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Portable Scanner Solutions for Research?
Fished asks: "Lately, I'm finding that I need to do a lot of research in Libraries -- remember those? I'm tired of feeding dimes to the copiers, and would like to buy some kind of portable scanner to go with my Powerbook. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find one that will work. Back in the eighties, this were as common as dirt: they were small, four inch wide scanners that you could run over the page. Also, while I've found three portable scanners for PC's (from Antec and Pentax) even if I could somehow get them to work with Mac OS X, they are sheet-fed, which is useless for scanning pages out of books. Does anyone still make the old-fashioned Hand Scanners, and do they make them for Macs?"
That'll do it, yes sir.
Several years ago, HP ha a product called CapShare. A really cool handheld scanner that has an on-device LCD screen that you can perform simple functions like editing, rotating, etc. with. You can then transfer via infrared to your laptop or, better, to a printer! Unfortunately, this product has now been discontinued. I used it for a while, and it was great, except for one thing -- most of the pages that I need to scan from the library are bound -- and the words near the spine tend to become unreadable...
If they do make them for Macs, I'm willing to bet they come in six different colors. :)
Logitech use to make them. I am not sure if they still do (doubt it). It was black and white and about 6in wide. I never really liked it much, the software sucked at combining multiple swipes into one fluid page. It was TWAIN compatible. If you do manage to find one, I am sure it will run on the linux distro that I know you have on your Mac :)
Seriously. My GF has used ours to take pictures of the monitor when 98 locked up while she was writing letters.
A 2MP should probably work just fine, and if you have a laptop with you, just upload them, erase the card and grab another x pages.
Try a digitial camera in macro mode. I bet it would work.
We must be alert to the danger that public policy could become captive to a scientific-technological elite. - Eisenhower
I have seen several versions of small flatbed scanners; not much bigger than my notebook. Although not designed for portability, they are light and compact. As long as you can find a place to plug thenm in, I think this would be a perfect solution. Plus, they can be had for under $70 retail.
Perhaps not ideal for your purpose, but could a digital camera, with 'macro' feature be used rather than a scanner? The camera would still connect to the computer, and be useful as a camera as well as a scanner substitute.
I don't subscribe to RMS's GNUtopian vision.
why do people post this stuff?? Search Ebay... google... you have an internet connection... I know you do you lazy bastard!!!
Try Google
What's next? "Ask Slashdot: Getting Drops Off My Cock After Pissing"?
Handheld scanners were useless for scanning books. Most books are too wide for a handheld scanner and you have to stitch together your scans - a VERY awkward process. And even if you can scan the whole width of the page, the roller used to detect when the scanner was moving would go off the bottom of the page of the book before you scanned the final line of text!
In short - forget about the handheld scanner idea. They do sell line scanners that read in lines of text at a time if you just need short segments. I suppose you could even take pictures of the pages with the new high megapixel digital cameras.
Have you considered a small digital photo-camera?
You can find good ones will little lens-distortion (although most cheap lenses tend to have some barrel-distortion) that will take 2-3 megapixel pictures for under $300. 2MP is really enough to do accurate OCRing.
One of the best sources for review and sample pictures is dpreview.
-mz
I know this isn't the best idea in the world, but have you tried using a digital camera for this sort of thing? It has the definite advantage of being portable; besides, you can pull it out of your trenchcoat and pretend to be an international man of mystery as you snap clandestine photos of secret documents... or journal articles, or whatever.
Naturally, this wouldn't work as well as a good flatbed scanner, but it would probably be comparable to the handheld swipe-across scanners you mentioned. And it has the advantage of being a multi-tasker: you can use it for a lot more than just library work.
Just an idea.
I write in my journal
Pricewatch.com has a whole section for Mac compatible scanners but I didn't see any that were hand-held..
It's a scanner, translator, etc all in one, even has memory upgrades!!! http://www.quick-pen.com/
And mod me up: http://www.cpen.com
If you put the scanner at the edge of a table or desk, you can scan pages of books quickly and easily with less distortion than you'd get from a hand-scanner. This may help make up for the slightly less convenient form-factor.
Try the discount/clearance table at your local Office Depot / Staples / Office Supply store. I always see "clearance" scanner there.
I've not actually tried this with my TiBook, so YMMV.
Pick One: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~stremler/sigs/sigs.html (Note - disable Javascript first!)
