Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 21:59:31 -0500 From: Nikolas Britton <nikolas.britton@gmail.com> To: Gary Kline <kline@tao.thought.org> Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: best OCR scanner?? Message-ID: <ef10de9a0509021959769a5d31@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20050902170810.GC76575@thought.org> References: <20050902030726.GA71012@thought.org> <ef10de9a0509020101142c8fb0@mail.gmail.com> <20050902170810.GC76575@thought.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 9/2/05, Gary Kline <kline@tao.thought.org> wrote: > On Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 03:01:12AM -0500, Nikolas Britton wrote: > > On 9/1/05, Gary Kline <kline@tao.thought.org> 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.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?ef10de9a0509021959769a5d31>