Main literature collection (philosophy, literature, history)

• DBSK01-DBSK05: Schnellkurs (crash courses)

• DBSO01-DBSO28: Sonderausgaben (special editions)

🗂️ File Format Structure

Each volume uses a proprietary binary format:

Core Files (Data/):

• TEXT.DKI: Main text database (structured binary records)

• TREE.DK*: Navigation tree (table of contents)

• INDEX.*: Multiple search indices (HTX, PLX, SHX, SWX, TTX, WLX)

• LINKS.*: Hyperlinks and cross-references

• SIGEL.DAT: Abbreviations/signatures registry

Media Files:

• IMAGES/: BMP illustrations and diagrams

• WAVS/: Audio files (readings, lectures)

• TABLES/: Specialized content tables

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+

• Access to Directmedia "Digitale Bibliothek" collection

• FastMCP 2.13+

Installation

Basic Usage

MCP Server Usage

🔧 MCP Tools

Library Management

• set_library_path(path) - Configure library location

• list_volumes() - List all available volumes

• get_volume_info(volume_id) - Get volume metadata

Content Access

• search_text(query, volume_id, limit) - Search across volumes

• get_text_content(volume_id, start_pos, length) - Extract text

• get_navigation_tree(volume_id) - Get table of contents

Analysis

• analyze_volume_structure(volume_id) - File format analysis

📋 Volume Overview

🔍 Technical Details

Binary Format Analysis

TEXT.DKI Structure:

• Header: 256 bytes with section offset table

• Content: Structured binary records (not compressed!)

• Each record: 2-byte length + 1-byte type + text content

TREE.DK*

• DKA: Navigation tree with entry counts and offsets

• DKI: Tree structure data

INDEX Files:

• HTX: Hypertext index for navigation

• PLX: Plaintext index for full-text search

• SHX/SWX: Specialized search indices

• TTX: Title index

• WLX: Word list index

Known Limitations

1. Proprietary Format: No official documentation available

2. Advanced Features: Some INDEX and TREE.DK* structures still being analyzed

3. Encoding: Primarily Latin-1 with some UTF-8 elements

4. Media Content: Images and audio files not yet processed

Recent Achievements ✅

• TEXT.DKI Decompression: Successfully reversed structured binary record format

• Text Extraction: Working decompressor extracts readable German text

• MCP Integration: Full programmatic access via FastMCP server

• Volume Management: Complete 101-volume library access

• TREE.DKI Navigation: Table of contents successfully parsed

Future Enhancements

• Complete INDEX file parsing for full-text search

• TREE.DK* advanced structure decoding

• Cross-volume search optimization

• Image extraction and processing

• Audio file handling

🤝 Contributing

This is a research project to preserve and provide access to classic digital literature. Contributions welcome for:

• Binary format analysis

• Decompression algorithms

• Search optimization

• Documentation improvements

⚖️ Legal Notice & Copyright

Important: Legal Use Required

This software tool is designed to work with legally purchased copies of Directmedia Publishing's "Digitale Bibliothek" CD-ROM collection. You must own legitimate copies of the CD-ROMs to use this tool legally.

Where to Purchase

Directmedia Publishing still operates and offers their complete collection:

• Official Website: https://www.directmedia-publishing.de/

• Product: "Digitale Bibliothek" (Complete 101-volume collection)

• Format: Available as digital downloads and physical media

• Languages: German literature and philosophy collections

Copyright Notice

• Copyright: © Directmedia Publishing GmbH

• Content: All text, images, and multimedia content remain copyrighted

• Usage: Personal, educational, and research use permitted with legal copies

• Redistribution: Not permitted without explicit permission

Disclaimer

This tool is provided for educational and research purposes to access legally obtained digital content. The authors are not responsible for misuse of this software. Ensure you comply with all applicable copyright laws in your jurisdiction.

Pirated or illegally obtained content is not supported and may violate copyright law.

📜 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Directmedia Publishing for pioneering electronic literature in the 1990s

• The German digital humanities community

• FastMCP framework for MCP implementation