Canon make USB powered scanners. They are slim and would easily fit in a briefcase. There are OS X drivers available. I've got at a CanoScan N670U on my iMac and it works fine. There is X OCR software available but I don't have any.
aedan
A friend of mine has an HP scanner, that is powered only by a USB port. Small enough to carry around, has a locking head unit for portability. I don't know about Mac compatibility, but its just plug and scan in XP.
that has to be the best sig ever
SIGFAULT
I've used (and use) the HP Capshare but I find it too badly designed, ergonomically and electronically (almost a study in bad design), to make for pleasant scanning. Nowadays, I generally use a Sony Vaio notebook and a USB scanner, a CanoScan 670U. The Canon scanner is powered via the USB 1.1 port so I needn't bring a brick to the library, and I can choose exactly the type of scan necessary for the material I'm using (everything from B&W text through 600dpi full color). I don't think the scanner weighs two pounds, it's only about an inch thick, and the scan area is 8.5"X11". And it cost under a $100 at CompUSA.
yes, i've done this as well. 1600x1200 is way more than enough for a page of text. I haven't tried running the image through OCR software, but given that canon has twain "scanner" drivers for their cameras i'll bet it would be easy.
For glossy paper and to avoid annoying the others around you it is best to not use the flash. if you're in a low light situation, get a small tripod and a book stand.
For a very good affordable 2mp camera today i recommend the canon powershot A40; search on my simon for good prices. Any 2mp camera will probably work for your needs; but why buy a crappy one?
Some of the thin Canon models (n656U, n1220U, LiDE 20, etc.) are overall about the same size as a PowerBook, and they draw their power from the USB port; no need for a wall wart. No OSX drivers for the earlier models though...poke around Canon's site for details on what's compatible.
Scanning is slow though...I have to agree with others suggesting just using a digital camera of sufficient resolution.
I found on vacation last year - I could take pictures of very detailed signs at tourist attractions (E.g. Papal well at Orvieto) and they were quite readable. Saved looking for brochures, etc.
Almost all decent digital cameras have macro mode and tripod mounts.
If you are at all handy, you could rig up a mounting bracket and a folding copy stand to take a picture. Just find good lighting, so you don't annoy other library patrons (or anal-retentive librarians) with repetitive flashing. (of light...)
Here's a couple of things to think about with this setup:
1: dont use the flash (that's why you use a tripod)
2: set the book up at perpendicular as possible to the camera (to get a nice, flat picture)
3: be quiet (turn the sound off of your camera)
4: Dont get caught
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
Here's some more shit that bugs me:
The RIAA controls the music industry, not the MPAA.
The MPAA controls the movie industry, not the RIAA.
Hilary Rosen doesn't care too much if you steal a copy of "Moulin Rouge". Jack Valenti doesn't care too much if you steal a copy of NSync's "No Strings Attached". (see above.)
Copyright law is not trademark law. Trademark law is not copyright law.
Neither have anything to do with patent law.
Bills on the floor in the House or Senate are not laws yet. They do not affect you yet. They may never affect you.
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I could think of on short notice.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
And run the program in Classic mode, OS 9.x
Inconvienent, but unless you find what you want, that's native to OS X...
Also, can you plug in at the libarary? I wonder if they make a scanner that is USB powered...
I can fit my little Cannon flatbed scanner into my laptop case with no problems - it can scan A4 pages too. I didn't think it would fit to be honest, but it's surprising what will go in that bag, given some "encouragement".
It's USB too, so no need for external power. It weighs next to nothing (compared to the laptop, paper and other crap in there) so I tend to keep it with me - often comes in handy...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
They're small. They take often 1600x1200 pictures, which is enough resolution for an 8.5x11 page (or A4, if you're over there).
I used it to "scan" my passport when I needed to get a copy of it to someone in the States once, and then just emailed the "scan" so they could print it out there. Looked better than a fax, and worked better, too.
fifth sigma, inc.
Back in the 90's, we only used library books for a legitimate bibliography source. The actual paper came from the internet :)
This thing is ideal for working with research in a library.
Ciryon
The scanner she has is something like this one, and I'm sure there are other ones. Pretty cheap too!
"they are sheet-fed, which is useless for scanning pages out of books"
Not if you tear out the pages, first.
Is completely useless. It's just packaging. I say to take the damned thing apart, flip the mechanism that slides the laser over and attach a book to it.
