[bookshare-discuss] A Book Edge Scanner
- From: Stephen Baum <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: k1000@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 14:58:10 -0400
We have just finished a quick evaluation of the Plustek OpticBook 3600. It
is not widely available yet, but you can purchase it from the manufacturer
at http://www.plustek.com, or from Alestron Inc. at
http://store.alestron.us/opticbook3600.html
Scanner Review
September 2004
Scanner: OpticBook 3600
Scanner Manufacturer Web Site: <http://www.epson.com/>www.plustek.com
Summary: The Plustek OpticBook 3600 scanner is the first commercial book
edge scanner that we have seen in many years, and it costs less than 250
dollars. One of the long edges of the scanner platen abuts the edge of the
scanner body. If you are willing to scan one page of a book at a time, you
would simply rest the book on the scanner such that the inside binding is
against this edge. This is, of course, slower than scanning two pages at a
time, but the quality of the scans will be excellent, without having to
break the binding of the book.
We have tested this scanner with version 9 of the Kurzweil 1000 and version
8 of the Kurzweil 3000. Until a new patch of release is made you must use
the ScanConf diagnostic in the ?Diags? folder and change the Native Scan
setting to ?On?. Once this is done, the scanner works well, with a few
troublesome exceptions. First, there is no control over scanner brightness.
Second, the scanner lamp takes 60 seconds to warm up for the first scan,
and for any scan after the scanner has been left idle (the idle period can
be set to five or fifteen minutes). Third, the scanner software brings up
its own progress dialogs while warming up and while scanning. The Kurzweil
1000 will steal focus back from these dialogs, but they may cause a
reaction from a screen reader if you leave one running in the background.
The scanner is reasonably fast: it will do a black and white scan in 10
seconds, and a color or grayscale scan in 13 seconds.
Details:
· Speed (including scanner return time at 300 dpi)
* Color or Grayscale ? 13 seconds
* Black and White ? 10 seconds
· Platen (flatbed) Size ? 8.5? x 11.69? (A4)
· Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) ? NA
* Support ADF - No
* Capacity of ADF ? NA
* Maximum pages size ? NA
· Operating System ? Windows 98, 2000 Professional, Me, or XP
· Interface ? USB (1.1 or 2.0)
· Brightness/Threshold ? No
· Twain/WIA Support ? Yes
· Scanner Driver ? OpticBook 3600
· Background scanning ? Yes
Caution/Warnings:
· Use of this scanner brings up a dialog, which may momentarily
steal focus while scanning.
Comments/Notes:
· USB 2.0 has no effect on scanning time.
· Scanner warm-up time on first scan 60 seconds and anytime the
scanner idle (Power Saving ON)
· You only need to install the Minimum Software Requirements for the
scanner:
o OpticBook 3600
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If you have any questions on this scanner, need additional information, or
would like to add your comments to this scanner review, please email
<mailto:support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or call
800.894.5374 or 781.276.0600.
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