Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Thu, 29 Mar 2018, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: On Thu, 29 Mar 2018, geneb via cctalk wrote: I'm probably WAY over simplifying this because I don't have a grasp of the optics involved, but wouldn't it be possible to get a good image of individual pages on a microfiche by using a DSLR with

Re: Looking for opinions...

On 28/03/18 22:02, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote: On Mar 28, 2018, at 4:40 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Mazzini Alessandro via cctalk wrote: Uh.. now the big question.. how big/heavy is a microfiche viewer ? They vary. I have one that fits in

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 9:17 AM, Toby Thain via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 2018-03-30 9:21 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: > > On 2018-03-29 14:50, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > > > Just as we talk about scanning hundreds of them. How do you guys clean > > the fiche

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-03-30 9:21 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: > On 2018-03-29 14:50, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > >> I would, of course, play with doing a few frames manually. >> At least to get any idea of what SIZE the whole thing will need to be. >> But, once that's working acceptably, a good

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-03-29 14:50, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > I would, of course, play with doing a few frames manually. > At least to get any idea of what SIZE the whole thing will need to be. > But, once that's working acceptably, a good mechanical system is > essential.  There are SO many cards to scan

Re: Looking for opinions...

>>> ... >> " Three considerations suggest that he [Bush] was unaware of the detail >> of Goldberg's work when he [Bush] built his prototype in 1938-40: [. . >> .] " >> and makes no conclusion of conscious influence (on Bush by Goldberg). >> So when you say Bush "stole", and "claimed

Re: Looking for opinions...

If only that were 16mm or 35mm continuous rolls, instead of microfiche! In 1931, Emanuel Goldberg, then a chief engineer at Zeiss built the "Statistical Machine". By recording bits optically in the margins of microfilm, and reading them with photocells, it could find appropriate frames! For use

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

In other vintage microfiche scanning news: The Vintage Tek Museum (www.vintagetek.org) has in its possession a treasure trove of over 3 Million pages of microfiche... https://www.youcaring.com/vintagetekmuseum-1085244 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AToH0P9D2IE

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Thu, 29 Mar 2018, geneb via cctalk wrote: I'm probably WAY over simplifying this because I don't have a grasp of the optics involved, but wouldn't it be possible to get a good image of individual pages on a microfiche by using a DSLR with the right lens and a CNC X/Y table made from one of

Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-Mar-28, at 6:52 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: [...] > If only that were 16mm or 35mm continuous rolls, instead of microfiche! > > In 1931, Emanuel Goldberg, then a chief engineer at Zeiss built the > "Statistical Machine". By recording bits optically in the margins of > microfilm,

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 11:29 AM, Jon Elson via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > Huh? DEC service and software listings on Diazo? Hmmm, you are right! I > always thought these were silver film, but just took a look and they are > very dark blue Diazo. On the other hand, these are VMS

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

still have   5x7  durst  amazing enlarger 8 feet  tall  with vacuum register   easel...  before  I  owned it... it was  used for  making color separations  500w  agfa   condenser color head...  what a machine I  kept it just   cuz  Ed#  www.smecc.org     In a message dated 3/29/2018

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 03/29/2018 09:54 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: On 2018-03-28 22:26, Shaun Halstead via cctalk wrote: All of the DEC film I have (which I believe is already available) is diazo duplicates, which are susceptible to fading over time, even when stored in proper conditions. That's why

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 03/29/2018 06:25 AM, Pete Turnbull via cctalk wrote: On 29/03/2018 05:26, Shaun Halstead via cctalk wrote: Using the wrong filament orientation can cause some weird artifacts to appear on scanned images, because of the high magnification. I strongly suspect that an attempt using an LED

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 3/29/18 7:54 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: > That's why we should do it now, not later ;-) > If people in the Bay Area has the time to work on this, they can have access to my scanners in my lab. I brought one up a couple of years ago. The problem with any micrographics equipment

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

also aperture cards, which are punched cards with a single 35mm image on them On 3/29/18 8:49 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > yes, IBM fiche is the size of a punched card > > In theory, the scanner I bought should be able to handle it if I > can make custom carriers for it. > > On 3/29/18

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

yes, IBM fiche is the size of a punched card In theory, the scanner I bought should be able to handle it if I can make custom carriers for it. On 3/29/18 6:16 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote: > Stupid question on the side, as I know/have DEC fiche only. > Are there any fiche out there,

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Thu, 29 Mar 2018, et...@757.org wrote: I'm probably WAY over simplifying this because I don't have a grasp of the optics involved, but wouldn't it be possible to get a good image of individual pages on a microfiche by using a DSLR with the right lens and a CNC X/Y table made from one of

