12-08-2007, 09:57 AM

The software for my Canon D660U scanner was written for the earlier non-intel macs. If my understanding of Rosetta is correct I should be able to run this on my new intel imac as Rosetta should kick in automatically. Instead it just doesn't run. Should it? And if so how do I achieve that?

12-08-2007, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by Sawday

The software for my Canon D660U scanner was written for the earlier non-intel macs. If my understanding of Rosetta is correct I should be able to run this on my new intel imac as Rosetta should kick in automatically. Instead it just doesn't run. Should it? And if so how do I achieve that?

Rosetta works automatically without user-intervention. Are you using Leopard? If so, it might just be that the software is not Leopard compatible. Have you checked with Canon to see if they have any updates for the scanner?

12-08-2007, 10:02 AM

Rosetta won't necessarily translate everything: it depends on how the original code was written. While Rosetta can handle a lot of apps, it doesn't emulate everything that was PowerPC-only.

I think your best bet would be to look at third-party scanner driver VueScan. You can try it as a demo before buying it.


Edited to add:

Here's an entry I found for the limitations of Rosetta translation. I had a list of incompatibilities with Rosetta: if I find it, I'll post it here.


Edited to add some more:

Here's a longer article that gets a bit more in detail of what works and what does not in Rosetta. I seem to have lost the Apple Developer article that introduced Rosetta to the Macintosh development community. Bummer. It was quite precise in the info:

...AltiVec and other limitations
While Rosetta will work to translate many Mac programs, it does have some important limitations.

"Many, but not all, applications can run translated," Apple said in a paper for developers. "Applications that run translated will never run as fast as they run as a native binary because the translation process itself incurs a processing cost."

Apple said that Rosetta is "designed to translate currently shipping applications that run on a PowerPC with a G3 processor and that are built for Mac OS X."

However, Apple said Rosetta can't run several types of code: that written specifically to use the PowerPC's AltiVec instructions; that which requires a G4 or G5 chip; programs written for Mac OS 9, which today can run with Mac OS X's "classic" environment; kernel extensions; applications that depend on kernel extensions; and code that inserts preferences in the System Preferences pane.

"How compatible your application is with Rosetta depends on the type of application it is," Apple said. "Applications that have a lot of user interaction and low computational needs, such as a word processor, are quite compatible. Those that have a moderate amount of user interaction and some high computational needs or that use OpenGL are, in most cases, also quite compatible. Those that have intense computing needs aren't compatible."

...

12-08-2007, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by cwa107

Rosetta works automatically without user-intervention. Are you using Leopard? If so, it might just be that the software is not Leopard compatible. Have you checked with Canon to see if they have any updates for the scanner?

I'm on Tiger and yes I have been in touch with Canon but no they do not have, nor are going to produce a suitable driver. At the moment I'm using it under XP and Fusion but this is not ideal and getting pictures into iphoto using this route is rather clunky to say the least.

12-09-2007, 04:15 PM

Any more offers people?

12-09-2007, 04:19 PM

AS MacHeadCase said - give VueScan a try if Canon cant be bothered to write software for their devices

12-09-2007, 04:28 PM

VueScan works great in Leopard. It does cost $39 but hey, it works with most scanners. Try out the demo and see if it works for you.

http://www.hamrick.com/

12-09-2007, 04:31 PM

Yeah trav, I had posted that but got no feedback on how VueScan works on the OP's system...

12-09-2007, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by MacHeadCase

Yeah trav, I had posted that but got no feedback on how VueScan works on the OP's system...

Yeah I noticed that and was going to say as MHC stated but was lazy. It for SURE works under 10.5.1 here. I had this HP All in One 1350 that would not scan under Leopard. VueScan worked perfectly with it.

http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/vuescan.htm#canon

His scanner is on the list of supported by VueScan.

12-09-2007, 04:59 PM

And it's not like this developer came out of the blue for Mac development either. He's been around since the Mac OS 7 days, I do believe. Supporting such a fine product and encouraging a good developer is great and helps, down the line, the whole Mac community!

And yes I had seen the Canon scanner model on the list so you just can't lose trying this product, IMO.

12-09-2007, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by MacHeadCase

And it's not like this developer came out of the blue for Mac development either. He's been around since the Mac OS 7 days, I do believe. Supporting such a fine product and encouraging a good developer is great and helps, down the line, the whole Mac community!

And yes I had seen the Canon scanner model on the list so you just can't lose trying this product, IMO.

Way back when I first got into OSX and messed with VueScan, I thought it was a bit high priced till I worked with it. So much better than messing with some of the HP and other programs you have to run to get some of their scanners working. I would rather pay the $39 then fight with some other solution.