My understanding is that for IOS, the best OCR program is textDetective. I tried it on a monitor to read boot messages with very limited success. I've gotten a few words at timesbut that is about it.I think if you work at it hard enough it might work. I have an iPod Touch and the camera probably isn't as good as that in more expensive IOS devices. On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Jackie McBride wrote:

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

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-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

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Hi, I've got some usable output in the past with Google Gogles on my 4s, but being able to tell which boot option is highlighted will never / probably never be possible. This is part of the reason why I'm such a strong advicate of just deleting the partitions on any hard drives that are installed in a system. No worrying about having to select a boot device, no worrying about if the device you want to boot from is in the boot order or not and no worrying about the partitions screen during Windows installs. 9 times out of 10 the bios will try and boot from devices like cd drives and usb drives automatically if it doesn't see any partitions, so all you have to do is "press any key" *mashes every key on keyboard*. Cheers, Ben. On 9/29/13, John G. Heim wrote:

My understanding is that for IOS, the best OCR program is textDetective. I tried it on a monitor to read boot messages with very limited success. I've gotten a few words at timesbut that is about it.I think if you work at it hard enough it might work. I have an iPod Touch and the camera probably isn't as good as that in more expensive IOS devices.

On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

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Hi, Sorry for the double post, but to follow up on Google Gogles, the reason why I prefer it over other OCR solutions is because it's always active. I've used text detective in the past and have got as gooder results as I get with Gogles, but I have to manually take a picture every time I move the phone where as this isn't a concern with Gogles. Cheers, Ben. On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

Hi,

I've got some usable output in the past with Google Gogles on my 4s, but being able to tell which boot option is highlighted will never / probably never be possible.

This is part of the reason why I'm such a strong advicate of just deleting the partitions on any hard drives that are installed in a system. No worrying about having to select a boot device, no worrying about if the device you want to boot from is in the boot order or not and no worrying about the partitions screen during Windows installs. 9 times out of 10 the bios will try and boot from devices like cd drives and usb drives automatically if it doesn't see any partitions, so all you have to do is "press any key" *mashes every key on keyboard*.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, John G. Heim wrote:

...

My understanding is that for IOS, the best OCR program is textDetective. I tried it on a monitor to read boot messages with very limited success. I've gotten a few words at timesbut that is about it.I think if you work at it hard enough it might work. I have an iPod Touch and the camera probably isn't as good as that in more expensive IOS devices.

On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

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Well, here's the problem, & why I initially replied as I did. Monitor screen resolutions are pretty low--somewhere in the neighborhood of 96 dpi. For good OCR, u need about 300 dpi. It also doesn't take into account things like lighting, whether your picture is centered correctly, shadow/glare, etc. Believe me,, I wish it were otherwise. I hate to say it, but the Optacon, which they killed back in 95, is still the best solution for this, & it *will* detect the highlighted option. Figures that they axed it. On 9/29/13, David Mehler wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. Ok, so detecting a boot menu highlight no joy, bummer, but understandable. I'm more interested in system boot error messages, it sounds like for Android it's Google Goggles, and for Ios Text Detective.

Thanks. Dave.

On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

...

Hi,

Sorry for the double post, but to follow up on Google Gogles, the reason why I prefer it over other OCR solutions is because it's always active. I've used text detective in the past and have got as gooder results as I get with Gogles, but I have to manually take a picture every time I move the phone where as this isn't a concern with Gogles.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

...

Hi,

I've got some usable output in the past with Google Gogles on my 4s, but being able to tell which boot option is highlighted will never / probably never be possible.

This is part of the reason why I'm such a strong advicate of just deleting the partitions on any hard drives that are installed in a system. No worrying about having to select a boot device, no worrying about if the device you want to boot from is in the boot order or not and no worrying about the partitions screen during Windows installs. 9 times out of 10 the bios will try and boot from devices like cd drives and usb drives automatically if it doesn't see any partitions, so all you have to do is "press any key" *mashes every key on keyboard*.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, John G. Heim wrote:

...

