Hi Esther, I would tend to agree with your reservations about abandoning flatbeds or other, may I say, more traditional scanning solutions. What I wonder is if one could get a fairly high-quality webcam, and if one knew someone to make even a wooden frame, I suspect one could put a similar system together for about 120-130 euro (which given our taxation systems here would equate to 120-130 US). A half decent webcam is only about 80 euro and I'd imagine they're cheaper over the other side of the pond.
I've heard of the Hovercam, but not heard that podcast but will certainly listen. Best and thanks, Dónal. PS. lest list owners think I'm taking this off-topic, can I point out that the hardware solutions I'm talking about here are intended to work with mac software such as Abyy Finereader. On 13 Mar 2013, at 21:21, Esther <mori...@mac-access.net> wrote: > Hello Cait, David, Dónal, and Others, > > I'm not sure that I agree with David about requiring digital camera systems, > but as an alternative to the Eyepal, have you listened to the recent AppleVis > podcast that Matthew Campbell did on "Using the HoverCam T5-V Document > Scanner and ABBYY FineReader as a Scanning Solution on the Mac"? > > Here's the link to the URL: > <http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/using-hovercam-t5-v-document-scanner-and-abbyy-finereader-scanning-solution-mac> > That's a very long link, so here's a shortened version in case it wraps: > http://bit.ly/10jLC8v > > I know that the HoverCam use with Docuscan has been discussed by a number of > people, but there are a number of people who have issues with using a > solution where you have to submit your scans to an external internet source > in order to do the OCR, and in addition, Docuscan only works for English, > whereas ABBYY Finereader Express provides an OCR solution for numerous > languages. The HoverCam solution is around $300. The cost of an Eyepal at > over 2000 Euros (to use Dónal's estimate) does seem excessive for old > technology. > > HTH. Cheers, > > Esther > > On Mar 13, 2013, at 2:23 AM, David Griffith wrote: > >> Eyepal is getting quite old now. At least mine is. When I got it the Eyepal >> was pretty much the only portable digital scanning solution available. >> Nowadays there are lots more choice. >> >> I started out using Eyepal on a PC and transferred it to my Imac when I got >> that. >> If I was starting out now I would probably not get the Eyepal again, mainly >> because of the inconsistent software support. >> >> I use Abbey finereader on my Windows laptop which does a good alternative >> OCR job of recognising the images created by the Eyepal on my iMac. I >> imagine the Mac version of finereader would work just as well. >> I would probably now investigate a bespoke Mac solution if I were in your >> position, I would try to find anybody who has experience of using docuscan >> and HoverCam. >> >> If you need to do serious amounts of scanning my own view is that flatbed >> scanners just do not cut it. A digital camera system is probably essential >> . >> >> Yet in terms of OCR accuracy the best scanner I have ever used was not a >> digital camera system but a Cannon 2580 duplex document scanner. This was >> great but had the disadvantage that it could only accept loose sheets >> through its feeder. I therefore had to tear all the pages out of books to >> feed them through. Once this was done the scan was fast and accurate. This >> was worth it for the superb scanning results, especially in conjunction with >> the amazing Microsoft document scanning software, sadly no longer available. >> Of course the books were ruined for anybody else. >> Unfortunately I can find no way of getting the Mac to recognise the Canon >> DR2580. This was in its time, a specialist Trade Scanner used by print shops >> so was not that common. Vue Scan is completely unable to recognise it. No >> drivers appear to work on the Mac so I am stuck with using it with my >> Windows machines. >> I have had similar problems with my flatbed canon scanner which again the >> Mac struggle with big time. I now use only Eyepal on the Mac and use the >> Canon scanners with Windows machines. >> >> >> David Griffith >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net >> [mailto:mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net] On Behalf Of cait furness >> Sent: 13 March 2013 11:10 >> To: Mac OSX & iOS Accessibility >> Subject: Re: Moutain Lion and EyePal >> >> I couldn't see the results of the scan. I suspect that I didn't quite >> understand what I needed to do to get that to happen. Can you both scan and >> recognize with abby? or do I need both programs for this? I thought I had >> to scan with vu scan and then use abby to recognize the scan. It's been a >> while since I tried. I finally gave up and went back to k1000 since I have >> school to deal with and reams of texts to muddle through. >> thanks heaps, >> Cait >> > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that > the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and > worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security > strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something > unpredictable happen. > > Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by > visiting the list website at: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> Dr. Dónal Fitzpatrick, School of Computing, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland Tel. +353-(0)1-700-8929 fax: +353-(0)1-700-5442 email: dfitzpat (at) computing.dcu.ie Email Disclaimer "This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Any unauthorised dissemination, distribution or copying of this message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail may solely be the views of the author and cannot be relied upon as being those of Dublin City University. 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We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
