Author Topic: Share Usb Devices (Read 37,812 times)

Earthcoder · « **on:** June 05, 2007, 08:43 AM »

Anyone ever tried any of the share usb programs?

I found these:

USB anywhere: http://www.intellidriver.com/products_1.16.html#1
USB to Ethernet Connector: http://www.eltima.com/products/usb-over-ethernet/
USB over Network: http://www.usb-over-network.com/

I been looking into ways of Setting up my scanner so the whole house can access it, and found these programs, i never heard of any of them before, anyone tried them, or know of a Freeware/Open Source Program or way to share usb to network

Mark0 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 05, 2007, 11:28 AM »

Cool! I'm very interested too.
Thanks for sharing.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #2 on:** June 05, 2007, 01:05 PM »

Looks interesting - but not exactly cheap (the first looks like best value but is tied to the computer by its license code).

If you only need this for a single device (eg. a scanner) it is probably more convenient, and possibly cheaper, to buy another device! Printers and Harddisks don't need this anyway as windows can share them anyway.

cmpm · « **Reply #3 on:** June 05, 2007, 01:24 PM »

The logic of sharing a scanner alludes me.
Since what you want to scan would need to be put in the scanner, requiring going to the actual scanner.
Unless it's the same thing you want to scan into a computer that is already in the scanner.
A scanner requires manual input, unless I'm missing something here.

cmpm · « **Reply #4 on:** June 05, 2007, 01:34 PM »

You can set your scanner to a destination of shared documents on another computer. By creating a shortcut to various computers. At least on some scanners.

Allowing access to the scanned whatever, Though you may need the software for the scanner on each computer.

Darwin · « **Reply #5 on:** June 05, 2007, 02:15 PM »

I think the objective of sharing a scanner would be to scan an image and have the scan sent to a different computer (ie not the scanner's host computer) on the network. However, I think that this is more easily accomplished by scanning to the host computer and then accessing the scanned image over the network (ie scan it to the computer to which the scanner is physically connected and then connect to that computer's hard drive ~~oer~~ over a network to access the scan)... I can imagine a number of scenarios that would make it possible to scan directly to a different computer on the network using software, but can't see how any would be an advance over just accessing the scanned image over the network. In fact every scenario I can think of would be significantly more complicated and labour intensive. The only time the extra steps would be an advantage is if one wished to scan sensitive information without other people on the network (particularly anyone with direct access to the scanner's host computer) having access to it. BUT if you're going to be scanning over the network, surely anyone on the network will have access to it, even if only briefly, anyway?

My brain hurts.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #6 on:** June 05, 2007, 02:39 PM »

Quote from: cmpm on June 05, 2007, 01:24 PM

The logic of sharing a scanner alludes me.

Sounds painful - I think you mean "eludes me"

Sorry for being a pedant.

Earthcoder · « **Reply #7 on:** June 05, 2007, 02:42 PM »

Basically Im looking into sharing scanner for the following reason

My mum and dad have use ebay to sell stuff, they sit next to each other and have 2 scanners, but 1 scanner is crap (mums) and the other scanner is a good one with lightbox for scanning negitives (connected to dads)

Basically my mum wants to list negitives too, so having dads scanner shared so mum can use for the negitives she wants is ideal, as its next to her anyway.

Scanning to a folder would not be great for them, there into basic computing skills, and do alot on the scanning tools for the items.
Unplugging the scanner etc is a bit of a pain to do as its all wired away for clean desktops.

Just looking for away around the issue without buying another £350 scanner.

Sorta explains the logic

Quote

The logic of sharing a scanner alludes me.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #8 on:** June 05, 2007, 02:56 PM »

Why on earth would you spend £350 on a scanner ???

There are loads of good scanners out there that will be practically as cheap as buying USB sharing software.

Alternatively buy a couple of really cheap USB hubs and make it easy to unplug the scanner.

Here are some cheap scanners:

Canon Canoscan Lide 25 for £36 (OK this one doesn't do negatives but it is good quality)

Canon 4400F for £58 (and this one does slides and negatives too).

Both prices include VAT.

I love Canon scanners (I have had a 3000F and 3200F since they were first release and have never had any problems with them). They are really easy to use (just press a button on the scanner) and easy to set up (drivers install easily, you can assign the scanner buttons to do what you want).

