DIY Book Scanner

James seemed to be suggesting that he could find parts that would all clip together. I think it could probably happen even using off-the-shelf stuff if you looked hard enough. One dead-simple way to do it would be to cut the positive wire on a wall-wart transformer which powers a USB hub. Then if we...

Cool, isn't it? The Canon Powershot series has been hacked -- that's CHDK. Now there's a little scripting engine on them, you can even write code for them if you're skilled with that sort of thing. In essence they are tiny photo-computers. My original scanner only uses one of the most basic features...

EDVIN! This is GREAT! What a cool surprise. Wow, awesome awesome awesome. That's an incredible amount of functionality packed into a single button. Have you told Microfunguy (David Sykes, SDM developer) about this? If not, you should post it to the Yahoo Group (or I'd be happy to, I have an account ...

FYI, I found that link at slickdeals.net. Another great site is dealnews.com, and the anandtech hot deals forums occasionally link up good stuff. If we all keep our eyes open, less people will have financial objections.

I got the switch and battery box from Radioshack, and the USB port board from the front of a trashed computer. For everyone else's reference, John and I located other sources of cheeeeeeap USB ports. "USB Brackets" have two ports and nice headers... for $3! http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw...

I'll have a look at my A590's tonight, I have an A530 I'm planning to send to Suryandaru, too, but I don't know if I'll have the time to install all the software and hack around with it.

Not terribly helpful on my part, but I suggest you simply mount them far enough away to use the normal focus.

I'm starting this thread with the intention of posting good deals on cameras when we encounter them. From slickdeals.net I found this steal on Powershots -- $59 for A560's, refurbished: http://estore.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10051&catego...

Refurbished A560's in the Canon store for $59!!!

http://estore.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/ ... &pageView=

For example, there are a number of Powershot A630's on eBay that are selling/have sold for around a hundred bucks each.

That is the primary feature, but it's good for a lot more. I mean, there's nothing wrong with cracking open a few cameras and soldering to the switch contacts, but SDM will give you readouts of all important camera parameters, like zoom, and give you raw format support, and timers, and all kinds of ...