OS X and UMAX scanners

[Maik]

I own a UMAX astra 4000U scanner (USB)and wish to run it with my new iMAC running OS X, according UMAX this is not possible. Is anyone aware of software which will run this scanner? As Vuescan 7.5 does not support umax scanners and the UMAX web site only has the following unhelpful fix.



Record ID: SC00190
Q. How can I use MagicScan or VistaScan with Mac OS X?
A. When using Mac OS X, both MagicScan and VistaScan will not run in the OS 9 Classic Environment.
WORKAROUND:
The system must be restarted using Mac OS 9.2. Set the startup disk to Mac OS 9.2 and restart the computer. MagicScan and VistaScan works under this condition.
When you're not using the scanner, you can restart back into Mac OS X.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
Umax Does not currently support any Mac OS above 9.1.

 

[torner]

II have stopped purchasing UMAX scanners because of their plans to CHARGE for all driver/software updates (versus free download). I have switched to Epson.

As for your specific issue, I believe that the UMAX suggestion is a good one so long as you haven't modified the factory OS load. Both OS X and OS 9.x are on the same drive partition so documents/scans you save with OS X apps are visible to OS 9.x and vice versa. While it's a tad inconvenient to have to boot into OS 9.x to scan, at least they didn't shut you out completely. BEWARE of their update policy, though, if/when they do make OS X drivers/apps available.