If you want to see other similar models, including some cheap and cheerful Canon all-in-one solutions (printer, scanner and PictBridge compatible photo printing without a computer), have a look here

tomos · « **Reply #9 on:** June 05, 2007, 03:01 PM »

if they have a scanner that cost 350 Pounds,
presumably it's a very good one so -
sharing would be attractive

Darwin · « **Reply #10 on:** June 05, 2007, 03:03 PM »

The logic doesn't elude me, but there are practical limits (or so it seems to me) to what can be accomplished with a device like a scanner over a network. How about this as an alternative: you could network your parent's computers together using something like Network Magic and then share the folder to which scanned images are sent. The advantage of Network Magic is that anyone can use it to share folders and devices (not USB scanners, though, as far as I can tell). So, even if your parents' computer skills are basic, they should have no problem with it. In this scenario, you're mum would scan an image using your dad's computer and scanner (or ask him to scan something for her if he's sitting next to her) and then access the image from her computer. Actually, it's pretty simple to accomplish this using the features built-in to Win2k/XP/Vista but, at least with 2k and XP, I've found things a bit flaky and have had to get my hands dirty a few times to repair shares and things. With Network Magic, connections are stable and if they do break the GUI is simple enough that my wife can sort things out if I am not around.

My final (and quite random) thought: you're mum should still be able to do most of the heavy lifiting involved, if dad is busy on his computer) - she just has to load the negative into the scanner and press a button on the front of it. All dad should have to do is accept the scan...

I need some ibuprofen and strong coffee!

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2007, 03:12 PM »

Quote from: tomos on June 05, 2007, 03:01 PM

if they have a scanner that cost 350 Pounds,
presumably it's a very good one so -
sharing would be attractive

Maybe a very good scanner - but you don't need fantastic quality images to put things on eBay. What ever you upload to eBay is going to be downsized to 72dpi and a size that the eBay gurus like.

You only really need a drammatically good quality scanner if you want to produce profession quality copies of photographs - or scan negatives at professional quality (in which case you get a dedicated negative scanner which will cost a lot more than £350).

The second Canon scanner I pointed to has an optical resolution of 9600 x 4800 dpi - which is more than adequate for practically anything most people would want to do and is more than adequate for negatives.

Earthcoder · « **Reply #12 on:** June 05, 2007, 03:39 PM »

Its mainly there are not many cheap scanners that do a A5 Sized negitive Which is a old glass plate image, most scanners only do 35mm negitives.

My parents sell alot of old negitives, and where details need to be shown, hence the price of the only scanner that will do is over £350.

And it wont be downsized on ebay, as we use my Webhost to show images where buyers can click the image to show a high res image on the host for that item, no images get listed by Ebay.

Looks like its not £350+ anymore, Was when we 1st got it.

Now £270 But still alot..

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=3KZP&tduid=8a1e7f2de083f602b9c13dc74343ae03
Epson Perfection 4990 Photo

But dad is interested in Epson Perfection V700 PHOTO which is £350+ Or the pro is £400+ Mad i know.. for a scanner, but only ones that do the sized negitive they need

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2007, 04:01 PM »

Can you not simply scan the A5 negative like any other document and then 'develop' the image in a graphics application? Inverting colours from negative to positive should be an easy one click fix. Then you should be able to use any scanner to do the job.

Hmmm ... just been looking and it isn't non-trivial.

How about the USB hub approach - still cheaper than sharing software.

Failing that you could use Windows to set up a share folder which both compters can access. If you want to make it easy to access you can even assign that folder a drive letter so that it looks like a hard disc in Windows Explorer and is accessed in exactly the same way.

Another alternative is a USB switch that allows you to select which computer has access - but I am not sure how much they would cost.

Having said that - the Intellidriver software (scanner edition) should do what you want for £11.

Why not download it and have a play and buy it is you are happy. There is a demo download at http://www.intellidriver.com/products.2.16_Demo.html

Hirudin · « **Reply #14 on:** June 05, 2007, 04:36 PM »

I get the impression Vista Business and Ultimate will let you share scanners just like printers, but I haven't tried it yet. I took my scanner apart, and for one reason or another it only worked once after I put it back together (I actually think it's a software problem though). Anyway, I can definitely see the point of a networked scanner...
1. Wait for the scanner... Scanning a full image in high resolution takes a long ass time. It you were able to use the scanner software you could do a test scan, find the area where you want detail so you only take the time to scan that.
2. Wait for the network... High resolution images are quite large, transferring them over a network could get annoying
3. No switching programs... Sometimes you don't want the scanned image for long, File > Import > TWAIN from within your graphics program is a lot more convenient than browsing to a folder and opening an image.
4. Obviously 2 computers that are next to eachother, with equal access to a shared scanner makes a lot of sense. I personally like to get my documents as close to square before scanning them which takes a lot of adjusting. If you had to do a full scan before every adjustment it would take many times longer.

