Fiche scanning (was Re: [Simh] Listings of XXDP test and maindec's for 11/70)

[Jules Richardson]

Alexandre Souza wrote:
>> I know the group has hashed and rehashed fiche scanning and I don't
>> mean to re-open that debate.  Obviously fiche scanners exist,
>> reinventing the wheel isn't cost effective, etc, etc.  It's
>> unfortunate that there's so much manual fiddling to get a good scan,
>> but those letters are awful tiny.
> 
>    Ethan, there is a way to easily scan these fiches if a normal scanner 
> with negative/transparency adapter doesn't fit the bill

The DEC ones I've seen are extremely high resolution - from memory, something 
like 11 x 13 A4 pages on a fiche around 1" x 1.5".

I'm not sure what the current scanner technology is like, but not so long ago 
consumer-grade stuff just wouldn't handle that kind of density; even the ones 
coming somewhere close were relying on lots of interpolation rather than raw 
resolution.

>    Anyway, is a slow and troublesome way to scan them. Is there an 
> automatic scanner?

Ones that'll handle the resolution are around, but probably with dollar price 
tags in the five-figure range. (Again, it was a few years ago I looked into 
this, so my knowledge is a little out of date)

Somewhere in there archives there's a whole thread on this (Bletchley has 
many, many boxes of DEC fiche)

cheers

Jules