[Coco] [Color Computer] Rainbow on Disc -- August Update

[Michael Wayne Harwood]

------------------
 CURRENT PROGRESS
------------------
I have completed scanning in Volumes I and II and am currently in the
process of cleaning up the scanned images, backing the images up to DVD-R,
and re-publishing them in the .djvu format.  A lot of time has been spent
doing research and automating repetitive tasks, but I have put together a
toolkit of scripts and utilities that can be trusted to do 95% of the image
cleanup automatically.  The other 5% requires a little manual effort, but
all in all I am pretty happy with the results.

------
 DJVU
------
As you have probably guessed I have chosen to use .djvu as the format to
re-publish the magazines.  I have spent a considerable amount of time
testing and researching both the .pdf and .djvu formats and feel very
strongly that .djvu is the right choice for this project.  A person who
would like to remain anonymous has purchased Lizard Tech's Document Express
v5.0 for the project.  To alleviate concerns regarding the possible future
scarcity of .djvu readers I have contacted Lizard Tech and have received
their permission to distribute their browser plug-ins for both Win32 and OSX
on the DVD.  I am also planning on including all of the latest versions of
open source readers available when I release the product, which would
include Java and Unix versions.

-----
 OCR
-----
Document Express includes an OCR module, so the .djvu files will be fully
searchable.  This alleviates my having to coordinate someone else doing a
"first pass" OCR for the project as the full text of a .djvu file is easily
exportable and will be included in a separate directory for ease of use.  I
am also considering utilizing JSSINDEX (http://jssindex.sourceforge.net/) to
include as an additional "on disc" platform independent search engine.  The
end product it produces isn't as elegant as I would wish, but it would
provide a way to search across all issues and provide some useful results.

---------------
 DISC PRINTING
---------------
I have been researching disc labeling technologies (Lightscribe, thermal
transfer, etc) and have not come to a conclusion as to what technology will
be used on the end product.  Lightscribe is slick, but it has long print
times and it has been reported that it fades over time in a manner similar
to ink jet printing.  Primera has an inexpensive single color thermal
transfer device, but the printing areas are somewhat limited.

-----------
 TIMELINES
-----------
I wish the project were moving along more quickly than it is, but I do not
want to sacrifice quality for speed.  I have been spending some time trying
to get the document feeder on my scanner working well enough to be useful,
but so far I have been unsuccessful.  The scans from the ADF end up having
too many streaks.  I am trying one last thing to fix the ADF before I give
up - HP has an inexpensive replacement for a component that may be the
source of the problem.


As always please feel free to email me via either this list or at
michael at musicheadproductions.org with questions, comments, or concerns.


Regards,
Michael Harwood



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