Optical Character Recognition

Before I wrap up this discussion of Kooka, let me tell you about one other very cool thing the program does. Say you have an old document page you want to transcribe. The obvious first choice is to sit it in front of you, open up a word processor, and start typing. Your second option is to pop that page on your scanner, use Kooka to scan it, then run it through OCR.

Here's how you do it. Because most people won't be using OCR, most distributions by default don't install the supporting software. The package is called ocrad, and you can find it at

www.gnu.org/software/ocrad/ocrad.html

Check your distribution CDs first. If you are going to do OCR, Kooka needs to have this installed.

Start by scanning your page as you would any image. Binary scan mode is probably fine for straight text, but this is one case where the higher the resolution, the better your chances are of an accurate OCR . When you are happy with the preview, click Final Scan, and you should see your page in the right-hand window. Now click Image on the menu bar, and select OCR image . Alternatively, you can click the second icon from the left in the icon bar—it does the same thing.

A window labeled Optical Character Recognition will pop up (Figure 16-14) that allows you to specify a handful of settings to tune the character recognition software. Remember: OCR is not perfect by any means, but with some tweaking you can achieve fairly high levels of accuracy. For your first scan, simply leave it at the defaults and click Start OCR. The whole process of character recognition may take a few seconds, so be patient.

Figure 16-14. OCR settings such as multicolumn layout and spell-checking are handled here.

After the process is complete, a window will appear showing you the results of the OCR process (Figure 16-15). If you opted to spell-check the results, the spell-check window will appear as well.

Figure 16-15. Kooka OCR results window.

Remember : The higher your scan resolution, the better your results. The only catch, of course, is that higher resolution requires more disk space and more processing power when you are through. If you want to save the results and edit at will, then copy and paste the text into your favorite word processor or text editor, whatever suits your needs.

Quick Tip

Most Linux distributions also come with another scanning package, called XSane (command name xsane ).

Resources

digiKam

http://digikam. sourceforge .net

gPhoto Software

http://gphoto.org

SANE—Supported Devices page

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-supported-devices.html

Chapter 17. Digital Art with the GIMP

Oddly enough, applications allowing users to work with graphics are among some of the most highly developed in the world. To see the truth in this rather bold statement, turn your eyes to Hollywood. Blockbusters such as Titanic, Star Trek: Nemesis, Shrek, and others use Linux and Linux clusters to create the complex special effects.

In terms of graphical design and photo editing, your Linux system comes with one of the most powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use packages there is, regardless of what OS you are running. It's called the GIMP. Allow me to introduce you to some of its many features.

The GIMP is one of those programs that has helped create an identity for Linux. Of course, there are plenty of programs out there, as I'm sure I have demonstrated by this point in the book, but the GIMP is special. The Linux community has used it to create images, buttons , desktop themes, window decorations, and more. Even the Linux mascot, Tux the Penguin, whose best-known incarnation was created by Larry Ewing, was a product of the GIMP.

The GIMP is an amazingly powerful piece of software, yet its basic functions are easy to use as well. With a little bit of work, a lot of fun, and a bit of experimentation, anyone can use the GIMP to turn out a fantastic piece of professional-quality art. You doubt my words? Then follow along with me, and in just a few minutes you'll have created a slick-looking logo for your Web page or your desktop. That said, with time, you can also learn to wield the GIMP with the power of a Hollywood special effects master.