Silverfast 8 is here! Does it work as promised with Lion?

[FedUpWithLasersoft]

Has anyone installed the new upgrade onto a Mac running Lion yet?

LaserSoft has met the deadline of late August, and their demo movie promises some radical improvements.

Does anyone who has made the switch care to share whether this new version was worth the wait?

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there

We kindly invite you test the demo version for your scanner model (if available).
You can draw your own conclusions.

Cheers

[efreet]

Hello,

I have already installed the demo version, but I can't see any option in preferences->cms for embedded icc cmyk profile, which I have to use. Another thing is that I downloaded AI Studio demo version, but I have SE Plus. Please let me know if this feature is missing or it is not included in demo version. I need to know it before I decide to purchase the upgrade.

regards,

[todhunk]

I have downloaded the demo of 8SE for Snow Leopard and my PlusTek scanner.

When I start up SF, it shows the scanner connected (USB) but clicking to start gives an error message saying the scanner is not installed correctly and suggesting drivers are reinstalled. Since you can't install PlusTek drivers on the Mac separately from SF, I'm stumped!

I have the old SF 6.6. installed (which works fine) and didn't uninstall before downloading the demo of SF 8.

I'm looking to get some confidence in SF 8 before I upgrade to Lion - SF is my sole remaining obstacle to upgrading the OS.

[fladfisk]

Doesn't work for me. As soon as I launch SilverFast 8, it crashes again immediately. When I don't have my scanner connected, I get to a screen where I can click a start button. If I click it, it closes down. When I launch silverfast with the scanner connected, It crashes, as said. How can I fix this?

[darango]

I just downloaded the Sliverfast 8 demo to my MacPro with OSX Lion. I followed the instructions for downloading, selecting my scanner, the plustek OpticFilm 7300. The download page had two download links. One for the Silverfast 8 software and the other was a ilk to the plustek website. I was able to download Silverfast 8, but the plustek driver web site did not have drivers for Mac OSX at all. Instead, they had directions for installing Silverfast SE, indicating that the driver is included with the software.

I tried running the Silverfast 8 software, but it does not run. It displays a message that says "There was a problem starting your scanner. Please make sure your drivers are installed correctly. Exiting now.." Where do i get drivers for the OpticFilm 7300?

I had been running Silverfast 6.6 before the upgrade to OSX Lion. I will not purchase an upgrade until I am satisfied that the demo runs correctly.

[clothears]

We kindly invite you test the demo version for your scanner model (if available).

I have a Microtek FS 2700, and SilverFast Ai IT8 6.6. I'd like to be able to use this under Lion, but, apparently, I cannot.

1) Am I right in thinking that 6.6 will not be available for Lion?

2) Will this scanner be supported by SF 8 at some point/

Thanks,

[darango]

I was able to get it to work after all. The driver was installed with SilverFast 8. But since it is a 32-bit driver, I had to set the Silverfast application to run in 32-bit mode. It works!

[jtunkel]

Does it work as promised? That depends. First, this is a 30 day demo that is utterly useless EXCEPT for testing out your systems functionality. It won't actually produce a usable scan - its got "LASERSOFT" droppings all over the image.

That said - yes, it works and more reliably on Lion than 6.6 ever did on Snow Leopard or earlier. So far it has always found my scanners and always started up. So, good job guys - you created software that actually runs!

I haven't fully tested the GUI yet (why bother - I can't actually produce any scans dammit!). However, the UI is much easier to read and shows some promise - although those inscrutable acronyms are still embedded in the icons. I can't wait to try out the multitasking ability and see if it works smoothly. The non-standard mouse pointer irks me, but that's just me... I'll get used to it.

What most bothers me right now is that without a useful demo mode I have to buy the upgrade essentially untried AND the web purchase mechanism doesn't seem to work! Up pops a message that VERISIGN is broken... terrific! Somehow, I doubt that's even true.

What with you guys at LaserSoft anyway?

[LSI_Morales]

Hi efreet,

Hello,

I have already installed the demo version, but I can't see any option in preferences->cms for embedded icc cmyk profile, which I have to use. Another thing is that I downloaded AI Studio demo version, but I have SE Plus. Please let me know if this feature is missing or it is not included in demo version. I need to know it before I decide to purchase the upgrade.

regards,

This option is only available in SilverFast Ai Studio.

"Working space->Output" should be set to "ColorSync" on Mac or "Image color matching" on Win
Under "Output/Printer" you will choose the cmyk profile to be used

Setting a CMYK profile to be used and embedded

Setting CMYK.png (65.01 KiB) Viewed 7432 times

Cheers

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there,

I have downloaded the demo of 8SE for Snow Leopard and my PlusTek scanner.

When I start up SF, it shows the scanner connected (USB) but clicking to start gives an error message saying the scanner is not installed correctly and suggesting drivers are reinstalled. Since you can't install PlusTek drivers on the Mac separately from SF, I'm stumped!

I have the old SF 6.6. installed (which works fine) and didn't uninstall before downloading the demo of SF 8.

I'm looking to get some confidence in SF 8 before I upgrade to Lion - SF is my sole remaining obstacle to upgrading the OS.

Your scanner driver is a 32 bit driver, at this point Plustek have not provided a 64 bit version of the driver. Since SilverFast is a 64 bit application, you should then start it in 32 bits to make it work with your scanner.

In finder navigate to "applications/SilverFast Application/SilverFast 8", right clicking on "SilverFast 8" (ctrl+click), from the context menu select the option "get info".

Locating SilverFast 8

LocationSF8.png (219.97 KiB) Viewed 7429 times

In the info dialogue check the option "Open in 32-bit mode"

Open in 32 bit mode

Open in 32 bit.png (94.22 KiB) Viewed 7429 times

Next time you open SilverFast 8, it will start in 32 bit mode.

Cheers

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there,

Doesn't work for me. As soon as I launch SilverFast 8, it crashes again immediately. When I don't have my scanner connected, I get to a screen where I can click a start button. If I click it, it closes down. When I launch silverfast with the scanner connected, It crashes, as said. How can I fix this?

Check my answer above explaining the 32 bit starting mode

Cheers

[LSI_Morales]

Dear clothears

1) Am I right in thinking that 6.6 will not be available for Lion?

2) Will this scanner be supported by SF 8 at some point/

Thanks,

1) It is correct, SilverFast 6.6 does not work with Lion

2) There is always a chance, but right now I can not really tell when.
There are many technical issues involved in implementing the scanner, one of those is the manufacturer driver. If it is made available, then the chances of implementing the scanner in a new operating system increase. In this case I recommend you keep using the system that is working for you.

Cheers

[LSI_Morales]

Dear jtunkel

What most bothers me right now is that without a useful demo mode I have to buy the upgrade essentially untried AND the web purchase mechanism doesn't seem to work! Up pops a message that VERISIGN is broken... terrific! Somehow, I doubt that's even true.

What with you guys at LaserSoft anyway?

We do not display such messages ourselves, our Verisign certificate is still active. Could you please send a screenshot of the message you are getting?

Thanks

Kind regards

[jtunkel]

I'm traveling this week. I will attempt to do that, but might not be able to for a while.

Jay