OCR In Linux

OCR In Linux

[John J. Boyer]

Hello,
I believe that sometime ago there was a discussion of OCR packages that
would work with Linux. Now that I'm getting into Linux in a big way, I would
like to have that information, including how much these packaages cost.
When I boot my Redhat Linux, it says it is initializing the USB controller.
I have a USB scanner. Can't remember the name now, but is there a chance
that I could find drivers for it?
Thanks.
John

Computers to Help People, Inc.
http://www.chpi.org
825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703

Re: OCR In Linux

[Brent Harding]

Mine initializes usb too. Ever since I figured kudzu out.
At 09:16 PM 12/1/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello,
>I believe that sometime ago there was a discussion of OCR packages that
>would work with Linux. Now that I'm getting into Linux in a big way, I would
>like to have that information, including how much these packaages cost.
>When I boot my Redhat Linux, it says it is initializing the USB controller.
>I have a USB scanner. Can't remember the name now, but is there a chance
>that I could find drivers for it?
>Thanks.
>John
>
>Computers to Help People, Inc.
>http://www.chpi.org
>825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703
>
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Blinux-list mailing list
>Blinux-list@redhat.com
>https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>
>

Re: OCR In Linux

[Henry Yen]

On Sat, Dec 01, 2001 at 09:16:58AM -0500, John J. Boyer wrote:
> I believe that sometime ago there was a discussion of OCR packages that
> would work with Linux. Now that I'm getting into Linux in a big way, I would
> like to have that information, including how much these packaages cost.

a quick google search turns up at least four:
   clara OCR:  www.claraocr.org
   GOCR: http://altmark.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/~jschulen/ocr/
   a commercial OCR with a linux version: www.vividata.com
   a commercial OCR with a linux version: www.mentalix.com

> When I boot my Redhat Linux, it says it is initializing the USB controller.
> I have a USB scanner. Can't remember the name now, but is there a chance
> that I could find drivers for it?

try SANE (Scanning Access Now Easy): http://www.mostang.com/sane
  (note: site is down at this time due to @home belly-up)
  (note: SANE is shipped with most modern linux distributions)

another quick google search turns up one possible USB scanner resource page:
   http://www.buzzard.org.uk/jonathan/scanners-usb.html

-- 
Henry Yen                                       Aegis Information Systems, Inc.
Senior Systems Programmer                       Hicksville, New York

Re: OCR In Linux

[Andor Demarteau]

On Sun, 2 Dec 2001, Henry Yen wrote:
 > a quick google search turns up at least four:
 >    clara OCR:  www.claraocr.org
Have to check this one again.
 >    GOCR: http://altmark.nat.uni-magdeburg.de/~jschulen/ocr/
Wroks quite fine, but don't expact miracles like tables andso-on.
 >    a commercial OCR with a linux version: www.vividata.com
WAY TOO expansive, besides it's too graphical as well.
And it does all kinds as ROOT which you don't have control voer, so I don't
like it.

 >    a commercial OCR with a linux version: www.mentalix.com
Never heard of.

 > > When I boot my Redhat Linux, it says it is initializing the USB controller.
 > > I have a USB scanner. Can't remember the name now, but is there a chance
 > > that I could find drivers for it?
 > 
 > try SANE (Scanning Access Now Easy): http://www.mostang.com/sane
Great program.
 >   (note: site is down at this time due to @home belly-up)
 >   (note: SANE is shipped with most modern linux distributions)
 > 
 > another quick google search turns up one possible USB scanner resource page:
 >    http://www.buzzard.org.uk/jonathan/scanners-usb.html
 > 
 > 

-- 
slainte mhaith (good health), slainte (cheers)
Uisce Beatha (water of live/health)
-----------
Andor Demarteau                 E-mail: ademarte@students.cs.uu.nl
student computer science        www: http://www.students.cs.uu.nl/~ademarte/
Utrecht University              irc: see webpage for details
-----------
Believe in yourself, know what you want, and make it happen!

Re: OCR In Linux

[Jude DaShiell]

There's a chance you already installed those drivers.  Try man sane and
see what happens if you have red hat.  If you have another flavor, I think
you can download and install sane from the web.  This will at least run
your scanner, I don't know that it'll do ocr.

Jude <jdashiel@shellworld.net>

Re: OCR In Linux

[Brent Harding]

Is there any cheap reading edges around that work good? Or are they even
being made any more? I know computers have come a long way towards
integrating such functions in, but I like the idea of dedicated machines,
as they're smaller, and usually do their function real well as that's all
they must do. Figured $5000 is pretty expensive, and maybe facing the
possibility of only having my laptop to use means no numpad, and the need
to add it on and take more space, where the dedicated all-in-one device
could fit away some where and I could get it out and plug it in when I need
it.
At 01:29 PM 12/10/01 -0600, you wrote:
>	Since this topic has come up, I have a few questions.  Do
>any of the free OCR packages run in command line mode?
>
>	I don't mind that they may not automatically turn the
>image for you to take care of upside down pages, etc, but how
>does the quality of the conversion compare with something like
>OsCar or Reading Edge?  I have found those products to do a
>pretty fair job on standard printed pages or typewritten
>material.  If I could duplicate that functionality in Linux, I
>would be happy as the OsCar system I use here at work is
>approaching 9 years old and the HP scanner will probably crash
>and burn one of these days.
>
>	It is my understanding that you do the OCR under UNIX by
>scanning a Jpeg image with the scanner and then feed that image
>in to the OCR program where you get a text file or standard
>output if text can be decoded.
>
>	If the output indicates differently when tables or
>columns are involved, one should be able to write filters in C or
>perl or even awk to read them more easily.
>
>Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
>OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Blinux-list mailing list
>Blinux-list@redhat.com
>https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>
>

Re: OCR In Linux

[Martin G. McCormick]

	Since this topic has come up, I have a few questions.  Do
any of the free OCR packages run in command line mode?

	I don't mind that they may not automatically turn the
image for you to take care of upside down pages, etc, but how
does the quality of the conversion compare with something like
OsCar or Reading Edge?  I have found those products to do a
pretty fair job on standard printed pages or typewritten
material.  If I could duplicate that functionality in Linux, I
would be happy as the OsCar system I use here at work is
approaching 9 years old and the HP scanner will probably crash
and burn one of these days.

	It is my understanding that you do the OCR under UNIX by
scanning a Jpeg image with the scanner and then feed that image
in to the OCR program where you get a text file or standard
output if text can be decoded.

	If the output indicates differently when tables or
columns are involved, one should be able to write filters in C or
perl or even awk to read them more easily.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Network Operations Group