Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
Thanks for all the replies! Looks like I'll ignore the OCR idea then - that was just a 'it would be good if' idea. John, your idea of typing them up directly to my computer would be a bit tricky, since I don't own a laptop! Plus, I enjoy actually handwriting my notes since my course does a lot on computers. My other method was going to be to type them up in the evenings, the scanner method was because I'm lazy! Perhaps I'll try typing them up myself for the first few weeks, see how it goes. If it turns out to be a pain digitising graphs and things, I'll find a scanner. Cheers, Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On 18/08/10 18:25, Simon Wears wrote: Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.comb Hmm, it's been a while since I looked into scanners, guess it depends how much you want to spend. IIRC some of the higher end HP ScanJet scanners have ADF feeder options although the scanners I've seen in the shops tend to be basic flat bed models. Guess it depends on your budget, but maybe you could look at a combined scanner/copier/printer with ADF unit (they seem to be more readily available). One such printer I tried recently was a Lexmark (X264) which was networked and scanned to e-mail, so basically you could scan anything and it would convert it to a PDF (it supported colour and black and white) and would e-mail it out. As far as OCR software goes, I've never tried any on Linux, last time I tried OCR software was on Windows and I'm not sure if it's improved or not, it certainly wasn't good enough to read handwriting. You say your notes are in text, will they be handwritten notes or typed up? Rob -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
The idea would be to scan in my handwritten notes, but that would also involve mathematical graphs symbols, which it may not cope with well. The OCR isn't as important, it would just be a nice feature. As long as I can make a digital copy of my notes easily it would do! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com On 18 August 2010 19:02, Rob Beard r...@esdelle.co.uk wrote: On 18/08/10 18:25, Simon Wears wrote: Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.comb Hmm, it's been a while since I looked into scanners, guess it depends how much you want to spend. IIRC some of the higher end HP ScanJet scanners have ADF feeder options although the scanners I've seen in the shops tend to be basic flat bed models. Guess it depends on your budget, but maybe you could look at a combined scanner/copier/printer with ADF unit (they seem to be more readily available). One such printer I tried recently was a Lexmark (X264) which was networked and scanned to e-mail, so basically you could scan anything and it would convert it to a PDF (it supported colour and black and white) and would e-mail it out. As far as OCR software goes, I've never tried any on Linux, last time I tried OCR software was on Windows and I'm not sure if it's improved or not, it certainly wasn't good enough to read handwriting. You say your notes are in text, will they be handwritten notes or typed up? Rob -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:51:02 +0100 Simon Wears wrote: On 18 August 2010 19:02, Rob Beard r...@esdelle.co.uk wrote: On 18/08/10 18:25, Simon Wears wrote: Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.comb Hmm, it's been a while since I looked into scanners, guess it depends how much you want to spend. IIRC some of the higher end HP ScanJet scanners have ADF feeder options although the scanners I've seen in the shops tend to be basic flat bed models. Guess it depends on your budget, but maybe you could look at a combined scanner/copier/printer with ADF unit (they seem to be more readily available). One such printer I tried recently was a Lexmark (X264) which was networked and scanned to e-mail, so basically you could scan anything and it would convert it to a PDF (it supported colour and black and white) and would e-mail it out. As far as OCR software goes, I've never tried any on Linux, last time I tried OCR software was on Windows and I'm not sure if it's improved or not, it certainly wasn't good enough to read handwriting. You say your notes are in text, will they be handwritten notes or typed up? Rob The idea would be to scan in my handwritten notes, but that would also involve mathematical graphs symbols, which it may not cope with well. The OCR isn't as important, it would just be a nice feature. As long as I can make a digital copy of my notes easily it would do! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com I have found that a large number of USB scanners just work. The biggest issue I have found when trying to scan in what is essentially B/W line-art is getting the contrast/brightness settings right so the scanned version is legible. Grant. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:51:02 +0100 Simon Wears munkyju...@gmail.com wrote: On 18 August 2010 19:02, Rob Beard r...