Forcing Irfanview to be my TWAIN source (how)?

Is there a good URL which shows how to add a TWAIN source to WinXP?

I start Irfanview on Windows XP & press File --> Select TWAIN Source,
but the results are totally empty (ie there are no TWAIN sources
defined).

When I look up the IrfanView Help on TWAIN, it says (unhelpfully):
"Click on the File menu, then Select TWAIN Source.
"Allows you to choose from the scanners or any other TWAIN
compatible device (digital camera, TV card, etc.) installed
on your computer (if more than one is available)."

OK. But how do I get a TWAIN source in that dialog box in the first
place?

I never even heard the word TWAIN before so I go to www.twain.org and
now I see it's a standard all scanners should abide by (my scanner is
an HP OfficeJet Printer but every time I installed the OJ software my
computer crashed so I just use generic printer drivers for the past
couple of years and the printing to this printer works just fine).

I search google for TWAIN and I'm absolutely inundated with URLs.
Is there a good URL which shows how to add a TWAIN source to Irfanview?
All I want to do is launch IrfanView and then scan in a picture from
there.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question (you can ignore this if it is too
dumb).
If you know of the best URL to go for this, please just post the URL.
If you have a howto for adding a TWAIN source to Irfanview, that would
be best!
thanks,
CCN

CCN wrote:
> Is there a good URL which shows how to add a TWAIN source to WinXP?
>
> I start Irfanview on Windows XP & press File --> Select TWAIN Source,
> but the results are totally empty (ie there are no TWAIN sources
> defined).

OK. Digging a bit more in the www.twain.org site, I find in the FAQ:
http://www.twain.org/faq.htm

Question: Where do I get updated scanner drivers for Windows XP?
Answer: You need to get the driver for your device from the scanner
vendor.
Normally scanner vendors make drivers available at their web
sites.

So, I guess one needs to add a "TWAIN Driver" from http://www.hp.com
and then that HP d145xi TWAIN Source will show up in Irfanview?

Is this the correct approach?

CCN

> So, I guess one needs to add a "TWAIN Driver" from http://www.hp.com
> and then that HP d145xi TWAIN Source will show up in Irfanview?
>
> Is this the correct approach?

Bummer.
I go to the HP web site searching for the HP d145 to find drivers at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...eitem=oj-2520-3

Guess what?
The drivers on my two-year old HP CDROM (version 3.22) are NEWER than
those at the HP web site (version 3.20)! Sheeesh. You'd think HP would
update their drivers once every few years.

Since both my original HP CDROM drivers (version 3.20) crashed the
Windows XP computer and the newer HP CDROM drivers mailed to me two
years ago by HP (version 3.22) also crashed the computer, I don't think
this approach of obtaining the drivers from HP are panning out.

Does anyone know another way to install a TWAIN driver for an HP
OfficeJet d145 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax so that Irfanview will
show it as a TWAIN Source?

CCN

CCN wrote:
> Does anyone know another way to install a TWAIN driver for an HP
> OfficeJet d145 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax so that Irfanview will
> show it as a TWAIN Source in Windows XP?

I guess I have two fundamental choices.
1. Find just the TWAIN driver on the 60 Mbyte HP driver CDROM & install
it.
2. Find a generic TWAIN driver (if that exists) somewhere on the
Internet

Exploring the "EuroA" HP OfficeJet D-Series Customer Support CDROM, I
find:
- hpodrs07_ds_SharedTwain_xp_al_68 G:\Setup\files.cab 180 KB
9/26/2002
- hpodsr07_ini_SharedTwain_xp_all_162 G:\Setup\files.cab 1 KB
1/20/2001

Hmmmmmmmmm... I wonder if I can install JUST the TWAIN driver.
So I doubleclick on the 180 KiloByte DS file in the cabinet & extract.
This creates a 180 KB binary file:
c:\temp\hpodsr07_ds_SharedTwain_xp_all_68 (with no file extension).
I check its properties by right clicking in WinXP and it says:
Description = TWAIN Data Source Redirector
Company = Hewlett-Packard Co.
File Version = 2.0.0.0
Internal Name = HPODSR07
Original File name = HPODSR07.DS
Product Family = hp officejet d series
VersionDate = September 26, 2002

So, I rename this file with a *.ds extension (whatever that is).