Instantly portable, put whatever you want on it ( a book, your junk, whatever) and let it slide across the stationary laser. If you get good at it, you could even make the rails telescopic for even more portability!
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
eBay Auctions
They can transfer images to printers via IR, so I'm sure you could hack something together that would be able to use the information. I'm sure it's in a pretty standard format.
You might need a programming book and a PCL/HPGL/PS spec...
Anyone smell a sourceforge project?
I've seen one of these things in use before, they are pretty sweet.
Check the spec for the handheld IRIS Pens, they come in USB and can be used with MACs: HERE
In Japan have been shopping for just a normal scanner for an OS X based laptop. Have yet to find small scanner that has native OS X support, and am unwilling to start native mode when scanning. Epson seems to have started releasing some drivers (see May 15th article at http://www.macnn.com/news.php?id=14217), good luck.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. [H.S.T.]
They're the government agency whose charter is to enforce the DMCA.
Check the post above yours! :)
It's called C-Pen.
Ciryon
"I do what the voices in my head tell me to... and they don't like you..."
There's no wrong way, to eat a Rhesus...
, while I've found three portable scanners for PC's (from Antec and Pentax) even if I could somehow get them to work with Mac OS X
Doesn't Apple advertise that their products "just work", and that the operating system "gets out of your way"?
What a load of shit.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Your sig page is down!
l
:)
I can't get to http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~stremler/sigs/sigs.htm
Just an FYI
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
I do this all the time. I do newsletters for a variety of clients, actually going to the trenches in industrial environments. If I see something on a bulletin board, book, etc., that I want, I'll simply take a photo of it. I've also used it to take a photo of my screen in the event of a crash a few times (rare on my Mac, though). Most cameras have a macro mode for close-ups, that's what I'll do.
See, the whole point of TAKING NOTES is to summarize, and only write down what you need. Scanning/taking pictures of whole pages? What an incredible waste of time. Take a notetaking class and quit making things hard on yourself.
Often my schedule and that of the library don't match up. I may want to grab some data and analyze it a little bit at a time between classes, etc. Not to mention, the library here has strict rules against food. Not having to lug around a ton of books is also plus.
I'd rather take notes (on my computer) from a scan or other digital media at my leisure than waste time in the library copying info from one dead tree to another only to input it to my machine at home.
t'nera semordnilap
*Ding* *Ding* *Ding* CONGRATULATIONS! You are the 500th poster to recommend the same thing! You have won a prize! What do we have for him, Johnny?
If you had nuts on your chin, would they be chin nuts?
Take a look at this. http://www.pc-cameras.philips.com/manuals/english/ win/pcvc690k/index.html
That is a webcam which is also designed to be used as a scanner, it even comes with OCR software.
"It's fun to violate the D-M-C-A" - Village People Redux
Everyone and their mothers are saying to use a digital camera. One of these would make it easier. Copy stands are basically like tripods for shooting straight down. I once saw a foldable one on ebay for $10. It was just a board with a hole in it and four legs. You fastened the legs onto the board, put your camera's lens through the hole, focused, and took the picture. Lights would help a little, but with still media (like books), you can do long exposures without risk of motion blur. --Dan
Canon also offers a color scanner cartridge which is compatible with their two portable bubble jet printers. Not an ideal solution, perhaps, but very portable and apparently Mac-compatible up to OS 9 (which might include Classic under OS X).
Otherwise, according to Apple's own site, Canon's LiDE 30 is the most portable flatbed scanner I can think of with OS X support. Now, a flatbed isn't good for travel, because it's easy to bump around the components and damage it internally. The printer cartridge might be your best bet.
I think you'd do well with the answer to "Ask Slashdot: How to properly use a search engine"
I think you should try playing around with different search parameters... Try these is google:
+"handheld scanner" +apple -win32 -windows -linux
+"network scanner" +nessus +linux -ethereal -ettercap
+"linux terminal server project" +openmosix -mosix
+"need for speed" +"jenna jameson" -playstation -ps2
I think if you follow the noticeable pattern above that you will no longer have such a hard time with those nasty good for nothing search engines;)
put the what in the where?
It'll let you scan entire pages of text manually as well as "feed" scanning small documents (things like business cards and receipts). That's the only scanner of that type that I know of. ER .
