Using Epson Perfection 3590 Scanner in OS 9.2.2

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Level 2

475 points

Using Epson Perfection 3590 Scanner in OS 9.2.2

I know that Epson says the Perfection 3590 Photo scanner requires OS X and it does work fine on my Mac in OS 10.3.9. However, I noted that most of the software that comes w/ the scanner has also been ported for the classic Mac OS. So, I loaded all that software and have attempted to use the scanner in OS 9.2.2. No joy!

The scanner is recognized in Apple System Profiler, but upon booting into OS 9, I get a message that there aren't any drivers for the attached scanner, would I like to search the internet for software for the scanner. Of course it can't find any. I tried tricking the system by loading the OS 9 drivers for the prior generation of Epson Perfection scanners, but that didn't seem to do anything.

I also tried VueScan, but it couldn't find my scanner.

Anyone have any ideas for getting that scanner to work in OS 9?

Thanks,

Carl B.

Beige G3 MT, Mac OS 9.2.x, 1 GHz; 768 MB; 80 GB - 7200 rpm - 133 ATA HDD

Posted on May 27, 2006 6:42 PM

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Answer 1

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

May 27, 2006 7:28 PM in response to CEB II

Hi, Carl. Without an OS 9 driver, your scanner isn't going to be usable in OS 9. Since you say it works fine in OS X, and Vuescan also supports it in OS X, I don't understand your purpose in trying to use it with the older OS despite Epson's stipulation that it requires X. What's the object?

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Answer 2

CEB II Author

Level 2

475 points

May 27, 2006 11:53 PM in response to eww

I do a lot of heavy lifting in OS 9 (that's where most of my apps are and it is faster) so it is a PITA to have to boot back into OS X just to make a copy of a document. It is also a pain having the little message come up every time I boot into one of my non-OS X volumes, telling me I need software for my scanner.

These scanners have put me between the rock and the hard place. My UMAX SCSI scanner wouldn't work in OS X and in fact caused severe slowdowns in OS X when it was hooked up and powered up. So I dump the SCSI scanner (not a big deal since it was 8 years old) and buy a new USB scanner. Now the USB scanner only works w/ OS X and causes problems in OS 9.

I was kind of hoping someone would steer me to a work-around or a hack to make the scanner functional in OS 9.

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Answer 3

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

May 28, 2006 4:39 AM in response to CEB II

About all I can suggest is that you try to get a copy of an older, OS 9-based version of Vuescan (perhaps by emailing Ed Hamrick) and see whether it will drive the scanner. Lasersoft's SilverFast is another third-party professional-quality scanner driver/control package. Even its latest version apparently runs in OS 9, but your scanner is not on LaserSoft's list of supported units (which is nowhere near as extensive as VueScan's).

You may actually be better off buying an older used scanner for use with OS 9.

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