My Epson Perfection 1640SU Photo scanner would not scan the slides, so I submitted a request for help to Epson Customer Service. Yesterday I needed to scan some slides for my internationally syndicated 'AutoMatters & More' column. I would like to add my voice to those of the many people who have been able to get continued use of their old scanners with new computer operating systems. The software is available for $49.95 USD (Standard Edition) and $99.95 USD (Professional Edition), the latter of which includes support for film and slide scanning, among other things. Overall, VueScan supports around 2,400 scanner models on Windows, 2,100 models on Mac, and 1,900 models on Linux. Manufacturers include Ricoh, Canon, Fujitsu, Kodak, Nikon, Panasonic, Polaroid, Samsung, Mitsubishi, and Epson, among others a full list of supported models can be found here. The third-party software is made possible by reverse-engineering drivers for more than 6,000 older scanners from 42 manufacturers, including film scanner and flatbed models. With it, Mac users can use their older 32-bit scanner with their Apple desktop or laptop even if they're running macOS Catalina.

VueScan was upgraded this week to version 9.7. Third-party scanning software VueScan offers a different solution, namely support for around 6,000 older scanner models.

As a result, many older scanners lost native support for the operating system, forcing owners to upgrade to newer hardware or use a different computer that retained compatibility. Apple's latest desktop operating system, macOS Catalina, dropped support for 32-bit applications.

Vuescan mac os catalina