I understand and appreciate your problem. I have tried many solutions, and I believe the c-pen 800c is the best solution I've tried for my research needs. There is another pen based solution, WizCom QuickLink SuperPen which I've also tried. I did not like the wizcom because it was not as comfortable to use or as accurate. It also actually had a moving part. :) Both have SDKs to write your own software, however, the only one I could get access to was the c-pen, which made it even more of a favorite of mine. The cpen can also act as a mouse and can do some gestures in addition to being able to input text through "writing" (in big letters) on the page. Both companies are barely alive it seems, but it's a niche market, and I hope they survive. They both have some fantastic functionality, such as translation and barcodes. Of course c|net did the normal bribed review, but I guess the cpen wasn't out at the time. Both are upgradeable and can load extra programs or dictionaries and such. I wouldn't want to go back to college with out one.
Hey, if this has at all been useful, please feel free to buy me one! I miss having it around.
Democrats and Republicans only disagree about how to enslave you
I must admit that there doesn't seem to be much around, but then again this simply from searching Google. And for those of you content with scanning bar code from books, then there are fancy iMac coloured bar-code scanners.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I don't know of any democracies that were attacked on that day.... only a Republic called the United States of America.
There is a difference, you know.
That might work when you're writing a two page term paper in 7th grade, dumbass. I like to keep copies of some of the research material I use on a paper, it comes in handy when you want to go back and check something in your notes.
Jesus you really are a twit realmolo.
Casca
Note to Editors: For "ask Slashdot" posts, please at least TRY to do a "google" on the question to see if it is lame or not.
(Modded down as irrelevant/troll/slam on the editors)
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
Didn't you know libraries were replaced by the internet, since everything on the internet is readily available and true. - j/k
Actually my advice would be to just buy a small flatbed scanner (i think epson has a model that fits into to a backback nicely) and use that. Also the ones that work for the PC's if they are USB you may want to do a google search for osX drivers. It may see it as a totally different scanner and not have all the functions, but at least it would work.
Ave Molech Setting
It's a handheld text scanner. You simply swipe it over the text, and it has ocr capabililty. You can scan the text right into your text editor.
/ fa q/index.html
http://www.irislink.com/opt/uk/products/irispen
Looks like it might be the answer to your problem.
Remember that you are unique, just like everybody else.
Here's the CanoScan LiDE 30 USB at Buy.com.
These are by far the best solution for portable scanning. You get a full size bed, excellent quality, decent speed (though not blazing), very quiet operation entirely off USB without any other power source, and yet they're only about the thickness of a laptop. My wife uses hers a lot for her research, it fits very nicely in the side pocket of the laptop bag. Add a reasonably recent version of PaperPort Deluxe, which is one of the most hassle-free scanning and scan management packages around, and you've got everything to create and maintain gobs of scans.
Before you try too hard, it is worth spending a few seconds considering if the text might already be electronically available, for free.
Many classics novels can be found at: Project Gutenberg
Most scientific journals are also available electronically these days, and libraries typically have paid access.
Tor
Sometimes I can't figure out WHY people refuse to research themselves.
This might be a good question, "Where did all the hand-held scanners go", but, you can learn about the whole history in a few hours of seraching on the net.
I noticed these at Pep Boys (an auto parts store) the other day. Strange impulse item, methinks. Anyways, should take care of the drops for you.
Were they promising to send you lots of money in return for a few details (your bank account numbers, social security numbers, passport, etc...)??
I'd like a duplex page scanner. A few years ago, narrow page scanners where you just feed in one sheet at a time, and the software automatically captures when it detects paper there, were popular; but why not have it capture the backside too?
It would be great to have one in the living room, mounted on top of a trash can (shredder-style), or even on top of a shredder, to convert s-mail to email.
Of course there are production autofeeder duplex scanners but I keep looking on ebay and the working ones always end up rather expensive.
I might try to mechanically wed two page scanners, and just deal with the two data streams.
That's why the library has copying machines, for those times when you would like to photocopy things. Which should be rare. This guy sounds like he wants to scan in whole chapters.
How much is a scanner? How much is a decent digital camera? He could pay for hundreds and hundreds of copies with that money.
I've successfully done this, bring a camera to library/archives and taking pics.
Some suggestions:
- Get a camera that has a B&W (really greyscale) mode. Some do, some don't. It matters because it makes the files much smaller and you can fit a lot more pages onto the memory card.
