Re: filmscanners: Fast, decent, low res scans

[Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>]

Phil wrote:

> Hello All,
> 
> Two weeks ago I e-mailed the list to ask you all about making fast, decent
> low res scans.
> 
> I went ahead and purchased the Acer Scanwit 2740S.
> 
> I spent the first half of this day struggling with SCSI drivers and Acer
> scanning software.  I could not get the scanner to work.  Finally, I called
> Acer.
> 
> It turns out that the SCSI PCI card they include with the scanner only works
> on PCs!!!!  I can't use this scanner on my Mac G4 without paying almost $300
> additional for a new Mac compatible SCSI card.
>

This is just plain silly.  I always thought a PCI card was a PCI card, 
and a Mac with PCI bus should follow the protocol, one would think. 
WHich Mac are you using?

OK, the first question is:  Is anyone on this list using an Acer 2720 or 
2740 with a Mac?  And if so, what are they doing about interfacing.

Do you know just what the problem is?  Do other PCI cards usually work 
in Multi-platform situations?  Why are Mac SCSI cards so expensive (at 
least ones which work with the Acer)

 
> I'm really really upset now.  I'm struggling with Acer "Customer Service" on
> the telephone.
> 

Well, at least they answer the phone which is more than I can say for 
some companies...

> I believe that Acer should indicate somewhere- on their website, in the
> scanner's instruction manuals, anywhere at all, that their PCI SCSI card is
> useless in a Mac.  The "Customer Service" woman herself is telling me now
> that "it should work!"  This is because even at Acer itself, there is no
> indication anywhere, on literature or electronically, that although the
> 2740S is Mac "compatible," it can't use the Acer SCSI card included with the
> scanner.  The retailers don't know this either- but since retail sales
> people often don't know much about technical specs anyway, they rely on the
> information given to them by the manufacturer- i.e. Acer.

I'm actually surprised to here this.  I thought the Acer was Mac 
compatible as it comes out of the box, and that would make me assume the 
SCSI card would also work.

> 
> I am very upset, and sorry to share this negative feeling with other human
> beings.  If someone has some Zen philosophy to share with me, I would
> appreciate it.
> 

Well, that depends... if you like the Nepalese style of Zen, I suppose 
you could murder the royal family to get yourself into power and then 
claim it was an "accident"...

(sorry, I'm sure it isn't very funny for the people of Nepal, but it is 
certainly an odd situation occurring there).

My form of Zen (which I studied, BTW, which just goes to prove it isn't 
always successful) ;-) :

Z= Zonk someone (or your dog) either verbally or physically

E= Eat comfort food until you are sick to your stomach

N= Never give up

Lick your wounds, repeat as needed.

I usually wear down my opponent until they are either babbling 
incoherently or they hand me a blank check (or both) ;-)

These techniques are particularly effective if you don't mind looking 
twice your age, and dying at 45 years of age.

Lastly, I will remind anyone who has been on this (or was it the 
scan@leben?) group for a year or more, that I had a long drawn out 
debate with Austin Franklin about the problematic nature of SCSI 
implementation, due to a mixture of the many versions, the dozens of 
cables and adapters, the different protocols, and the general lack of 
industry standards.

I have four SCSI adapters in 2 different computers, and as much as I 
like what they do (and when they work, they work well) configuring them 
took years off my life I'm never getting back!

And, Oh yes,

Try smiling!

Art


> Phil
> phil@nonstock.com