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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: hobby electronics
Date: Sun, 7 Jul 2024 08:46:53 -0700
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On 7/7/2024 6:41 AM, BillGill wrote:
> On 7/6/2024 12:28 PM, Don Y wrote:
>> Yes -- definitely true of "pocket books".  Do you have
>> to take care in positioning the book to ensure it is in the
>> cameras' focused field?  I.e., the scanner approach automatically
>> crops the image to the actual page size so you just load pages
>> and wait -- to load MORE pages.
> 
> I am using my own KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) scanner, which
> I designed myself.  I originally called it a Tower Scanner, but
> changed the name when I realized that I had made it as simple
> as possible.
> 
> I posted a description of it on DIY Book Scanner, at:
> https://diybookscanner.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=22274&hilit=tower+scanner#p22274
> 
> As you can see I have a mirror in the base of the scanner
> that I used to verify that the page is correctly placed.  It
> doesn't zoom in to fit the page, it just overscans.

If the USB i/f worked, you wouldn't need the mirror (?)

Your approach seems more like the Reading Machine used
(in "paper handling") -- though it used a moving camera-illuminator
to scan the actual page (which meant the book had to remain in place for
a considerable length of time):
<https://life.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/Harvey-Lauer-with-Kurzweil-Reading-Machine-1200x819.png>

> I don't do much manipulation of the images before I OCR them.
> I use Abby Finereader 14 which does a pretty good job of
> picking out the text.  I stick with 14 because it works good
> and newer versions are only available as subscriptions.

All OCR tools "have problems".  My scanner will do OCR but then I
lose the original images (so how do I sort out what the OCR *should* have
been once the original is gone?).  I've also had some luck with
Omnipage.

> Understand that I am making ebooks that I can carry around on
> different devises, not PDFs that can also be viewed on different
> devices, but don't necessarily have all the text correct.

The PDF doesn't have to get the text correct; it can store the
image of the page (and let your eyes/brain do the OCR).

I can store the OCRed text "behind" the image so that you can select
the text with your cursor (in a PC application).  But, again, you
are stuck relying on the quality of the OCR algorithm.

> And I don't digitize technical books.  They are a whole different
> proposition, with lots of finicky illustrations.  Not something
> that I would like to try to digitize.

As my goal is to be rid of dead trees, I have no choice in the
matter.  Even discarding (scanning) all of my "paperbacks" leaves me
with a few hundred cubic feet of paper.

> Also I don't want to destroy my paper books.  I like reading
> books on paper. After all that is how I grew up.

Agreed.  But, if you are proactively safeguarding your collection against
the possibility of downsizing into a different living situation, you've
already decided that they will be discarded -- even if not "destroyed".