OSX Drivers for scanners and storage devices?

UMAX MicroTeck and others and even HP are bad about supporting OSX, so far as scanners are concerned. For one thing the TWAIN driver system used by apple and PC is was until apple went to UNIX unheard of in the UNIX wrold. Finally, supposedly, Apple has come out with workable specs on TWAIN for UNIX in OX.4. Its abosolutely unheard of, no support what so ever in X.2. and only marginally so in X.3.

What you can do, is use Google and look up SANE. Its an acronym for Scanner Access Now Easy. Its UNIX equivelent of Twain. Go to that site look up Apple OSX support and get the components need for the version of OSX needed. It will be 4 or 5 files you'll need. Sane/Twain Backend, Sane/.Twain frontend interface, GetText. Libsub files, and possible a Preference pane file. Make sure you down load the exct version for X.2. the version for X.3 nor X.4 is compatible and so on.

Its not 100% foolproof and may be subject to ocassional coruption in which you'll need to reinstall all the parts.

But it keep you from have a 2-300 dollar doorstop.

and for my UMAX2400 Scanner it works very well

I would be very leary of buying a scanner today and make abosolutely sure it will work out of the box and have the required TWAIN Driver, before buying. And I would only support those scanner companies in the future that supported OSX.
PowerBook 17" with 2 GB system RAM, 1.67GHZ and OSX.4.2 and

I'm trying to re install the driver for a CanoScan LiDE 30 scanner on an eMac running OS X 10.3.9. It won't install and says it can't find a file, Color sync. We had been using this scanner in the past.
Tech suport at apple care gave me a web site for cannon where they said i could download a driver that would work in OS X, but when i went there all i found was an empty page. But wouldn't i still need that file?
I'm kinda new at this and would appreciate any advice.

Hi Robin,

Welcome to the discussions.

Here is a link that contains a driver for your model of scanner:

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=DownloadDetailAct&fcategoryid=35 1&modelid=6623

You need to click on the "Drivers/Software" link heading to get to the driver download. It will show blank first, then will load up. You should be able to take it from there. You will be able to select the driver (for OS X) as well as other tool applications that will assist your use of the scanner in OS X.

Have fun!

Cheers!

Karl

Skip- UMAX no longer supports their older scanners in OSX, but you should have seen their offer to sell you a copy of SIlverfast by lasersoft. I also think that Vuescan will run your scanner (check www.hamrick.com)- can't help with your old storage, but lwet me know (I have some old syquests it would be fun to use

Regarding additional scanner drivers, I found this in Apple Article ID: 58351 Date Created: May 07, 1999 Date Modified: May 10, 1999. Not sure if this will help, but it may help others .. Many Install CD's have additional information on them are not installed by default. These usually are located on CD Install disks #2, #3 and so forth...
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My Power Book G3 Series (Bronze keyboard) CD has a CD Extras Folder that contains a USB Device Drivers folder. What are the contents for and do I need to install them?
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To use a USB device with a Mac OS-based computer, the device needs a driver. Apple has drivers for some devices such as mice, keyboards, and hubs, already installed in the Mac OS. Third party devices also need a driver, some of which are in the USB Device Drivers folder.
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For your convenience, Apple has provided some additional drivers in the CD Extras folder, including those for the UMAX 1220U scanner (UMAX VistaScan software), HP 600 Series DJ Printers and many Epson printers (Stylus COLOR 440, Stylus COLOR 600, Stylus COLOR 640, Stylus COLOR 740, and the Stylus Photo EX).
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To install these drivers, double-click the appropriate folder to open it, then launch the Installer and follow the onscreen directions. After you install the driver software, you should be able to use the device. Driver software for other devices is available from the manufacturer of the device.
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Important: If you have questions about these drivers, please contact the manufacturer of the device.
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For the latest drivers or information about these devices, refer to the following web sites:
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Printers
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http://www.epson.com/support/
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http://www.hp.com/
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Scanners
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http://www.umax.com/

I have a umax 1220u and am going to see if these drivers can be found on the cd that came with my new mac. thankyou - tim musjazz@hotmail.com