- Don't use the USB or even firewire connection to transfer pictures. It's infinitely easier and battery-saving as well to get an adapter (if you have a laptop, a PCMCIA one) that can read the memory card directly; the OS will just treat it like a disk.
- If you can, put a sheet of non-reflecting glass over the page you're photographing. This is what they do when they make microfilm form books. But if you are going to carry around a sheet of glass, you might as well lug a scanner.
.sig withheld by request
I saw this product at the Mac Business Expo here in Seattle last week. It looked pretty slick. It scans the page, runs it through OCR, and inserts the text right into whatever app you have open. It will do one line at a time or multiple lines. It obviously does not do images, but if you want text, I recommend it. I would have bought it, but I'm in school instead of working these days. Check out: www.irisusa.com I saw the demonstration (manual and interactive, not scripted) running under OSX.
#-#
Ad Astra Per Aspera
A rough road leads to the stars
IIRC, I think the year was '41.
look up C-Pen
the original ones were independant which you download, but the latest one is a USB hand scanner.
I am doing a PhD and it is excellent - I just go to the library with my toshiba and hoover up stuff directly into reference manager. very quick, very accurate
I use the same scanner, although they call it the CanoScan LiDE 20 now. It works with OS X, so my Powerbook G4 is happy. It scans well, it's portable, and it works with Macs, and it's about the same size as the Powerbook, so you could throw it in your carrying case most likely.
Since people keep recommending digital cameras, I thought that I just point out that the November issue (not sure if it's on shelves yet) of Consumer Reports has a review of digital cameras in it.
I use my A40 as a fax scanner to send faxes from home. A40 is awesome I totally agree.
So, anybody want to chime up accusing this guy of being a thief? He's stealing right? Isn't that fundamentally wrong?
I'm going to get modded down for this but it bugs me to no end when people say something that is as ephemoral as this is "just wrong". I doubt we'll be hearing much in that regard because this guy is doing academic research. Though seeing as fair use is slowly getting demolished by media industry paranoia, we can expect that not even academics like this will be safe in the future.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
This is what you need.
Taking digital photos of letter-sized documents is probably more than a half-way decent option to feeding change into photocopiers.
The result probably won't be quite as crisp as a sheet-fed scanner or a handheld wand-type scanner, but it will work.
At least, in Pennsylvania.
Recently my wife did some geneaology research in Pennsylvania for my mother-in-law. She intended to use her digital camera instead of feeding the copy machines, but all of the libraries, record archives, and courthouses she visited refused to allow her to do so, and even required she sign an agreement stating she was familiar with the rules of the place, all of wihch were about how she could not use scanners, cameras, or other copying mechanisms other than the copy machine provided by the library.
Property law should use #'EQ, not #'EQUAL.
First off, I -highly- advise that you post this question over at the MacNN.com forums. There are lots good Mac geeks there, and you'll probably get better responses.
But now my 2 about this scanner issue. First off, portable scanners are hard to come by. I noticed that both epson and canon do not make such devices.
OS X 10.2 supposedly has TWAIN support built into it. From what I hear you can now scan in Preview.app, which is cool. If you can acquire a portable USB scanner that supports TWAIN I would imagine that it would just "work" in Preview.app.
OS X 10.2 has fantastic device support. Typically, OS X supports just about whatever perhiperal I toss at it, regardless of whether the device ships with a "Mac OS" logo on the box.
If you can find a portable TWAIN USB scanner, I'd just purchase it. Don't worry if the device comes with Mac drivers or not. If it doesn't work, return it (so make sure you purchase something from a large computer store). However I'm betting it will work.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
The heir to the hand scanner you mention is the CPen Pen Scanner. It seems like this is exactly what you're looking for.
"
Google Search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="pen+scanner
For $50 more you can get another MP. The D500 from Olympus. And it's not a crappy camera either. :o)
Need some of the older scanners? I have the answer. THE POWER OF EBAY COMPELS YOU! =]
If you just want to scan some short segments, you might wamt to try a Pen scanner. There is one called IrisPen II specifically for the Mac from http://www.irislink.com/, that I saw at a local trade show. It's OS X compatible, but it required a reboot before they could demonstrate its use. Also, it is pretty bulky and works only while plugged into the computer. There are other stand-alone versions of the same idea, but I'm not sure if they're Mac compatible. Google it!
Otherwise a digital camera works pretty well.
