Purchase Advice: SCSI or Firewire?

[Paul Harper]

I don't intend to start a long thread here, but I can use some advice on which Mac system is best for connecting to an older SCSI scanner. I'm a PC user (most of the software I need is PC-only: photogrammetry stuff), but the scanner software is Mac, and I don't need another tower computer, so I'm looking at a Powerbook.
Would it be all right to buy a used Lombard (the last PB to have a SCSI connector), or would a G4 1GHz PB with a SCSI-Firewire converter (or SCSI PCMCIA card) have some advantage? My guess is that the data-rate going into the Mac would probably be limited by the scanning process, and the transfer of the image to the PC via ethernet should be the same for both Macs; so there's no advantage to the faster machine. Or am I wrong? Thanks for any suggestions.

- Paul

 

[CMillerERAU]

It must be a really nice scanner, I'd probably say just ditch the SCSI and get a USB one. If you're not interested in anything but scanning I'd say go for an old mac (not necessarily a powerbook, anything will do). I wouldn't bother with a converter, there's no telling what software/hardware conflicts you'll get. Also, an old scanner like that probably isn't designed for OS X so a new machine would require a lot more tweaking to work correctly. So if you really gotta have that SCSI scanner, get an old mac.

 

[Sun Baked]

Buy an older used OS 9 PowerMac with a SCSI card, and use it as a scan station.

The drivers and software you have may already be OS 9 -- with no OS X drivers and/or software updates.

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Though any choice for keeping an old SCSI scanner around will probably mean a used Mac.