Moving to the next file, I extract the 1 KB INI file.
At least this is a text file.
Here are the contents:
[Indirection]
Directory=

[TWAIN Identity]
DataSource=hpodss07.dll
DSEntryPoint=DS_Entry
VersionMajorNum=1
VersionMinorNum=0
VersionLanguage=13 ; English (U.S.)
VersionCountry=1 ; USA
VersionInfo=Sept 14, 1999
ProtocolMajor=1
ProtocolMinor=7
Manufacturer=Hewlett-Packard Company
ProductFamily=All-In-One
SupportedGroups=3
DeviceIDEntryPoint=SetDeviceID
ProductName=
DeviceID=

Hmmmmm...
Do you think I can manually install TWAIN?
Here is my first-pass guess at a manual TWAIN installation procedure?

a) Add the "ini" extension to the 1 KB ASCII text INI file
b) Add the "ds" extension to the 180 KB binary file
c) Modify the ASCII file to point to the binary file (???)
d) Then, somehow INSTALL via that Ini file (but how)???

Note: Right clicking on the INI file does not show any "install"
option.

QUESTION: Does this approach seem reasonable?
Or, is there a much better way to install a generic TWAIN
driver?

CNN

> [Indirection]
> Directory=
>
> [TWAIN Identity]
> DataSource=hpodss07.dll
> DSEntryPoint=DS_Entry
....
> Here is my first-pass guess at a manual TWAIN installation procedure?

Actually, I realize now that DS stands for DATA SOURCE.
So I change the 180KB file name to "hpodss07.dll"

Now I need to figure out how to manually install an INI file.
I wish I could just rightclick on the ini file and select "install" but
that doesn't seem to be in the option list. When I right click, I can
only "open" which brings the INI file up in Notepad. Likewise when I
doubleclick on the ini file.

Does anyone know how to manually install an INI file?

CCN

CCN wrote:
> CCN wrote:
>
>>Is there a good URL which shows how to add a TWAIN source to WinXP?
>>
>>I start Irfanview on Windows XP & press File --> Select TWAIN Source,
>>but the results are totally empty (ie there are no TWAIN sources
>>defined).
>
>
> OK. Digging a bit more in the www.twain.org site, I find in the FAQ:
> http://www.twain.org/faq.htm
>
> Question: Where do I get updated scanner drivers for Windows XP?
> Answer: You need to get the driver for your device from the scanner
> vendor.
> Normally scanner vendors make drivers available at their web
> sites.
>
> So, I guess one needs to add a "TWAIN Driver" from http://www.hp.com
> and then that HP d145xi TWAIN Source will show up in Irfanview?
>
> Is this the correct approach?
>
> CCN
>
Yes. My HP printer/scanner shows in the dialog box as a TWAIN device,
as does my camera driver (although I wouldn't use that). HP should have
a funtional driver for XP. If not, complain loudly!


--
Ron Hunter rphunter@charter.net

CCN wrote:
>>So, I guess one needs to add a "TWAIN Driver" from http://www.hp.com
>>and then that HP d145xi TWAIN Source will show up in Irfanview?
>>
>>Is this the correct approach?
>
>
> Bummer.
> I go to the HP web site searching for the HP d145 to find drivers at:
> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...eitem=oj-2520-3
>
> Guess what?
> The drivers on my two-year old HP CDROM (version 3.22) are NEWER than
> those at the HP web site (version 3.20)! Sheeesh. You'd think HP would
> update their drivers once every few years.
>
> Since both my original HP CDROM drivers (version 3.20) crashed the
> Windows XP computer and the newer HP CDROM drivers mailed to me two
> years ago by HP (version 3.22) also crashed the computer, I don't think
> this approach of obtaining the drivers from HP are panning out.
>
> Does anyone know another way to install a TWAIN driver for an HP
> OfficeJet d145 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax so that Irfanview will
> show it as a TWAIN Source?
>
> CCN
>
Some suggestions for driver installation:
Disable antivirus and firewall programs (unplug from internet first).
Then reboot, and try installation.

