[SLUG] Re: Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners

2011-09-05 Thread gonzo01
Yesterday picked up an HP Deskjet 2050 Multi Function unit from the 
GoodGuys for $39 ( marked $44).


Booted Linux Mint 11 ( Gnome) and fired up Simple Scanner. Device found 
and installed - scanned straight away. Only tried with 1/2 page 
newspaper pic but quality was OK for the source ( newsprint pics aint 
good) and for the price.


Havent even installed the ink-cartridges yety as I have a HP Deskjet for 
colour and an old Canon BJ230 for b @ W.


At least the MFU works without ink - I remember that I couldnt do that 
with an old Brother device.

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Re: [SLUG] Addressbook and Calendar apps

2011-09-05 Thread Erik de Castro Lopo
pe...@chubb.wattle.id.au wrote:

> I don't want my private data to be held by a third party who are not
> even Australian.  I don't like Google's policies, and have not agreed
> to their terms and conditions (which, among other things, say that
> they can at any time remove your access to your data, do not have to
> explain why, and do not have to give it back).

Thats a very sensible position. What surprises me is that so many
people have no problems whatsoever handing over their data to 
google, facebook and whoever else asks for it.

Erik
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Re: [SLUG] Addressbook and Calendar apps

2011-09-05 Thread peter
> "Nigel" == Nigel Allen  writes:

Nigel> On 26/08/2011 12:14, Nick Andrew wrote:
>> On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:13:09AM +1000, Peter Chubb wrote:
>>> what are people using for TODO, address book and calendar
>> Text file, kaddressbook, Google Calendar.
>> 
>> 

Nigel> Stupid question perhaps but why not use Google contacts which
Nigel> sync with Android automagically?

I don't want my private data to be held by a third party who are not
even Australian.  I don't like Google's policies, and have not agreed
to their terms and conditions (which, among other things, say that
they can at any time remove your access to your data, do not have to
explain why, and do not have to give it back).

I've heard of a number of cases where a person has unknowingly
transgressed some part of Google's terms of service, and has
consequently lost all of his/her data --- when google turns off access
at their server, the phone deletes it too!

So I want to sync to a funambol (or equivalent) server that I host,
backup, and control.  Not to some entity I have no personal contact
with in the `cloud'.

Peter C
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Re: [SLUG] Addressbook and Calendar apps

2011-09-05 Thread Nigel Allen

On 26/08/2011 12:14, Nick Andrew wrote:

On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:13:09AM +1000, Peter Chubb wrote:

what are people using for TODO, address book and calendar

Text file, kaddressbook, Google Calendar.




Stupid question perhaps but why not use Google contacts which sync with 
Android automagically?


N/

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Re: [SLUG] Addressbook and Calendar apps

2011-09-05 Thread Voytek Eymont

On Fri, August 26, 2011 11:13 am, Peter Chubb wrote:
> what are people using for TODO, address book and calendar  now that
> PalmOS
> is just about dead?

Peter,

I'm curious what you'll come up with

(I'm deferring any decision, I simply bought several Palms, so if need be,
I can keep using Palm for practically forever. I hooked up Pimlical
desktop/Google sync, and, am experimenting with that, eventually likely to
get Pimlical/Android)


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[SLUG] Android text utility to output text/plain

2011-09-05 Thread Voytek Eymont
id there a 'notepad' utility that will output text/plain text
exported/beamed to some non-Android device ?

every thing I tried so far, when I beam across to say my Palm, comes
across as text/html with 10 or 12 lines of html around the actual text

I wanted to enter a quick note or a couple of words, and later use on say
my Palm

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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread Voytek Eymont

On Mon, September 5, 2011 5:00 pm, Jon Jermey wrote:

> My question is this: given that my printer cost $79, and a dedicated
> sheet-feed scanner costs $400 and up, am I going to get a better success
> rate if I purchase one of those rather than just buying a new cheap
> printer? The price difference leads me to believe I will, but I can't find
> any comparisons on the web between scanning success rates for
> multifunction printers and dedicated scanners. Is there any difference in
> the actual mechanics, and if so what?


Jon,

not sure how much I can help you, but, FWIW, many, many years ago I bought
a HP 2p (mono scanner), I think it was about... $1000 ? then, I bought a
HP doc feeder, I think it was also around $1000. I still use them today,
not that I am a huge scanner user, but, with the 'expensive' feeder I can
shove 25 or 30 pages, when I come back, just flip over (if need scanning
reverses), it just works

a year or two ago, I was walking past a second hand PC shop, saw same
HP2p+ doc in the window for about $100, so I bought it for a spare.

so, for many pages scanning, good doc feeders are important

of course, equipment the age of mine might just crumble from old age

(just noticed rubber legs on my HP LJ5 are melting..)

additionally, a while ago I picked from a dumped Fujitsu fi4120, brilliant
little addition, color, does both sides at once, again, it's good quality
device

so, my suggestion (based on old and potentially superseded experience:

if you find you good results (no jams, scan quality, skew) from cheap
device, keep use it;

otherwise get device with dedicated good quality feeder

I don't know what the Fujitsu FIs go for, but I'm very pleased with my FI
simultaneous 2 side scanner (except you cant' do small things or books,
pages only)

sorry if I added to confusion..

