Damn problems continue

[Battou]

For the longest time I had been operating on a computer that operated on Windows ME. When I looked into getting a negative scanner I looked specifically for one that would run on ME. Back in November I suffered a double computer crash, both my computer at work and the one at home up and died. Now the one at work, though a problem was not going to interfere with my scanning process. The one at home however did but that is not all of the problem. After the crash I was helped out and given a couple of computers as payment for some work I've done in the past. Both of these computers are newer and more powerful than the one I had, yay right. Well as it turns out my Canon Canoscan FS 2710 is not compatible with Windows XP, in fact windows ME was the last version it supported without hassle.

Since Canon is more interested in selling new products than supporting the currently owned and operated equipment, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I have to either get the old computer operational and put the equipment back into that computer, buy a new scanner or buy adapters and download a bunch of driver crap and prey that it actually works.

Now running a third PC is out of the question, I hated the process of scanning on one PC and transferring to a second PC for processing back when I had only the one PC needing to take the images to work to use Photoshop CS3 not to mention the space required for a third PC that I do not have.

This leaves me to either buy a new scanner or buy an adapter and download the driver crap. Now I can't exactly afford a new scanner or an adapter at this time, but I need my damn scanner back up and running, this is killing me.

Suffice it to say next time I am Olean I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pick up a friggin adapter whether I have the money or not.

If that don't work I'm going to be seriously pissed.

[PhotoJet]

Well... this whole story reminds me of owning a used car. Once they get to the point where you are pouring money into them, there is a thin line that separates keeping it vs. buying new. It's a cost/benefit analysis.
As for companies supporting way-outdated products/versions... it's not in their best interests to do that. It costs money to support old technology. Don't blame them for not supporting it! ;)
Here's what I'm seeing... Windows ME is at least 3 versions out-of-date. XP is 2. I still know people who are running it, but the "basis" (motherboards, bios, hard drives, etc) is old and not up to the task of some of the newer programs... especially those used in processing graphics.
So don't be too hard on a company for not supporting old technology. It's not often profitable to do it... how far back do you support??? Win 95? Dos 6.0???

I do hope you get things up & working for you! :)

[Battou]

You misunderstood my post. I don't have the money to buy a new dedicated film scanner, don't have the time to pussy foot around with film enabled flatbed, Hell I don't have the money for the adapter I need....I'm just short of screwd. I can't process any thing untill I have this resolved. I havn't posted a new serious photo since August...I'm getting seriously bothered by this.

[Fenman]

Does Windows ME run as an operating system on one of your newer computers? I know that it is possible to run an older system on Macs but only so far back with the newer processors.

[Battou]

Does Windows ME run as an operating system on one of your newer computers? I know that it is possible to run an older system on Macs but only so far back with the newer processors.

In theroy I could do that, but going back to ME I would lose Photoshop CS4 bringing me right back to having to scan on one PC and transfer to another for post. That is way too much hassle.

I could virtualize but this computer (Newest of the two) predates hardware assisted virtualization so the performance would be impacted. Additionally I was informed that it is very likely won't work for my scanner by the IT consultant who gave me the towers.

I could also run two hard drives, one OS each with a dual boot. I would have to screw with the boot.ini to provide a boot menu and knowing my luck I would screw that up pretty bad.

[Jeff Jarboe]

there is an aftermarket scanner software than may work for you, now if i can only recall the name, I was thinking getting it myself for window 7 64-BIT

[Jeff Jarboe]

VueScan by http://www.hamrick.com/

[Battou]

VueScan by http://www.hamrick.com/

I did read something about that in my pooring over the internet for solutions but never did get a link anywhere and was too busy to search it.


I don't really want to change my scanning software because I used to the canocraft but if I have to I will.


I'll take a look at it right here directly.

[KMann]

Okay, Battou, I'm going to go right out on a limb here and say this: the following is more your problem than your hardware and your software combined "knowing my luck I would screw that up pretty bad." I will supply a tone of voice here - I mean this is the nicest possible and most helpful way. You sound like me about thirty five years ago. What a waste of time that was. All the time I thought that I was just cursed. And then one day I realized that if anyone was cursing me it was the gal in the mirror. So I stopped being pissed off about everything and started trying to make things work, and I learned how to take an attitude about eventualities that would be more useful.

