On 20 Feb 99, at 9:06, Ashok Bhiman wrote:

> What are handheld, flatbed and sheet fed scanners? What purpose is
> each useful for? What is recommended for SOHO?

  A handheld scanner is about 4" wide -- looks kind of like an oversize
mouse -- and you use you hand to roll it along the original.  This means
it's cheap to manufacture, and that it requires tricky software to
compensate for uneven movement, and to join multiple images whenever an
original is more than 4" wide.

  A sheet-fed scanner looks like a small bubblejet printer.  You insert
one end of your original, and the scanner feeds it past the scanning
element, typically about 8.5" wide.  This doesn't take up much room on
the desk, and its software is likely to be simpler (and thus more
reliable...).  "PaperPort" brand leads in this field.

  A flat-bed scanner is a box with a glass window in the top, on which
you place an original up to about 8.5x14.  A mechanism with gears and
mirrors moves the scanning beam past the original, which is stationary.
This is likely to give best registration/resolution/colour, and can
scan images from objects that won't fit through a sheet-fed scanner.
These are still pricy if you want SCSI, but they're now also available
in USB, and in parallel port form for astonishingly low prices ($30
after rebate isn't too unusual...).  UMAX and HP are good brands.
  Unless you are very tight for space, AND KNOW IN ADVANCE THAT YOUR
NEEDS WILL BE VERY SPECIFIC, this is the only sort I would consider for
a SOHO situation -- best flexibility and quality.



David G

            PCBUILD maintains many useful files for download
              on our web site - visit our download page at:
                     http://nospin.com/pc/files.html