Henry, Before purchasing a scanner I would recommend going to several manufacturers' websites and reviewing the literature. First off the scanner must have the following attributes: 1. Flatbed with removable top - This allows you to scan documents that are bigger than the image area of the scanner 2. Scanner software must contain a photo stitch package - This allows you to merge several scans of a document or photograph into one image 3. If the documents are very old, make sure the scanner emits no infrared or ultraviolet light - these light sources are very dangerous to old documents and artifacts 4. Operating Temperature - Make sure the image surface of the scanner does not get hot - otherwise a stuck document or photograph After checking for the aforementioned facts, investigate the need for a scanner that can also scan photographic slides. *** In all cases, do not buy an all in one scanner/printer/copier. Normally the top is not removable and the image surface does get fairly warm after scanning several documents. For your second question, you have two choices in two categories 1. Your choices are an external CD-ROM burner or an external DVD-ROM burner 2. The interface, (hook up to the computer or laptop), can either be a USB 2.0 or fire wire (1394) connection Since you have a new laptop, you should have both connections. A fire wire connection is faster but more expensive. Both will require that you buy the cable as a separate item. A CD-ROM can hold about 700 megabytes of information. This is equivalent to one entire set of Encyclopedia Britannica with annual index. The specifications on this device are given as read speed of CD-ROM, write speed of CD-ROM, and read/write speed of CD-Rewritable. Because of the USB and fire wire interface, anything over 32X speed is overkill and a waste of money. A DVD can hold the equivalent of 6 CD-ROMs. Look for a drive that will write a DVD-R- (that is dee vee dee dash r minus) the DVD-R+ are older technology and the blank disks are not as common as before. If you buy a DVD writer, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WRITE AT SPEEDS OVER 4X. The recordings produced at the higher speeds are not reliable even on the same machine. If you or any others have any more technical questions, please write me off line. I will be willing to answer. Glenn Gregory CTO Jubal Communications, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Henry Wiencek Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 6:49 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Scanner I need to purchase a digital scanner to make high-quality digital images of historical photos for publication. Can anyone recommend one? There is a further wrinkle. I recently bought a Dell Inspiron laptop and I stupidly told the clerk I did not need a CD burner, since I didn't know what a CD burner was (I thought it was something for mass-producing pirated movies). So now I discover that I can't copy files to a CD from the laptop. Is there an external CD drive I can buy that will accommodate the large files of digital images? I'll need to send a CD to the publisher with the images. Naturally, all this has to be done on a crash basis because my wife's publisher just called and said they need her book's cover photos within a week or so. Sorry to burden the list with a tech question, but it is historically related. Folks can reply off-line. Many, many thanks, Henry Wiencek Charlottesville To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html