EU

[Jules Richardson]

Tony Duell wrote:
>> On Mon, 5 Jun 2006, Tony Duell wrote:
>>> I am not sure if it's illegal, though, for me to buy an old machine from
>>> somebody in the States and have it sent to me.
>> If some others would chip in on the shipping, I'd gladly send you a
>> scanner.  Would you prefer SCSI or "Centronics"?
> 
> I don't care, provided it comes with schematics and uses chips that I 
> recognise :-)

I'm assuming that some of the older scanner mechanisms could be interfaced to 
with your own electronics if you so wanted? (Does anyone know how the actual 
scanning head's driven? Is it just a massive linear array of sensors with an 
on-board de-multiplexor?)

I suppose that you can't fix the scanning head if it develops a fault - so it 
may be easier to accept that if you can't fix the critical/complex/expensive 
part of the unit then you may as well treat the whole device as a throwaway 
item [1]

[1] Old scanners can be recycled to make nice light-boxes if you're into 
art/graphics work - rip the guts out and install a couple of fluorescent 
tubes. Hmm, and possibly they'd make an interesting fishtank if sealed 
properly (scanquarium?) :-)

cheers

Jules