My understanding is that for IOS, the best OCR program is textDetective. I tried it on a monitor to read boot messages with very limited success. I've gotten a few words at timesbut that is about it.I think if you work at it hard enough it might work. I have an iPod Touch and the camera probably isn't as good as that in more expensive IOS devices.

On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

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_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

Hi, Actually, Google Gogles is a free app for iOS; I've never had experience of the Android version though. Cheers, Ben. On 9/29/13, Jackie McBride wrote:

Well, here's the problem, & why I initially replied as I did. Monitor screen resolutions are pretty low--somewhere in the neighborhood of 96 dpi. For good OCR, u need about 300 dpi. It also doesn't take into account things like lighting, whether your picture is centered correctly, shadow/glare, etc. Believe me,, I wish it were otherwise. I hate to say it, but the Optacon, which they killed back in 95, is still the best solution for this, & it *will* detect the highlighted option. Figures that they axed it.

On 9/29/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. Ok, so detecting a boot menu highlight no joy, bummer, but understandable. I'm more interested in system boot error messages, it sounds like for Android it's Google Goggles, and for Ios Text Detective.

Thanks. Dave.

On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

...

Hi,

Sorry for the double post, but to follow up on Google Gogles, the reason why I prefer it over other OCR solutions is because it's always active. I've used text detective in the past and have got as gooder results as I get with Gogles, but I have to manually take a picture every time I move the phone where as this isn't a concern with Gogles.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

...

Hi,

I've got some usable output in the past with Google Gogles on my 4s, but being able to tell which boot option is highlighted will never / probably never be possible.

This is part of the reason why I'm such a strong advicate of just deleting the partitions on any hard drives that are installed in a system. No worrying about having to select a boot device, no worrying about if the device you want to boot from is in the boot order or not and no worrying about the partitions screen during Windows installs. 9 times out of 10 the bios will try and boot from devices like cd drives and usb drives automatically if it doesn't see any partitions, so all you have to do is "press any key" *mashes every key on keyboard*.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, John G. Heim wrote:

...

My understanding is that for IOS, the best OCR program is textDetective. I tried it on a monitor to read boot messages with very limited success. I've gotten a few words at timesbut that is about it.I think if you work at it hard enough it might work. I have an iPod Touch and the camera probably isn't as good as that in more expensive IOS devices.

On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote: > Hello, > > I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, > that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to > obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot > list, > for example newer boards the f12 options? > > Thanks. > Dave. > > _______________________________________________ > Blind-sysadmins mailing list > Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins >

-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

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-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

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Hi, Thanks for your replies. Ok, so detecting a boot menu highlight no joy, bummer, but understandable. I'm more interested in system boot error messages, it sounds like for Android it's Google Goggles, and for Ios Text Detective. Thanks. Dave. On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

Hi,

Sorry for the double post, but to follow up on Google Gogles, the reason why I prefer it over other OCR solutions is because it's always active. I've used text detective in the past and have got as gooder results as I get with Gogles, but I have to manually take a picture every time I move the phone where as this isn't a concern with Gogles.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

...

Hi,

I've got some usable output in the past with Google Gogles on my 4s, but being able to tell which boot option is highlighted will never / probably never be possible.

This is part of the reason why I'm such a strong advicate of just deleting the partitions on any hard drives that are installed in a system. No worrying about having to select a boot device, no worrying about if the device you want to boot from is in the boot order or not and no worrying about the partitions screen during Windows installs. 9 times out of 10 the bios will try and boot from devices like cd drives and usb drives automatically if it doesn't see any partitions, so all you have to do is "press any key" *mashes every key on keyboard*.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, John G. Heim wrote:

...

My understanding is that for IOS, the best OCR program is textDetective. I tried it on a monitor to read boot messages with very limited success. I've gotten a few words at timesbut that is about it.I think if you work at it hard enough it might work. I have an iPod Touch and the camera probably isn't as good as that in more expensive IOS devices.

