scanners: usb adapter

scanners: usb adapter

[Cheryl Homiak]

I don't want to replace my motherboard, but can one get a usb adapter for an isa
slot? Would linux support this and does anybody know how expensive that would be
as opposed to a motherboard?
Thanks.

Re: scanners: usb adapter

[Rafael Skodlar]

I'm sure somebody sells ISA to USB somewhere. It probably costs around $30
to $50 which is around half of what new motherboards can be had for.  
That's why I mentioned replacing the motherboard as a possible alternative
to other upgrades. You can still use old CPU, memory and other stuff in
our computer. IT would be easier to tell what to do knowing what you
currently have.

Just checked Jameco Electronics catalog. They list HP Scan Jet 6200C, 36 
bit 1200 dpi scanner for $99.95. It has USB and SCSI connection.

They also have 5 port USB 2.0  PCI interface for $53.95 (it's faster than 
regular USB),
Other cards:
7 port USB for $32.25
4 port USB for $49.95
2 port for $29.95

I don't see ISA to USB though. As I said I would rather buy PCI cards than 
ISA for longer run in the future.

They have USB to serial or parallel adapters as well.

http://www.newegg.com has good prices on most hardware including
motherboards. For example they list TYAN Trinity 510 (S2266) VIA P4 P4X266
SOCKET 478 400MHz FSB DDR ATX, which is very close to what you would pay
for USB and scanner SCSI adapter together. The only catch is CPU and
memory. I don't know if your current one would fit in.

An alternative would be TYAN S1854 Trinity 400 Apollo Pro 133A PIII DDR
66/100/133 FSB Socket 370 and Slot 1 ATX Motherboard - RETAIL PROCESSOR:
Supports one Intel Celeron, Pentium II, or Pentium III processor. MEMORY:
3 X 3.3V unbuffered 168-pin DIMM Sockets Supports up to 768MB PC100/PC133
compliant SDRAM support. They list it for $77.00

The cheapest one seem to be MSI MS-6368L 50A (MS-6368 6368-140) PLE 133
Pentium III / Celeron Support Tualatin DDR Socket 370 Micro-ATX with
Sound, Video, LAN - Retail VIA® VT8601T chipset. (North-Bridge 510 BGA).
VIA® VT82C686B chipset.  (South-Bridge 352 BGA) .66/100/133MHz FSB. Two
168-pin unbuffered DIMM.  On-Board IDE. Goes for $57.

Prices do not include shipping and tax of course. Again, it's important to 
know what you have in order to say if you can replace the motherboard. 
Memory and CPU are the most critical.

I hope it helps.

On Tue, Mar 26, 2002 at 01:26:58PM -0600, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
> I don't want to replace my motherboard, but can one get a usb adapter for an isa
> slot? Would linux support this and does anybody know how expensive that would be
> as opposed to a motherboard?
> Thanks.

-- 
Rafael
      ***  Microsoft is to free computer use       ***
      ***  as Teleban is to the freedom of women.  ***

Re: scanners: usb adapter

[Gil Andre]

Cheryl,

Sorry but ISA to USB does not exist. ISA is simply too old,
and all the adapters I have seen are PCI to USB. I am not
even sure that ISA has enough bandwidth to be able to manage
USB speed.

So, one solution is the PCI to USB card -- but I am not sure
that can be managed by Linux. There are a lot of drivers for
Windows, of course, but I guess that's out of the equation...

I think the best solution for you would be to buy a cheap
SCSI card for your PCI bus, and plug an SCSI scanner into
it. I know Adaptec now makes pretty cheap and adequate
SCSI cards -- and most Linux distributions manage SCSI very
well.

Finding a SCSI scanner may take you a little bit more time,
but the price should be roughly equal to the USB version,
and you'll probably have less trouble making it work with
Linux.

If you don't want to upgrade your motherboard, the SCSI
solution seems the best.

Hope this helps!

On Tue, 26 Mar 2002 13:26:58 -0600 (CST), Cheryl wrote:
> I don't want to replace my motherboard, but can one get
> a usb adapter for an isa slot? Would linux support this
> and does anybody know how expensive that would be as
> opposed to a motherboard?
> Thanks.


-- 

Gil Andre          gandre@arkeia.com
         Technical Writer
Arkeia Corp.   http://www.arkeia.com

Re: scanners: usb adapter

[John J. Boyer]

Cheryl,
If you get an SCSI scanner, be sure to get the SCSI card supplied by the
scanner vendor. We have never been able to get an SCSI scanner to work
with a generic SCSI card.
John
On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, Gil Andre wrote:

>
> Cheryl,
>
> Sorry but ISA to USB does not exist. ISA is simply too old,
> and all the adapters I have seen are PCI to USB. I am not
> even sure that ISA has enough bandwidth to be able to manage
> USB speed.
>
> So, one solution is the PCI to USB card -- but I am not sure
> that can be managed by Linux. There are a lot of drivers for
> Windows, of course, but I guess that's out of the equation...
>
> I think the best solution for you would be to buy a cheap
> SCSI card for your PCI bus, and plug an SCSI scanner into
> it. I know Adaptec now makes pretty cheap and adequate
> SCSI cards -- and most Linux distributions manage SCSI very
> well.
>
> Finding a SCSI scanner may take you a little bit more time,
> but the price should be roughly equal to the USB version,
> and you'll probably have less trouble making it work with
> Linux.
>
> If you don't want to upgrade your motherboard, the SCSI
> solution seems the best.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> On Tue, 26 Mar 2002 13:26:58 -0600 (CST), Cheryl wrote:
> > I don't want to replace my motherboard, but can one get
> > a usb adapter for an isa slot? Would linux support this
> > and does anybody know how expensive that would be as
> > opposed to a motherboard?
> > Thanks.
>
>
>

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