So, your immediate problem is really that you can no longer run your old scanner? Can't you install your old ME OS on the new computers? Not and run PsCs4. Right. So you have to choose. It is about choice and you have all the power. Use it. It's either the old scanner and the old software or the new computer and the new software and you have to find a newer scanner that works. If that is really the case, that there are no available drivers for the old scanner then you are in the same boat as me. The old scanner won't work with Win7. Oh well. I have to save up for one that does. In the meantime I made the choice to go digital in 1995 so I have a lot of material to work with. You chose to never go digital. You have to live with the limitation of that.

Frankly, I would seriously consider going digital. Stop, don't throw that tomato! Yikes.

I bet that there are film scanners out there on eBay that would do. I'm betting that your techie buddies would help you look and get one.

I wrote all the foregoing because it makes me sad to see you miserable about this. I hope you will think about it a bit. I decided long ago that there was no sense fighting battles that I could not possibly win. I have been honing my skills in telling the difference ever since.

Good luck Battou. I hope you find a solution really soon.

[Battou]

Got it working, the solution was too simple to spot....I had to uninstall my all in one printer.

After that it works beautifully.

[PatrickHMS]

See?

As they say, "It's never as bad as it seems..."

But on the other hand, maybe it's never as good as it seems either.

But it sure beats the alternative.

[Battou]

yeah, things had to get worse before they could get better.......but now that I have other crap to worry about this is one less right.....Up next is why Photoshop CS4 quit on me :(

[Battou]

I must have pissed off the photogods or something

[PatrickHMS]

Note to KMann, don't know how old you are, but I LOVE your attitude.

No matter how it seems sometimes, I never thought that inanimate things could gang up on me, and even if they could they sure aren't gonna beat me...

[Battou]

Note to KMann, don't know how old you are, but I LOVE your attitude.

No matter how it seems sometimes, I never thought that inanimate things could gang up on me, and even if they could they sure aren't gonna beat me...


But sometimes ignoring the obvious choices can lead to a solution that serves the individual better by revealing a better choice. Going digital or spending money I do not have is a compromise, at least for me. I chose not to compromise, Yeah it was not easy and no I never did find the solution on the internet, I discovered it by determination, trial and error. Now I have my long trusted dedicated film scanner running on Windows XP where I can also keep Photoshop CS4. I have been looking forward to being able to process at home from scan to internet on one PC. Soon I will be able to do just that with out spending money I did not have.


Even then, my posting this issue and whining on the internet was not a total waste of time, One other site I use infrequently did proove helpful in one element. A PM conversation between myself and another user who was running the FS2710 on XP, scrutinizing my connections and drivers made me go fumbling through a lot of things I would never have thought to check. It was not until I went through and tried something that he had not been able to do, returning an error, but his error was different than mine. That was to manually configure the scanner. It was here that I found the conflict between the (USB) HP desk jet F300 series all in one printer and the (SCSI) film scanner. The FS2710 predates that all in one by half a decade atleast...the software was not programmed to accept the F300 as the default printer. Once I uninstalled the F300 series, the auto configure did it's job and away I go.

All I have to do now is reinstall the all in one and I know I can because I had the two running simultaniously before, it should not prove to be a problem now.

[KMann]

I am happy to hear that you are back in business. I'm having a technical problem at the moment and if I wasn't already a goddess I would think they were out to get me. :)

Patrick HMS I'm older than Fox. By a little bit. :) And that's getting on. LOL! Thanks about the attitude. I'm hoping that we just find more joy the older we get.

[lvcrtrs]

Patrick HMS I'm older than Fox. By a little bit. :) And that's getting on. LOL! Thanks about the attitude. I'm hoping that we just find more joy the older we get.[/QUOTE]

+1 although hunt for and then find seems to be more the case than just find. Thank heavens there are a few perks to getting on. :sun:

[PatrickHMS]

I turned 60 a few days before Christmas, I'm probably older'n most of you here....

