Something must be in the air.  I too have had awful computer problems at
work for the last two weeks.  It's brought my productivity to a standstill.
Today, the hard drive was replaced.  Anyway, to answer your question, my
company recently purchased an HP 3970 scanner for me to use with Open Book 7
and Windows 2000.  I'm sure this scanner would also work with Windows XP.
The scanner is about $100, and it got good reviews in Consumer Reports.  It
requires a USB port though, so if your computer doesn't have that, you might
want to think about something else.  At any rate, the only slight hitch in
using this scanner is that you have to install a particular file called
Twainscan.ini on your computer in the openbook 7 folder.  There is already a
copy of this file on your computer if you use Openbook, and you need to
simply tell your computer to replace this old twanscan.ini file with the
updated version.  Freedom Scientific techs can email you the file.  When you
call, ask for Damon.  He'll know exactly what you're talking about.  The
file allows you to not have to reset a certain setting every time you start
Openbook, which would be a pain.  I hope this helps.  I agree that Freedom
Scientific's list of scanners is very long and hard to weed through.  I
should also mention that that list hardly seems to have any scanners on it
that are still on the market.  It seems that by the time Freedom Scientific
gets around to testing a scanner, it's already been pulled off the market
and replaced with another, newer one.  So it's frustrating.  I took a gamble
when I got this particular scanner, but luckily it seems to work well as
long as you install this twainscan.ini file and follow the instructions the
tech should give you.  Hope this helps.
Catherine Armstrong
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa McManus" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 2:20 AM
Subject: question about scanners


>         Hi everyone,
>
> I have had heck of a time computerwise in the last two weeks or so.  My
> computer was totaled by having around 800 pieces of infected files put on
> my computer.  I had to go into great expense that I did not expect to have
> to do at this time.
>
> I upgraded on the new computer to windows xp.  I upgraded my window eyes
to
> 4.5 professional.  My dec talk was no longer able to be used because
> windows xp does not support it.
>
> Now the person who put my new computer together does not have very much
> knowledge at all about adaptive computer stuff so that has been a
> challenge, but now he tells me that my old scanner, that is still working
> perfectly fine, will not work with windows xp.  It is HP5.  I do not know
> what to do as far as a scanner is concerned.  I called Freedom Scientific
> and all they would tell me to do is to go to their web page and look at
the
> list of scanners that are compatible with open book.  There are many, many
> on there and I don't know one from the other as far as being good or not.
> I just know I want it to be able to scan a regular size piece of paper and
> not cost a fortune.
>
> Can anyone give me a suggestion as to what scanner you would recommend?  I
> asked the guy if he had a favorite as far as his opinion on brands and he
> said no.  So if anyone has a bit of help let me know as soon as possible.
> Thanks very much.
>
> Lisa
>
>
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>


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
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 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html