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

I'm probably WAY over simplifying this because I don't have a grasp of the optics involved, but wouldn't it be possible to get a good image of individual pages on a microfiche by using a DSLR with the right lens and a CNC X/Y table made from one of the large (8x10) LED illuminators used to

Re: OT: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 11:39 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk > wrote: > > On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk wrote: >> This thread reminded me of a DYI scanner I had read about. Found it with >> google: >>

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-03-28 22:26, Shaun Halstead via cctalk wrote: > All of the DEC film I > have (which I believe is already available) is diazo duplicates, which are > susceptible to fading over time, even when stored in proper conditions. That's why we should do it now, not later ;-)

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: The Illumitran uses bellows, but for a lot of DEC fiche, the page size is constant so extension tubes might actually be better - they won't slip. Initially I was going to suggest an Illumitran, but I don’t think it would work that well with

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

Stupid question on the side, as I know/have DEC fiche only. Are there any fiche out there, which are bigger than 8x6 inches?

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 29/03/2018 05:26, Shaun Halstead via cctalk wrote: Using the wrong filament orientation can cause some weird artifacts to appear on scanned images, because of the high magnification. I strongly suspect that an attempt using an LED source would face similar (and possibly worse) issues.

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 29/03/2018 03:15, Zane Healy wrote: More and more, I view my Classic Computer collection as a hinderance to building a proper darkroom. Oddly enough, the main purpose of my PDP-11/44 these days is to hold a couple old enlargers that I don’t use. LOL! I wish I still had my De Vere 5x4

Re: Looking for opinions...

> From: Liam Proven > And yet, 3 generations later Can we please keep _all_ politics off the list? It didn't go so well last time. Noel

Re: OT: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-03-28 20:59, Bob Rosenbloom via cctalk wrote: > On 3/28/2018 6:00 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: If you start with a fiche viewer, then a lot of the mechanical parts, such as the fiche holder, are well under way.  You need to modify the card movement mechanism to be able

Re: Looking for opinions...

On 29 March 2018 at 03:52, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > > If only that were 16mm or 35mm continuous rolls, instead of microfiche! > > In 1931, Emanuel Goldberg, then a chief engineer at Zeiss built the > "Statistical Machine". By recording bits optically in the margins

RE: Looking for opinions...

I previously worked for an insurance company and a very old issue reared its ugly head. Trouble was all the claim and policy info was on literally a truckload of microfiche and to find anything took three days (seriously) so ICT had them all scanned to PDF and OCR'd - it worked a treat but of

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

[I'm intentionally not quoting anyone here] Disclaimer: I own a small company which provides microfilm and microfiche scanning. A couple of problems anyone building a fiche scanner is going to run into have already been addressed: Moving film around to capture images and resolution. I use a

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

Is Joerg still active on this list? In this thread in 2015 he said he scanned over 400 DEC sheets using a digital camera to capture the image projected on a sheet reader. Don't know how long that took.

Re: OT: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 3/28/2018 6:00 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: If you start with a fiche viewer, then a lot of the mechanical parts, such as the fiche holder, are well under way.  You need to modify the card movement mechanism to be able to automate it, but you could put that part off until you confirm

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 6:23 PM, Pete Turnbull via cctalk > wrote: > > On 29/03/2018 00:19, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: > >> I think Bellows would be the only sane way to approach this. You >> could do it with extension tubes, but they’re a pain. Another thing >> to

RE: Looking for opinions...

On Thu, 29 Mar 2018, Kevin Parker via cctech wrote: I previously worked for an insurance company and a very old issue reared its ugly head. Trouble was all the claim and policy info was on literally a truckload of microfiche and to find anything took three days (seriously) so ICT had them all

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 29/03/2018 00:19, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: I think Bellows would be the only sane way to approach this. You could do it with extension tubes, but they’re a pain. Another thing to consider is a light source. You’re going to need a fair amount of light, given the necessary extension to

OT: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

If you start with a fiche viewer, then a lot of the mechanical parts, such as the fiche holder, are well under way. You need to modify the card movement mechanism to be able to automate it, but you could put that part off until you confirm that the optical portion is satisfactory. On Wed,

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

You figure if a couple of college kids can build a robot that can solve a Rubik's Cube in 380ms, a bunch of really smart old guys should be able to cobble together a DIY microfiche scanner. g. Mentioned it in an IRC channel. Friends started talking about it. The open source hughin software

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: I wonder if you could use a photographic enlarger and a flatbed scanner to do this. This is a rather interesting question, it’s highly impractical, BUT, it might be a way for someone like me to get copies of single pages. A slightly more

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-03-28 3:37 PM, et...@757.org wrote: DOES ANYONE READ OLD POSTS HERE?? >>> > >> Some of us... Do the math. Scanning all of that fiche is man-centuries of work with all but the most expensive equipment. >>> >>> Quite.  Maybe someday 9600 dpi scan heads will be cheap,

Re: Looking for opinions...

