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Hey guys. Want to get a scanner. Sometimes I got stuff I want to scan
in. Everything from photographs to documents to large books. Now,
probelm is I know bugger all about scanners. Seen some secondhand ones
on trade me. Should I be looking for anything in particular.
Compatability wise that is. I have an ibm running win xp pro. Should I
be careful of what I buy. As to whether or not it would work with xp
etc. Like I say, never used one. Would like some thoughts.

Cheers

Troglodyte wrote:
> Hey guys. Want to get a scanner. Sometimes I got stuff I want to scan
> in. Everything from photographs to documents to large books. Now,
> probelm is I know bugger all about scanners. Seen some secondhand ones
> on trade me. Should I be looking for anything in particular.
> Compatability wise that is. I have an ibm running win xp pro. Should I
> be careful of what I buy. As to whether or not it would work with xp
> etc. Like I say, never used one. Would like some thoughts.
>
> Cheers

Noel Leemings and Harvey Normans sell scanners suited for WinXP, it
actually says that on the box.

HP seems alright.

If you're scanning text, it's good to get a program that handles OCR.
That can actually convert text from a book to a text document on the PC.

Paul

In news:41b2c11a$,
Troglodyte wrote:
> Hey guys. Want to get a scanner.
> Should I be careful of what I buy. As to whether or not it
> would work with xp etc.

One thing to look out for is USB 2.0, provided of course your board supports
it. It'll be faster loading the images to your HDD, and more modern.

I've had an Epson Perfection 3200 for about a year. It lives up to its
name. It does all the usual stuff and also scans negatives and
transparencies well enough to make high-quality (saleable) photo prints.
And it's fast.

HTH

Gill

"Paul" <> wrote in message
news:TmBsd.13750$...
> Troglodyte wrote:
>> Hey guys. Want to get a scanner. Sometimes I got stuff I want to scan
>> in. Everything from photographs to documents to large books. Now,
>> probelm is I know bugger all about scanners. Seen some secondhand ones
>> on trade me. Should I be looking for anything in particular.
>> Compatability wise that is. I have an ibm running win xp pro. Should I
>> be careful of what I buy. As to whether or not it would work with xp
>> etc. Like I say, never used one. Would like some thoughts.
>>
>> Cheers
>
> Noel Leemings and Harvey Normans sell scanners suited for WinXP, it
> actually says that on the box.
>
> HP seems alright.
>
> If you're scanning text, it's good to get a program that handles OCR. That
> can actually convert text from a book to a text document on the PC.
>
> Paul

The office scan utility is nice. Check the doc sizes you want to scan.
Cheapo scanners a4 which is ok for me. Also, a page feeder is nice if you
are scanning lots of loose pages.

I bought an el-cheapo canon d646u for $150. Is nice, i never use the top
scanning resolutions though, as the files are too big. In fact, I usually
use the lower end resolutions as they are more than capable of scanning
text.

One very handy thing missing from my scanner, is a button on the front of
the scanner, to initiate scans. Preferably one button for each common scan
type (e.g, B&W, B&W from color, Color).

I've had a Microtek Scanmaker 4800 for a while. I like the driver
interface, allows me to scan multiple jobs in one pass. Has
negative/slide attachment which I don't use but a friend who has the
next model tells me it works acceptably.

For OCR (text recognition) the best software is Abbyy Finereader, you
might get the light version with your scanner. No OCR software will
do a good job retaining the layout of complicated pages, especially
with tables or with images which contain text. The thing I like best
about Finereader is the proofing, they've set it up well. There will
be some errors, correcting them in Finereader is much easier than in
your word processor after saving because the suspect character and
related part of the image are highlighted in adjacent frames.
Finereader saves scanned images and recognised text within the program
from one session to the next which is useful sometimes.

I wouldn't bother with a s/h scanner unless it's almost new, they're
not very expensive.

John

On Sun, 5 Dec 2004 11:19:42 -0000, "SmileyFace"
<> wrote:

>In news:41b2c11a$,
>Troglodyte wrote:
>> Hey guys. Want to get a scanner.
>> Should I be careful of what I buy. As to whether or not it
>> would work with xp etc.
>
>One thing to look out for is USB 2.0, provided of course your board supports
>it. It'll be faster loading the images to your HDD, and more modern.
>
>I've had an Epson Perfection 3200 for about a year. It lives up to its
>name. It does all the usual stuff and also scans negatives and
>transparencies well enough to make high-quality (saleable) photo prints.
>And it's fast.
>
>HTH
>
>Gill
>

On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 11:09:42 +1200, John Potter <>
wrote:

>For OCR (text recognition) the best software is Abbyy Finereader, you
>might get the light version with your scanner. No OCR software will
>do a good job retaining the layout of complicated pages, especially
>with tables or with images which contain text. The thing I like best
>about Finereader is the proofing, they've set it up well. There will
>be some errors, correcting them in Finereader is much easier than in
>your word processor after saving because the suspect character and
>related part of the image are highlighted in adjacent frames.
>Finereader saves scanned images and recognised text within the program
>from one session to the next which is useful sometimes.
>
I have not used Finereader, but bought Readiris Pro after trying a
cutdown demo. It can save in approx 40 different Wp formats, plus
html and pdf. Its recognition is excellent. If you have multiple
blocks of text on a page, they come up linked in the preview scan and
you can choose to remove any block with a simple right click.

Cheers, Paul R.

Troglodyte wrote:
> Hey guys. Want to get a scanner. Sometimes I got stuff I want to scan
> in. Everything from photographs to documents to large books. Now,
> probelm is I know bugger all about scanners. Seen some secondhand ones
> on trade me. Should I be looking for anything in particular.
> Compatability wise that is. I have an ibm running win xp pro. Should I
> be careful of what I buy. As to whether or not it would work with xp
> etc. Like I say, never used one. Would like some thoughts.
>
> Cheers

Cheers guys. Settled on a mustek scan express 1200 ed. 2 year old.
meets me needs. works like a dream. and eh, dont wanna **** anyone off
but paid 16 bucks for it through trademe.

cheers

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 00:38:54 +1300, Troglodyte <>
wrote:

>Cheers guys. Settled on a mustek scan express 1200 ed. 2 year old.
>meets me needs. works like a dream. and eh, dont wanna **** anyone off
>but paid 16 bucks for it through trademe.
>
>cheers

I hope it does better than the Mustek I once owned.
That unit was so bad I wouldn't pass it onto even my worst enemy so
threw it in a dumpster.

I now own an Epson Perfection w/photo scanner.
This model is now out of production but if it still were, it is one I
would recommend for sure

Cath