Has anyone ever tried taking a flatbed scanner (they're so cheap 
today) and found a way to get at the data coming from the linear 
sensor array? I'd like to make a device to scan rolls of microfilm. 
My thought is to take one of these (with the appropriate optics) and 
rig up a mechanism to run the microfilm past it at a fixed rate. 2048 
pixels across would be adequate for my needs. I could then feed the 
data over USB to a computer to store it as one long file for the 
entire length of the film. Commercial devices to do this exist, but 
are several orders of magnitude more than I care to spend, plus it 
sounds like an interesting project (I may say otherwise after 
starting it ;-)

I don't even need color, grayscale would be fine. I wonder if any of 
the hand scanners that used to be popular could be put into a mode 
where they continuously transmit data. I'm not sure that they have 
the resolution that I require, either.

I've found a few projects on the web for doing this, but the method 
seems to involve keeping the existing flatbed scanner setup, and 
stepping the film through in 11 (or so) inch steps. I'd rather 
continuously scan it down the entire length of the film.
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Chris Smolinski
Black Cat Systems
http://www.blackcatsystems.com
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