From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 3 02:59:33 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1C32E16A41F for ; Sat, 3 Sep 2005 02:59:33 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nikolas.britton@gmail.com) Received: from wproxy.gmail.com (wproxy.gmail.com [64.233.184.205]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9E74E43D45 for ; Sat, 3 Sep 2005 02:59:32 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nikolas.britton@gmail.com) Received: by wproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id i4so650595wra for ; Fri, 02 Sep 2005 19:59:31 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=iT/245Qj2AAkZCE3a7GvKSV6WKiblh4xQHnSALrumHGguGQCMiwAajrOwUktrzVs57AgGxK3wcZXP3oQljFxtwgi/B+A1T5pOOHaOpobKzpngNcuDmX7HmFk0pnIxBfLseL/rlRjSGKr14CCIcP+kn/QZRfsu5HCp+nU+spCAdw= Received: by 10.54.3.8 with SMTP id 8mr2927195wrc; Fri, 02 Sep 2005 19:59:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.54.124.11 with HTTP; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 19:59:31 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:59:31 -0500 From: Nikolas Britton To: Gary Kline In-Reply-To: <20050902170810.GC76575@thought.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline References: <20050902030726.GA71012@thought.org> <20050902170810.GC76575@thought.org> Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List Subject: Re: best OCR scanner?? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 03 Sep 2005 02:59:33 -0000 On 9/2/05, Gary Kline wrote: > On Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 03:01:12AM -0500, Nikolas Britton wrote: > > On 9/1/05, Gary Kline wrote: > > > People, > > > > > > I want to scan ~400 pp of an out-of-print and out-of-copyrigh= t > > > book (from 1913) and need to know what the best scanner is > > > and if there has been substantial improvement in OCR > > > software in recent years. This book has few footnotes > > > or different typefaces, so it should make things easier. > > > > > > Oh, an if there is something that plugs into DOS/DOZE > > > and just works, super. I'lll use my W2K box. (Hopefully, > > > something that plugs into COM0 or COM1. USB okay too.) > > > > > > > Any scanner will work when your scanning a 2 tone document! The only > > thing that matters is the OCR software and their is only one game in > > town, OmniPage Pro by scansoft. >=20 > Well, the book I want to scan is from 1913:: just text. > Does this scanner work with FreeBSD? or only Windows? The OCR software? It works on windows and Mac OS-X. The software isn't cheap though, the current full version, 15, retails for $500. You may be able to find a demo version , so you can try before you buy, if you look in the right places. >=20 > > > > BTW it's faster (and won't damage the book) to photograph the book and > > then crop and covert to B&W, white balance, contrast, etc in photoshop > > or gimp etc., and then import the photos into the OCR software. The > > OCR software should produce less errors too. >=20 > Okay, can do; thanks. Have you ever seen a spy (movies) use a scanner to copy top secret documents? :-) I would just make a "jig" out of wood to hold the digital camera and a flat bottem to hold the book. It would be best if you had a 35mm AF SLR camera with like a 20 - 50mm macro len, but any camera should work. If you have an SLR camera but no macro lens you can try flipping your lens around. >=20 > > > > After all is done post the book on gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/ > > > > oh, you should be able to fine some tips about scanning books at the > > gutenberg site too. >=20 >=20 > Yep; that's my idea. I've volunteered for PG, just never > at the scanning level. >=20 Cool.