Scanners?

[TUBAD83]

Get a Mac. I never thought I would say that, but I'll never buy another PC.

Having recently purchased an imac, I totally agree with Homerun--HUGE difference that you will notice immediately.

As for a scanner I would suggest this:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Wireless-Of ... B0032AN4M6" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Does everything you need it to do and works great--had one and gave it to my brother and he loves it.

JJ

[Rick Denney]

What is the scanner?

Vuescan supports every scanner I've owned since the mid-90's. I now use it for everything from making a quick copy (direct scan to print) to making very high resolution film scans using a high-end Nikon LS-8000. The oldest scanner it has run for me is an Acer 1240UT (ca. 1998) and the newest is an Epson V750.

See if your scanner is on this list:

http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/vuescan.htm and take a look. The (very long) list of supported scanners is down the page a bit.

And what do you intend to do with a scanner? If it is making copies, then any scanner will work fine. If it is scanning photographs for enlargement, just about any scanner will still work fine if it is being run by good software. If it is scanning film, then that opens up a whole new line of questioning.

http://www.hamrick.com

Many photographers keep their old-but-good scanners in operation even when their manufacturers don't support newer operating systems. I was able to keep a Minolta Multi II film scanner in operation for years after Minolta stopped supporting it (prior to their disappearance), and would still be able to use it had I not replaced it with the Nikon. The Minolta has a SCSI interface--not a problem, even using a USB-SCSI converter. The Nikon has a firewire interface--not a problem. The Epson has a USB interface--not a problem. Vuescan provides native support for nearly all the supported scanners--you usually don't have to install the manufacturer's driver. And you can download it and test it with your scanner before you have to pay a nickel.

Yup, it also supports both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems, including Windows 7.

Rick "a Vuescan user since 1999" Denney

[TUBAD83]

But I don't need an all-in-one and I need the scanner to have a legal sized bed, not a letter size. I have not yet seen a legal sized all-in-one. "Legal size" meaning it has to scan an 8-1/2" x 14" piece of paper.

It will scan legal sized documents (just change the setting to legal)

If you don't care to have an all-in-one, you have 3 options:
1) Try and use your current scanner with an updated win7 driver if available
2) Upgrade your new pc to windows 7 professional and use the "xp mode" to install your current scanner's drivers
3) There are legal size flatbed scanners available but they are far more expensive than most all-in-ones.

Personally, if I couldn't find a driver that works for my old scanner I would just get an all-in-one; it will save time, money, and frustration (I had just recently went through a search for something that does NOT exist anymore--a flatbed fax/scanner!)

Good luck!

[Rick Denney]

If you don't care to have an all-in-one, you have 3 options:

Jerry, read my post--there is a fourth option that has a high likelihood of working. And if Vuescan supports Wayne's scanner, it will do more with it than the HP software would have.

The only thing he'll give up (except when using Photoshop) is TWAIN support, which means he'll have to save his scans as files and separately open them with whatever software he uses for manipulation.

Rick "thinking a lot of old-but-servicable scanners that still fulfill their owners' requirements are going to the landfill unnecessarily" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Memorex 6142U

That is apparently a Visioneer 4400U rebadged by Memorex (Memorex doesn't actually make anything themselves).

And it is unfortunately not on the "supported" list for VueScan.

But take a look at this thread, describing how one guy made his Visioneer 4400 come to life on Windows 7:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t3320174-w ... _windows_7

Basically, he figured a way to get Microsoft to find one of its own built-in scanner drivers.

If you can't get something like that to work, you might do a little research into some really old HP scanners from that era, find one used on Amazon (or eBay), and then use VueScan. That might be much cheaper than getting a new scanner.

Rick "noting that software obsolescence is a bigger problem than hardware obsolescence in all aspects of IT" Denney

[TUBAD83]

And I thought finding a cell phone that was JUST A CELL PHONE was tough. Its really sad that you can't find an affordable simple flatbed scanner.

[Mark]

If you do not need an automatic document feeder, then consider this: http://www.amazon.com/Mustek-Express-A3 ... 530&sr=8-1. I'm using one under Windows 7 and it works fine. It will scan any size of sheet music, including the big orchestra parts.

There are two small minuses: 1) It takes a lot of desk space and 2) It's slow.

I don't know how much you want to spend; but this scanner is about $160. It will scan A3 (nearly 11 x 17) and works with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7.

[Rick F]

I have an old UMAX scanner (Astra 2100) that I've had since my Win98 days (now on XP). It's been a great scanner — but I searched and can't find any Win7 drivers for it. Some day I'll be in the same boat as you Wade. I don't care for the 'all-in-one' type printers available today as they all seem to have the very small ink size cartridges. My HP Deskjet 720C is old too, but the black ink cartridge (HP45) has 42ml of ink and lasts nearly a year. I can get it refilled for $17. The ink jet printer business is like the Gillette Razor days where they almost give away the handle knowing you'll have to buy their blades.

[Tubaryan12]

I wonder if that scanner would work if you were running Ubuntu Linux?

[Rick Denney]

I have an old UMAX scanner (Astra 2100) that I've had since my Win98 days (now on XP). It's been a great scanner — but I searched and can't find any Win7 drivers for it.

VueScan supports the Umax Astra 2100 with its own driver, under Windows 7.

Rick "who has had to throw out a few things because of interface obsolescence, too" Denney