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 4:40 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk > wrote: > > On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Mazzini Alessandro via cctalk wrote: >> Uh.. now the big question.. how big/heavy is a microfiche viewer ? > > They vary. I have one that fits in a pocket! > Usually, they are a

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan via cctalk wrote: We are like engineers or something. I think there is open source software for rebuilding images from shredded documents.Slide projector lens, LED array and diffuser and a digital camera. Stepper motors to move the thing around and load next fiche?

Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 3:46 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: >>> On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan via cctalk wrote: > On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan Dicks wrote: >> >> These are not my questions. I already know the answer to these. > > Ah, but we now have TWO Ethans on this list. > > THOSE

Re: Looking for opinions...

Hi Paul, I did have a go at scanning, but I could not get a good image. Zane came up with the idea of using a DSLR, I have tried this with a very quick and dirty test and I think it could work, I used an original DEC microfiche viewer, which as it happens I am looking for a home for! So if

Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan via cctalk wrote: Has all this data been converted to digital formats and posted online? Can a flatbed scanner with high resolution (1200dpi) scan these directly or does it require using a lens setup? On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan Dicks wrote: These are not my

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 12:00 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans via cctalk > wrote: > >> I wonder if you could use a photographic enlarger and a flatbed scanner to >> do this. This is a rather interesting question, it’s highly impractical, BUT, it might be a way for someone like me

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

DOES ANYONE READ OLD POSTS HERE?? >> Some of us... Do the math. Scanning all of that fiche is man-centuries of work with all but the most expensive equipment. Quite. Maybe someday 9600 dpi scan heads will be cheap, but not soon enough for most of us here today to care. We

Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 3:14 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan via cctalk wrote: >> >> Has all this data been converted to digital formats and posted online? >> >> Can a flatbed scanner with high resolution (1200dpi) scan these directly >> or

Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, 28 Mar 2018, Ethan via cctalk wrote: Has all this data been converted to digital formats and posted online? A lot, but almost certainly not all. Can a flatbed scanner with high resolution (1200dpi) scan these directly or does it require using a lens setup? For microfiche, 1200dpi is

Re: Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 1:39 PM, Toby Thain via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 2018-03-28 1:51 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: > > On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 12:59 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk > > wrote: > >> The rock has been lifted (again) > >> > >> DOES ANYONE

Digitising collections of microfiche - Re: Looking for opinions...

On 2018-03-28 1:51 PM, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: > On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 12:59 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk > wrote: >> The rock has been lifted (again) >> >> DOES ANYONE READ OLD POSTS HERE?? > > Some of us... > >> Do the math. Scanning all of that fiche is

Re: Looking for opinions...

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 12:59 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > The rock has been lifted (again) > > DOES ANYONE READ OLD POSTS HERE?? Some of us... > Do the math. Scanning all of that fiche is man-centuries of work with all but > the most expensive equipment.

Re: Looking for opinions...

> Can a flatbed scanner with high resolution (1200dpi) scan these directly or > does it require using a lens setup? sigh.. The rock has been lifted (again) DOES ANYONE READ OLD POSTS HERE?? Do the math. Scanning all of that fiche is man-centuries of work with all but the most expensive

Re: Looking for opinions...

> On Mar 28, 2018, at 11:20 AM, Ethan via cctalk wrote: > >> I found a stack of DEC microfiche a few nights ago. It's probably about 12 >> inches tall, and contains PM Procedures, IPBs, Manuals, Tech Info, and >> several type of Logistics, BOMs, vendors, etc which I

Re: Looking for opinions...

I found a stack of DEC microfiche a few nights ago. It's probably about 12 inches tall, and contains PM Procedures, IPBs, Manuals, Tech Info, and several type of Logistics, BOMs, vendors, etc which I will deal with later. Most of it is "company confidential", not that it matters anymore. The

Re: Looking for opinions...

I have some LCG and VAX, but mostly 8 and 11 items. If I ever find it all I should have a stack 2 meters or so. I wish there was an easy way to sort it. I don't want to think about how long it will take. Paul On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 3:11 AM, Huw Davies < huw.dav...@kerberos.davies.net.au>

Re: Looking for opinions...

> On 28 Mar 2018, at 18:59, Paul Anderson via cctalk > wrote: > > There are probably no perfect answers to this problem. I am looking for > opinions, not criticism. I do not want to start arguments, nor get anyone > here, especially Jay, pissed off. I too have a large