BS: Scanner question

Subject: BS: Scanner question
From: Arkie
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 12:38 PM

Hopefully, there is a scanner wizard seated somewhere in the Cafe. Is it possible to share a scanner? I have a Canon scanner connected to my computer. I have offered to connect it to my wife's laptop. She wants to use it via our household network as she does the printer.

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: Amos
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 12:45 PM

The short answer is yes; we have an all-in-one printer/scanner is a central room, and when it scans it invites you to choose a destination computer for the scan file to be placed. This depends on how smart the machine is. If it is simply a dumb scanner which merely produces a scan file on the machine directly connected to it, you should still be able to save the file to your wife's machine, or to have her bring the laptop over and connect to the scanner. Whether the scanner will appear or not as a networked device depends on the age and capability of the particular scanner.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: olddude
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 12:49 PM

yup what Amos said ... works fine, even if it is a dumb scanner you can still use it by setting it as share via windows and have her add the device on her laptop

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 04:52 PM

As several have said, if you have a network that allows you to share files between computers, you should also be able to share (almost) any device connected to either (any) of the computers.

You will have to install drivers for a printer or scanner on each machine that may use it. Usually, when you install software for something like a printer or scanner and set it to be shared you should be asked if you want to install drivers for other computers. (Essentially this is just asking if you want to let other computers copy the driver when they are set up, in most cases.) If you've done this, the new computer should find and install the drivers when you "discover" the device from the added computer.

Printers usually are quite easy to share. A problem with sharing scanners is that the physical location must be where it's easy for the "current operator" to feed stuff to be scanned into it.

Sharing scanners usually is much easier if you have, or can find, a TWAIN-capable driver for the scanner. There may not be a TWAIN driver for very old (or very cheap) scanners, and more recent ones that have/had one for WinXP may not offer one usable with Vista (or later). Lots of printers/scanners come with non-TWAIN drivers, or don't install them by default; but you may be able to find an update you can download from the maker of the device.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: Arkie
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 06:22 PM

Thanks to all for comments and suggestions. I went looking for a TWAIN driver and found the following comment:

Cons: Note that this scanner only has a TWAIN driver available. Photoshop CS4 does *not support* TWAIN drivers on any 64-bit operating system. So if you have 64-bit Windows 7, don't fire up Photoshop CS4 and expect to see an "Import > Scanner" option. You have to run the scanner from a separate application, save then scan, then import the result into Photoshop.

I am running Windows XP and the scanner came bundled with Adobe Photoshop Elements and ArcSoft Photo Studio. So far the only TWAIN downloads I have found are through DriverWhiz, Driver Cure, and other such programs that promise to scan my computer for missing drives, etc. with a cost of $19.95 and up. I do not mind paying for something that is going to work and provide what I need. But I just got the computer back after a virus attack and I am a bit jumpy.

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 11:22 PM

You normally would get the TWAIN driver from the manufacturer of the scanner.

If the mfr doesn't offer one, you might be able to find something from Adobe, although its not really their business to provide them.

There shouldn't be a charge for downloading from either of those, if you can find one.

There is an alternate interface called WIA that might suit you. Drivers I've loaded for various of my scanners offer Import from (scanner) TWAIN or Import from (scanner) WIA. The WIA interface works on the ones that show it (in my Photoshop Elements 2) but the WIA interface is a bit "clunky" compared to the TWAIN so I've almost never used it.

Both TWAIN and WIA are just "communication protocols" that allow the scanner/computer to talk to each other in a standard language; but for either of them to work the scanner driver must incorporate information about what the scanner can do and how the standard instructions are interpreted by both scanner and computer.

Vista killed a lot of perfectly good scanners since Vista blocks any "direct to hardware" commands. Everything has to go through a "protection layer" and that means that new drivers had to be written specific to Vista. Most older scanner drivers also were written for 32 bit systems (and programs), and scanner makers frequently have not produced 64 bit capable drivers for "legacy" scanners, so 64 bit WinXP also kills a lot of them. If your WinXP is the more common 32 bit version, you should be able to use an older 32 bit TWAIN driver - although I haven't looked at CS4 on 32 bit systems.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 11:46 PM

WIndows 7 may have the same problem as Vista in that a protection layer blocks almost every command to start up a program.

Also there is a factory default setting in Windows 7 task manager that adds EVERYTHING that could be considered media like pictures and video and loading it into active memory within Windows media player. With media player always open in the background all my RAM was used up leaving me with a slow or stopped computer. We had to change the default setting in task manager. In other words the factory setting is designed to crash your windows 7 computer.

Subject: RE: BS: Scanner question
From: Arkie
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 03:32 PM

John, thanks for your patience and detailed information. My Scanner had a WIA driver, I guess, as WIA did appear along with the name in the paperwork. My brain finally woke up and I went directly to the Canon website and located a scanner update which was designated as TWAIN and have downloaded that driver, and the scanner is still working fine with my computer. I've sent the web link to my wife so she can also download the driver. I had no problem sharing the printer. Right click etc. and the share command pops up. Not the case with the scanner. No share command anywhere. It may come up when the computer is restarted.

In my initial research on scanners the importance of a TWAIN driver was such that I resolved to make sure my scanner would have the TWAIN connection. When I finally was ready to buy I became more concerned about OCR software and forgot about the necessity for TWAIN. I am very pleased with the OmniPage OCR bundle as it does what I need quite well. But the sharing is an issue.