[rescue] Scanning Best Practices - was Re: Inside Solaris newsletter

[Toby Thain]

On 02/10/14 1:30 PM, Jason T wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Andrew Hoerter <amh at pobox.com> wrote:
>> Thanks for doing this, Jason.  Your mail was a reminder that I've got
>> some of these newsletters myself.  I have these issues from each year:
>>
>> 1996: 3-5, 7-12
>> 1997: 1-3, 7-12
>> 1998: 1-6
>> 1999: 4
>
> I'm willing to take on additional scans, if you want to send them
> over.  I do chop the edges, though, so if you want them back, they'll
> be a little more narrow :)
>
> We've got 3-5/98 and 4/99 up, so that leaves the 96 and 97 issues plus
> 1-2/98 from your stack.  Email me direct if you'd like to have me do
> them and I'll get you the address.
>
>> Speaking of scanning, are there any resources out there for figuring
>> out the ideal scanners to buy or pitfalls to avoid when sucking in old
>> documentation?

1) I've heard good reports and seen excellent output from Epson 
GT-15000. I wouldn't mind one of these myself.

2) It's obvious to most people, but: Never replace bitmaps with OCR. OCR 
is only good for a hidden searchable layer. It is never a replacement 
for the original scans.

3) Be very careful with DJVU compression - it is lossy! - the results 
can be surprisingly dangerous. I can't find the link now, but there are 
published examples of schematics involving substituted numbers 
(literally one digit for another). It's clearly a risk derived from the 
way djvu works. Use lossless TIFF LZW or similar.


--Toby