[Athen] [EXT] What scan read alternatives to WYNN do you all use?

[Deborah Armstrong]

Vispero has just released a free driver for the Pearl so it now works with third-party OCR tools if you want to get more life out of your Pearl.

But Robert’s idea of mobile scanning is great too. For faster camera aiming – helps even if your student has perfect vision, check out the giraffe reader or the scan stand. The scan stand is available on Amazon; it’s a cardboard thing that lines up the phone camera with the book at the proper distance. The giraffe reader is the same concept only out of a durable but flexible plastic. Both of these fold; it’s the first thing I put in my suitcase when I go on a trip.

Links:

FsCam Pearl Driver:
                https://support.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/HardwareDrivers/DirectShowBridge

Giraffe Reader:
            http://www.giraffe-reader.com/

Scan Stand:
            https://www.amazon.com/ScanJig-Scanning-Adjustable-Alignment-Recognition/dp/B00PKMHTXY

As for the many, many scanning apps, search your iTUNES orGoogle Play app stores for words like OCR and of course scan. Interfaces vary widely so what works for one disability won’t work for another user.

--Debee



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Robert Beach
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2019 5:56 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXT] What scan read alternatives to WYNN do you all use?

Have you checked out some of the mobile scanning/OCR solutions? The student could do the process on their phone or tablet then transfer it to their computer.

Seeing AI, Text Grabber Pro, Voice Dream Scanner, etc.


Robert Lee Beach
Assistive Technology Specialist
Kansas City Kansas Community College
7250 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS  66112
Phone: 913-288-7671
Email: rbeach at kckcc.edu<mailto:rbeach at kckcc.edu>

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Doug Hayman
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2019 11:35 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [EXT][Athen] What scan read alternatives to WYNN do you all use?

CAUTION: This email originated outside KCKCC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Please forward all suspicious emails to support at kckcc.edu<mailto:support at kckcc.edu>.
Hoping to tap into your collective knowledge and experience.

I set users in our Scholars program up with a variety of assistive technology.  They get stand-alone systems that they can use for their final years of high school then take on to college.

Early on we used Kurzweil 3000 then moved to WYNN as the latter was less expensive and had similar features.

More recently I'd used WYNN with the Pearl document camera but have been a bit disappointed in the company's ability to upgrade the software.  The installer disk shows a 2013 copyright and appears to not be developed to keep up.

I'd had some issues wherein the bundle of WYNN/Pearl weren't playing well together.  One official tech support person suggested me downloading the demo of OpenBook and installing that on the same machine so that it would install the proper drivers for the Pearl document camera, something the outdated WYNN disk couldn't do.

Last spring upon running into the same issue and contacting them once again, one support agent said something along the lines of "Wow, I don't think they are going to keep making this product anymore."  He had me run some Pearl firmware tool that broke things, had to reverse that then go back to the OpenBook install hack.

I'd like to provide our scholars with something up-to-date that allows them to scan/read on their laptops to carry out the function that WYNN used to fulfill for us.

What would you all suggest as good alternatives for both software and scanning hardware that is lightweight/portable?

Thanks,

--
Doug Hayman <dhayman at u<mailto:dhayman at u.washington.edu>w.edu<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__w.edu&d=DwMGaQ&c=WORo6LNFtQOb4SPVta8Jsg&r=K_2Yg4I05GGnHlSOevlp3QeE5-JEqtmoUnmP0YVj9ZM&m=aFp3tay7ZdcKqUPTWq7KhfZ4xCaa-baSMrUGrtru3gE&s=PWZ3mhWMxc4vOOSe5p3RgCTnOWElYkCraDn7gB7_M7s&e=>>
Senior Computer Specialist
DO-IT Program (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, Technology)
UW Technology Services
Box 354842
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 221-4165
http://www.washington.edu/doit<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.washington.edu_doit&d=DwMGaQ&c=WORo6LNFtQOb4SPVta8Jsg&r=K_2Yg4I05GGnHlSOevlp3QeE5-JEqtmoUnmP0YVj9ZM&m=aFp3tay7ZdcKqUPTWq7KhfZ4xCaa-baSMrUGrtru3gE&s=EcPr6VijrKWQYNIQmLsTHXcXHhJmvF_ykQQm_OBlbvI&e=>
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