Grab yourself a $40 USB scanner. Stick it on an old PC, and install your favorite GNU/Linux distro. Then use SANE and scanbuttond to bulk-scan your photos. Here's how I am doing just about the same thing:
I inherited my grandfather's QSO cards (W3FFZ) from the 50's. I figured I'd scan 'em and put 'em on the web. For the scanning process, I have scanbuttond run my script to scan a postcard size from the scanner, and toss it into a directory. So what I do now, is I go over to the scanner, put a QSO card in, close the lid, and press a button. The scanner scans the card and I can then flip it over and press the button again.
It is difficult to bulk-scan things in general. You really need to apply meta-data to your images, whether you populate any comment fields, the way you name your files, etc. I find it best to go through and rename my images as I take them out of my camera/phone.
We've been talking about this for some time at (another shameless plug) WiFiMaps.com. I invite readers to visit over the summer, we're doing some updates, and this is on the list.
Makes you mad, though, that they didn't just hire you on, and increase your budget. I hate salespeople that wedge themselves between the employees and the DM.
Totally. I moved, and it was probably the best thing for me -- rent went waaaay up, but so did the pay. I had a blast. Of course, that city seriously dried-up in '02, so here I am back in El-Cheapo, Pittsburgh.
hehehehe! I live *in* Pittsburgh, PA, and there aren't many jobs here. This is why I moved to Boston for the dotcom funtime -- Pittsburghers were very slow to gain interest in the Internet.
That isn't at all to say there aren't some great high-tech companies out here, as there are a few. They're just not hiring. There's a list of almost all of the Pittsburgh recruiting agencies on (shameless plug) recruiter-rater.
Lots of groups have adapted non-instruments into musical instruments, by hooking them up to MIDI, a digital interface for electronic music instruments. It's quite easy, extensible, and everything electronic and musical supports it (after like '85 I guess).
I'm not so great with a guitar, bass, drums, and definately not keyboards. MIDI sequencers (computer and embedded) let me play the notes as I want them to be played, instead of relying on my fingers to actually play the bass. I can then focus on where I want the tune to go, rather than this solo I can't play right. Just figured I'd toss that out there. MIDI is great!
No, I will not purchase a damn Apple laptop. I couldn't even find a used 15 inch powerbook for under $1500, with WiFi, cd burner, bluetooth, etc. My budget was $1000. So, I bought a refurbed Dell, and upgraded it. Apple just lost a grand.
Perhaps I wasn't clear on my needs for a workstation. I don't care what operating system it runs, as long as I can have dual batteries, record Wi-Fi locations (serial GPS + wifi), ssh with an xterm, and a reasonably current web browser. I also like Skype and GAIM. Bluetooth working properly and MIDI support are plusses. That isn't alot to ask. An old Palm Pilot is capable of handling these simple tasks with better battery life than any other option.
I would prefer to have a pretty operating environment, like OSX, and be able to use some of the hotly talked about things that are specific to that platform (like bluetooth actually working). I'm all set with Windows, but I am upset about having to configure every little thing in Linux, and recompile the kernel to get (kismet and other) things to work. I already want OSX, but there's no way I'm going to spend $3k on a laptop just to get it. I'll wait until Apple wants me as an OSX customer.
I have actually found that I get more support, faster support, and free support, from the Internet. Yes, I've called Microsoft, IBM, and Dell for support in the past. Nothing tops a Google search for support.
Also, another thing people seem to miss -- if the product works, and does not fail, there's no reason to call support. If the package is built in such a way so as to either be A) Obvious, and B) Unbreakable, support will simly not be needed, if at all. I am a former long-time customer service person.
Seriously. I want OSX on my Dell laptop. This isn't rocket science, people. Even operating system development isn't rocket science -- it's computer science. If some guy on the Internet can put OSX on a generic PC, why won't Apple? I would pay $200 to put OSX on my Dell, maybe even more if it comes with all the extra bits. And if not? I'll still use Centos, if Apple doesn't want me as a customer.
Just like "Who moved my cheese?" So maybe the kid could have made some more videos, and cashed-in on the Google ads. Hell, I've been bullied, beat-up, publicly humiliated, extendedly unemployed -- you name it. Hell, he could even sell his antidepressants on the side for a quick buck.
I have been a big redhat fan ever since 4.2. A fried turned me on to it. "Look," he said, "you can just download it, and it works!" I was psyched. And this has pretty much been my career over the last 10 years -- download Redhat, install it, and it works. It has always worked, and been a reliable brand in operating systems.
I was okay when they split off Fedora from their Enterprise package. I went with Fedora, seemed to work okay. I wanted to try out FC5 when it came out a few weeks ago, on my recent purchase of an old Dell C640. Oddly enough, It wouldn't get past the lilo prompt on any CD I burned. So, I tried out CENTOS.
