SCSI connections

[leftie]

About 3 years ago I bought a very expensive Fulitsu duplex scanner for a particular job I had to do. It had a SCSI to SCSI lead. A month ago I decided I needed the scanner again and after much hunting to find the original power pack and SCSI lead find that neither my lap top nor desk top have a SCSI input.

I am sure when I used the scanner SCSI connections were standard on desktops?

Has the computer world just moved on? Do they not put SCSI connectors in any more?

How do I now connect the scanner? The only option I can find is a SCSI to USB connector which is £50 worth and I can get a new HP unit for not much more to do the job I now want (albeit no sheet feed).

I noticed on Dabs.com that the current version of this scanner is still about £700, so I was thinking about selling the scanner through Ebay once I have done the current job as I have the OCR software, which was about £200, so it is probably worth geting it up and working to avoid this SCSI/SCSI problem making it unsaleable.

[GreenV8S]

SCSI isn't common in budget PCs, you might find it in older file servers. USB seems to be the conventional way to connect scanners and stuff. You could add a SCSI card if you really want to use that scanner. My experience with SCSI hardware is that it can be quite fussy, and SCSI + USB doesn't seem like a good move.

[Pigeon]

SCSI interfaces were never standard on desktop PCs which is why we have shitty interfaces like ATA (IDE) for hard drives. They were standard on Macs because Apple's hardware design was more intelligent.

You ought to be able to pick up a SCSI card at a computer fair for a tenner or so. There's usually one stall that has a new one and one stall that has a second-hand one You need to be sure you have the right external connector; there are 50-pin and 68-pin ones which look almost exactly the same, so take your cable along to make sure it fits.

If you can't find one I might be able to lend you one if you tell me how many pins you need.

[Pigeon]

GreenV8S said:

My experience with SCSI hardware is that it can be quite fussy

I found that on classic Macs - seems Apple's software design was less intelligent than their hardware design - but on PCs it Just Works (TM), all you have to do is make sure each device is set to a unique ID, which you're unlikely to have to worry about with a single device It also needs to be correctly terminated, but most devices have terminators built in, especially external ones, and if the scanner was working before chances are this is already correctly set up.

GreenV8S said:

and SCSI + USB doesn't seem like a good move.

Definitely agree here - a USB to SCSI adaptor sounds like an expensive nightmare waiting to happen. A proper SCSI card will be cheaper and much more likely to work.

[leftie]

Many thanks, I recall that I may have had a SCSI card put in the old machine which now lives in a box in the garage: I will have a look.

[GreenV8S]

Pigeon said:

all you have to do is ...

I've had no end of trouble in the past from nominally equivalent equipment and cables not being interchangeable. SCSI just seems to be very finnicky and is only reliable if everything is just right.

[Pigeon]

GreenV8S said:

Pigeon said: all you have to do is ... I've had no end of trouble in the past from nominally equivalent equipment and cables not being interchangeable. SCSI just seems to be very finnicky and is only reliable if everything is just right.

That's weird, the only troubles I've had with SCSI on PCs have been when I've made silly mistakes. The machine I'm writing this on has got a wonderful lashup of mix-and-match SCSI hard drives and it all works fine.

[leftie]

Looking good:

I had bought a Fulitsu M3091DC documnet scanner a few years ago, used it for one very specialised job for about 3 hours and then popped it in a box. Recently I decided I needed to scan some historical documents only to find the bits and bobs for the scanner were all missing. I found the power supply and eventually the SCSI to SCSI lead amongst the spagettit in a box in the garage. Then I was short of a SCSI card, which I have just found on the only PC (again in the garage). I have all the twain drivers etc, and the REMARK software.

Having gone to all this trouble I wonder if I would be better off just buying a new flatbed scanner for the job I have to do, and selling the other one now I have all the bits and pieces. As I recall the Fujitsu SCSI scanner was a bit of a pain as it had to be turned on before the PC was booted up and if the software froze (as it did often) you had to close down and reboot.

There are no similar scanners on Ebay in the UK at prsent (two rather tatty ones from one seller in the US). It is worth selling do you think and how much is it worth?

The updated version (which has USB conection too) is;

www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3XHF&CategorySelectedId=11114&NavigationKey=11114,50420

[Pigeon]

Looking at the prices on ebay it looks like it's not really worth a lot. Not being a flatbed will probably count against it. Me, I'd be inclined to stick with it and save myself 600 quid.

leftie said:

As I recall the Fujitsu SCSI scanner was a bit of a pain as it had to be turned on before the PC was booted up and if the software froze (as it did often) you had to close down and reboot.

Neither of these are the scanner's fault, they're because Microsoft is shit. With Linux, you can rescan the SCSI bus at any time so you're not forced to turn the scanner on before booting, and in the unlikely event of the apps freezing it doesn't take the whole system with it.

While it is supposed to be possible to plug in USB devices with the machine live, I don't think you can rely on it because there are an awful lot of people to be found moaning about how flaky their USB stuff is and how hotplugging doesn't work for them, so you may not be any better off on the first one.

Similarly there's no guarantee that a new scanner will see you any better off on the second one. Since it's not the fault of the scanner but of the software, you're basically hoping that the new scanner comes with a version of the software that has had the relevant bug(s) fixed. So a cheaper way of carrying out this experiment would be simply to look for an updated version of the software and download it. There might be something on Fujitsu's website or you might be able to find a friendly scanner owner.

[koenig999]

Watch out when using SCSI PCI cards - I used one to connect a Yamaha A3000 sampler to a PC, and when I moved the PC up to Windows XP from 98SE it wouldn't work - The adaptec card wasn't supported by XP.

I have bought a 2000 PC for £17 to run 98SE but that brings a whole load of other probs.

So it is off to Dabs or E-Buyer for a XP compatible card then.

Koenig

[aldi]

Difficult to say how much it will fetch on the bay, theres no doubt its a sh*t-hot scanner for its purpose, even a basic USB a4 flatbed with a document feeder is £250+ new. But Mr Average just wants a cheap flatbed to scan CD covers with...