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Zoom · Dec 9, 2008, 09:55 AM

I have a Canon all-in-one now, but I'm looking at the 4400f for converting some film and slides I have. I'm worried about installing two different versions of the Canon drivers and apps, and having them running at the same time.

Anyone else done this?

Zoom · Dec 29, 2008, 08:58 PM

For the record, this does NOT work. And Canon does not provide any uninstaller that I can find. I had to read the damn install log and remove the stuff it said it installed, and I still strongly doubt that that really covered everything. Then I tried to reinstall the drivers... what a PITA. Go look at the stupid Canon downloads web page. This is what you'll see. Now you tell me, by looking at this, what I need to install.

So, thinking I can figure this out, I download the latest driver and the Navigator software (which I only knew I needed because I had already installed this stuff once before). Installed both, restarted for each one. Hit "scan".... no joy.

Had to run the installer disk that came with it, and presumably overwrite the newer driver with the older one.

Scanner software, at least from Canon, has always been ugly and buggy for Macs. Sigh.

jretzner · 10:14 PM

Scanner software, at least from Canon, has always been ugly and buggy for Macs. Sigh.

Would VueScan work? I've used it with my CanoScan scanner for quite a few years, and at least three different Macs and OSs. It's a great shareware scanner driver which is always being updated.

Zoom · Dec 30, 2008, 06:54 AM

Never even heard of VueScan, but might be worth a try. Thanks!

Zoom · Dec 30, 2008, 07:16 AM

Ah... well, for $40 and $80, I'm not sure it's worth it to me, personally - the scanner itself is only $90. I just wish that Canon would include better software. I'm not really looking for more features, I'm looking for better support in general and better UI's and less bugs. EVERY piece of software should come with an uninstaller, or the original installer should have an uninstall option. That's one thing that Windows seems to do right, I hate to say. Even for drag-and-drop software, some apps still spread roots into weird areas of the system, leaving behind large cache files, prefs, profiles, temp files/dirs, etc. Apple should really try to enforce this somehow. Drivers are the worst because they install into places that most people (ie, average, non-techy people) have no clue exist. And they require restarts to install, and presumably to uninstall. This is where having a dedicated uninstaller would help. I'd also like to see Apple create a framework to document every change made by an installer - new files, changed file, deleted files, moved files, etc - and then you could at least know what every installer changed. It would also be good if the installer log told you what each file did. The names are often ridiculously cryptic. (I know there are web sites that track some of these things, but ideally, the company that owns the software should be doing this for you.)

Also, I should be able to buy two products from the same company (two cameras, two scanners, two printers, etc) and either have them both work fine (ideally) or at least warn me that they're not simultaneously compatible.

The MP Navigator software is ugly. The version that came with the MP610 was buggy. If you scan one thing, the app comes up and gives you options for saving, etc. If you scan again, it tries to launch another instance of the same app and fails, and the scan doesn't happen. That's dumb. Hopefully the newer version is better.