[KMann]

Patrick, I'm just a tich older than you are, but after all these years, what's the difference? *grin*

I love digital. I had a decent practice together back in my black and white days, and thorough training, reasonably good results but I longed for colour and couldn't afford the processing, and was unwilling to expose myself to the chemicals. (a man in my neighbourhood just recently died of a sudden and virulent lung cancer after spending his life in the darkroom processing colour photos)

I got my colour fix by painting and drawing. Crayons. But I longed for the freedom to shoot in colour.

I grabbed the first digital camera I could afford. It was a tiny little Olympus. It made grainy little miraculous images. I bought an Agfa scanner and got a full version of Photoshop 4.0 with it for an extra $200 and never looked back. Bought the first Canon digital SLR that I could afford and set the Nikon film camera on the shelf forever.

I'm still pretty much of a traditionalist in my imagery, and seldom stray far from the real, but the power of Ps is beyond terrific. I can hardly imagine being hampered by film.

Battou - digital is not a compromise and I am betting there are plenty of just a bit older digital SLRs out there that you could afford if you sold some of your old gems. There is some loss as you move from generation to generation. Presently, shooting colour film you are losing control the moment you click the shutter. Someone else does the developing. You lose quality scanning negatives to digital. If you are printing your digital scans your output is digital in a roundabout way. So, where's the compromise? Don't tell me that your lenses are so superior as to negate all the downside of having to scan - you lose that when you scan.

[ann]

i am older than the above and more than 3 years :)

after i returned in Jan. i went through several weeks of electronic hell, if it wasn't one thing it was another. But it finally passed and everything is back to working, and now it is up to me to produce the work.

Even with traditional work, things can get strange and it is those days that i think the gremials have invaded the dark room, so it isn't just computers, scanners, etc.

[KMann]

ann - we surely grew up in interesting times, eh? I can usually pick out people in our age group on the net - it's the boomer brats - we have had quite a history. :)

[Battou]

Battou - digital is not a compromise and I am betting there are plenty of just a bit older digital SLRs out there that you could afford if you sold some of your old gems. There is some loss as you move from generation to generation. Presently, shooting colour film you are losing control the moment you click the shutter. Someone else does the developing. You lose quality scanning negatives to digital. If you are printing your digital scans your output is digital in a roundabout way. So, where's the compromise? Don't tell me that your lenses are so superior as to negate all the downside of having to scan - you lose that when you scan.


"Where is the compromise?" The compromise would be in my preferred media of shooting. My vision, My photo, My rules. Don't get me wrong, I've shot digital photos and used many digital cameras. I was not impressed, I was not anywhere close to being satisfied with the process. I will continue my refusal to throw away my film SLR until such a time when I am. I shoot film and I won't change that because everyone around me thinks I should because it's not always about the image quality, but the feeling one gets as they commit to taking the photograph.

Additionally the hit to me wallet is far more than you are making it out to be. I could sell everything I own and still not be able to afford the digital equivalent to all of my primary glass. Hell I'd be luckey to get an acceptable digital equivalent for my most used piece of glass, that being a 400mm prime. It would be different if I shot a Nikon or an EOS film body but I don't, I don't even like how they feel in my hand.

[ann]

KMann, i am pass the boomer stage and on occasion i do realize i have witnessed a lot of change (growth) or what ever.

Battou, just do what ever makes you happy.

[KMann]

It was just a suggestion and an invitation to engage in a discussion Battou, not a personal attack. But there you go. Have fun. My mistake. Surely you know that it is mostly about the feeling you get and that is the most important thing for you. Great!

Ann, if you're 63 you're a post war baby, and in the baby boom! Like me and half a dozen others of us around here. I'm glad I was born when I was, and have seen the changes over the decades. I wish I could say I envy younger people the world that is coming but I don't.

[ann]

i am 73

and i have no desire to be anything but what i am :)

[KMann]

I guess you get the senior senior award then Ann. I misread your post and thought you said you were 63. :) heh.

[ann]

well i can get a discount these days for a variety of things, but of course one just have to be in the senior division to make that happen.

[KMann]

Made it to 61 last summer .... hope I make it to 73. Or 93. As long as I can see. :)