Originally Posted by
rans6andrew
We have need of a way to scan in documents and photos for tweaking and printing. One of the requirements is a way to convert files to proper black and white. So far we have been using phones or digital cameras to create .jpg files and then sending to a printer. One of the issues is that many documents are not brilliant white background and the tint seems to be enhanced when we print causing excessive use of the black cartridge and often too dense printing of the black areas. Pages come from the printer very wet and need to be laid out to dry before collating.
We have picked up several printer/scanner units, mostly old, some of which work as photo copiers. We have found Windows drivers for a couple of the devices. What do we need to get to allow a document to be scanned into a computer?
We have access to Win8 , 10 or Linux Mint laptops handy. My Linux Mint machine seems to find the necessary driver for any printer we connect to it, I don't know if it will cope with finding a scanning driver.......
Someone suggested getting a cheap Ipad to do the photo and send to a printer...... I don't have any experience of Apple products. Are they the magic solution for us?
Rans6...................
A great Windows app is VueScan. You can set it to scan B&W, and it will give you a 1 bit depth image, i.e. black, and white.
https://www.hamrick.com/
It does a great job, even on older scanners.
Alternatively if you use an Android phone
CamScanner does a really good job of recognising the edges, straightening the document up, and giving you a PDF (with text recognition, if you want). Alternatively there is
Microsoft Lens, which is also good.
HTH