On 16 Jan 00, at 21:19, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Shawn Wright said:
>
> Actually, when it comes to scanners, NT is not all that different from
> win9x,
> as it uses essentially the same Twain driver interface. (one of the big
> weaknesses in scanner support, imho). I have yet to find a SCSI scanner
> which does not work in NT (including about 10 different models from
> Epson,
> HP, UMAX, Acer, Microtek), since the Twain drivers are usually the same
> ones used in win9x. In many cases, the SCSI card drivers are also common
> between win9x and NT.
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Twain drivers are an attempt to sort out the cross-platform image device
> support problem but the Twain driver itself is only part of the
> solution. A Twain driver provides a standard software interface from
> the application program to a virtual piece of hardware. It attempts to
> make all of the disparate hardware devices speak the same language on
> the application software side. Underneath the virtual hardware,
> however, is a piece of real hardware which must be controlled by a Twain
> compliant hardware device driver... ie; the stuff that actually controls
> the hardware. This could be, for example, a specific SCSI driver that
> speaks Twain on one side and translates it to specific SCSI hardware
> control signals on the other. However, this SCSI driver has to be
> specific to Win/9x or Win NT since the way device drivers interoperate
> with these operating systems is totally different.
Yes, but my point was this: every recent Twain driver I've seen installs the
same twain files for both win95 and winnt. The differences lies in certain
additional config files, control panel applets, and of course, registry
entries.
And I have not seen a current SCSI card which does not have NT drivers,
although finding them may take some digging if it is an OEM card. So if the
problem with the ES-10S is a lack of NT SCSI support, using a different
SCSI card, or finding the drivers for the OEM card may allow you to install
the twain software and get it working.
> Installation procedures might give the appearance of using the same
> hardware device drivers between Win9x and Win NT but the actual driver
> software is as different as night and day.
For SCSI, yes. This used to be the case for NDIS network drivers, but now
win9x and NT share these, so there is some hope that MS can come up with
a common device driver model.
> If Olympus uses Twain and SCSI it reduces the cost of supporting both
> operating systems but doesn't eliminate extra cost. If Microsoft
> ultimately produces a common device driver model so that only one driver
> is required the costs are reduced even further but still not
> eliminated. The next hurdle is testing which is also an expensive
> process. Even though the systems might be supposed identical, in
> reality, they often aren't because of minor glitches in the
> implementation.
Agreed, but based on my experiences, testing from those who do support NT
is pretty shoddy anyway, so cost is minimal... ;-)
> On the importance of testing, need I remind anyone of the problem with
> the Hubble telescope? A perfectly ground and polished lens but ground
> ever so slightly to the wrong specification. And the reason it wasn't
> tested was it saved approx. 1 million dollars. Testing is an expensive
> process even when the code for two environments is identical. For small
> markets it might be the only thing standing between statements of
> support or non-support.
True, but why is it that even most $99 scanners can support NT, yet
Olympus can't bother with their much more costly ES-10S? NT 4 has been
out for nearly 4 years now, so they can't use that as an excuse...
This whole issue is making me wonder about spending money on an
Olympus digital camera for work - I need to buy one next week, but if this is
the way they support NT, the Epson for $400 less is starting to look like a
better deal. (Yes, the C-2000 does claim to support NT4 - has anyone here
tried it with NT?)
Shawn & Janis Wright
swright@xxxxxxxxx
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
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