I'm with Carol here, if all you need is "a scanner" than go for a cheap one. I used to have a Visioneer 9020, cost me something like $100 IIRC. By the time I bought my current scanner I could have bought it for like $20. My current scanner was $250 retail (Epson Perfection 4490) I didn't pay that much though. I think I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in scan quality. But, if you need a large bed, or better negative scanning, you gotta get what you gotta get.

I wonder if a USB KVM switch (~$30) would work?
Or something like this thing

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #15 on:** June 05, 2007, 06:45 PM »

That's the sort of thing I was thinking of Hirudin.

For a further choice of such switches see:

http://www.dabs.com/ProductList.aspx?&NavigationKey=11127&NavigationKey=4294956958&CategorySelectedId=11127

This one looks particularly good value at £12.30 (inc. VAT) and it is USB 2.0 (take care, a lot of the devices are USB1.1 which is 40 times slower):

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3808&CategorySelectedId=11127&NavigationKey=11127,4294956958

Earthcoder · « **Reply #16 on:** June 06, 2007, 07:57 AM »

Thanks for the advice guys, KVM maybe the best solution.

But i did have a brainwave last night

My dads Lightbox head for scanner is removable, So if i get a cheap epson scanner thats got a port on back so can attach optional extras then i can just use the scanner lid on other scanner.

AEngineer · « **Reply #17 on:** June 08, 2007, 11:59 AM »

I've used a Keyspan USB server for several years. It can be a bit cranky to set up, but works very nicely with my Canon MP-730 printer/scanner/fax. It's the only one I could find that did so.
http://www.keyspan.com/products/homepage.2.productList.USB.spml

Timmy Milas · « **Reply #18 on:** June 16, 2007, 04:10 PM »

You can try USB Redirector PRO v3.2 from http://incentivespro.com

steeladept · « **Reply #19 on:** June 16, 2007, 04:25 PM »

Another option that might be easier is to use a Wireless print server like the DLink 1260. It sets up any USB printer OR SCANNER and allows them to be used on the network. You can connect them wired or wireless, though to set up you need to do so wired. I just set one up two nights ago for a client and it only took an hour to set up 3 computers with 4 different devices on it wirelessly. I think we charged them around $120US, including installation, though don't quote me on that...

Earthcoder · « **Reply #20 on:** June 19, 2007, 10:50 AM »

We brought a new scanner in end, found a nice epson for £100 that works with my dads lightbox.

thanks for all help

Darwin · « **Reply #21 on:** October 26, 2007, 02:11 PM »

This thread is OLD but thought I'd update it - just came across Masters ITC BlindScanner Pro and thought of this thread. It is specifically designed to allow users to do what Earthcoder was asking about - share a scanner.

I've no interest in this functionality, so haven't tried the software. It advertises:

Quote

The BlindScanner Pro software will share and open access to a scanner on the local area network that is not directly connected to your computer, but installed on a computer located in the neighboring room, for example.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #22 on:** October 26, 2007, 10:44 PM »

Quote from: Darwin on October 26, 2007, 02:11 PM

This thread is OLD but thought I'd update it - just came across Masters ITC BlindScanner Pro and thought of this thread. It is specifically designed to allow users to do what Earthcoder was asking about - share a scanner.

I've no interest in this functionality, so haven't tried the software. It advertises:

Quote
The BlindScanner Pro software will share and open access to a scanner on the local area network that is not directly connected to your computer, but installed on a computer located in the neighboring room, for example.

FWIW Giveaway of the Day (for Friday 26 Oct, 2007) has Scanitto on offer, which is part -- but only part -- of what you describe http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/scanitto/

Description from Giveaway's site:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Scanitto is a lite application for aquiring images from TWAIN scanners. It allows scannning, saving scanned images in various formats (bmp, jpeg, tiff, png, pdf, gif) and sending output images directly to the printer. Scanitto does the job in 4 easy steps: selecting TWAIN device, setting scanning parameters, aquiring images and perfroming images management.
Features:

* Simple and user-friendly interface;
* Direct-printing scanned images that can also be saved in the following formats: bmp, jpeg, tiff, png, pdf, gif;
* Possibilty to change resolution/color depth;
* Compatibility with all TWAIN scanners.

Darwin · « **Reply #23 on:** October 27, 2007, 12:04 AM »

Yeah... that's how I found it! Note that Scannito hasn't been very well received in the Giveawayoftheday comments section, which doesn't bode well for BlindScanner Pro...

Darwin · « **Reply #24 on:** October 27, 2007, 02:50 AM »

BTW, I still have a hard time figuring out how this feature would be useful... Unless, of course, your scanner can be setup somehow to send to specific locations on the network... Actually, I *guess* if you set the scanner to send to a folder on a server it would work. Anybody could scan with it and access their scans from their workstation. S'pose it makes sense in that light. I'm glad we've had this conversation. Yes, me too.