Today I worked on setting up the Canon CanoScan LiDE 700F scanner that we purchased. Before I did that, I had to remove and prepare the old Epson for my wife to take to school. It has been my scanner of choice since it was purchased five or six years. Working with its scanning software and VueScan, another multi-scanner application, any scanning project has been handled with relative ease. In a drawer near the scanner I find the installation quick startup guide, the scanner software, a copy of Photoshop Elements, and the scanner’s film carrier-nothing like being organized (more like lucky). I hope that this new scanner works as well.
The quick start guide says to install the software before connecting the hardware. Not a problem, and then I hook up the scanner. There is only one USB cable, no power cord. This was one of the reasons that my wife selected this model. She uses a similar model at school and has found it to be very reliable, and it doesn’t need a power cord. So I hook this model up, and start up the laptop. I connected it to the USB ports on the back of the 24 inch monitor that is hooked up to the MacBook Pro. This multiple purpose single cord has to be plugged into a powered USB port in order to draw enough current to work the scanner. I wanted to leave one open port on the laptop in case I needed to use a flash memory stick. I start the scanner and a message come up saying the scanner isn’t connected or there is a software problem. I check the cable, and sure enough, I didn’t push the plug far enough into the port. Great, I start the software up again and the same message come up, and I know its Snow Leopard. This isn’t bad, and to be expected seeing the recent release of the operating system. What is troubling is the warning at the Canon driver website (the authentic site as opposed to the help site that want to check you computer to see what drivers you need and then want to have you purchase special software to monitor your updates for drivers-mostly PC as opposed to Mac). Canon advises the scanner owner that there might be issues with OS 10.6 and they are working on patches to resolve any incompatibilities. I check the date on the latest software update and it is after the release of Snow Leopard, so “I hope for the best, but expect the worst “[a line from the movie The Twelve Chairs (1970), based on a Russian satirical novel of the same name(1928)]. It works-thank you Canon. I check the VueScan website to update my copy of VueScan, hoping that it is ready for Snow Leopard. An update is ready-two for two-I’m very happy. So I finish up in about ten minutes after the initial installation, and I’m ready to work on the laundry.
Well I put a hold on the laundry, and wonder if the Parallels emulator with Windows XP will work with the new scanner. I didn’t try it with the old Epson, but I thought why not see if it works with the new scanner. So I unplugged the scanner, and installed the software, after launching Window XP. Well it didn’t recognize the scanner either, as far as it was concerned there wasn’t any thing there. I checked Parallels and found under a USB icon on the control bar that all the recognized USB hardware was locked out, so I unlocked the Canon scanner. Next, to play it safe, I went online to Canon again to check the site for updates, and register my scanner. It was funny, registering the scanner was harder to do than setting up the software update. The problem with the software update was the fact that each element of the software package had to be individually downloaded. Three of the four elements of the software pack had newer versions. So I ran each patches. Earlier, when I started the ArcSoft PhotoStudio software that came with the scanner, a window appeared stating that a newer version was available for download, which I took advantage of. The last thing that I did was to move the USB cable from the back of the monitor to the laptop port, just to play it safe. It might work with the Mac that way, but I wanted to make sure that there was a direct connection between the scanner and Windows XP. This time everything work, both through the dedicated application and PhotoStudio. The only problem was finding where the Canon software stored the scanned images. It took a few minutes but the folder was located. The time spent on this setup was thirty-five minutes, start to finish.
I haven’t done a lot of hardware/software in Windows XP, and I was using an emulator on my Mac, so things might go a little bit faster for another person with a different computer. I could try this on the netbook, but I’m not interested at this time. I don’t think it would be faster than the Mac, simply because of the multiple downloads that were needed to match the installed software (of course, if there were no patches needed by either machines, the playing field would be leveled).
Well, I’m going to watch a replay of the Chicago Bears win over the Cleveland Browns. Next week Green Bay-w00t.
Note: w00t belongs to gamers the world over. It seems to have been derived from the obsolete 'whoot' which essentially is another way to say 'hoot' which itself is a shout or derisive laugh. But others maintain that w00t is the sound several players make while jumping like bunnies in Quake III. Still others want you to believe that it comes from the phrase 'wow loot' used in multiplayer RPGs many moons ago. And if you can believe it some folks even think it was derived from the gaming phrase, 'We Own the Other Team!' Fiction or fact? I suppose you'll just have to decide what 'w00t!' means to you…(from www.thinkgeek.com)
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