Any recommended OCR software for Linux?

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

Supercomputers are late '50s technology, modern text editors of middle '80s. Guess what is more complicated.

Good grief. Are you serious?

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[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Good grief. Are you serious?

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I think this thread has provided a plethora of proof to answer that question, sadly.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

Supercomputers are late '50s technology, modern text editors of middle '80s. Guess what is more complicated.

For my next party, can I get a kilo or so of what you've been smoking?

[roger64]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

That's what all supercomputers do - they are running primitive batch mode number crunching programs.

Even a text editor is several orders of magnitude more complex than a supercomputer program.

You're absolutely right. We just have to rely on facts:

- These big machines work only with 1s and 0s. Admittedly it's a long but trivial task.
- Modern word processors work with full alphabets and beyond.

So, make your own conclusion. (BTW, please, give me another shot).

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Thanks for the laugh. One of the places I do some work with has a bunch of Linux computers running Maya. While Maya is available for Windows Mac OSX and Linux, they found the best performance on the same hardware was with Linux.

Admittedly, their last bill for the 3 year renewal was ~$450,000 Cdn since the 3 year renewal runs about $5,800 Cdn though there is a bit of a discount for the 100+ licenses they purchase. They also have BackBurner installed on each node but I'm not sure what if any cost is involved for BackBurner.

They are looking at cloud rendering solutions but at this point, the bean counters are not impressed with the almost doubling in cost even considering the expense for hardware and electrical costs.

No idea what you're talking about, but you're welcome.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Molecular modeling (for example) is "several magnitudes less complex" than a text editor? Really? I would love to see that editor you're talking about. It must be a doozy.

You clearly have not tried to navigate the options on ms word.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

I think you picked the one software example where Linux is better hands down. You can get a full-screen distraction free, dark-mode ASCII text editor just by switching to a virtual tty with Ctrl+alt+F2 through F6. And it's even harder to get distracted in as it's literally impossible to get notifications like those telling you to use Edge (I've had those appear in a full screen game on Windows), you can't alt+tab to another window until you switch back to tty1. Okay you can't pick fonts easily in ttys.

But even I you don't want to use a tty there is still loads of options. There are MULTIPLE emacs packages that will do it like writeroom-mode.

I didn't say I wanted an ascii editor. I assume you didn't t read my post.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I didn't realize all those linux supercomputers out there are only running super generic tasks.

For sure, but if you just want to OCR a book quickly, or rebind system wide keys and add macros with one single program, not so much...

Windows controls approximately 75% of the pc market; Linux controls 2%. So it is no surprise that Windows offers alot more software choice than Linux. Again, not a criticism, just a fact. I like Linux. One day I may move to it as my primary os. I am glad I have that choice.

[gmw]

Considering the overlap between *nix, Windows and Apple/Mac, with it being so much easier these days to develop for any/all, and especially when considering the various VM options, the software "choice" argument is running pretty dry. About the only shortfall left is legally running Mac software via a *nix or Windows host, but the other combinations are fine.

Starting to feel like an old fart talking about the goode olde days and having to walk to school: up-hill both ways, in the snow while dodging dinosaurs. You kids have it so much easier these days.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Thanks for the insights into Mint. It sounds like it would suit me better than Ubuntu--a more Windows-like desktop and UI, more driver and codec support, more stuff working out the box, etc. Also it's based on Ubuntu, so the vast user support base for Ubuntu will be applicable to Mint.

I'm a big fan of Mint. I've been using it exclusively for about 13 years now.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

@rcentros. Yep, emacs with a plugin like fountain-works looks like the way to go. Thanks for the recommendation and info. I must admit, I am writing more and more in ASCII these days. I am using notepad+ a lot in Windows. It's quite nice, has multi-tab, but finding the settings to change options is the stuff of tortured fever dreams. Is emacs multi-tab? And does it do colored fonts? I've never used it.

Emacs isn't multi-tab "out of the box," (it's multi-buffer) but if you use the CLI "flavor" of Emacs and a tabbed terminal application (like Guake) you can have multiple files open at once and paste from one to the other. And, yes, it will do color fonts with the right "add-on."

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Edit: watched the video. Thanks for your trouble. Yeah, that's impressive. I see the plugin fountain-works is for script writing. Can it be adapted to a general writing format--i.e., can scriptwriting template be dropped? Crucially, does it support multi-tab? I am forever flipping between windows and editing. But emacs definately looks worth exploring. I wonder if it works under windows...

