Category: Geeks r Us
I found an ocr program. The only thing is, I'm not sure if it'll work under Enhanced Dr-DOS or with my newer scanner. But it'll probably work with my Epson Perfection 1650 and with the scanner that I got with my IBM Abtiva (forgot it's name). and it's designed for the blind and visually-impaired so accessibility won't be an issue. I downloaded it from
http://www.vetusware.com
a huge sight with tons of abandonware, even for XP. Btw, did the respective companies continue development of OSCAR and Open Book after Recognita? I'd be interested in learning what modern software is out there.
Description taken from
http://www.science.mii.lt/intaccomp/sstrories/success_hu_1.htm
"Recognita Reader 3.0
Optical Character Recognition Software for visually impaired people
Recognita Reader 3.0 is an omnifont pre-trained multi-lingual OCR software for page processing, designed for visually impaired people. It opens new horizons for users, leading to better work opportunities. The program can also be used in leisure time to read classic or any other literature. It runs on IBM compatible PCs under the MS DOS operating system.
Recognita Reader displays everything in character mode; the menu structure is simple. The frequently used commands are on a higher level in the menus. Selecting menus, submenus or parameters for carrying out functions can all be batch mode.
Grayscale scanning with auto-threshold, auto-deskewing and auto image rotation give maximum input image quality. Recognita Reader can take input from over one hundred scanner models, and from image files in several formats"
Well, I just found out about two other scanning programs, Omnipage 6.0 and Textbridge (not sure which version). I found Omnipage on Amazon and have heard that it works well with screenreading software. The only thing is, I can't found out what scanners will work with it or with the other two. I found one called the Scanpage but it appears to be a sheetfed scanner and I don't want to have to ruin books to read them, especially if I take stuff out of the library or borrow from friends. Can anyone give me some pointers? Also, does anyone know where the older versions of Openbook have gone? I went to the Freedom scientific but they only have the newer ones.
The general rule of thumb with third party scanning software like the ones you have mentioned above is that if they have drivers for the desired operating system and the computer can see the scanner then any third party software installed should be able to as well.
omni page 6? I think they're on like version 14 or something with that now. As for FS, I doubt you'll find older versions of their software, since they don't sell it. Perhaps support or updates for version 7 of Openbook, but that's about it. I've been told that Omni Page is a cheeper OCR solution and that it works fairly well with screen readers, but I haven't used it myself.
OmniPage 17 pro is about $500, and the regular version is about $150.
Can any of you tell me of an OCR product that is as good as if not better than Kurzweil, that is compatable with Jaws, and cheaper than Kurzweil?
If so, and I wanted to run the software on three computers simultaneously, would I have to buy three separate copies of the software or not?
I am not asking as an individual, I am asking on behalf of an organisation that would use the software for training purposes and relevant committee work.
E-clipse writer which is a newcomer to the market is ok, and slightly cheeper, but I wouldn't use it over k1000. I tried it over the summer and found it was decent.
I'm not only concerned about whether it'll recognise the scanner but whether or not my screnreading software can handle it. That's a big issue. I just got a fairly large scanner that uses a SCSI card, so once the person who gave it to me finds the card and the software included in the package, I'll try it out and let you guys know how it works. It's a pretty expensive scanner too, from what he said.
sinior:
as far as OCR software goes, nothing can compete with k1000 so far, you can get k1000 coperet licence, which allow you to run on 10 computers, it cost around 2800US$, which may be cheeper option than getting seperate licence for every computer.
as far as Omnipage goes, it have mix fit back. i used it at my university, just because that is all they have in terms of OCR, don't really mind it, as i only use it ones in a green moon.
for openbook though, the last version i used was openbook8, not impressive enough compare to k1000 version9, nor with k1000 version11, which is even better.
about scanner selection, it pretty much depends on few things. the sspeed of the scanner, your machine. the best scanner that you may want to look for is perhaps stick with Epson, HP, or maybe cannon, but my personal choice will be Epson. as they are really good. if you can help it, try to get a standardlone scanner, instead of all in one printer, photo copier and scanner itself. that won't give you the best result in terms of scanning. its okay for sighted, but, it is not the best for us.
if you want to use Kurzweil, and worrying over the scanner, can always consult their website, they have the list of scanner that they reckon work best with k1000
but though, if you have a great OCR software, even a cheepy scanner will give you a setisfying result. it will take longer to scann, but you'll see the quality and result of it.
Well, I'm glad that at least one person got helpful tips from this post. Still waiting for mine though, since I still don't know the best software to use or the best scanner to buy, if I even need to buy one. I think the one I'm getting soon is MS-DOS-compatible. Now I just need to see how well Enhanced DR-DOS likes it. I hope that if the bundled software isn't accessible that another product like Omnipage 6 could handle it. I'm also still looking for the last version of Recognita. I have the one before it but really want that one.
there's no best scanner, it come to what you scann most regularly. k1000 do most stuff, if not all stuff. basicly with k1000, you get to scann books or stuff, and on top of that, you can use it as a pdf convertor too.
and with k1000, you can safe whatever you scann and turn it in to mp3 format, or text format, or rtf, or word doc.
as far as scanner goes, i'll truely suggest those 3 brands, highly recommend epson, and the one you have, Perfection 1650 is one of the better scanner that you can have. so, you don't necessary need to upgrate your scanner in order for it to work. maybe, you can use the money for buying a new scanner, to get a better OCR software that you know is assessable and work for whatever you want to work with.