CENTOS seems to be just like Redhat's flavored GNU/Linux. It has everything I want, except for PINE and windowmaker. It makes an okay workstation, and I am already used to the file locations, package management, and general 'feel' for the environment.
Now that Redhat is abandoning Fedora, there's no reason I should use it anymore. Kudos to the CENTOS crew, you've made a convert.
Agreed. I was backing up the article, by illustrating that it is easier to get NPR content from a podcast on their website, than it is by using my local NPR affiliate. They should at least put Google ads on their website!
Seems like it is time to listen to some non RIAA owned music. Go out and support your local bands, and Internet musicians. If you create the music yourself that you want to hear, it will take the wind out of the music industry's sails -- and their sales.
No shit. We should be helping our own. Unfortunately, it's not in the American way of stepping on those below to get ahead. I think half of America would benefit from computers like these, to make them realize that life is a little more than that $4.50/hr job, and what crack crumbs they can scrounge. Either kill the stupid people -- all of 'em -- or educate them. One is easier than the other.
Does your whining instantly *POOF!* turn into a tent full of food for every starving boy and girl? No. Did you donate every penny you can to all of these causes? No. Does Negroponte have an idea to help the world that he is actively working on? Yes.
Here in Pittsburgh, we only get NPR for six hours a day -- 6:AM-9:AM, and then again from 4:PM-7:PM. At all other times, the station plays moldy vibrating-old-man jazz (no, not even some good stuff). I like to listen to Marketplace, on at 6:30 PM. There's lots of other programs I wouldn't have heard, unless they were available from the web -- 'cause our NPR station is only NPR for a quarter of the day. I find myself listening to WRCT from CMU more often, in spite of the constant noise that is their programming lineup.
No, seriously, and a good question. Like the GP posted, there shouldn't be more laws, but less. Our government should be a small shop, not the country's largest employer. The same law that prevents me from spying on my neighbor, and collecting information about him, should protect me from privacy abuses from major corporations (times the number of people they do this to). We don't need a special law to prevent this, it should already be in-place. The problem, as I see it, is that it is not enforced, because the corporations have better lawyers -- that should not be allowed -- by default.
Slashdot Mirror
Grab yourself a $40 USB scanner. Stick it on an old PC, and install your favorite GNU/Linux distro. Then use SANE and scanbuttond to bulk-scan your photos. Here's how I am doing just about the same thing:
I inherited my grandfather's QSO cards (W3FFZ) from the 50's. I figured I'd scan 'em and put 'em on the web. For the scanning process, I have scanbuttond run my script to scan a postcard size from the scanner, and toss it into a directory. So what I do now, is I go over to the scanner, put a QSO card in, close the lid, and press a button. The scanner scans the card and I can then flip it over and press the button again.
It is difficult to bulk-scan things in general. You really need to apply meta-data to your images, whether you populate any comment fields, the way you name your files, etc. I find it best to go through and rename my images as I take them out of my camera/phone.
We've been talking about this for some time at (another shameless plug) WiFiMaps.com. I invite readers to visit over the summer, we're doing some updates, and this is on the list.
I won't be happy until I can get paid $500k per year for writing HTML.
Hay, use my me as your referal for adsense.
Makes you mad, though, that they didn't just hire you on, and increase your budget. I hate salespeople that wedge themselves between the employees and the DM.
Totally. I moved, and it was probably the best thing for me -- rent went waaaay up, but so did the pay. I had a blast. Of course, that city seriously dried-up in '02, so here I am back in El-Cheapo, Pittsburgh.
hehehehe! I live *in* Pittsburgh, PA, and there aren't many jobs here. This is why I moved to Boston for the dotcom funtime -- Pittsburghers were very slow to gain interest in the Internet.
That isn't at all to say there aren't some great high-tech companies out here, as there are a few. They're just not hiring. There's a list of almost all of the Pittsburgh recruiting agencies on (shameless plug) recruiter-rater.
Of course this is a shameless plug, but you can rate your recruiter and identify job board spam at http://recruiter-rater.zhrodague.net./
Lots of groups have adapted non-instruments into musical instruments, by hooking them up to MIDI, a digital interface for electronic music instruments. It's quite easy, extensible, and everything electronic and musical supports it (after like '85 I guess).
I'm not so great with a guitar, bass, drums, and definately not keyboards. MIDI sequencers (computer and embedded) let me play the notes as I want them to be played, instead of relying on my fingers to actually play the bass. I can then focus on where I want the tune to go, rather than this solo I can't play right. Just figured I'd toss that out there. MIDI is great!
No, I will not purchase a damn Apple laptop. I couldn't even find a used 15 inch powerbook for under $1500, with WiFi, cd burner, bluetooth, etc. My budget was $1000. So, I bought a refurbed Dell, and upgraded it. Apple just lost a grand.
