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Build a better Bookshelf

huytd.github.io

21–30 of 66 posts

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#21
post #16

Does anyone have any experience with book scanning in general? I've been eyeballing a unit from "CZUR" but am a bit skeptical of the product in general. I would prefer to buy something more generic/high end HW wise like a V-shaped scanner where you bring your own DSLRs but can't find out if there is a serious open source software platform for them.

I made a hardware DIY Book scanner and run it off a Rpi using https://github.com/Tenrec-Builders/pi-scan with two Nikon J1 cameras. If you're not an experienced handy-person be prepared for frustration and spending more than you think on tools. Otherwise very happy with the result and experience. I can scan about 800 pages per hour currently. Once scanned I use scan tailor to adjust the pages then a small script to t…

Thanks for sharing it!

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#23
post #16

Does anyone have any experience with book scanning in general? I've been eyeballing a unit from "CZUR" but am a bit skeptical of the product in general. I would prefer to buy something more generic/high end HW wise like a V-shaped scanner where you bring your own DSLRs but can't find out if there is a serious open source software platform for them.

https://www.diybookscanner.org/

I plan to build a [linear book scanner](https://linearbookscanner.org/) someday. I admit it doesn't satify OP's concern though, at it uses two upward-facing flatbed scanners, rather than consumer cameras.

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#24

I was actually hoping this was about actually building your own DIY bookshelf (for actual physical books)...

Ha! Me too. I was expecting some kind of analysis of the perfect shelf material and optimum depth and height of each shelf based on the number of books by genre and their dimensions.

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#25

The fact that we have to scan any technical book published after 1980 is a distortion of capitalism. The obvious most efficient solution for everyone would be to have the darn fully searchable digital version of the book + the source code.

It's plausible that the fact we have so many amazing technical books is also a "distortion of capitalism". The obvious most efficient course of action is to not write a book.

But books predate capitalism as well... Dating back to times when writing or copying them was even less efficient...

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#26

I was actually hoping this was about actually building your own DIY bookshelf (for actual physical books)...

Ha! Me too. I was expecting some kind of analysis of the perfect shelf material and optimum depth and height of each shelf based on the number of books by genre and their dimensions.

Ha! I don't even have a proper bookshelf :(

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#27

I was actually hoping this was about actually building your own DIY bookshelf (for actual physical books)...

Ha! Me too. I was expecting some kind of analysis of the perfect shelf material and optimum depth and height of each shelf based on the number of books by genre and their dimensions.

Ha! I am making some shelves for myself and spent the weekend measuring the dimensions and weight of all of my books to later divide into different bins based on height, depth and weight (density).

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#29
post #16

Does anyone have any experience with book scanning in general? I've been eyeballing a unit from "CZUR" but am a bit skeptical of the product in general. I would prefer to buy something more generic/high end HW wise like a V-shaped scanner where you bring your own DSLRs but can't find out if there is a serious open source software platform for them.

What a shame that people have to use homebrew methods to duplicate the effort that someone (Google) has already done with vastly greater resources.

Google Books, a.k.a., Google Book Search, has already scanned and OCR'ed about 20% of all books in existence -- i.e., 25 million of an estimated 130 million books. So, "somewhere at Google there is a database containing 25 million books and nobody is allowed to read them."[1]

I understand the legal issues, authors not getting compensated, etc., but it's still a shame that it actually exists but it's inaccessible (except for snippets).

[1] https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-08-10-what-happened-to-goo...

Re: Build a better Bookshelf

#30
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author specifically noted: And the search result is limited to just my books, not the whole internet, that's the point of scanning instead of Googling.

And the above commenter specifically noted I’ve found books.google.com be alright for this as well. Google Books doesn't index the internet. It indexes books. Including using OCR.

You are taking the comment too literally. Taking it to the extreme 'whole internet' would just be a list of IP addresses. (Because the 'world wide web' is all of the sites).
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