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my mom hates OS X and peripheral support
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Oct 2000
Status:
Offline
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help!
my mom is having a terrible time with OS X and peripheral support. she just switched from a Dell PC to a Powerbook Ti 867.
her HP ScanJet 4400 does not work with OS X, apparently HP has no drivers yet. however, she bought this scanner about a year and a half ago. AFTER OS X had been released. so to use it, she has to run the Classic OS 9 scanning software that it came with. but when she does this, the "Scan to Microsoft Word" does not work. (she has Office X).
it makes her really mad that she cannot scan text documents right into Word like she could do with ONE BUTTON on her PC. when you select "Scan to Microsoft Word", it scans, and then nothing happens. the scan is sent to oblivion.
i even let her borrow my Epson 1660 scanner that does have OS X support, but there seems to be no OCR software built-in to the TWAIN driver. so she still can't scan to a text file, only as an image. am i missing something here? the PC software has this built-in.
i looked for OS X compatible OCR software, but the one i found (omnipage, i think) is $150!!! that is insane. why do these scanners not come with OS X OCR software, or why does OS X not include built-in support for the scanners (they are USB after all... hello, Apple, ever heard of PLUG AND PLAY?).
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the other problem she is having is with her printers. she has an HP deskjet (not sure the exact model) and an Epson C62. both of them work without installing any drivers. but they both have major problems printing. like it will get halfway through printing a Word document, and the printer will just STOP. it doesn't matter how long she waits, it will not finish the page. it does this with both printers. there is no consistency to it either. i even had her buy a new USB hub in case that was the problem.
also, neither printer will print "back to front". this makes her mad too, because if she prints a 20 page document it is not in the correct order with page 1 on top, page 20 on the bottom. she has to re-sort it by hand so that page 20 is not the first page you see.
i have checked and re-checked. there is no option for "back to front" or "reverse" printing in the print options for either printer. this is ridiculous. who wants to sort documents by hand?
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can anyone help my mom? i am pretty good with Macs, but these issues have me stumped. i just wonder what the hell Apple is smoking, when printer and scanner support is this bad on an OS that has been out for 2 years already.
these problems don't seem esoteric or odd. it seems like these issue are something that almost ANYONE using a mac with a printer and scanner would come across. surely there is a solution?
please help, i can't stand to hear her complain about how she is starting to regret switching back to mac (she used mac up to 1997, then went pc for a few years).
thanks,
ben
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Evansville, IN
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OS X does have built in support for scanners. It just happens that most scanners don't have drivers. Companies like Canon dropped the ball on support. Sorry she is having troubles.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: WV, USA
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Hmm, hate to hear your issues, but in all honesty, remember Apple didn't make the printer & scanner, those manufacturers are just not keeping up & releasing good drivers for their products.
You seriously may wanna contact the individual manufacturers (i.e., HP, Epson, etc.) and ask THEM how to get their product to work in OS X. If the products are just completely incombatible, your only option may be to pop those suckers on eBay & head over to www.techsavings.com and get yourself some Mac compatible stuff, and make sure in the description it's Mac compatible. Good luck! 
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5G 60GB video iPod
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Winti, Switzerland
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Mar 2002
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Originally posted by nebben123:
i looked for OS X compatible OCR software, but the one i found (omnipage, i think) is $150!!! that is insane. why do these scanners not come with OS X OCR software,...
Because they want you to pay $150 USD for the full version. It's not very nice, especially since the scaled back peecee software isn't similiarly crippled, but they have the right to do that.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Seattle
Status:
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Originally posted by nebben123:
help!
my mom is having a terrible time with OS X and peripheral support. she just switched from a Dell PC to a Powerbook Ti 867.
her HP ScanJet 4400 does not work with OS X, apparently HP has no drivers yet. however, she bought this scanner about a year and a half ago. AFTER OS X had been released. so to use it, she has to run the Classic OS 9 scanning software that it came with. but when she does this, the "Scan to Microsoft Word" does not work. (she has Office X).
it makes her really mad that she cannot scan text documents right into Word like she could do with ONE BUTTON on her PC. when you select "Scan to Microsoft Word", it scans, and then nothing happens. the scan is sent to oblivion.
i even let her borrow my Epson 1660 scanner that does have OS X support, but there seems to be no OCR software built-in to the TWAIN driver. so she still can't scan to a text file, only as an image. am i missing something here? the PC software has this built-in.
i looked for OS X compatible OCR software, but the one i found (omnipage, i think) is $150!!! that is insane. why do these scanners not come with OS X OCR software, or why does OS X not include built-in support for the scanners (they are USB after all... hello, Apple, ever heard of PLUG AND PLAY?).
-----
the other problem she is having is with her printers. she has an HP deskjet (not sure the exact model) and an Epson C62. both of them work without installing any drivers. but they both have major problems printing. like it will get halfway through printing a Word document, and the printer will just STOP. it doesn't matter how long she waits, it will not finish the page. it does this with both printers. there is no consistency to it either. i even had her buy a new USB hub in case that was the problem.
also, neither printer will print "back to front". this makes her mad too, because if she prints a 20 page document it is not in the correct order with page 1 on top, page 20 on the bottom. she has to re-sort it by hand so that page 20 is not the first page you see.
i have checked and re-checked. there is no option for "back to front" or "reverse" printing in the print options for either printer. this is ridiculous. who wants to sort documents by hand?
-----
can anyone help my mom? i am pretty good with Macs, but these issues have me stumped. i just wonder what the hell Apple is smoking, when printer and scanner support is this bad on an OS that has been out for 2 years already.
these problems don't seem esoteric or odd. it seems like these issue are something that almost ANYONE using a mac with a printer and scanner would come across. surely there is a solution?
please help, i can't stand to hear her complain about how she is starting to regret switching back to mac (she used mac up to 1997, then went pc for a few years).
thanks,
ben
Unfortunately, you are going to be out of luck for the scanner. The printer problem might be related to the version of OS X. Is she running 10.2.4? There is also a new version of the Deskjet driver from HP you can downloard.
http://www.versiontracker.com/morein...927&db=mac
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