Old camera, new tricks?

[Bishop149]

Ok to explain a bit, I'm trying to get a rather old (but still actually pretty decent) microscope camera functional again after a lab reorganisation / modernisation in which the old computer running the system was basically chucked out (I was on holiday or I would have stopped them chucking it ). So I'm basically stuck in a warren of "Will it be compatible?!" with an ancient device an brand new PCs. I know very little about this stuff and yet none the less appear to have become the guy in the lab to fix such things. . . . probably because I know something rather than nothing.

The camera is this one: https://www.leica-microsystems.com/file ... nglish.pdf

The way that it used to run is as follows:
- The computer involved was ancient and ran Windows XP
- Camera connected via a firewire port on the main motherboard header
- I recall installing a driver package for the camera at some point.
- To use the camera we opened an equally ancient version of photoshop from which we could open a control window for the camera via "import"

In trying to get the damn thing working again, I have thus far worked out.
- Firewire ports as standard are basically non-existent these days but I could buy an card.
- The manufacturer long ago stopped publishing driver packages for this camera.
- BUT the format of the device output is something called TWAIN, designed to be generic and it seems there's a good chance something will still read its output.
- There might a issue around TWAIN and 64-bit operating systems? Which of course everything is now.
- I use an open source image analysis package called ImageJ quite a lot and it appears there are no shortage of plugins to enable it to read TWAIN outputs.
https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/plugins/

What do you think? What are the chances I can get it working again? Should I even be bothering.

[Alan Phipps]

"Should I even be bothering."

Given that others almost chucked it out while you were away, it implies that only you were likely to use it and the others thought it a waste of space. What do you want it for and will you use it should you get it working? If not, then why bother?

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

Could you run it in Windows XP VM? Pass through the FireWire port to the VM. This is assuming you can get the original drivers.

[Morkonan]

...
- BUT the format of the device output is something called TWAIN, designed to be generic and it seems there's a good chance something will still read its output.
- There might a issue around TWAIN and 64-bit operating systems? Which of course everything is now.
- I use an open source image analysis package called ImageJ quite a lot and it appears there are no shortage of plugins to enable it to read TWAIN outputs.
https://imagej.nih.gov/ij/plugins/

What do you think? What are the chances I can get it working again? Should I even be bothering.

Lol... "TWAIN."

It was a common image scanner format. Is/was/whatever. TWAIN is notoriously finicky. I assume it's a still-image camera and B&W. You must have a driver for this hardware. Start looking for one. There's no way, AFAIK, for TWAIn to figure out anything without hardware driver support.

I haven't dealt with an old TWAIN device in a long time. I used to have a handheld scanner, long ago, and have had several flatbeds, but they're newer and supported.

Can you get to the original OS this device was used on? Maybe try to find the driver for it there? If not, try contacting the manufacturer to see if they have an archived driver for this. Tell them your situation and that it's for hardware used in a research lab. Keep digging through their hierarchy until you get some old dude "in the back" who still has a set of floppies.

[red assassin]

Could you run it in Windows XP VM? Pass through the FireWire port to the VM. This is assuming you can get the original drivers.

I'm not aware of any virtualisation tool that supports FireWire passthrough (in the way they support e.g. USB passthrough) unfortunately.


You might be lucky with an open source TWAIN implementation. Or you might not be. Probably depends what your time budget for screwing around with this is.

[felter]

Get yourself a PCIe FireWire card, plug it in and and cross your fingers hoping for the best, you never know it might just work. I found this one on Amazon for £19 and it seems to have a good write up so no great cost, if it doesn't work.
As far as I can see no drivers are required, as there is no mention of them on the data sheet for the product. With win 10 Twain could be the biggest problem but it seems to work for a lot of people. The Data sheet does mention Leica IM50 archiving software which is pretty ancient, nowadays it's Leica Application Suite that they use it's not free and I have no idea if it would work anyway.
Go onto the Lecia website and ask them about it, that's your best option.

Just out of curiosity how old is the thing, as I can't find any mention of it on the Leica website, even in their product archive the nearest they have is the dc200.

[burger1]

Have you looked at replacement cameras to see if the old one is outdated specs wise? Are replacements cheap? Tech has come a long ways since win xp. There might be a compatible computer somewhere in use at your school or you could get one from a thrift store or recycler?

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

Could you run it in Windows XP VM? Pass through the FireWire port to the VM. This is assuming you can get the original drivers.

I'm not aware of any virtualisation tool that supports FireWire passthrough (in the way they support e.g. USB passthrough) unfortunately.


You might be lucky with an open source TWAIN implementation. Or you might not be. Probably depends what your time budget for screwing around with this is.

KVM does I've seen reports of FireWire pass through to a VM running in Unraid.

[red assassin]

KVM does I've seen reports of FireWire pass through to a VM running in Unraid.

Huh, you're right, there's one random person who seems to have got it working after a lot of screwing around. https://forums.unraid.net/topic/55917-o ... ssthrough/ Looks fiddly enough it's probably not just a copy and paste solution, but apparently it's possible!