Perhaps I wasn't clear on my needs for a workstation. I don't care what operating system it runs, as long as I can have dual batteries, record Wi-Fi locations (serial GPS + wifi), ssh with an xterm, and a reasonably current web browser. I also like Skype and GAIM. Bluetooth working properly and MIDI support are plusses. That isn't alot to ask. An old Palm Pilot is capable of handling these simple tasks with better battery life than any other option.
I would prefer to have a pretty operating environment, like OSX, and be able to use some of the hotly talked about things that are specific to that platform (like bluetooth actually working). I'm all set with Windows, but I am upset about having to configure every little thing in Linux, and recompile the kernel to get (kismet and other) things to work. I already want OSX, but there's no way I'm going to spend $3k on a laptop just to get it. I'll wait until Apple wants me as an OSX customer.
I have actually found that I get more support, faster support, and free support, from the Internet. Yes, I've called Microsoft, IBM, and Dell for support in the past. Nothing tops a Google search for support.
Also, another thing people seem to miss -- if the product works, and does not fail, there's no reason to call support. If the package is built in such a way so as to either be A) Obvious, and B) Unbreakable, support will simly not be needed, if at all. I am a former long-time customer service person.
Seriously. I want OSX on my Dell laptop. This isn't rocket science, people. Even operating system development isn't rocket science -- it's computer science. If some guy on the Internet can put OSX on a generic PC, why won't Apple? I would pay $200 to put OSX on my Dell, maybe even more if it comes with all the extra bits. And if not? I'll still use Centos, if Apple doesn't want me as a customer.
"To me, it seems like all these search places are a pyramid of crap."
You, sir, are quite correct.
Just like "Who moved my cheese?" So maybe the kid could have made some more videos, and cashed-in on the Google ads. Hell, I've been bullied, beat-up, publicly humiliated, extendedly unemployed -- you name it. Hell, he could even sell his antidepressants on the side for a quick buck.
Can we put the FCC's FAX number on the junk fax list?
"Internet connectivity is not a right, but a privilege."
Internet connectivity is neither a right nor a privilege -- it is a commodity.
I have been a big redhat fan ever since 4.2. A fried turned me on to it. "Look," he said, "you can just download it, and it works!" I was psyched. And this has pretty much been my career over the last 10 years -- download Redhat, install it, and it works. It has always worked, and been a reliable brand in operating systems.
I was okay when they split off Fedora from their Enterprise package. I went with Fedora, seemed to work okay. I wanted to try out FC5 when it came out a few weeks ago, on my recent purchase of an old Dell C640. Oddly enough, It wouldn't get past the lilo prompt on any CD I burned. So, I tried out CENTOS.
CENTOS seems to be just like Redhat's flavored GNU/Linux. It has everything I want, except for PINE and windowmaker. It makes an okay workstation, and I am already used to the file locations, package management, and general 'feel' for the environment.
Now that Redhat is abandoning Fedora, there's no reason I should use it anymore. Kudos to the CENTOS crew, you've made a convert.
Congradulations, Google and Earthlink! Can I have a job now?
Agreed. I was backing up the article, by illustrating that it is easier to get NPR content from a podcast on their website, than it is by using my local NPR affiliate. They should at least put Google ads on their website!
Seems like it is time to listen to some non RIAA owned music. Go out and support your local bands, and Internet musicians. If you create the music yourself that you want to hear, it will take the wind out of the music industry's sails -- and their sales.
No shit. We should be helping our own. Unfortunately, it's not in the American way of stepping on those below to get ahead. I think half of America would benefit from computers like these, to make them realize that life is a little more than that $4.50/hr job, and what crack crumbs they can scrounge. Either kill the stupid people -- all of 'em -- or educate them. One is easier than the other.
Does your whining instantly *POOF!* turn into a tent full of food for every starving boy and girl? No. Did you donate every penny you can to all of these causes? No. Does Negroponte have an idea to help the world that he is actively working on? Yes.
Here in Pittsburgh, we only get NPR for six hours a day -- 6:AM-9:AM, and then again from 4:PM-7:PM. At all other times, the station plays moldy vibrating-old-man jazz (no, not even some good stuff). I like to listen to Marketplace, on at 6:30 PM. There's lots of other programs I wouldn't have heard, unless they were available from the web -- 'cause our NPR station is only NPR for a quarter of the day. I find myself listening to WRCT from CMU more often, in spite of the constant noise that is their programming lineup.
Jeez, talk about opening oneself to attack!
No, seriously, and a good question. Like the GP posted, there shouldn't be more laws, but less. Our government should be a small shop, not the country's largest employer. The same law that prevents me from spying on my neighbor, and collecting information about him, should protect me from privacy abuses from major corporations (times the number of people they do this to). We don't need a special law to prevent this, it should already be in-place. The problem, as I see it, is that it is not enforced, because the corporations have better lawyers -- that should not be allowed -- by default.