[Ham-Computers] Blind Man Vs Scanner

Tue Sep 29 16:28:48 EDT 2009

Hi Phil,

Thank you for the good thoughts and suggested alternatives.

Here is my problem:
1. I have to purchase a new computer system, as this one I only use for 
e-mail. Due to security risks I had to dedicate this machine that way.

2. I have a perfectly fine 2.8 GHZ Win 98 SE dual boot system, and it has 
short and long card slots. However, I "must" upgrade the OpenBook 3.5 
software I am using with Win 95 to the "current" version 8.0 They refused to 
sell me an upgrade from Win 95 to Win 98!

3. If I can replace the black/white flat bed scanner, color is not needed 
nor are any graphics, as this is scanning text only, with one that will 
accept my driver for Win 95, no problem.

All I need is the darn scanner! Everything else is fine!

I do not want, nor can I risk, having all of my essential software on a 
single machine. I have to use two computers just to live here, literally. So 
those systems NEVER go on line these days! I would love to use the dual boot 
Win 98 SE machine Phil, but I must find a scanner that will work with it. 
Then I can install everything on that machine.

The easy solution is to find a used HP 3P scanner that is working for twenty 
bucks or so, or a Panasonic FX-RS 505 or 506.

I am desperate! I can not read anything without this system. That is, 
regular mail, bills, documents etc.

The really sad part is, I doubt that I have more then one hour per month on 
the HP 3P over the past fourteen years. Of this time, only about six minutes 
of the hour a week, sometimes a month, is actually devoted to scanning. 
Hence, the machine is certainly not worn out from heavy use. Sigh.

If in your Internet travels you find somebody with a scanner that I can use, 
please call me OM!

Thanks my friend -

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philip (KO6BB)" <ko6bb at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications,or 
experimenting" <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 3:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] Blind Man Vs Scanner

> Duane,
> Just recently I had to replace my old HP Laserjet printer as HP had NO
> drivers for Vista, so it wouldn't work on either of our laptops (just this
> desktop).
>
> Anyway, to make a long story short, I purchased an HP Officejet Pro 8500
> Premier with the extra paper tray, document feeder and so forth.  It's a
> professional office "4 way" device (Fax, Scan, copy and print) with full 
> LAN
> network and wireless capabilities as well as the usual USB and card reader
> slots.
>
> The upshot is, it does it all, very well and rep[laced both the HP printer
> and the large HP flatbed scanner I had here.  It's scan capabilities are
> extremely versatile, it will scan to email, picture or a text file.  I 
> just
> scanned a number of text files and it saved them in .rtf (rich text) 
> format
> that can be read by any modern word processor (even WordPad), and your
> "Jaws" program shouldn't have any problem with reading them.  The text 
> files
> created were a flawless copy of the original text with none of the OCR
> errors that some previous Scanners seemed to create.
>
> If you don't need all the fancy whips and bells that this particular 
> machine
> offers, I'm sure that you can probably find a more inexpensive alternative
> that will do just as well.  All you need is a free USB slot as it won't 
> work
> with the present scanner card in your machine.  I know that it'll work 
> fine
> on your XP machine (as that's what my desktop unit is here), and Jaws is
> working on your XP machine.  While I don't have a machine to test it here,
> it would most likely be backward compatible with Win98 machines too, so 
> long
> as they have either a USB or LAN port..
>
> 73 de Phil,  KO6BB
> http://ko6bb1.multiply.com/ (My OTR Blog)
> http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/   (Web Page)
>
> DX begins at the noise floor!
> RADIO: Yaesu FT-2000 and Tunable Pre-amp.
> Antennas:
> 88' Ladder-Line fed dipole (set-up as "Top loaded Tee" on LF).
> Nine inch long "Active" whip mounted 11 Feet above the roof.
>
> Merced, Central California, 37.3N 120.48W  CM97sh
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
> To: <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 7:07 PM
> Subject: [Ham-Computers] Blind Man Vs Scanner
>
>
>>
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I am using a HP 3P black/white flatbed scanner with a special 
>> ridiculously
>> expensive scanning program entitled Arkenstone OpenBook Unbound version
>> 3.0
>> It cost $1,000 and the scanner $399 in 1995. However, it is essential to
>> me,
>> as it enables me to "read" regular print, such as newsprint, standard
>> typewriter font etc.
>>
>> Even though it is fourteen years old, the scanner has not been 
>> overworked.
>> If anything, underworked. About one hour per month, of which it is only
>> scanning about six minutes. The resulting scanned text is spoken aloud to
>> me, as I am totally blind, and can also be put into any of the dozen or 
>> so
>> word processing programs it makes available to the user. So being a DOS
>> guy,
>> I put the scanned text into Professional Write version 2.22 - the last 
>> DOS
>> version they released. No matter, as it still works better for me then 
>> any
>> of the other word processing programs.
>>
>> About two weeks ago the scanner made a sort of metal on metal friction
>> noise
>> and I got a scanning error. Something was preventing the scanning 
>> assembly
>> from moving completely over the document scan window.
>>
>> I did my traditional fix, powered her down, picked up the HP 3P scanner,
>> dropped it from a height of two inches onto the desktop. Presto! She
>> worked
>> again. Well at least for about two weeks anyhow.
>>
>> The next ime I tried to scan something, no luck!
>>
>> I am between a rock and a bigger rock. I must find an older scanner such
>> as
>> the HP 3p or buy a totally new system! New computer, new scanner, new
>> OpenBook software etc. Why? Becausenothing built since Windows 98 SE went
>> off the market will work with my present Compaque Prosario system, HP 3P
>> scanner and associated software.
>>
>> This special package cost me almost $1,500 and to be blut and honest, I
>> now
>> have terminal cancer, am no longer working and can not afford to replace
>> everything. On the other hand, I absolutely need this device to "read" my
>> mail, read documents etc. to me. I can 'not' live alone without it.
>>
>> If I can find a working scanner that I can replace the HP 3P with, I 
>> solve
>> my problem quickly and affordably. If not, I am ...
>>
>> No dealer with repair facilities that I have spoken with will touch the
>> scanner. They claim once they take it apart that they can not reassemble
>> it
>> and align it properly. HP? Thorw  it out and buy a new one!
>>
>> Unfortunately for me, most people probably threw their old HP 3P b/w
>> flatbed
>> scanner away and replaced it with a newer model.
>>
>> So if any of you have any suggestions as to how I might solve this
>> nightmare, I am listening.I believe there was also one or two models by
>> Panasonic that worked with this Windows 95 OS also.
>>
>> Oh yes, I should mention that the scanner does have a card that installs
>> in
>> the computer. Since it is simply plugged into the scanner via a cable it
>> does not make it difficult at all for me to witch scanners, provided it 
>> is
>> a
>> HP 3P, that is.
>>
>> Thank you for your help, it is appreciated.
>
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