In praise of VMWare and Linux for USB scanner support under Windows

Just to note that I tried a cheap old scanner - Mustek 1200 UB - with my 32
bit Vista laptop and found no drivers.
That is, the USB device installed but there were no scanner drivers.
Checked online and no support past XP.

Just for the hell of it I loaded VMWare Player and started 64 bit Ubuntu
(clever that you can run a 64 bit virtual O/S inside a 32 bit O/S).
At the bottom of the VMWare window I could see the USB device for the
scanner.
Transferred control from Windows to VMWare and Bingo!
XSane identified the scanner and it worked perfectly.

So for thise with W7 or Vista and an old unsupported scanner, VMWare (or
other virtualisation product of your choice) could be your friend.

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

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