@esdelle.co.uk wrote: On 18/08/10 18:25, Simon Wears wrote: Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.comb Hmm, it's been a while since I looked into scanners, guess it depends how much you want to spend. IIRC some of the higher end HP ScanJet scanners have ADF feeder options although the scanners I've seen in the shops tend to be basic flat bed models. Guess it depends on your budget, but maybe you could look at a combined scanner/copier/printer with ADF unit (they seem to be more readily available). One such printer I tried recently was a Lexmark (X264) which was networked and scanned to e-mail, so basically you could scan anything and it would convert it to a PDF (it supported colour and black and white) and would e-mail it out. As far as OCR software goes, I've never tried any on Linux, last time I tried OCR software was on Windows and I'm not sure if it's improved or not, it certainly wasn't good enough to read handwriting. You say your notes are in text, will they be handwritten notes or typed up? Rob The idea would be to scan in my handwritten notes, but that would also involve mathematical graphs symbols, which it may not cope with well. The OCR isn't as important, it would just be a nice feature. As long as I can make a digital copy of my notes easily it would do! I’d just get any old scanner, you could probably get one free from Freecycle, although they are dirt cheap these days. My experience of sheet feeders is that they will only work reliably with decent quality paper that has been kept nice and flat and hasn’t had greasy hands resting on it etc. Exercise book paper is an absolute sod to get to feed properly, even one sheet at a time. I haven’t seen any OCR software that works for handwriting, as I imagine it would face similar problems to voice recognition. -- Steve Cook (Yorvyk) http://lubuntu.net -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On 18 August 2010 18:25, Simon Wears munkyju...@gmail.com wrote: Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com I have a CanoScan LiDE 60. It is only a simple flat bed scanner, but does fulfil your 'works with ubuntu' requirement. I seem to remember going to the SANE website and looking for information on what is supported before buying it. http://www.sane-project.org/sane-supported-devices.html Have fun! -- Philip Stubbs -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On 18/08/10 18:25, Simon Wears wrote: Heyhey everybody! I'm looking at investing in a scanner so I can digitise my university notes this coming academic year. I was wondering if anyone has a scanner they can recommend that works well with Ubuntu? Ideally it would be a tray-fed scanner, so I can put in several sheets at a time and just hit a nice big 'GO' button, and it would scan it all into a single PDF. Bonus points if it can scan both sides of the paper in one go. Also, has anyone tried any available OCR software for Ubuntu? It'd be great if I could scan in my notes into text, which would make them all searchable! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com At a slight tangent, when we come across a sign or map we need to refer to, when on holiday , we simply photograph it. A 3 M pixel camera with a close up (macro?) focus ability and a good light source nearby produces a very readable jpeg, and a 5 Mp camera even better. It occurs to me that in addition to the method of digital capture, you will produce a lot of files, all with similar IDs. This is unlike notes which have an easier intuitive recognition I suspect. So also consider your files organisation strategy? good luck -- alan cocks Ubuntu user -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On 18/08/2010 19:51, Simon Wears wrote: The idea would be to scan in my handwritten notes, but that would also involve mathematical graphs symbols, which it may not cope with well. The OCR isn't as important, it would just be a nice feature. As long as I can make a digital copy of my notes easily it would do! Simon Wears http://MunkyJunky.com Current state of OCR is that it's good for post-1950 printed texts, but pretty bad for older publications and handwriting. (I've recently been banging my head against 18th century texts - OCR just doesn't work there.) No idea as to the state of dedicated handwriting recognition apps. If you're taking notes, why not enter them directly onto your computer? HTH John -- John Levin http://www.anterotesis.com http://www.facebook.com/john.levin http://twitter.com/anterotesis -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Scanners OCR
On 18 August 2010 22:24, John Levin technola...@gmail.com wrote: No idea as to the state of dedicated handwriting recognition apps. If you're taking notes, why not enter them directly onto your computer? Alternatively, type up the notes later. It will help reinforce the lecture. Of course you will have to give up some beer time, so not really a practical suggestion. :-) -- Philip Stubbs -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
