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Imacon scanner on new Mac/PC?


fotomas

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Hello,

hope there is someone here who can tell me if it's possible to run an Imacon-scanner (343, 646, 848 or X5) with an actual Mac. As far as I see the only one left with a Thunderbolt-interface is the Mac Pro. All the rest has only USB-C for what there is not adapter to Firewire. There is only one from Thunderbolt to Firewire. Adapters and scanners often doesn't work so well in the past. How is this today? I also need to get this machine running with an older version of MacOS, since the new one doesn't support 32bit-software any more. Is it possible to get the computer with an older system?

Alternative would be to get a PC. Has anyone experienced if you could run the last FlexColor version with Windows 10?

Regards

Frank

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Hello,

Mac OS Mojave does not support Flexcolor any more, because it is  32 bit software. Hasselblad will not release a 64 bit update for Flexcolor.

You could either use an old Mac or a PC. A G4 is sufficient for scanning. Flexcolor runs on Mac OS High Sierra, at least it used to run on my MacBook Pro until the update to Mojave.

Flexcolor runs on Win10, but nobody knows if some future update could end this. I am using an old PC running WIN 7 now for scanning. Files with linear scans get saved to an external harddrive. Photoshopping is done on different hardware. No network connection with WIN7 and definitly no more updates.

Hasselblad will hopefully service my scanner for the next 10 years and their shop is around the corner.

 

Good luck

brt

 

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2 hours ago, fotomas said:

I also need to get this machine running with an older version of MacOS, since the new one doesn't support 32bit-software any more. Is it possible to get the computer with an older system?

I think the short answer is no, new Macs are rarely compatible with older versions of the OS and certainly not when there is a significant change in architecture (e.g from 32-bit to 64-bit). Unless you have loads of space, It's a real pain to have to run multiple desktop computers but I think a dedicated older Mac is probably the solution here – either a Mac mini with a suitable port (my late-2012 quad mini has a real firewire port as well as thunderbolt) or a compatible laptop.

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Flexcolor does run on Mojave ( I know, I am using it almost every day), but Mojave is the last OS it will run on, which means any computers that ship with Catalina or newer will not run it. I am currently using a Mac Pro 2013 with a OWC Thunderbolt dock which has a Firewire 800 port, for which there is an adapter to convert to Firewire 400. It seems as though from now on, this computer will have to stay on the same OS for as long as I want to use the scanner. Ian is right...it is probably going to mean keeping an old computer around to run the scanner.

Edited by Stuart Richardson
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I don't know if the late 2013 Mac Pro is for sale anymore; but even if it is, you don't want one.  While it is Thunderbolt 2, the graphics card is ancient.  I use several Apple-brand Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapters; they all work perfectly.  The same can be said of Apple's USB adapter.  Mojave does run 32 bit software; Catalina will not when it is finally released (next week?).  Catalina is the first macOS that I will not install immediately because there are several 32 bit apps scattered around on my hard drive and I don't know if any of them are still in use by something.

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Another point, while Thunderbolt 3 is physically a USB-C plug, but it is not USB-C protocol.  So it is not correct to say new Macs are USB-C.  I see no reason why Firewire won't work with the correct adapters to Thunderbolt 3.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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Hi Frank

If you're ok with buying a computer specifically for this task and have the room I recommend an older Intel-based Mac Pro which can be had for very reasonable money these days. I run my X1 on an Early 2008 Mac Pro (3,1) with El Capitan without any problems. I have no intention of upgrading beyond this. I have also hooked my X1 up to my 2013 Macbook Pro using two adapters which worked perfectly. It is also possible to install current versions of MacOS on Mac Pros 3,1-5,1 (see this guide, which also covers anything else one may wish to know about how to keep these wonderful machines running).

Just on the point raised by @zeitz re video cards, there is no problem to run modern cards in these machines if you are ok with losing the boot screen. For that you can keep an old card in a a slot in the computer or lying around somewhere and install as necessary. And there are lots of not so ancient but not new cards around that are interesting to use as well. I recently installed a Quadro M4000 card which runs smoothly with the nVidia web drivers and with 8GB and 10-bit colour will last me a long time provided it doesn't break down, in which case I will just buy another old card.

br

Philip

 

On 10/2/2019 at 7:17 AM, fotomas said:

Hello,

hope there is someone here who can tell me if it's possible to run an Imacon-scanner (343, 646, 848 or X5) with an actual Mac. As far as I see the only one left with a Thunderbolt-interface is the Mac Pro. All the rest has only USB-C for what there is not adapter to Firewire. There is only one from Thunderbolt to Firewire. Adapters and scanners often doesn't work so well in the past. How is this today? I also need to get this machine running with an older version of MacOS, since the new one doesn't support 32bit-software any more. Is it possible to get the computer with an older system?

Alternative would be to get a PC. Has anyone experienced if you could run the last FlexColor version with Windows 10?

Regards

Frank

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  • 1 month later...

You can run FlexColor on any Mac system up to 10.14.x (Mojave). You cannot use 10.15.x (Catalina). It doesn't much matter about the hardware, as the Firewire 400 port of the scanner is easily adapted to Firewire 800, and thence to Thunderbolt, and even then again to USB-C. I have done all of those successfully - they work just fine. A firewire 400 cable to a FW400 to FW800 adaptor, followed by a FW800 to Thunderbolt dongle, and then again through a Thunderbolt to USB-C dongle - it actually works! FlexColor still works on Windows systems, and will continue to do so until 32-bit apps are no longer supported - something I believe that has not yet been announced or even suggested for Windows thus far.

The sad thing is that Hasselblad will not make a 64-bit app to drive the scanners, and have silently discontinued production of the scanners. They have also chosen to refuse to let Ed Hamrick have the necessary information that he would need to allow VueScan to work with Flextight scanners.

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  • 3 years later...

Hi all, 

I'm wondering if anyone has any updates to the workarounds as it's been 4 years since this thread was opened. I've been using my Imacon 949 for the past 6 years on my old MBP mid 2014 2,8 GHz Intel Core i5. It's been working perfectly fine with the Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt dongle.. and I even still use it as my main post production machine as I dislike having to switch between my newer MPB and the old one. 

I'm currently debating purchasing a Mac Mini 2014 that is a bit more beefed up.. but I'm wondering if anyone else has a workaround that I haven't thought of. Maybe a new M1 / M2 Mac with parallels? 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Greetings,

I have a problem with my Imacon Precision II, as far as I can tell, it switches on normally, but I tried to connect it to a Mac Pro 5.1 2010 with High Sierra via a SCSI cable to Firewire adapter, but unfortunately it does not "see" the scanner, I bought a SCSI card and installed it, but I can't find a software driver for the SCSI card.... 

Is there a different type of adapter or a SCSI card that might work ??? I know that the scanner is working, since the person I bought it from was using it with a Mac mini (2008) but unfortunately the adapter he used went lost during transport... 

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the past, as I remember, chances to get a scanner working via a SCSI adapter was about 50/50. I had not problems using an Adaptec 2901 PCI  SCSI card. But I'm afraid you only can get it used now. Usualy you did not need a driver for it under MacOS, but I can't tell if Apple still has SCSI support integrated in the newer OS.

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