Part of the Printers glossary:

A scanner is a device that captures images from photographic prints, posters, magazine pages, and similar sources for computer editing and display. Scanners come in hand-held, feed-in, and flatbed types and for scanning black-and-white only, or color. Very high resolution scanners are used for scanning for high-resolution printing, but lower resolution scanners are adequate for capturing images for computer display. Scanners usually come with software, such as Adobe's Photoshop product, that lets you resize and otherwise modify a captured image.

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Scanners usually attach to your personal computer with a Small Computer System Interface ( SCSI ). An application such as PhotoShop uses the TWAIN program to read in the image.

Some major manufacturers of scanners include: Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Microtek, and Relisys.

This was last updated in May 2010
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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Definitions

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  • USB (Universal Serial Bus, USB 3.0, SuperSpeed USB)

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Glossaries

  • Printers

    - Terms related to printers, including definitions about scanners and words and phrases about inkjet, laser, photo and all-in-one printers.

  • Peripherals

    - Terms related to peripheral devices including definitions about keyboards or mice and words and phrases about printers, monitors, digital cameras and scanners.

  • Internet applications

    - This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

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