Kurzweil 1,000 is for Windows. As I said in my original post, and in several others, I'm not looking for Windows software. I have an Epson Perfection 1650 but am pretty sure there are no DOS drivers for it. But maybe, there are some unofficial ones or there might be a generic driver that I can use. But I'd need to get a usb driver too. I know as a fact that those exist for MS-DOS but think they're still experimental in Enhanced DR-DOS. That's why I decided to get another scanner.
Wow! This is crazy. I found Omnipage 6 at Amazon both new and used. The new one is $90 with shipping and the used one is $99. The first is on 3.5 inch disks while the second is on a cd rom. So yeah. Has anyone used this version? Is it worth putting it on my birthday/Giftmas list?
as far as Omnipage goes, Omnipage 6 is truely outdated, unless there's the special edition for dos or whatever os you operate. i'm sure you can use it, if your OS support it, but just bare in mind that you won't have much tech support over it, if you need any support.
have you check epson's website for your driver? not too sure if they have dos, but, they do have both windows and MacOS there
Well, 6.0 was the last DOS-compatible version of Omnipage so I can't go higher on that one. I went to the Epson site, and as I thought, they didn't have any MS-DOS drivers for the Perfection 1650. But Google seemed to show promise so I really don't know. If not, looks like I'll have to get the model of that scsi scanner and see what program I can use with that. Then again, the one that came with it just might be accessible.
Well, I'm back on EBay again, looking for a decent DOS laptop. I've also written down my desired specs, which have changed somewhat from the ones in the "How Much Would this Cost" thread to ones that are a bit more flexible. I'm planning on searching today for places that custom-build computers. Most likely, if I find one on Ebay, I'll be getting it next month. In the meantime, I'm also looking for a scanner suggestion. I want a scanner that connects through parallel, pcmcia or serial, since this is a laptop and probably won't have scsi. Needless to say the more resolution and the faster the better. Basically, I'll be scanning text from books and perhaps from magazine as well. I want a scanner that's not sheetfed, since I don't want to destroy my books. I just learned that the company that made Textbridge was Visioneer and that they also made scanners and another ocr software called paperport. Interestingly enough, they merged with Scansoft and then Newance, which acquired, among others, Lernout and hauspie. Has anyone tried anything made by Visioneer and what versions of paperport and Textbridge should I look at if i want to go that route instead of using Omnipage or recognita?
Okay, so apparently, Omnipage 6 is for Window's 3.1, or at least, that's how it seems. So I need to go earlier. But I can't find anything on 5. I'm still considering Textbridge (Paperport appears either to only be for Windows or there's no information on the DOS version) but have the same problem with versions. I found information on several products, like An Open Book Unbound and Docuread Expert that use the Truescan system from Kalera. But I've been unable to find the software and am not sure if the Truescan hardware is easily findable. Plus, I'm not sure about the accuracy of these products. I won't get into the hardware scanners made specifically for the blind since they're probably unfindable, but I did find the hardware version of An Open Book on EBay for $200. It's very tempting but I'm not sure if it includes all software and how accurate it is, what the maximum dpi is etc. and at that price, it's really not worth it to buy without knowledge. I'd like something that can handle a resolution of at least 300 dpi. READRIGHT 2.0 sounds like a really good option. Here's the description from
http://www.abledata.com
"ReadRight 2.01 recognizes typewritten, typeset, laser-printed, and NLQ and draft dot-matrix text in wide variety of fonts and sizes with an accuracy of 99.5% on good quality documents. It detects bold, underlined and monospaced, and proportionally spaced characters, as well as a variety of document layouts, such as multiple columns, tables, lists, justification, centering and others. ReadRight 2.01 converts the document directly into the formats of many popular software applications, including Word Perfect, Microsoft Word, Lotus 1- 2-3, and dBase. ReadRight 2.01 supports most leading page scanners, and accepts fine-mode fax images."
I like how it works with all sorts of scanners. I'm just hoping they don't mean only sheetfed ones. They also didn't say if it can recognise the orientation of the page i.e. if it's up-side-down etc. But I guess a little more rearch will answer that.
Some times Tess, for all the money you spend on your hobby, then complain you can't keep up with current things due to not having any, so you must use older products makes me wonder. Smile. You could have it all, the latest, seems like to me, and not have to scuffle to get things to work then learn they ar limited. You are a true hobby person though. I'm going to not listen to you about the "high" cost of new products anymore. hahahalimited
I already said that it was expensive and that I probably wouldn't get it. But I do want a custom-made computer because it's totally worth it since it'll have everything I want in it.
Well, I'm still looking for a scanner and some software and still am in need of recommendations. I've joined a few mailing lists for the blind, so hopefully, they can help me there. But I wanted to give an update on what I've learned in the meantime. I actually heard back from the founder of Arkenstone, and he told me that an Open Book Unbound is for Windows 95 users who work in DOS. It sounded as if the software can't be used under stand-alone DOS. I'm not sure about the hardware version of Open Book. At any rate, he said the Arkenstone Reader does. So I e-mailed him and asked for some more information on it and if it would be possible for him to help me locate it.
I'm still trying to find out which versions of Omni Page work with DOS and am almost at the point of e-mailing Nuance. I know that 3 will work but thought that they continued to support the os until at least version 5. I have something called Recognita but it's not the last version and I don't know what scanners work with it. I'm also trying to find other mainstream software incase I can't locate Omni Page or a scanner that works with Recognita.
I've been looking into the HP Scanjets, since I've heard them mentioned alot in descriptions of older adaptive technology. But no one ever says which ones to use and there's a huge variety out there. I'm looking for a high quality flatbed that connects via pci/pcmcia, serial, parallel or scsi. If you know of something that's even better than a Scanjet, please let me know what it is, what interface it uses and with what software it's compatible. Thanks for any help given.