chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (09/29/88)
Here's a summary of the responses I got on my request for info on the
Abaton. I've decided to not purchase it, primarily because while I think
it's a good deal, a good deal on a piece of hardware I don't really need
isn't as important to me as getting an average deal on something I need more.
Anyway, for the folks who wanted this info, here you go!
chuq
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From: Bill O. Gallmeister <bog@shinytoy>
FYI. I liked the Abaton myself. Big fun for scanning in
Calvin & Hobbes cartoons, people's faces, dollar bills...the
software (which I think came standard) was especially whizzy.
From: t-jacobs@cs.utah.edu (Tony Jacobs)
We got one about the middle of July. It works pretty well for the most part.
The software it came with has a few problems. After you scan something and
want to copy it into the clipboard, if it is big it can sometimes choke. This
is would do even on a two meg Mac II. You can save the scan in different
file formats. Where we ran into tricky waters is trying to get the scan into
Word (via the clipboard). The newer software comes in two flavors: PanelScan
and C-Scan Plus. PanelScan lets you scan from the control panel while C-Scan
is an application that lets you edit and add graphics.
Both programs use a driver that is placed in the system folder and accessed
through the chooser. The scanner dialog lets you select the size and placement
on the page as well as the brightness, mode: line art; random halftone; spiral
halftone; gray scale, Reduction: 100;80;66;60%'s, and options: invert; & mirror
image. You can preview from this dialog in which it does a quick low quality
scan and places the image in the page selection area.
The types of formats supported are: TIFF; Compressed TIFF (CCIT Group3);
EPSF; and MacPaint.
It can scan a full page in about 15-20 seconds. It does a smart scan for small
areas, meaning it only scans the area needed.
From: amdahl!uunet!rata.vuw.ac.nz!newbery (Michael Newbery)
We like it. We got one on evaluation to see if there was any demand
for a scanner. It never went back. Long lines of users appeared with
artwork in their hot little hands.
Some observations:
1. Get the FB, not the SF. The roll feed is less convenient.
2. Get the SCSI interface! Not only is it MUCH faster but if you use
the modem interface you have to turn off AppleTalk while you are
scanning or the scan stops (with "Scanner not responding") about one
time in three---depending on how busy your AppleTalk is. This is on a
Mac II by the way.
3. The half-tone algorithm in the Abaton software (C-SCAN) produces
very nice results, except...
4. Don't try scanning previously half-toned stuff. The inteference
effects are ghastly. (The manual warns you about this somewhere.)
5. Selecting 25% reduction (A4 -> MacPaint size) is SLOW (software),
other reductions are done in hardware in the scanner and are fast.
6. Version 1.6 of the C-Scan software seems to have problems creating
EPSF and Superpaint documents. TIFF is fine however.
From: lgdemichillie@ucdavis.edu (L. Greg DeMichillie)
I work for the UC Davis Computer Shop and we tried carrying Abaton
scanners and let me tell you, they were a living hell. Abaton uses
a funky SCSI <-> parallel converter bo. After several people reported
problems in using them (i.e., won't function without 3 terminators on the bus)
we had our tech/repair person look at them. He felt that there was a design
flaw in the SCSI/parallel box, so he contacted Abaton. THE ABATON TECH
SUPPORT PERSSAID HE'D LIKE TO HELP, BUT ALL THONES THEY HAD WERE
INTERMITTENT!! So, even the converters at the company are buggy. We quickly
got RMAs on the whole lot and returned every one in stock and some that
customers had purchased had couldn't get to work.
We now sell the Apple scanners. So far, 3 sold and 3 very happy customers.
Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM Delphi: CHUQ
Editor/Publisher, OtherRealms