[PLUG] Inexpensive Letter-size Scanner For Linux

[Rich Shepard]

On Wed, 10 May 2006, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> I can't remember thde website, but if you google for it there is a website
> devoted exclusively to scanners that work with Linux. I do have an old
> scanner (ancient, actually) connected to my Windows 2000 desktop, but I
> wanted a new one and one that was 1) portable and 2) completely compatible
> with Linux. I ended up getting a Canon LiDE 30 and it works perfectly with
> Xsane and the other Linux scanning utilities. I couldn't be happier.

   Been there many times. Also had bad experience with a Umax model that was
supposed to be fully supported, but the specific SCSI adapter I bought for it
never produced a working system.

> OCR, on the other hand, is an much sadder story. Basically, it hasn't made
> it to Linux yet. So if you want to scan and OCR, good luck. (I did find a
> free website that would OCR from a TIFF file, and that is what I have been
> using, even though it does a pretty crappy job.)

   I've use jocr many times with highly satisfactory results. In this case,
however, I don't want to translate the imate to text; I want a PDF image of
the scanned letter.

> If you can wait until the next clinic, I can bring my scanner with and will
> be happy to scan your documents for you. In fact, there is a PDXLinux
> meeting tomorrow (Thursday) at the Fireside that I plan to attend. I could
> bring it and we could do it there. Let me know, as I would not ordinarily
> bring it unless I know someone needs it (another 2 Kg in my pack).

   Thank you for the offer. I'll look at used hardware on Craig's list and let
you know.

Rich

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Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.             |  Quantifying subjectivity for the
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