Panther 10.3.4 vs SCSI.....NOT!!!

[Sparky's]

I will try to be as clear as possible on this Thread.
The equipment in question:
G3-450 (blue & white) with a G4-800 Sonett CPU, 768mg RAM. The original 12gb HD running OS 9.2.2 and an additional internal 80gb HD with OS X (Panther) 10.3.4 installed.
Problem:
1. Using OS 9 I use the UMAX Powerlook III scanner (SCSI interface) with MagicScan Plug-in for scanning and OmniPage Pro 8.0 for OCR. All works well.
2. I boot to the Panther HD and try to scan or OCR somewthing "no scanner found". I do a System Profile and the SCSI isn't even recognized So I do some research and discover there are major finger pointing issues goiong on between Adaptec and Apple as to who is to blame.
3. Only solution (so far) is http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=100393
but it seems to be a valid fix

Anyone else out there run across this issue yet?

 

[Sun Baked]

Ever since Umax ran away from OS X screaming like a bunch of silly schoolgirls...

I'd say the chances of problems with their scanner and any post OS 9 operating system will eventually make Umax scanner extinct on Macs.

Unless they realize the error of their ways like HP did, but fat chance of that happening.

---

But life with a SCSI card ever since the B&W machine came out has been problematic at best -- don't think it'll change.

 

[bousozoku]

I gave up on using my UMAX scanner with Mac OS X three years ago, even with VueScan and SCSI Helper.

 

[snickelfritz]

Have you tried the "Initio Miles2 Ultra2 SCSI Host Card"?
This card is reputed to be compatible with any Powermac, including the G5.
It is also reputed as being ideal for narrow devices(like your Umax scanner) in very fast systems like the G5, since it is a 66mhz host adapter and will leverage the additional bandwidth available in PCI-X slots.
OSX(including 10.3) scanning software/driver is available for your scanner from Umax.

 

[Sparky's]

Maybe You didn't understand the issue:

"System Profiler" doesn't even SEE the SCSI card in the PCI slot.

I have e-mailed Adaptec (card in question is "ADPT 2930CU") and they also pointed the finger at UMAX, but they too ignored the fact that the OS X wouldn't recognize the SCSI card. I'm realy tired of all this D*** finger pointing and would just like someone to give me a straight answer. Spending additional money is not an option, my hands are tied from the owner of the company who's now really pissed at the fact that he spent $1,000 to migrate to OS X on our G3, and nothing works. Until I can get these issues worked out, he's not spending another penny.

Putting the UMAX out of the picture, how can I get "Panther" to recognize the SCSI?

 

[JFreak]

the card of yours doesn't seem to be adaptec retail card but some special version. or then i'm mistaken. so if it's a special card, it may need special drivers, too.

how great is your scanner? do you really have to cry about it not working? for a hundred you can have a trouble-free usb scanner that i guess would be a lot better than your old scsi model. at least don't buy anything scsi related to try to solve your problem - just buy current gear and stop crying.

adaptec 2910 (10MB), 2920 (20MB) and 2940 (40MB) versions should work perfectly. i have never heard of a 2930 model.

 

[Sparky's]

Well, it was the card that came with the G3 when we bought it in 1999 from CDW.

 

[bousozoku]

Maybe You didn't understand the issue:

"System Profiler" doesn't even SEE the SCSI card in the PCI slot.

I have e-mailed Adaptec (card in question is "ADPT 2930CU") and they also pointed the finger at UMAX, but they too ignored the fact that the OS X wouldn't recognize the SCSI card. I'm realy tired of all this D*** finger pointing and would just like someone to give me a straight answer. Spending additional money is not an option, my hands are tied from the owner of the company who's now really pissed at the fact that he spent $1,000 to migrate to OS X on our G3, and nothing works. Until I can get these issues worked out, he's not spending another penny.

Putting the UMAX out of the picture, how can I get "Panther" to recognize the SCSI?

I have that same SCSI card and it was recognised by System Profiler. There was a jumper that needed to be changed for it to allow drive booting for Blue and White and newer machines. This should not affect it but it's difficult to tell.

Please try SCSI Helper. I think you can find it by looking for the VueScan scanner interface software. Part of the problem is that apparently, SCSI was never extended to support devices other than disk and tape drives, so CD writers and scanners were using extensions which were allowed through Mac OS 9.x and earlier but not by Mac OS X.

JFreak:

The 2930CU is a standard Adaptec UltraSCSI card that was available in retail packaging for Macs and x86 machines.

