New scanner or old SCSI scanner on Mac Pro?

[macmesser]

I have an old Umax flatbed scanner which has not been used since my G4 expired a while back and I'm wondering if I can use it with my mac Pro (Lion). It was a decent scanner in its day. If it's still useable, can I use the same scsi card?

If I need to spring for a new scanner I'd appreciate recommendations. I don't need super quality but might want to scan in graphics for use with page layout. Also might want to do OCR.

Thanks for any insights.

[ActionableMango]

I believe you need a new scanner.

The SCSI card will not work. Even if you got a modern SCSI card to hook the scanner to, I'd be surprised if you could get drivers for the scanner that are compatible with Lion. Also, a new SCSI card could easily cost far more than a scanner anyway.

[JavaTheHut]

Been using a Epson V700 for a couple years now works great for Trans. & Reflect art.

[Tesselator]

I'd try the SCSI one first. It should work OK thru TWAIN. But be careful cuz there were quite a few older UMAX scanners which were multi-pass and that's drastically inferior to single scanners. If it is MP then get something new - even a $75 one will be better...

As mentioned above the V700 and especially the V750 are very nice scanners!
(I had the pleasure of writing their respective manuals.)

[d-m-a-x]

Originally Posted by Tesselator

I'd try the SCSI one first. It should work OK thru TWAIN. But be careful cuz there were quite a few older UMAX scanners which were multi-pass and that's drastically inferior to single scanners. If it is MP then get something new - even a $75 one will be better...

As mentioned above the V700 and especially the V750 are very nice scanners!
(I had the pleasure of writing their respective manuals.)

I was thinking of doing this with an old film scanner and decided it was not worth my while. Old driver for the scanner + sketch scsi card + twain used to crash my photoshop.

[macmesser]

Originally Posted by ActionableMango

I believe you need a new scanner.

The SCSI card will not work. Even if you got a modern SCSI card to hook the scanner to, I'd be surprised if you could get drivers for the scanner that are compatible with Lion. Also, a new SCSI card could easily cost far more than a scanner anyway.

Bummer about the card. I did see some SCSI to usb adapters mentioned on the forums, which I never knew existed. They're even pricey.

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Originally Posted by JavaTheHut

Been using a Epson V700 for a couple years now works great for Trans. & Reflect art.

Thanks for input.

[teleromeo]

If you need to scan big negatives (sheet film etc) get the epson V700, otherwise a cheaper model will fit your needs.

[macmesser]

Originally Posted by Tesselator

I'd try the SCSI one first. It should work OK thru TWAIN. But be careful cuz there were quite a few older UMAX scanners which were multi-pass and that's drastically inferior to single scanners. If it is MP then get something new - even a $75 one will be better...

As mentioned above the V700 and especially the V750 are very nice scanners!
(I had the pleasure of writing their respective manuals.)

Thanks for inputs. Will check out the V700/V750. The UMAX is a single pass. Will try the SCSi if I can get a decently priced card/adaptor and can get driver.

[Tesselator]

Yeah, "worth it" or not is subjective to the user. I guess a lot would depend on how good that old scanner he has is...

http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/

There are also SCSI to USB adapters...

[macmesser]

Originally Posted by d-m-a-x

I was thinking of doing this with an old film scanner and decided it was not worth my while. Old driver for the scanner + sketch scsi card + twain used to crash my photoshop.

Thanks for sharing. Thinking I don't need to complicate my life, but as often as not I forget this and get carried away. Will probably go with a new scanner or try to use the scanner on an HP all-in one, although the driver is pretty crude.

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Originally Posted by teleromeo

If you need to scan big negatives (sheet film etc) get the epson V700, otherwise a cheaper model will fit your needs.

Thanks. Don't need to scan negatives at this point.

[macmesser]

Originally Posted by Tesselator

Yeah, "worth it" or not is subjective to the user. I guess a lot would depend on how good that old scanner he has is...

http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/

There are also SCSI to USB adapters...

It was a good scanner; one of their top models. Fast and good color. I used to scan product shot prints but now do digital photography.

Thanks for the link. If I can get a decent driver for it maybe I'll give it a shot. TWAIN is sort of a universal scanner interface, right? I seem to recall that a TWAIN driver is needed for the scanner.

Saw some of those SCSI to usb cards. Do they have their own drivers and would a driver for a SCSI scanner work with them?

[Tesselator]

Originally Posted by macmesser

It was a good scanner; one of their top models. Fast and good color. I used to scan product shot prints but now do digital photography.

Thanks for the link. If I can get a decent driver for it maybe I'll give it a shot. TWAIN is sort of a universal scanner interface, right? I seem to recall that a TWAIN driver is needed for the scanner.

Saw some of those SCSI to usb cards. Do they have their own drivers and would a driver for a SCSI scanner work with them?

Well SANE stands for "Scanner Access Now Easy" See http://www.sane-project.org for details.

And yeah, TWAIN is a Protocol/API. All ya need is a "Data Source" (TWAIN jargon) for your scanner model AFAIK. "TWAIN" by the way isn't an acronym - it's actually taken from a line in a song: "Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the TWAIN shall meet..." Us software engineers are so silly! About the only decent resource I know for it outside of my own 17,000+ printed book collection (not all on the topic of TWAIN obviously) is http://twainforum.org but even that is pretty quiet these days. I guess there are a bunch of white-papers on-line that can be sussed though.

Anyway, if you're considering the V700 or V750 models which are fairly expensive then it might be worth spending a free day trying to get your current one connected and working first. Also while I'm at it I should probably mention that there are SCSI to firewire adapters as well - which some folks report as working better (probably due to the speed).

[monokakata]

Here's a very long shot.

I have a Compaq AlphaServer DS10 with two LSI Logic SCSI cards. I only need one card now.

The DS10 is old, so the slots must be the old PCI flavor.

LSI Logic SYMB952-U. I can't remember whether I bought it from Compaq or not. If I did, it might have non-generic firmware onboard. I just don't know.

If you do some research and think it might work, I'll gladly send it to you.

That said, in my experience new scanners are a whole lot better than old ones, at least in the same spec range.

[ActionableMango]

Maybe TWAIN has been improved a lot in these last few years, but back in the day when I used SCSI scanners and TWAIN, the feature set was very limited compared to using the scanner's proprietary drivers and software. Granted, that was back in the mid-90's.

[macmesser]

Originally Posted by monokakata

Here's a very long shot.

I have a Compaq AlphaServer DS10 with two LSI Logic SCSI cards. I only need one card now.

The DS10 is old, so the slots must be the old PCI flavor.

LSI Logic SYMB952-U. I can't remember whether I bought it from Compaq or not. If I did, it might have non-generic firmware onboard. I just don't know.

If you do some research and think it might work, I'll gladly send it to you.

That said, in my experience new scanners are a whole lot better than old ones, at least in the same spec range.

Thanks for the offer. Your card is probably similar to the Adaptec card I was using in the G4 so I doubt it will help. The more I think about this the more it seems I need to spring for a new scanner. I will check to see if the Adaptec can run in my Mac Pro. BTW, scanner is a Umax Powerlook II. I'll also check to see if I can get updated software for it. Worth a stab anyway, but I think the this exercise is getting complicated enough to be counterproductive.