PARALLEL/USB SCANNER

[Vieux Richard]

I need to purchase/install a scanner on a PC with Pentium 40MB RAM. No USB port as it's 3 years old. Budget fairly limited, so SCSI probably ruled out. This leaves parallel. However I'm not very happy with parallel scanners from previous experience with another PC system. I belive there is an add-in card (ISA?) to make a USB connector available.
Is this worth doing and is it cost effective?

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Vive la difference!

[fordvan]

I use a Lava card for my scanner - works OK and has no problems. You can look at the info here: http://www.lavalink.com/

[Vieux Richard]

Thks for your reply. I looked at the site and noted that they talk about Win 98 only. Does this card work with Win 95?

[fordvan]

Richard, I e-mailed the info about the Lava Card. It is supported by Win 95 as well.

[Vieux Richard]

I received the info, I'll get on to LAVA to see where I can buy it in France. Thanks for your help.

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Vive la difference!

[Vieux Richard]

Just an update on this - the LAVA card should work with Win95 OSR2 upwards. It seems that other USB PCI cards e.g.Belkin, require Win98.
I'm going to try the LAVA card as I've found a distributor in France.

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Vive la difference!

[Charliey]

You should make sure that the scanner you get has win95 drivers. Cuz although the usb is supported by win95 OSR2, many times the scanner drivers are only for win98.

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-Charlie

[Vieux Richard]

Thks Charlie, good point I'll make sure that I get the W95 drivers.

[archie]

Hey there VR ... and anyone who has or is considering a parallel scanner. The Acer Prisa 6_0P line is quite good if looking for a parallel scanner. Not only is is fast but it yields very good resultls ... IMHO.
Alas, one of the annoyances of a parallel scanner with a power switch (which is preferabe to have) is that the computer has to be rebooted to recognized the scanner if the power had been off and you want to use it. A much better way is to go to system properties (windows key + pause), Device Manager tab and hit REFRESH. Voila! http://www.pcmech.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Vieux Richard]

Hey Archie, thks for the tip - I'll pass it on. As matter of interest I have to do that REFRESH thing with my SCSI scanner if I turn it off before booting!.
Un petit question - I am told that a faster processor &/or more RAM is important for scanning speed - can you advise? I told my contact that RAM was more important than MhZ (all things being = i.e. USB or parallel in both cases). They have been advised to connect the scanner to the new(er) laptop, as it has a higher spec.

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Vive la difference!

[archie]

For RAM and CPU, some minimum requirements do have to be met ... I'm not sure what they are but a 166 MHZ with 64 MB of RAM works fine. There is a big difference in scanning speed from one model to another. No matter how fast the computer is, if the scanner is slow, it will be slow.