Post something about yourself here (The Hello Thread)

[scrivener]

Hello everyone.

I'm not an EE, nor a mathematician, and I'm afraid my coding is sub-par at best. I'm just a bibliophile who wants to help in any way I can. I'm a history major (I think) with a good nine years of Latin studies under my belt, but that usefulness is likely limited these days.

Edit: Oh, and the former school archivist.

[wels]

Hi all,

I'm from Berlin, Germany, I came across this site by accident and I'm thrilled and relieved at the same time, thinking: ok, I don't have to start from scratch, some guys did it already, phuhh

Your work on the book scanner development and instruction is just awesome, I'm impressed, really very good work. And what I read about ScanTailor looks also very promising, I have to test this soon, absolutely. I were really close to start the work on such a program for ocr preprocessing (even have some quick-and-dirty code for adaptive contrast correction), but I found your page and tada! someone did it already, it's like a christmas present ...

Actually, I started to improve my scanning situation today, because the pile of books todo grows ... and my time for this shrinks For introduction, I have to say, that I'm in book scanning since years now but I did it only from time to time. Therefore, a flatbed scanner was sufficient for me. Some time ago, I also tried it with digital camera images of double sides, but the quality was not very convincing in contrast to that of a real scanner. The minor problem was the bad lighting situation and the major disadvantage is the deformation of the images by the curvature of the pages when the book is opened at 180 degrees.

As mentioned, I started to construct a first digital camera based book scanner 'sketch' before I found your page today ... the frame is made of Styrofoam parts and I'll use a Canon A640 for image aquisition. For this camera there exists software for linux (98% Linux-User ) to remote control it and to make images periodically, e.g. every 5 seconds. So I can limit myself to page flipping which will save a lot of time (hopefully). But my final goal is to have this image aquisition fully automatically done, so I can do other things in the meantime ... Automated page flipping is probably the most difficult mechanical problem here (especially with different paper material and air conditions in mind).

I thought a lot about the whole procedure of document digitalization in general and also with the idea of information freedom in mind. So, your open-project with free and complete documentation is absolutely the way to go, also in my opinion. When a technology spreads and becomes widely available, it will force changes in regulations and society ...

I put my thoughts for the mid- and long-range goal for a solution of the digitalization task of printed (hard-copy) documents:

On the hardware side, as mentioned, full automation with a complete documented hardware in some kind of 'open-source project'. Afaik, this is (partly) already solved by commercial scan robots but they are obiously not 'open', i.e. available for us/me. You already know those, probably:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlOQuuLYavY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oOXXpxzETA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyB5c3S4vzc
and so on ...

On the software side:
separate post: the future of ocr ?

I'm a graduated computer engineer with some experiences in image processing and math. Atm, I study scientific computing (math and programming of super-computers aka 'number-crunchers'). Besides of the ocr problem, I'm waiting for a good device for reading ebooks. 'good' means here an acceptable display size (around 15x20 for a proper font size) and low weight and price. Recent ebook readers (with eInk) are still too small and tablets are just to heavy and expensive.

keep up the good work !

[StevePoling]

Take a look at the Amazon Kindle DX. Pricey, but the display is large enough.

[Antoha-spb]

Saying my 'hello' to everyone from rainy Saint Petersburg (Russia).

I came to your site from Google during constructing my own book scanner. After got annyed of flatbed-scanning, taking photos and paying for xeroxing I badly needed a productive solution to copy thousands pages of archive materials (I'm doing some historic research of the hydrography in the Eastern Baltics). 'Home engineering' and history are my hobbies, however. For living I'm earning with economical advisory, being a PhD in economy.

The design of my 'non-canonic' scanner will be here soon.

[fischkopf]

Hello, I'm just a guy in my late 20s who has always enjoyed reading. I have a disability, muscular dystrophy, which makes physically handling books that are in dead-tree form impossible for me anymore. I can read only e-books now. Given the lesser selection available for sale or from strictly legal free sources such as Gutenberg, I've been known to read various scanned copies of less established lineage.

But, that aside, I found this project and community while searching for a page turner that is not sold for the $1200 or more that's typical for such an item. Milking insurance or simply because it is a niche device not widely required, who knows, but that is too expensive.

I suppose the scanning setups in discussion here aren't entirely along the same lines, but they do interest me and I may hang around this board a while. Maybe even post once in a rare while.

[le.gentleman]

Is that Zeutschel book scanner one of the so-called "planetary book scanners"?

Any of our dozen or so new members care to come and say "Hello"?

Hi Daniel, yes it is a planetary book scanner. You're new model looks quite good. in 2010 I will probably have some time to build my own book scanner together with a friend of mine and I think we will build something like your second model (the one you have showed in the news section). Can you please tell me how heavy it is?

Thanks, le.gentleman

[daniel_reetz]

Welcome to all the new members! THANK YOU for dropping by and saying hello, and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing your designs.

I have the weight of my new scanner on the FedEx shipping documentation. I want to say it's something like 27 pounds... I'll double-check. Going to post the artwork before the end of the year.

[jck57]

Hello

Glad to have found this group. Exciting ideas and machines here. I am an inventor with one of my inventions being presently made and sold by several companies. The idea is in the public domain and that's ok with me. Cheaper for the consumer and it's a good product that recycles stuff that may otherwise be pitched out. So I like your open source approach and would love to contribute to the collaboration. Been doing historical research focused on the period 1865 to 1900. Lots of stuff in public domain including rare books. I've scanned several via flatbed and desperately need a faster method. I'm better at mechanical than electronic tinkering so it's great to see experts in all the various areas represented. Hats off to Daniel for his hard work and generosity.

[rogermaris]

Sup,

Just registered for this forum; excited to contribute.

Why this site?

I am a student who is burdened with a lot of essay writing. In my essays, often I have to quote materials that are from books; typing whats on the book to computer is annoying, so its more convenient copy past from ebooks/pdfs. Also, I prefer PDFs over books now, because i noticed that my eyes get strained from reading under poor lighting (this happens to me anywhere outside my school library) and so I actually prefer ebooks (on quality LCD screens of course). And Seeing as LCD technology is becoming cheaper, on the rise i have been inclined to find ebooks for everything I read. Now I would go as far as to say I would buy a hard copy of a book just so I could digitize it for my own purposes ie book scanning primarily aids my academic responsibilities.


Dans' instructions to build a book scanner, (as well as other major contributors on this forum,) have inspired me to build my own book scanner which I've already begun. Due to time constraint, I'm looking to complete it as soon as possible, but already it appears that its going to be a long process during which I will benefit substantially by consulting other members on this forum. Props to Dan Reetz and others responsible for making this site possible.

[Turtle]

Hello people,

I'm from northern California in the Bay Area. I love turtles. I have owned two turtles. The smaller ones are very long lasting. I also have an egg laying pet chicken which eats 99% of all the highly dangerous black widows around the yard. I like to watch people make things and always like to contribute to the humanity whatever I can whenever I find the time. I like to work with my hands. Especially, I like to work with wood. When I was growing up in an apartment, we made all sorts of little neat things with a hammer, saw, pliers and screwdrivers. People can become very creative when tools are hard to come by. Visitors often become intrigue by strange things they see and would ask many question about them. Since that time I'd manifested myself so many tools (as gifts) from relatives and friends who want to get rid of tools they don't use anymore.