ISIS Drivers

BoardBoss — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 15:55:59 +0000

Originally developed by Pixel Translations (PixTran), an ISIS (Image and Scanner Interface Specification) Driver is the defacto industry standard enterprise-level scanner driver interface that unites scanners with software applications.

The benefits of having an ISIS driver are scanner manufacturers include guaranteed compatibility with hundreds of commercial ISIS applications, and software developers are guaranteed compatibility with hundreds of scanners from many different manufacturers.

Don't expect to see ISIS Drivers for anything except higher-end scanners due to relatively high development costs. ISIS drivers are designed for production scanning environments that are not always user-friendly; instead, data throughput and post-scan processing are top considerations.

Looking for an ISIS Driver? Check with the scanner hardware manufacturer or software developer. Often they are available for little or no cost via these sources. Otherwise, plan to shell out some serious coin if you have to purchase one.

TWAIN. Mmm... Shania! Sorry, wrong TWAIN

BoardBoss — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 15:54:01 +0000

TWAIN is a standard software protocol and applications programming interface (API) designed to facilitate and regulate communication between software applications and imaging devices such as scanners.

Even though it is widely known as "Technology Without An Interesting Name", TWAIN is not an official acronym. BoardBoss has this on good authority as he knows a founding member of the TWAIN Working Group.

The word TWAIN is from Rudyard Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West"—"...and never the twain shall meet..."—reflecting the difficulties encountered when first attempting to connect scanners and personal computers. It has since been up-cased to TWAIN to make it more distinctive.

The early objectives for TWAIN drivers, which were simply to get hardware and software "talking", were frequently problematic. Therefore, considerations such as improved performance/throughput were not paramount, if they were even considered at all. TWAIN should never be confused with ISIS drivers as the two are vastly different. Please see ISIS Drivers elsewhere in this section.

TWAIN is what enables most entry- and mid-level scanners and computer applications (i.e. Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, etc.) to communicate. The TWAIN driver, also known as a device driver, is virtually always provided by the manufacturer of the hardware (scanner).

Scanning - Welcome to the Connectivity Café.

ISIS Drivers

TWAIN. Mmm... Shania! Sorry, wrong TWAIN