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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread Nick Andrew
The dedicated scanners could be expected to be faster and more robust,
maybe higher quality too. The scan quality on our cheap multifunction is
not as good as that of my dedicated (but non-multi-feed) Epson scanner.

Nick.
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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread Ken Foskey
On Tue, 2011-09-06 at 10:45 +1000, Chris Barnes wrote:
> i worked at a mortgage lender years back and one of the departments
> had these expensive scanners because they would scan piles of 20+ page
> contracts all day with lightening speed.

Expensive scanners tend not to skew the pages when feeding them in.
The quality of the scan (not the bit rate just general clarity) is
better.  The feed mechanism is a LOT better, for huge volumes it is
worth it.  Image capture was always a challenge.

Since I scan and mail on crappy printers at low res for bank use (my
banker accepts scanned signed documents for some things).   Mostly it is
not that important.

Clarity of photo scanning on the other hand,  I do very high res scans
then tune them down.  It takes a LONG time on a simple multifunction
printer.

Problem with buying good gear is how quickly they age.   A cheap printer
today is thrown away.  A good quality scanner today will be overtaken by
a cheap scanner tomorrow.  If you cannot amortise the cost over 2 years
then think carefully.

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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread Chris Barnes
I cant say I have a lot of experience with the dedicated scanners but
from what I've seen the expensive ones are very fast and very
reliable. They also come with a scsi interface option.

i worked at a mortgage lender years back and one of the departments
had these expensive scanners because they would scan piles of 20+ page
contracts all day with lightening speed.

The other place i came accross them was at a medical center where
patient forms were scanned in while the patient checked in.

They were extremely reliable. The only problems I ever saw with the
scanners was the software capturing the images.


On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Jon Jermey  wrote:
> I'll try that, thanks. I'm mainly just curious as to what the extra $300 for
> a dedicated scanner is supposed to buy. Is it a case of paying more for
> less?
>
> Jon.
>
> On 06/09/11 09:39, David Lyon wrote:
>>
>> I have a client that runs really old printers. HP1300's, HP1100's and
>> even older.
>>
>> Keep in mind that these things are just (electro)-mechanical devices.
>>
>> Lubrication gets dry after a while. Most of the materials in these devices
>> are usually excellent quality. The metal or nylon doesn't usually wear
>> out.
>>
>> Screwdriver, vacuum-cleaner in reverse (blow out the dust and dirt)
>> and some lubricating spray, and you have a good chance that you
>> can keep your device going for another year, two, three or four.
>
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Kind Regards,

Christopher Barnes

e. chris.p.bar...@gmail.com
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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread Jon Jermey
I'll try that, thanks. I'm mainly just curious as to what the extra $300 
for a dedicated scanner is supposed to buy. Is it a case of paying more 
for less?


Jon.

On 06/09/11 09:39, David Lyon wrote:

I have a client that runs really old printers. HP1300's, HP1100's and
even older.

Keep in mind that these things are just (electro)-mechanical devices.

Lubrication gets dry after a while. Most of the materials in these devices
are usually excellent quality. The metal or nylon doesn't usually wear
out.

Screwdriver, vacuum-cleaner in reverse (blow out the dust and dirt)
and some lubricating spray, and you have a good chance that you
can keep your device going for another year, two, three or four.

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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread David Lyon
I have a client that runs really old printers. HP1300's, HP1100's and
even older.

Keep in mind that these things are just (electro)-mechanical devices.

Lubrication gets dry after a while. Most of the materials in these devices
are usually excellent quality. The metal or nylon doesn't usually wear
out.

Screwdriver, vacuum-cleaner in reverse (blow out the dust and dirt)
and some lubricating spray, and you have a good chance that you
can keep your device going for another year, two, three or four.
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Re: [SLUG] Multifunction printers vs dedicated sheet-feed scanners?

2011-09-05 Thread Nick Andrew
On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 04:00:26PM +1000, Jon Jermey wrote:
> My question is this: given that my printer cost $79, and a dedicated  
> sheet-feed scanner costs $400 and up, am I going to get a better success  
> rate if I purchase one of those rather than just buying a new cheap  
> printer?

I have only a cheap multifunction printer/scanner too, but it is pretty
good for scanning multi-page documents, as long as the paper is flat
and the right size. So I can't answer your question with experience of
dedicated scanners.

It occurred to me though, for $79 to buy another cheap printer you
can confirm if the other printer's mechanism is worn out, and worst
case is you use that new cheap printer until it also wears out.

Nick.
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