There is a project to put an Open Source Book Scanner into every hackerspace. This page is to collect thoughts on costings and fundings for that at the Hacklab.

Personally I (Gareth) believe this could be just as important community resource as the laser cutter and any future 3D printer we procure.

TL;DR – Point a camera at a book and take pictures of each page. You might build a special rig to do it. Process those pictures with our free programs. Enjoy reading on the device of your choice.

Based on the pre-cut kit and a couple of second-hand Canon Powershots, I think we can pull together a build with £500 of pledges.

Not got:

• Bookscanner Base Kit
• Second Canon Powershot A2200
• Glass for platens
• Pair of power supplies for the cameras

Got:

• First Canon Powershot A2200 (Gareth picked up for £40 on the 'Bay)
• Raspberry Pi controller (Gareth donation)
• 8GB Class 10 card for Raspberry Pi (Gareth, £4)
• O2 Joggler for web interface?

Random stuff we can probably scrounge up:

• footswitch for triggering
• 2xSD cards for cameras (8GB pref)
• USB Hub

Size: from email exchange with Mike van der Borre:

I just measured it. Dimensions:
* 91cm high at its highest
* 66cm wide at its widest
* 49 deep at its deepest
You could take it apart into three pieces for storage without removing any fasteners. In that case, the width would stay the same, but the max height for the highest part would be 47 cm.

The landing topic for the build is here:

http://diybookscanner.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1192

OSH2011 talk here: http://vimeo.com/29184137

Kits without cameras and controllers available for the EU here €549 (£435 on today's rate): http://diybookscanner.eu/home.html

Canon Powershot : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PowerShot-A2200-Digital-Camera/dp/B004I1KWLE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405685905&sr=8-2&keywords=canon+a2200

• What kind of compute do we need around it?