Hello,

I am looking for a Windows 2000/XP software to share a USB Scanner in a Network. Does anybody know about that?

bye

Easiest way is to just get a USB Switch. They all run $30-$40.

ok thanks...this looks like a Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse Swich Box.! I was looking for a software works like file and printer sharing. Or there are also modemsharing software from Spartacom. Something like that.

If there is no other solution, I will buy an Hardware USB Swich. Maybe even cheaper....

...this looks like a Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse Swich Box.!

Nope, it's just a 4-port USB Switch. It can be used with a USB Keyboard and Mouse (using a USB hub), sure, but it is strictly USB.

In my mind, this is better than a software solution. Having the hardware directly available to the machine you wish to use it on at the time means that any software package that would work with the scanner (or any device) will work just fine through the switch. A software solution (if one exists), on the other hand, might require you to use proprietary drivers, and you may even be stuck using only their software to do scanning, etc.

Of course, if you wait long enough, someone will prove me wrong.

I was thinking about the principal of Switch boxes....you are absolutly right about proprietary drivers. And maybe the software company supports only specified scanners or devices.

You know, my idea was to have less cable around my computers.

But anyway thanks for your information.

bye

What we do is we just have the scanner hooked up to one of the print servers.

When someone on the network needs to do a scan, they walk up to the print server and do the scanning, saving the file to a local "scans" directory, which is shared on the network. Then they go back to their own PC and grab the file from the shared scans directory.

I figure that if you need to be physically standing by the scanner to put your photos in it, you might as well have the scanning software physically there, too.

If the community scanner is hooked up to your personal PC and you don't want to be interrupted for others to do scans, perhaps you should look at dedicating an extra PC to being a scanner server.

Yeah, that's what we need, a Wi-Fi scanner. I don't know of any existing, but who knows.

the Microtek ScanMaker 6700 has a network interface. i think thats what you're looking for.

Killer, I figured someone would speak up and point one out. So, one of those and a WET11, and you're set with a Wi-Fi flat-bed scanner. Of course, that's a lot more money to spend just for that.

We've got an old HP Scanjet (6300/?) that came with software that runs on the host & lets clients scan like it was attached to their machines, at least it worked in my W2k to W2k situation. I remember it was a little irritating to install the s/w, but it runs OK.

-Zeke

Just had to wait.

Did it install "wrapper" type drivers on the client that allowed you to use any software package to scan, or was it a specific client application you had to use to scan remotely?

No, it was a specific scanning client (HP's), but it did install a TWAIN driver as well on the client. The scanning client interface was the exact same as the one at the host's machine. Of course it only let one person (host or client) use the scanner at any one time. The 2nd person would get a rather cryptic error.

The only thing I must mention is that the one time I upgraded this software, it was a bear. It had to be uninstalled & reinstalled in Safe Mode, a fact that was only mentioned in an obscure support file, not in the main instructions. I wasted about a half day trying to upgrade the s/w. Ugh. Works fine now though.

-Zeke