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Grex > Micros > #100: Character Recognition Applications | |
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| Author |
Message |
rcurl
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Character Recognition Applications
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Jul 10 23:46 UTC 1994 |
Is there a simple Character Recognition application (like an OCR)
that would take bitmapped text and convert it to ASCII text?
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| 12 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 12:
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Jul 10 23:48 UTC 1994 |
I have encountered a case where I could not select and copy text from
the screen, but could copy a Marquee sample with Flash It. I would like
to convert that back to ASCII text. This is a character recognition
application, but something simpler than than those that preserve font
and do other great things. Perhaps a Shareware application?
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srw
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response 2 of 12:
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Jul 11 06:32 UTC 1994 |
Even for the simplest of OCR, I don't think there is shareware
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rcurl
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response 3 of 12:
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Jul 11 07:08 UTC 1994 |
Then does anyone know of very simple OCR (actually - *non* optical CR)
software? One, "TextBridge Mac 2.0" ($79) is offered by MacWarehouse.
Anyone with experience with this or other NOCR?
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rcurl
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response 4 of 12:
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Jul 14 17:09 UTC 1994 |
I posted this question to usenet (comp.sys.mac.misc) and a gentleman in
Kyoto, Japan, suggested /fkey/textcapture2.1. This seems worth trying,
but it is an FKEY, and I don't know how to install it. None of my
reference books discuss FKEYs. The Readme says to use either: 1) ResEdit
("not for the inexperienced or the faint of heart" - not for me, I guess);
2) an FKEY installer (?); or 3) a resource opener such as Suitcase,
MasterJuggler, or Carpetbag. I am not familiar with any of these. I'm
used to dropping extensions into the Sys. 7.1 Folder, and that's that.
Any suggestions?
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srw
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response 5 of 12:
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Jul 15 07:39 UTC 1994 |
Good FKEY's have to come with their own installers. Unfortunately many don't.
In the absence of one, abd with no resource opener, you will need to
move the FKEY resource into your systemm file to install it.
This can be done by using ResEdit on your system file.
I recommend
(1) make a copy of your system file.
(2) Open the copy of the system file in ResEdit. If you have never used
ResEdit, you might want to consider getting consulting help.
(3) Open the fkey file in Resedit too.
(4) The resource number of the FKEY in the FKEY file is the FKEY number.
If you already have FKeys, you may want to change this to avoid conflicts.
I doubt this is the case. To change the resource number, use Get Info.
(5) Copy the resource to the clipboard from the FKEY file.
(6) Select the window with the system file's resources in it and paste.
(7) Save the system file, and exit ResEdit.
(8) Move your system file to another folder.
(9) Rename the Copy of the system file to be "System".
(10) Reboot
(11) Cross your fingers.
To execute an FKey, type command-shift-n where n is the fkey resource number.
The number should be between 4 and 9, btw.
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davel
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response 6 of 12:
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Jul 15 12:22 UTC 1994 |
This is on a completely intuitive, user-friendly Mac, right?
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rcurl
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response 7 of 12:
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Jul 15 14:12 UTC 1994 |
Right! FKEYS were invented before the Mac was made *more* intuitive and
user friendly. The utility Flash-It uses the "fkey" cmd-shft-2, but it is
just a drop-into-System extension. Maybe there was an installer in the
maue directory - I'll have a look. Is there any problem using an installer
I find in the archive for installing in Sys 7.1?
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srw
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response 8 of 12:
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Jul 16 07:13 UTC 1994 |
What I posted is not the user-friendly Mac interface, no.
It is the kind of stuff Mac propeller-heads do.
A good FKey, like I said, will install itself.
It's too bad there aren't many that do. FKeys are not one of
my favorite Mac features. I almost never bother. Flash-it is good, tho.
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rcurl
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response 9 of 12:
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Jul 18 21:55 UTC 1994 |
I inquired on MTS_Confer, and /fkey/fkeymanager was suggested. This works
like Font/DA Mover, and can copy Fkeys into the System. I got into a
little of trouble with this as Flash-It, which I have installed, occupies
shft-cmd-1 to 7. However Fkey-Manager allows "off keyboard" installation,
which raises a little menu for selecting the Fkey when you move the cursor
to the left margin. Anyway, with Fkey-Manager, I installed Text-Capture,
and it successfully captured a copy of a Compuserve window to the Clip
board, in ASCII. This is using Sys. 6 technology in Sys. 7, so I may yet
encounter a conflict. 8=p.
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srw
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response 10 of 12:
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Jul 19 05:18 UTC 1994 |
Sounds good. I don't use fkeys enough and I've always felt comfortable
with ResEdit. I'm glad someone wrote fkeymanager, I just wasn't aware of it.
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rcurl
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response 11 of 12:
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Jul 19 06:31 UTC 1994 |
fkeymanager is freeware, dated 1987. It has a very long documentation
for a lot of options, but I suspect using some of them would get into
trouble in Sys. 7.1 I did get one machine freeze (unknown cause) before
I worked out how to use it with textcapture. I think there is some uneasy
cohabitation for this fkey on this machine. Incidentally, it is located
in maue at /util/diskfile/fkeymanager3.0.sit.hqx
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rcurl
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response 12 of 12:
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Jul 25 18:52 UTC 1994 |
WARNING. Be careful with textcapture run with fkeymanager. I had worked
on a document in MSWORD for several hours, neglecting to save (yes, I
know 8-<). I started to highlight a line from the left margin, but
slipped slightly and opened the PopKey menu for fkeys and, in letting
go, selected an fkey accidentally. This was incompatible with WORD,
which crashed. I have now disabled fkeymanager, and will only launch
it selectively, when that is what I want.
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