 

[JFreak]

JFreak:

The 2930CU is a standard Adaptec UltraSCSI card that was available in retail packaging for Macs and x86 machines.

i stand corrected, just checked the adaptec site after your comment; it seems that the model was never sold in europe - it is the 2920 that has been advertised over here. i guess they are almost identical models?

oh well... scsi is wonderful technology, but it seems it's nowadays becoming (relatively) too expensive for other than server use.

 

[Sun Baked]

http://adaptec-tic.adaptec.com/cgi-bin/adaptec_tic.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=11052

Question
When are new drivers being released for the Macintosh SCSI cards? There is currently an issue with the Adaptec SCSI card on the Macintosh and was told to get an update from Adaptec, when will the new driver be released with a fix?

This information applies to the following Product(s):

- Adaptec PowerDomain 1480
- Adaptec PowerDomain 29160
- Adaptec PowerDomain 29160N
- Adaptec PowerDomain 39160
- Adaptec PowerDomain 2930
- AVA-2906

This information applies to the following Operating System(s):

- Mac OS X 10.3
- Mac OS X 10.2
- Mac OS X 10.1
- Mac OS X 10.0
- Mac OS 9.2
- Mac OS 9.1
- Mac OS 9.0.4
- Mac OS 9.0.2
- Mac OS 9.0
- Mac OS 8.6

Answer
Adaptec is no longer developing SCSI drivers for the Mac OS. Technical support is available for those products still in their complimentary support period; however, there will be no new SCSI drivers, firmware, or patches available.

 

[Sparky's]

the card of yours doesn't seem to be adaptec retail card but some special version. or then i'm mistaken. so if it's a special card, it may need special drivers, too.

how great is your scanner? do you really have to cry about it not working? for a hundred you can have a trouble-free usb scanner that i guess would be a lot better than your old scsi model. at least don't buy anything scsi related to try to solve your problem - just buy current gear and stop crying.

adaptec 2910 (10MB), 2920 (20MB) and 2940 (40MB) versions should work perfectly. i have never heard of a 2930 model.

I don't know what kind of scanning you do in Finland but for a $100 you couldn't get a decent black and white scanner here. I'm talking about anything with a D-Max above 3.4 and "Real" resolution of 2400 or better.
The Scanner I use I stand behind 100% It's not a $65,000 drum scanner but for what I do for our customers (pleasing color) the UMAX Powerlook III is quite a work horse. I am going to exercise my otion and look into this adapter http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=100393 CDW has informed me it's returnable so for $90 I'm not in a danger of loosing.

And Please.... don't ever tell me to stop crying

 

[Sparky's]

This was the response I got from Adaptec.

Good morning Marc.

The driver for this card is build into Panther directly and has no compatibility issues If the system doesn't see your attached scanner (and I know for a fact UMAX has issues with OSX) you will want to call UMAX. I suspect this is more of an issue with the scanner or the software controlling the scanner.

Support for this card is 2 years and if it came in your G3 it is well outside of its complimentary support period I'm afraid.


Sincerely,
Jason Hahn
Customer Service

He also didn't get it.
I'm looking elsewhere for a solution, possibly the Belkin SCSI/Firewire adapter for $80. I have heard of other people using this with much success.

 

[Sparky's]

Putting things to bed

I can finally say I know the final answer

After receiving responses from Adaptec, UMAX, Laser Soft (makers of SilverFast) and VueScan here's the results.

For all you out there who have a UMAX Powerlook III scsi interface scanner, using a G3 or G4 or G5 for that matter, there is Magicscan 5.1 supposedly for OS X but I haven't seen it yet. SilverFast SE will work with Jaguar but not Panther. SilverFast AI (the full Pro version) does work with Panther but you can't upgrade from SE to AI if you have a PL III only PL II (go figure)
VueScan (so they claim) will work with Panther but I haven't tried it yet. The nice thing about VueScan is that you can download the full version in demo first to make sure it works, and the full pro version only costs $79 which entitles you to lifetime upgrades. Also I have pondered the option of using a SCSI to Firewire adapter that would allow me to keep the SE version of SilverFast I have and still use the scanner. I'm really anxious to resolve this because not only scanning is at stake but a great deal of our work relies on OCR to input text. The UMAX scanner has been a steady workhorse for us and I don't want to leave it behind in the OS X migration.

VueScan: http://www.hamrick.com/index.html

Laser Soft (SilverFast AI): http://www.silverfast.com/highlights/en.html

Belkin Adapter: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=100393

I hope this resolves a few issues for some, I know it did for me. Now I can let my boss know what's happening and get on with life