Jim Eidelman's Scanner Tips

NOTE: In 1988, after I had given an all-day, everything-you-need-to-know-about-computers presentation for ICLE, someone said after seeing my course materials, "You ought to publish this stuff!" I began to put together The Law Office Computer Survival Guide, which I intended to sell and keep up to date as a loose-leaf reference service. It never was published, as I set it aside to get "Corporate Update" out the door. This is the beginning of my efforts, in a different format, to do a "brain dump" of information and opinions, and to keep this up to date. The good news is that you won't have to file the pocket parts, and I won't have to ship it to you. The bad news is that I haven't figured out how to charge for it. Stay tuned, and feel free to ask questions, answer questions, or make suggestions. -- Jim Eidelman

1999:

At ALA, I saw an integrated setup from Document Strategies, Inc. of Rochester, NY., that was amazing in speed and an AI search engine.  They demonstrated special software running on:

• Kodak 3500, a new, reasonably priced ($25,000 ??) scanner that is fast and flexible.  Up to 75 pages per minute (150 images per minute in duplex mode). 
• Dell Quad-processor server (PowerFlex 6300??) with Pentium III Xeon processors and very fast hard disk, running TextBridge OCR software. 
• Fast CD-R burner.  (8X). 
• Document Stratagies' software. 

Scanning is saved on the CD's with a folder for each document (separated by bar-coded header pages), with each page in a separate TIF file (the image) and TXT file (the text), and with the software loaded on the CD for instant searching.  The scanning, OCR, and indexing takes place virtually in realtime.  The software has neural network AI technology. 

Old stuff: 

General Scanning:

• Jesse Berst's Anchordesk, http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/sr/ecomm.html, Briefing Center on Scanners, http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/bcenter/bcenter_315.html

Desktop Imaging Scanners:

Fujitsu has long been recognized as the leader in affordable, powerful scanners. (Many are only black and white.)

For years, the only choices for those who wanted to do imaging were too slow, too expensive, and Fujitsu.

HP Flatbed Scanners -- Reliable and great for small quantities.  New Scanjet 5 is a great departmental scanner. 

Resellers, Consultants and Service Bureaus:

Input Solutions:

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