Nancy.Feldman@f605.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Nancy Feldman) (04/20/91)
Index Number: 15078
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
I know there are several text scanners designed specifically for
use by blind people: Kurzweil Personal Reader and Arkenstone to
name just two.
My problem with these is that although I'd love to own one the
price is prohibiive. What I was wondering is whether there is
anyone out there who is using a simple page scanner and OCR
software? The price would be much lower, but I was wondering if
there are any specific scanners that are easier or more difficult
for blind people to use in this manner.
Does anyone know?
-> MegaMail v2.01 #0:Lumpy and grumpy and proud of it!
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!105!605!Nancy.Feldman
Internet: Nancy.Feldman@f605.n105.z1.fidonet.orgJim.Fruchterman@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Jim Fruchterman) (04/25/91)
Index Number: 15163
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
I agree with you, Nancy, that OCRs are too expensive. We're proud
of bringing the price tags down from over $10,000 to under $2,500,
but we think we have got to figure out a way to bring the cost to
under $1,000 or even less.
Calera, Kurzweil and Caere(Omnipage/Typist) are the three top OCR
makers in the U.S. and all have software only products that cost well
under $1,000. Unfortunately, all are Windows or Mac products and
have major access problems. When Windows access is solved, you will
see one or two thousand dollars fall off the cost of reading systems.
These systems all require the rough equivalent on your PC of the boards
that are now being sold: a 386 with 2 to 4 Megs of RAM. That is becoming
less and less expensive, so that will solve itself soon.
If you stray from the top three, you get products with noticeably
lower accuracy. The biggest seller is Read-Right from OCR systems.
It may be better today than it used to be, but you should test them
out to get a feel for what they can do. Even cheaper are the trainable
OCR software packages, but training is designed for sighted people...
On the scanner side, the HP ScanJet Plus is the biggest seller and
can be bought for between $1050(our price) and $1200. There are some
others that are also flatbeds that are a little cheaper(Pentax for
one), but the prices don't include the interface card which costs
another $200-400. Hand scanners offer the low cost option: you can
get a great four inch wide hand scanner from Logitech for a couple
hundred bucks. The problem is that four inches is not very convenient
for OCR in either direction. There is an 8 and a half inch wide hand
scanner from Mitsubishi, but it costs almost as much as a flatbed...
When the technical problem of scanning a whole page with a four inch
scanner is really solved or when the full width hand scanner gets
cheap, then things will get good and exciting.
I heard at Calera that they are doing a promotion with Complete PC,
offering a sheet-fed scanner(no books) and the WordScan Windows OCR
software for under $1000. If you could have someone who can use Windows
use it, it would give you the best accuracy. The other option is
a hand held with ReadRight or equivalent, and to figure the page out
in strips. Hope this has been helpful...
jimf
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!Jim.Fruchterman
Internet: Jim.Fruchterman@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgmortent@ifi.uio.no (Morten Tollefsen) (04/26/91)
Index Number: 15215 In article <18901@bunker.isc-br.com> Nancy.Feldman@f605.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Nancy Feldman) writes: > Index Number: 15078 > I know there are several text scanners designed specifically for > use by blind people: Kurzweil Personal Reader and Arkenstone to > name just two. > > My problem with these is that although I'd love to own one the > price is prohibiive. What I was wondering is whether there is > anyone out there who is using a simple page scanner and OCR > software? [Remainder of quote deleted] I'm using a HP ScanJet Plus, and this scanner is very easy to use. Everything is done from the software, but the software is a problem for blind people! Most of the comersially availiable software require Windows 3.0, and Windows isn't the easyest task for a blind person! In Norway three programs are most used: Omnipage Recognita Calera (WordScan) I'm using the WordScan package, but I can use Windows with VISTA. Recognita is a Hungarian product, and I think this program was originally designed for blind people. I heared about Recognita some years ago in Wienna at a conference on computers for the handicapped. Recognita is availiable in a command driven mode, and perhaps you should examine this product? *M-T* University of Oslo UNIK