On Sep 29, 2013, at 12:05 AM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

-- Blame the computer--why not? It can't defend itself & occasionally might even be the culprit Jackie McBride Ask Me Computer Questions at: www.pcinquirer.com Jaws Scripting training materials: www.screenreaderscripting.com homePage: www.brighter-vision.com

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

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Hi, It depends on what you want really; most people should be good enough at it to get little snippets of the content which can still be helpful - E.G. if you hear "installing Windows" theres no prises for guessing what it might be doing. I saw a device once called a top braille which was able to convert a printed character into braille in more or less realtime, the idea being that you would be able to move it accross things like newspapers and read them more or less as quickly as you would do a braille book. Unfortunately at the time it didn't work on screens, but if it could be made to work this would doubtless be the solution we've been looking for. I do agree that a combination of eyes and automation are a much better solution though and some things - E.G. setting up RAID are never going to be possible with OCR for most people. Cheers, Ben. On 9/29/13, Kerry Hoath wrote:

This is highly unreliable but can work. Some people use Prismo or Text detective but you need an Iphone 4s or better, good lighting, a nice screen and a pile of luck.

I find it easier to borrow a pair of eyes for the 2-3 minutes it takes to solve most stuff I need. I did hear of one person instaling windows 7 with this solution, however levtek's winstaller and Brian Smart's talking PXE projects are probably better for this although Brian's project needs some helpers in 64-bit land.

Regards, Kerry.

On 29/09/2013 1:05 PM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

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I wouldn't say never. It seems to me that it wouldn't be particularly difficult to develop an app optimized for OCR on the text on a computer screen. You may have to have some way to mount the tablet computer but the text on a screen is very uniform. Someone said the fact that it's made up of fairly large dots makes it harder but it occurs to me that with good enough resolution on your camera, not the monitor, you could very easily recognize text. It's a little like distinguishing dots in a braille cell. There are a lot more dots in the matrix that makes up a single letter on a screen in text mode but it wouldn't take a particularly sophisticated algorithm to recognize those patterns. About 10 years ago, I wrote an perl script that captured an image from my VCR, ran an OCR program on it, and spoke the text. So I could actually hear the set-up screen on my VCR. It was so cumbersom that all I could do was set the time and that took me about an hour. But today, you can buy video capture USB cables for about $15. The OCR software, tesseract is free. All it would take is for someone to put that together. Boy, I wish I had money. This is exactly the kind of thing I want to do with IAVIT (www.iavit.org) if only we had some money. Anybody got a couple hundered K they're not using? On 09/30/13 05:22, Ben Mustill-Rose wrote:

Hi,

It depends on what you want really; most people should be good enough at it to get little snippets of the content which can still be helpful - E.G. if you hear "installing Windows" theres no prises for guessing what it might be doing. I saw a device once called a top braille which was able to convert a printed character into braille in more or less realtime, the idea being that you would be able to move it accross things like newspapers and read them more or less as quickly as you would do a braille book. Unfortunately at the time it didn't work on screens, but if it could be made to work this would doubtless be the solution we've been looking for.

I do agree that a combination of eyes and automation are a much better solution though and some things - E.G. setting up RAID are never going to be possible with OCR for most people.

Cheers, Ben.

On 9/29/13, Kerry Hoath wrote:

...

This is highly unreliable but can work. Some people use Prismo or Text detective but you need an Iphone 4s or better, good lighting, a nice screen and a pile of luck.

I find it easier to borrow a pair of eyes for the 2-3 minutes it takes to solve most stuff I need. I did hear of one person instaling windows 7 with this solution, however levtek's winstaller and Brian Smart's talking PXE projects are probably better for this although Brian's project needs some helpers in 64-bit land.

Regards, Kerry.

On 29/09/2013 1:05 PM, Jackie McBride wrote:

...

Yeah--good luck w/that.

On 9/28/13, David Mehler wrote:

...

Hello,

I'm looking for a phone based solution, preferably free or low cost, that'll do OCR on a computer screen? My issue would be to use it to obtain information on boot up errors, selecting items in a boot list, for example newer boards the f12 options?

Thanks. Dave.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

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-- --- John G. Heim, 608-263-4189, jheim@math.wisc.edu