This is slashdot. No one gives a fuck what you think. What, are you going to say I'm 13 too because I like to say FUCK? Well fuck you, fucker.
Joseph?
- Cost - I only had to make 2 dozen copies, not enough to warrant anything digital.
- Speed - The copier could crank out a copy in 4 seconds. Not many USB scanners can touch that. Especially helpful when the library's about to close.
-BNot that this wasn't entirely predictable.
A pet peeve of mine (and I'd assume your's too) is that the standard definition of Democracy encompasses Republics.
.sig Karma out the wazoo, better to spend points elsewhere if this is above 2 or below 0
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/9911/10.scanne r.shtml
This looks like a good solution.
Just use a blow-dryer. It might not be labled as "The Electric Penis Dryer", but it works. Just keep it a a safe distance, and at a low setting. Trust me on that one, and you don't want to know.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
And it wasn't just the word FUCK, it was the whole immature humor thing, combined with the immediate reliance on cursing to get another point acrossed.
Do I care what you think? No. Do I want to make a point that you don't need to be immature to make a point? Yes. Are you fucking thick? Yes. Thank you.
If it's anything like my D510, it also acts as a USB hard drive. Yay!
Not exactly a short-term solution, but libraries are looking more and more towards providing electronic copies of information when possible. Currently, this is mostly in the form of journal articles, but I can envision a time in the not-so-distant future that most items in a library will already be in a format that you can just download to your laptop (actually, tablet).
"What we have here, is a failure to communicate." - Cool Hand Luke
Someone please mod the parent up as +3 Funny. This was just too damn funny.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
Wow, what a great idea, I looked it up on e-bay and found what looks like it fits youre criteria.i ewItem&item =2059568256
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V
Good luck!
-Department Head of the Department of Redundancy, Department Head
Does anyone know of any good legal size scanners under $300 or 11x17 that aren't $900+?
It get's really hard for artists when they can't paint anything larger than 8x10 because all the scanners are small.
I have had two legal size Microtek scanners. The old SCSI one was great. The USB version I've had for the last two years is a complete lemon and works right when it wants to. (there's lines running down my scans, so I can't reproduce anything from them) I sent it back to be fixed a year ago and it worked correctly for 3 months and started doing the same thing again.
catgirls and fairies
from a Canon S100 It sure doesn't look like a nicely scanned page, but it's legible and some contrast boost would probably help a lot.
I thought that when you plugged something in to a Mac, bing! it just worked. Hmmmm, i'm thinking maybe that moderately attractive young lady lied to me.
If it ain't a Model M, it's a piece of crap.
>> Because of the fire in Apollo 1, in which three Astronauts died, NASA required a writing instrument that would not burn in a 100% oxygen atmosphere.
I believe they also advertised for ASTRONAUTS who would not burn in a 100% oxygen atmosphere...
Digital cameras DO NOT work at all.
Could you elaborate on this? Why is it the case?
Thanks!
- MFN
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
The Capshare was the perfect tool for doing this kind of thing. I bought one right before they stopped making them for $250. You can still find them on ebay, but they run $700+. I've scanned hundreds of documents using mine. It still is, IMHO, one of the coolest pieces of hardware that I own.
The CapShare connects to the PC using IRda or a serial connection. The software for it isn't available for the Mac or Linux. It can also transfer files using the IrOBEX protocol. I've been using it with linux for a while and have also writted a WindowMaker dockapp for dealing with it(although it isn't a complete solution yet). The Capshare ships with a windows tray application for managing communications. It also comes with OCR software. The biggest problem is that the software doesn't work quite right in anything newer than WinNT.
As far as using it with a Mac... All you would need is an IrDA port and an OBEX library. It looks like some people have had luck doing stuff with a palm. The dockapp I wrote is based on a palm pilot IrDA file transfer application. so...
License managers are the bane of my existence
I can find FIVE different icons of them incase you find one!!!http://www.iconbazaar.com/computer/pg04.html
I forgot something that is sort of important.
