An OS X driver for the Mustek Scanexpress a3 USB
UPDATE:
This post is several years old. We don’t use Mustek scanners anymore and we have no idea if the steps listed below will be of any use with more recent versions of the MAC OS. We’re leaving it up in case it might be of some use to someone, somewhere, but this info is a long way from up-to-date.
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Like many Mac-loving cartoonists and storyboard artists, we have a Mustek scanexpress A3, and we’ve had to use an OS9 computer to run it, as no OSX drivers were available. No one here in Portland or anywhere else could help.
I’m happy to say there’s now a functional OS X driver for the Mustek Scanexpress A3 USB. It takes some fiddling to get it working, though. Here is what worked for me on my Powerbook G4, running 10.3.9 (Update: I’ve also heard from lots of people who have it working with various versions of 10.4.)
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Download the file: a32fw.usb from this page:
http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/gt68xx-backend/
Get and install all of the appropriate packages from this page:
http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/
You don’t need the SDK’s- just the binaries.
Open your system preferences. (You’ll find them in the apple menu at the upper left corner of your screen.) Click on the SANE icon.
Find the gt68xx line.
Click the configure button.
A terminal window will open.
Scroll down until you find the part that says this:
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#Autodetect Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB
usb 0x055f 0×0210
# Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB doesn’t need any manual settings
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Delete the “#”‘s and click OKAY. You’ll be asked to enter your system password. Enter it.
Then Find the gt68xx line in your SANE window again and click the firmware button. This will open up another terminal window. Drag that “a32fw.usb ” file off your desktop into the terminal window, and save it.
Shut down.
Plug your mustek’s USB cord into your computer.
Turn it on.
Go into photoshop.
Open IMPORT from the FILE menu and hit SANE.
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I should note that I’m not able to offer you tech support. I can barely solve my own problems, much less yours. If what I’ve written here doesn’t work for you, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.
If you want to link back to this post, you can use this for the direct url:
http://bit.ly/cke13 Thanks!
-Posted by Steve Lieber
