SilverFast Ai & Vista x64

[Mardon]

I recently bought an Epson Perfection V750 Pro. This week I installed
"Vista Ultimate x64". (Fortunately, I kept my "XP Pro x86" as the "old
version of windows" in dual-boot configuration.) I want to use my scanner
from the Vista x64 OS but only the rudimentary Epson drivers work. My
"SilverFast Ai 6" that came with the scanner will not work on x64. Here's
what LaserSoft has to say: http://www.silverfast.com/show/vista/en.html

"...SilverFast will not be compatible with Windows Vista* 64-bit in the
first step. Vista* 64-bit compatibility will be implemented subsequently
with no final date yet."

Does anyone have any inside information as to how long before LaserSoft
produces the x64 version? Alternatively, is there a high quality scanner
program for the V750 Pro that will work with Vista x64?

 

[babaloo]

My serious recommendation is: don't hold your breath.
Vendor support for 32 bit Vista is underwhelming and many of the new drivers
being offered are buggy or simply do not work.
The situation is worse for 64 bit Vista.
At present I have no clue why anyone thinks that in the real world a 64 bit
OS will be better than a 32 bit OS simply because it can theoretically
address more RAM.
Outside of multi-core servers feeding hundreds of clients no one on earth
using a PC will get a real world advantage with current software at these
high RAM levels because RAM is not the bottleneck.
If you have less than 4gbs of RAM or less there is not even a theoretical
advantage to a 64 bit OS.
Now examine your 64 bit OS set up. Is there a swap file?
Think about what that means . . . . .

 

[Mardon]

My serious recommendation is: don't hold your breath.
Vendor support for 32 bit Vista is underwhelming and many of the new
drivers being offered are buggy or simply do not work.
The situation is worse for 64 bit Vista.
At present I have no clue why anyone thinks that in the real world a 64
bit OS will be better than a 32 bit OS simply because it can theoretically
address more RAM.
Outside of multi-core servers feeding hundreds of clients no one on earth
using a PC will get a real world advantage with current software at these
high RAM levels because RAM is not the bottleneck.
If you have less than 4gbs of RAM or less there is not even a theoretical
advantage to a 64 bit OS.
Now examine your 64 bit OS set up. Is there a swap file?
Think about what that means . . . . .

The more RAM that's installed, the larger Windows makes the paging file, not
the other way around. By default, the file size equals the installed RAM
plus 300MB. My paging file is 5418 MB with 5GB RAM installed. Dual 3.6
Xeon processors.

 

[-]

Alternatively, is there a high quality scanner

program for the V750 Pro that will work with Vista x64?

The v3.04A driver from Epson is supposedly Vista 64 bit compatible. Have
you tried it?

Doug

 

[babaloo]

The point about RAW and swapfiles: with 4gbs of RAM or more there is no need
for a swap file. IF the OS insists on creating a swap file, and matching the
size of the swap file to the RAM, then the OS itself is not optimized for
handling large volumes of memory regardless of the amount of RAM it can
theoretically address. Also you must consider that the OS has a finite
number of "resources" that can run out before RAM runs out.

 

[Kevin]

The more RAM that's installed, the larger Windows makes the paging file,not
the other way around. By default, the file size equals the installed RAM
plus 300MB. My paging file is 5418 MB with 5GB RAM installed. Dual 3.6
Xeon processors.

The size that windows assigns to the paging file is irrelevant. What
matters is how much of that paging file is in use at peak times (max
working set size). Check the '% Usage Peak' field in the 'Paging
File' Object under 'Administrative Tools'|Performance (for XP). Keep
that running while you perform your most memory intensive tasks and
you should see how much of that paging file has actually been used.
Hint, if it is 0 you are wasting 5418 MB of disk space. Unless of
course your memory needs increase at some later time and you need to
do some paging.