General Hardware question (cameras, scanners...)

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Ok - for any and all bits of external hardware - when purchasing, if it doesn't say the OS requirements is it safe ot presume that it'll work with everything?
 
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No! It is safe to assume it will work with Windows and that is all. If it doesn't say Mac OS X, don't presume it is supported. In general however, if you stick with big name brands, Mac OS X will be supported every time. For example, for printers and scanners, you can't go wrong with Epson or Canon, and they both support Mac OS X. Ditto for Canon cameras.
 
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Ok, Thank you

I was at Target, today, looking at various items and I was frustrated because none of them identified their system requirements.

And speaking of being there - I couldn't pull any of their items off of the rungs to look at them. The prepackaged things that were out and hanging up were all locked down - leaving me to twist like a prezle to read all the packaging. I gave up caring and I thought itd be quicker to order things online.

I've started to take to checking everything against Made4Mac and such resources because - before I bought my mac - I checked some things of mine to see if they were compatible by refering to the original packaging. If it said it was compatible I thought I was good to go - but after buying the computer and attempting to use such items I found that they were, in fact, not supported (classic vs 10.4, etc) - or, only partially supported.
 

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Correction here! You CAN go wrong with Canon very easily!

I had a Canon D646U scanner and it's the only piece of hardware I've had to totally ditch since moving to the iMac as there is NO driver support from Apple or Canon and no plans to implement it.

Oh yes, and my Canon S300 inkjet printer also caused problems with sleep mode but it's now working fine since I printed a document on it...

Assume nothing, it'll save you returning items later :)
 
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Thanks Jem and I stand corrected. *I* have never had trouble with Canon or Epson - that is what I should have said!
 
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Jem said:
Correction here! You CAN go wrong with Canon very easily!

I had a Canon D646U scanner and it's the only piece of hardware I've had to totally ditch since moving to the iMac as there is NO driver support from Apple or Canon and no plans to implement it.

Oh yes, and my Canon S300 inkjet printer also caused problems with sleep mode but it's now working fine since I printed a document on it...

Assume nothing, it'll save you returning items later :)
VueScan should do the trick. No need to trash your scanner.
 

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D3v1L80Y said:
VueScan should do the trick. No need to trash your scanner.

Thanks for that link, I'll give it a go, but according to vuescan's compatibility list the D646U is not mentioned at all.

To be honest, at $49.95 (or $89.85 for the pro version!) it's nearly as expensive as replacing the entire scanner so I'm not sure if I want to find it works or not!!!

OUCH!
 
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Well, there are certain devices I'd describe as "no-brainers" that you can safely assume will work in most cases.

Things such as card readers, external harddrives, flash drives, cameras etc. will usually just work.

Most larger brand printers will work as well, the exception being all-in-one devices that might require additional drivers.

Network gear can usually be configured via a web page, so that's normally no problem, but it helps to check that first.

For other devices check the manufacturers website.
 
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Jem said:
Thanks for that link, I'll give it a go, but according to vuescan's compatibility list the D646U is not mentioned at all.

To be honest, at $49.95 (or $89.85 for the pro version!) it's nearly as expensive as replacing the entire scanner so I'm not sure if I want to find it works or not!!!

OUCH!
You can download a trial version first to see if it works. If it doesn't, then there is no harm, no foul. It's worth a shot even if the particular model you have isn't listed.
:black:
 

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