If that doesn't work, reboot to 'safe mode', and retry installation.

Check Microsoft and HP knowledge bases for other suggestions if the
above doesn't work.

Good luck.


--
Ron Hunter rphunter@charter.net

In article <1119766490.696055.209150@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
camcordernut@yahoo.com says...

> Here is my first-pass guess at a manual TWAIN installation procedure?

Slow down. You're going about it entirely the wrong way, 180 off. You
do NOT do anything special. The twain driver is just your ordinary
scanner driver, the one which you use to preview and scan with.

The normal scanner installation installs it. You cannot "rename" any
file to .ds to create it (any more than you can create a picture of
your dog by renaming some file to JPG). Just use your scanners regular
install procedure to do the regular scanner install. It is an entirely
automatic procedure.

The twain driver file is named nameofyourscanner.ds, and it will appear
in the folder at \windows\twain_32\. Irfanview and other programs
will show a list of whatever is there in their Select Twain Source
interface. You cannot add it, you need to discover why the normal
install is not adding it.

Your only hope is to follow the instructions to do the conventional
scanner install.

--
Wayne
http://www.scantips.com "A few scanning tips"

Wayne wrote:

> In article <1119766490.696055.209150@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
> camcordernut@yahoo.com says...
>
>
>>Here is my first-pass guess at a manual TWAIN installation procedure?
>
>
> Slow down. You're going about it entirely the wrong way, 180 off. You
> do NOT do anything special. The twain driver is just your ordinary
> scanner driver, the one which you use to preview and scan with.
>
> The normal scanner installation installs it. You cannot "rename" any
> file to .ds to create it (any more than you can create a picture of
> your dog by renaming some file to JPG). Just use your scanners regular
> install procedure to do the regular scanner install. It is an entirely
> automatic procedure.
>
> The twain driver file is named nameofyourscanner.ds, and it will appear
> in the folder at \windows\twain_32\. Irfanview and other programs
> will show a list of whatever is there in their Select Twain Source
> interface. You cannot add it, you need to discover why the normal
> install is not adding it.
>
> Your only hope is to follow the instructions to do the conventional
> scanner install.
>
Good info and thanks!
I've used IrfanView for years and prefer it to everything else out
there. GF has a scanner but I don't think she knows that IrfanView
interfaces to it. Thanks for your post.

Ron Hunter wrote:
> CCN wrote:
>> CCN wrote:
>>
>>> Is there a good URL which shows how to add a TWAIN source to
>>> WinXP?
>>>
>>> I start Irfanview on Windows XP & press File --> Select TWAIN
>>> Source, but the results are totally empty (ie there are no TWAIN
>>> sources defined).
>>
>>
>> OK. Digging a bit more in the www.twain.org site, I find in the
>> FAQ:
>> http://www.twain.org/faq.htm
>>
>> Question: Where do I get updated scanner drivers for Windows XP?
>> Answer: You need to get the driver for your device from the
>> scanner
>> vendor.
>> Normally scanner vendors make drivers available at their
>> web sites.
>>
>> So, I guess one needs to add a "TWAIN Driver" from
>> http://www.hp.com
>> and then that HP d145xi TWAIN Source will show up in Irfanview?
>>
>> Is this the correct approach?
>>
>> CCN
>>
> Yes. My HP printer/scanner shows in the dialog box as a TWAIN
> device,
> as does my camera driver (although I wouldn't use that). HP should
> have a funtional driver for XP. If not, complain loudly!

Can it be that long ago that I moved my HP PhotoSmart scanner from a
Win98 to an XP machine?

HP didn't have a driver for it. I looked at the HP support groups and
the wisdom was use a Win2000 driver. I did and it has worked fine ever
since. Seems to me a couple years down the road HP relabled the
download to call it an XP driver, but the size was the same.

Win2000 driver worked for me.

--
Frank ess