Scanner software?

[woody649]

The recent electrical glitch fried my H-P laser multi-function printer/scanner/copier. I have replaced it with a Canon multi-function machine, which does all the same things. However ...

Canon's scanning software absolutely sucks compared to H-P's scanning software. Does anyone have any recommendations for freeware, universal scanner software that will work with Canon multi-function machines?

Thanks.

[Steve Rindsberg]

I don't know of freeware scanner software but you might want to take a look at VueScan (https://www.hamrick.com/). There's a free trial and several versions at various prices from $25 to $100. The guy's been doing this forever and will be supporting your scanner long after the manufacturer has consigned it to the support rubbishbin.

[woody649]

Thanks, Steve, but at my age money is an object. The software that came with the machine gets the job done, so I'm not prepared to buy for replacement software. I just wish Canon would upgrade their software to at least compete with H-P's scanning software.

[woody649]

Update -

It turns out that I already have TWO programs that will do the job: Irfanview, and Faststone. Both are image editing software and I have had both on my computer for years. I had no idea they also offer scanning. I've tested both, both allow saving to both JPEG and PDF (as well as a number of other formats), and both offer superior cropping functionality over Canon' brain-dead software.

[Steve Rindsberg]

>> I had no idea they also offer scanning.

Sign me up for that too. At least as far as Irfanview's concerned. I've been using it for probably a decade and had no idea it could scan. Probably because my previous scanner and the document scanner I use most now didn't have TWAIN-compatible drivers. VueScan doesn't rely on that, which is why I started using it in the first place.

And come to think of it, why I keep using it rather than the dopey software that came with my current Canon scanner.

IrfanView offers all sorts of interesting options, though. Including kicking off a scan from the command line. Who'd-a-thunkit!

[woody649]

Originally Posted by Steve Rindsberg

>> I had no idea they also offer scanning.

Sign me up for that too. At least as far as Irfanview's concerned. I've been using it for probably a decade and had no idea it could scan. Probably because my previous scanner and the document scanner I use most now didn't have TWAIN-compatible drivers. VueScan doesn't rely on that, which is why I started using it in the first place.

Hmmm ...

I'm sitting here looking across the room at an old Sharp multi-function laser printer/scanner/copier that hasn't been used sine I retired my last Windows XP laptop -- because neither Sharp nor Microsoft has produced drivers for that machine under Windows 7 and newer. It supposedly uses PCL 5 and I had hopes that a universal PCL 5 printer driver might get it working, but I've had no luck with that.

Is it possible that VueScan might allow the use of that device for scanning? I don't need it -- but the machine still works, and I could donate it somewhere if I could find ways to let it communicate with Windows 10 computers.

[woody649]

Holy moly!

VueScan might actually work with my old Mustek 1200CP scanner! That's amazing. I need to find my USB/Parallel adapter cable so I can try it.

[woody649]

No joy.

I contacted VueScan. Ed Hamrick responded promptly, but the response was that VueScan doesn't support either my Sharp multi-function machine or my old Mustek flatbed scanner.

I found a PCL5 universal printer driver, and I discovered that the Sharp has a USB input connection. I'll have to play with that to see if I can at least get it working as a printer.

[Steve Rindsberg]

That's a pity. I had to ditch one of my old scanners for more or less the same reason. Also because I wanted to scan a bunch of documents and its doc feeder utterly sucked.

[woody649]

'Tis indeed a pity.

I still want to see if I can get the old Sharp machine to work as a printer. I found a PCL5 universal printer driver, and the printer has a USB input, so there's a remote possibility it can be saved.

Fingers crossed.