Minolta Scan Dual IV Driver Problems

[cjhacker]

I just purchased a Konica-Minolta SCAN DUAL IV, and can't get it to work. I am running it on an iMac G5 with OSX.4 Tiger. When I called Minolta they said that their latest driver for the unit doesn't support 10.4, though they claimed they would be releasing an updated driver "soon". Does anyone have a workaround for this? I tried installing a trial version of VueScan in the hopes that it would do the trick, but the software doesn't recognize the scanner at all. I'd like to avoid, if possible, re-installing an earlier version of the OS.


Any thoughts?

[skipc]

Just received a SD IV. Works perfect on G5 DP 4G RAM, in 10.4 with off the CD driver. Previously had a SE 5400, which I could not get it to run in 10.4 though others have had success, mine crashed after the first 36M scan or the scans got progressively worse. After a few scans using DS to verify it's stability, I switched to Silverfast SE which I use on my flatbed. best ...skip

[rsub8]

I've had this scanner for some time now. Unfortunately, Minolta's support is terrible, they haven't released a new driver in almost 2 years. The stock driver and scanning application are flaky, and I've had to resort to a third-party solution. The scanner's also gone back to the factory once, because the imager failed. (In fact, it was DOA out of the box - the power supply was shot.) If I had it to do all over again, I would have sprung for a different scanner (and one with ICE dust removal).

The current driver, however, IS compatible with Tiger (10.4, am running 10.4.3). One trick in using the scanner effectively is the power-up sequence (which I discovered through exhaustive trial-and-error). Boot the computer (scanner unplugged). Log-in. Plug in the USB cable. THEN turn on the scanner. And don't dare to have anything else connected to the same USB bus!

I use SilverFast LE (the plug-in, with Photoshop CS). The scanner locks up after just a few scans at high resolutions (and then we have to go through the entire process above again - ugh), but seems to chug along indefinitely at 1600 dpi or lower.

Versions of VueScan I tried with this scanner had focusing and color banding problems. They may have fixed this by now, however.

The only problem with SilverFast LE is no batch scanning capability (a more expensive upgrade), and so have to babysit the scanning process, tying up the computer. I have somewhat worked around this problem. I run the scanner off a nearby networked iMac G5, and share the screen (Timbuktu) with my work computer. I can therefore manage the scanning remotely without having to interrupt my work, getting up only to change the film.

Hope that these suggestions are helpful.