../out.pdf
The windows software allows you to output tif, and pdf. Since the capshare stores data internally as tif the data you get from it are tiffs(one tiff/page). In Linux you can make a pdf from a group of tiffs with the following:
tiff2ps *.tif | ps2pdf -
License managers are the bane of my existence
http://www.nectech.com/petiscan/ Just hit the next button. It'll take you through a mini tour of the scanner the once was. You could take off the cover and hold it up to a poster, a wall, against a book or use it as a small flatbed scanner. It even came with stitching software to put together a larger picture. Anyone happen to have XP or OSX drivers? Can anyone write one? The Vuescan guy doesn't support this one because it uses an NSC chip. Anyone? Although, they've discontinued it in the US market. I first saw this at Macworld about two years ago. The best little scanner in the world - but the American market didn't get the practibility. This was around when USB was just getting a little more popular when Apple decided to push it. It's USB powered, but they only make Win98 and MacOS9 drivers for it. If you look up petiscan elsewhere, they still make OSX and WinXP compatible ones for the Japanese market.
For $2.00USD its a deal, From Logitech.
dude, I fell out of my chair laughing. all my co-workers think I'm crazy.
I've been laughing for almost five minutes. It was a good 3 minutes before I got up off the floor and click the link to see the picture. I thought I had recovered until jimmy popped up on my screen. he almost looks like he is in on the joke.
thanks man, thanks
because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre
But that's not the point. Human intelligence is based on the capacity to generalize. It doesn't matter which ??AA it is, they are all trying to fuck us. Who cares which alphabet soup law the Honorable Senator Disney Hollings is trying to pass right now? Any self-respecting citizen has the obligation to fight all such laws before they are voted, no matter which acronym they're disguised in.
Interestingly, I just bought a Canon FB 630P scanner today for the exact same reason. It came with no cable (which I had) or AC adapter (el cheapo at Active Surplus) and the carraige mechanism was dislodged. The scanner itself and the AC adapter cost little more than US$10 (hey, I'm a starving student, dammit). If I didn't have a midterm tomorrow I'd be hacking it open right now to fix it. Damn. :)
It's not the most elegant solution (I have to lug around my port replicator for the parallel port, PLUS the AC adapter), but you certainly can't beat the price.
Anybody know much about the carraige mechanisms of these things? It looks like it uses a three-pulley system - a motor turns a worm gear, which turns another gear attached to a pulley. Two other pulleys are on either ends of this one to keep it "in line". It looks like I just have to hook the belt up correctly to make it all work.
- Ed.
Go to Fry's. Get that one Canon scanner that just came out... the LiDE 30 or whatever it's called. It's 99 bucks and it's a USB-2.0 scanner and is so power-efficient that it runs off your USB cable. I schitt you not, man. The thing is barely 2 inches tall and will do up to 8.something by 11.something papers or whatever. It's really light, and really quiet so you could concievably carry it into a library, though I would use the "lock" at the bottom of the unit to lock the mechanism during transit. And hey, I have one of those old hand-scanners. It's a Logitech Scanman. I don't know what model number or whatever, but if someone's willing to pay me 10,000 bucks for it, I'll put it on eBay.
I have to second this fine person's suggestion for a Powershot A40. My sister recently invested in one and I have personally used this camera. It is very easy to use and just about any picture you take will come out magnificently, regardless of how skilled you are in photography. For a digital camera, the pictures are of very high quality. Even my camera, which is about six times the price, won't take pictures this nice unless you really understand film types, lighting situations and exposure settings. Just my two cents on this matter.
I also have the Cano Scan N670U usb scanner. Like they said, it will fit in a backpack, it is light weight and scans nicely.
If you are annoyed at having to run the scanner control software in Classic, you might want to try out Viewscan (sorry, I don't have the link handy). It works with just about any scanner, runs in X, and has good options for output.
It's also free to try out and very inexpensive to buy.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
My canon digital camera came with a little marvelous software: photo stich. It automagically joins adjacent imagens as if they where just one. I believe there is comercial or free softwares like this.
ALso, hand scanners are extremely slow, and unless your hand is very well-trained or you use one of those stabilizer gadgets, the wobble can result in text beyond the capacity of anything to OCR. That aside..
I have an old Mustek hand scanner (it actually has better optical resolution than my middle-aged HP flatbed!) that uses a proprietary interface card, but a furious conflict with a modem revealed that it's actually a glorified COM port. Which makes me wonder -- could such a hand scanner be adapted for use with a standard external COM port?
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Ted Nelson, inventor of the word hypertext, warned against the "Balkanization" of information systems as early as the 70s.
;)
Hypertext schmypertext! This guy apparently foresaw the post-communistic instability and sociopolitical division of the Balkan peninsula as early as the '70s, pre-emptively coined the term "Balkanization" and applied it on information systems!
