Canofile 510

From: Mark <mark_k_at_totalise.co.uk>
Date: Fri Jun 29 14:13:23 2001

Hi,

This is kind-of-on-topic given the recent thread on scanning old
documentation.


I recently picked up a Canon Canofile 510 document imaging system, and
associated laser printer and external MO drive. I think these were sold cira
1992-1995. It has a 1280x960-pixel mono LCD screen. You load up sheets to be
scanned and it pulls them in one-by-one. Can scan both sides of each sheet at
once. Can scan up to A3 size, but this is pretty lame; you must fold A3
sheets in half before feeding them in. Maximum speed is (from memory) 50ppm
for normal res. Fine res (200x200dpi) is half that. That resolution is lower
than ideal, but I could still find some use scanning old manuals etc.; an
electronic version is better than no electronic version at all.

The Canofile is very proprietary; it has a built-in magneto-optical drive
which uses 512MB double-sided disks. Transfer of scanned images to a PC (and
saving in a standard format) is possible. The disks, apart from being double-
sided, are physically the same shape as NeXT MO disks; not surprising since
Canon made NeXT MO drives. Unfortunately, investigations so far suggest that
reading NeXT MOs on a Canon drive (connected to a PC, Mac, Amiga or whatever)
may not be possible.


If anyone in the UK (or USA I guess; sending printed matter from USA to UK
costs about $1 per lb) has a loose-leaf manual or two that they would like
scanned I can give it a try. Quality won't be amazing, but should be
sufficient.


-- Mark
Received on Fri Jun 29 2001 - 14:13:23 BST