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    Emergency: Plug-in problem

    First of all, sorry if this really isn't the area of the forums to post this. Let me know if it isn't and I'll put it somewhere else. Thanks.

    I used IrfanView for batch scanning for a long while. I wasn't the one who chose or installed the software, but it served perfectly for the task at hand.

    Now I have to use it again, but on another computer. Upon installing it there (same version *and* with the very same installer executables for both main software and the plugins pack, presumably) and going through the first dialog box of Batch Scanning (where you define location and name of output files), I get a different interface with less features.

    Here I show a capture of the screen I used to get on the first computer, followed by the screen I get now.





    Not only does the latter have options I totally need, but also for some reason, that original installing would make the scanner go a lot faster (it would scan in a pretty continuous manner). Now it takes like 10 times more for each page (takes its sweet time with each paper, the sliding scanner part moving back and forth an unnecesary lot).
    Considering I'm to scan dozens of thousands of pages, the difference is overwhelming.

    The only difference I could really trace between both installs is in what plugins they have. Thus, I'm wondering if someone here could point me to where to get whatever plug-in gives me the better interface, options and speed. If you can think of any other possibilities, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts on that.

    To make things more straightforward, I'll list the whole 48 plugins that the original install had. It's version 3.96 of IrfanView, yet it still has 6 more plug-ins that the 4.00 that I installed most recently when installing 3.96 again over and over (with all plugins presented in the official website, as the original install apparently had as well) wouldn't solve it.



    Thanks for your time and help!

    #2
    Hi Da Imp,

    What makes you believe that IrfanView caused this problem?
    If I understand well your explanation, it seems that IrfanView isn't the responsible: the captures you posted aren't screens from IrfanView, but from the interface of the scanner (which is indeed called by IrfanView).

    The reason of your problem can be one of the following:
    - problem with the software (plugin) that came with your scanner,
    - high scan resolution,
    - slow link between scanner and other computer
    - other scanner (you mention another interface with less options)
    - and perhaps many other possible reasons...

    Laurent
    Last edited by Laurent; 06.06.2007, 11:03 PM.
    Before you post ... fill in your OS and IV version in your profile.

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      #3
      Yes, it can be quite a shock when one expects to see a familiar interface. But all scanners and all scanner software are not the same. Any time you work on a computer other than your own, you will come up against rude surprises. IrfanView is only the receiver of the scanned image, it does not interact directly with the hardware. What you see when the scan dialog appears is what was installed to run the scanner, and that will vary greatly. I have a cheap little scanner that has very good options, while I have seen some others that are horrible.
      Its: Belongs to "It"
      It's: Shortened form of "It is"
      ---------------------
      Lose: Fail to keep
      Loose: Not tight

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        #4
        2 Da Imp
        Indeed this is not exactly a matter of plugins. But it is in some way an add-on matter, so let's keep it here for the moment.

        This has to do with the way the Twain function is working between the scanner software and the edit-software to import the scan.

        This is why I prefer to run the scanner-executable directly with its own dialogs to perform the scan, and save the picture.
        Then I would open the image again with whatever editor I prefer. Seems clumsy, but it has more security about performance.
        Last edited by Sam_Zen; 10.06.2007, 03:41 AM.
        0.6180339887
        Rest In Peace, Sam!

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          #5
          Yay

          Well, thank you all for the replies!

          You all pretty much nailed it, and steered me in the right direction.

          I stopped focusing on IrfanView itself, and checked both Windows and the scanner drivers. I finally found, within the cryptic, laberynthine manual in the scanner's CD, that the interface I was getting was the WIA one (pathetic system, I must add), while the one I wanted was the TWAIN.

          Turns out the driver installer was failing to unpack a few of its TWAIN files. Took me a while to find out whether these files belonged to XP itself or to the scanner's manufacturer. The files were packed in .??_ format, which I'm yet to find a software that can unpack those (I've used ARJ for DOS and RAR for Windows for years, so I know my share about handling different compression formats).

          Fortunately, I still had the very first install on the old computer, thanks to being too busy to give that computer a proper clean-up. So, I grabbed the files from there, put them in this computer, and now it works just the way I want it.

          Well, I'm unsure about the speed just yet, but that could be the lengthy USB cable as much as anything else. I'll see about that.

          Thank you all for the help!

          Sam_Zen:

          Yes, maybe using Sharpdesk, the software that comes originally with the whole package, would work better, who knows. I haven't tried it on that. But I like how IrfanView works, and I'd rather stick to tried and true. Its options for batch scanning are quite handy and I'm not sure Sharpdesk would have all of those. I really don't have the time or interest to innovate right at the verge of a major workload where I'll have multiple assistants under my charge. Besides, I don't think I really need anything else. I'm just scanning, not doing any particular effects on the pictures.

          This is all just to build a digital support (that could potentially go through OCR), of a big load of paper documents of legal import.

          I'll keep Sharpdesk in mind as an alternative, anyways. Thanks!

          Comment


            #6
            In some circumstances it's the wrong way to seek for a one step solution. Especially if conversion is at stake.
            The software added with a scanner is able to scan a selected part of an object and save it as a bitmap.
            But don't ask to do any batch actions or other effects. These area's are, if they exist, most of the time poorly programmed.
            So it's a matter of two stages. Get all the images you want with the scanner, then start editing them with something else.
            Btw - the .??_ format smells like some native winblows compression.
            Last edited by Sam_Zen; 16.06.2007, 02:48 AM.
            0.6180339887
            Rest In Peace, Sam!

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