Yes, the only way the Fountain-Mode "turns on" is if your file's name ends with the extension ".fountain." Otherwise you'll just go into "normal mode" and the Fountain sub-menu won't show up. (You can have a mix of both in your buffers.) "Normal" mode does not include onscreen italics, etc., as Fountain-Mode is (I believe) loading "minor-mode" settings for that. But I'm pretty sure there are non-screenplay writing "major-modes" that would do this — but I've never had any reason to look them up. Sorry about all the talk of major and minor modes. I honestly don't fully understand how Emacs works (it's a world of its own with hundreds of "major-modes" and probably thousands of "minor-modes"). Basically all I know about Emacs is how to install it (sudo apt install emacs) and how to install Fountain-Mode (sudo apt install elpa-fountain-mode). I can also change the default font and do a few other minor adjustments in the configuration — so I'm on the very fringe of the Emacs "world." But I'm happy with the results. So much so, that I prefer Fountan-Mode over the professional application, Fade In — though they interact with each other just fine. (Fade In works well with the Fountain format so transferring files back and forth is easy. Same with Trelby and the others mentioned in an earlier post.)

(Sorry about the rambling.)

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Edit: Okay, GNU Emacs works in windows. So it's a question of getting the plugins working. I'll have a play around with this at some point.

I think I actually tried Fountain-Mode on my wife's Windows computer and I was able to get it to work. Instead of using "sudo apt install elpa-fountain-mode" you can use the Emacs built-in package manager. I'm guessing it would be the same for whatever writing "major-mode" you found.

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Edit: The Centaur plugin provides tabs. Not sure if you can mix and match with other plugins such as fountain-works. But yeah, definately an interesting option when I feel like looking around. Always on the lookout for an interesting editor. I actually managed to copy some of the power features to windows using auto hot key.

The base software does look kinda ugly (like a DOS program), but the Centaur plug-in sexes it up. Call me shallow, but I like shiny stuff where possible.

A quick Google search showed this page on creative writing in Emacs. I can't really endorse it because I only half understand it, but it might give you some idea of how modify Emacs. (Maybe Centaur does everything you need?)

https://jacmoes.wordpress.com/2019/0...ng-with-emacs/

A lot of information about using Emacs for writing at this GitHub page...

https://github.com/thinkhuman/writingwithemacs

I didn't show some of the features of Fountain-Mode, like outlining. You can press Shift+Tab and it will bring up all you scenes (one per line) — navigate to the scene you want and press Shift+Tab again and moves you to that spot. I'm pretty sure outlining would be included in most Emacs major-modes for writing. (But that's just a guess.) Maybe I'll try exploring some of the other modes. You could actually use Fountain-Mode for standard writing, but you would have to use the ".fountain" extension. I think it would be better to find something else for this purpose.

If you look into this, I wish you well. I'm sorry I'm so ignorant about Emacs. Basically I've told you everything I know about it in this post.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

I didn't say I wanted an ascii editor. I assume you didn't t read my post.

Yes you did? Did you read your post? You said you want it to look like a dark mode ASCII text editor. That's what every text editor looks like in tty.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

You clearly have not tried to navigate the options on ms word.

You have a point there.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I think I actually tried Fountain-Mode on my wife's Windows computer and I was able to get it to work. Instead of using "sudo apt install elpa-fountain-mode" you can use the Emacs built-in package manager. I'm guessing it would be the same for whatever writing "major-mode" you found.

Not every major mode is packaged on Elpa. Emacs has a couple other big repositories that contain significantly more stuff, MELPA and Marmalade. At least for me everything I've wanted is on MELPA.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

Not every major mode is packaged on Elpa. Emacs has a couple other big repositories that contain significantly more stuff, MELPA and Marmalade. At least for me everything I've wanted is on MELPA.

Good to know. There are quite a few elpa packages in my Linux Mint (Ubuntu) repository, so it's the path of least resistance for me. But, as with most stuff in the repository, you're not necessarily using the newest release since Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu stable. For example, Fountain-Mode is at 3.5.0, but the repository for this machine (Linux Mint 19.1) installs Fountain-Mode 2.5.1. On the Chromebook (which uses Debian Buster) the version is 2.6.1. On a laptop running Linux Mint 20.1, it's at 2.8.1. I did install the latest (3.5) on one computer via the Emacs built-in "package manager" (I collect old, nearly "worthless" (by Windows' standards) laptops and install Linux Mint on them. I've actually given away a few of these.) I actually like the older versions a bit better since they still have the Export filters built in (I mostly use that for formatted text).