Or was he talking about Tito?
Crap, I'm tired.
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
The C-Pen is a stand-alone, highligher-sized single-text-line scanner with OCR, LCD display, 4MB memory and IrDA. Software is available for Win32 and Mac.
My g/f used one of these during the last 2 years of her degree, and swears by it - it's so discrete you can use it anywhere, including libraries and even book-shops!
This sig left unintentionally blank.
install win98se in virtual pc
install logitech scanman's parallel port drivers in win98 os in virtual pc and scan away
let me know if it works :)
If you have the money, buy a digital camera. ... With a scanner you
Some can store many pictures (e.g. 600), work great
on conferences as well, can be used to store
other files (if they come with USB port), allow
you to record video seq.,
can only scan. A hand held scanner won't give better
results then a camera.
"DMCP? Wtf?
Disney's Mounted Canadian Police
I have a Cannon A40 (great camera!) but I tried taking a photo of a page of Linux magazine (glossy paper) in normal mode, w/ flash, and it came out unreadable. Now it could be I just didn't do it right, but take this as a caveat. Try the camera you are considerng buying and see if it works for you before investing $300(US) in a camera for scanning.
At Bromfield Camera, I've seen a quadpod camera stand built for one of the Nikon digital cameras that held the camera in the perfect position to take pictures of documents placed under it.
I don't like the digital camera idea personally, unless you get a good small tripod and a macro lens, and have some good photography experience.
For a decent semi-portable scanner I'd say one of the canoscan N series. They use an array of LED's instead of an incandescent bulb and are USB powered. They're very thin and light, and could be put in a briefcase or backpack/laptop bag. I've even dropped mine a few times (with the lock on fortunately), and it's still ticking away just fine.
The higher end N series scanners from Canon have OSX drivers direct from Canon, the lower end ones will be supported eventually, but for now you can use VueScan.
Whoa! Can someone mod this guy down below -1? That was intolerable. ;P
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
i wish i could moderate an entire topic. this doesnt need to be here when we have google.
werd to yo motha, muh nizzle.
That item says MOST new peripherals will connect via USB, and work with PCs or Macs. It doesn't say that Apple will support EVERY FREAKING PERIPHERAL sold for PCs.
Wow, apparently "most PC hardware" doesn't include scanners, which is too bad, given that macs are Jobs' idea of a "digital hub". I guess in Jobs' digital world, nobody scans anything.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
you'll find 38 scanners that are compatible with OS X out of the box, 95 more that are compatible with OS 9
Given that Apple has officially declared OS9 "dead", and all new macs ship with os x, that leaves new Macs compatible with 38 scanners. That's not really "most", is it? It's more like "some", or "a small percentage". Hell, that doesn't even really make a Mac a "digital hub". As I said before. I'm not disputing that Macs interoperate, what I'm disputing is that Apple's marketing is a load of shit.
But you're not about 'reasonable,' you're just another Mac basher who wants to feel superior because you were smart enough not to fall for "Steve Jobs' hype."
Is claiming that products "just work", when they only actually work with a small percentage of peripherals and software "reasonable"?
I'll leave the answer up to you... well.. Steve Jobs, because he's apparently the one thinking for you.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Date: 1919
;)
Aha, thanks.
I said I was tired, remember.
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
I have one of these:
http://www.nectech.com/petiscan/
NEC only ever released drivers for OS 9, but it worked, and it was bus-powered (cool).
I suppose if enough people asked him, Hamrick might support it in VueScan (and, if someone gave him a unit to play with, which I would).
Never refuse a breath mint.
Just FYI, by "input devices," they mean "mice and keyboards," not scanners and the like.
Of course, that's just common sense, isn't it? I would never even begin to think that a scanner would be classified as an "input device". Certainly not because it's used to input data into the computer. I'm glad they mentioned that in their commercials.
Oh, that's right, they didn't.
Are there any other fine-print clarified terms that I should be aware of? Maybe they mean to say that Apple products "just work with a fraction of the hardware on the market", but that got shortened so their commercial could fit in a 30-second slot.
many (not all) PC peripherals will also work but may require extra software
To quote Janie Porche from Apple's own switch ad campaign: "Who wants to sit on Christmas afternoon and download drivers?"
Shall I bring up the pot and the kettle, or are you still ignoring the fact that both are black?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
You're an ASS.
"Derp de derp."