gmark@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Stewart) (12/09/88)
After asking a lot about the existence of a video scanner for the ATT 3B1/UNIXPC, I did get some useful responses, so thanks! Then I thought, maybe I could... um... BUY ONE! Wow! Genius or WHAT? So, I'm asking folks, purely for my own entertainment, for any opinions or information concerning any type of scanner they've seen. I'm toying with the idea of taking an existing system and modifying it for the UNIX-PC. I've got parallel printer ports and several EIA/RS-232 whatever serial ports, as well as the internal modem, etc.. I've seen the ThunderScan for the MAC and several for the IBM PC. I'm not so concerned about speed, but would like to maximize resolution. I also have a video camera, so a device that uses a camera as the pickup device would be useful. It just seems to me that there must be a simple device that could be purchased that merely takes some type of video signal and translates it to a serial signal that could be converted or used directly to be read into a data port, like the RS-232 ports on the UNIX-PC. A few years back, I saw a device that cost around $200 that merely plugged into the serial port of my old Tandy Color Computer. It was essentially a light sensitive RAM chip with a lens over the clear DIP case, and a circuit to read the locations and send it over the serial line. The resolution was somewhat poor, but it was very cheap. So, does anything even remotely approaching a device like that -- PICTURE -> DATA -- exist? I'm into experimenting. THANKS IN ADVANCE! (Warning: If there are no responses, this certified note of "THANKS" will be rendered null and void.) - Mark G. Mark Stewart ATT_BTL, Naperville, Ill. ix1g266 ihlpq!gms (312)979-0914 (please include phone for response)