What is the Apple M1 Monterey 12 computer good for?

I bought one to replace my old 2009 desktop iMac. The new M1 doesn't have firewire so I have to still use the Nikon LS 8000 scanner with the old computer. I haven't been able to get Epsonscan 2 to work on the M1 for my Epson V800 scanner after following all of Epson's instructions. My Epson R2400 printer just shoots blank paper out after instilling the printer's driver.

So far, Vuescan (trial version) is all that works. I haven't downloaded any other trial versions of anything, but this M1 computer has certain advantages over the old one, it doesn't get hot (my old Mac needs an external fan to cool it). The screen is higher resolution, nice and clear and sharp, but did I make a mistake buying this new computer for the photo work I want to do, scanning, editing and printing ?

Your Epson printer was released in 2004. I'm not shocked the print driver does not work or hasn't been updated.

On Monterey, my old Epson 3880 driver still works.

The V800 scanner is 2014, so I thought that that late scanner, at least, would get up and running on Monterey 12. The computer "finds" it, but before a Preview finishes, a messages pops up "Can't receive data from scanner"

Epson Support has instructions for getting it to work on Monterey, so perhaps I need to keep trying.

You need to realise that a driver may work on one computer running Monterey and not on another as the OS runs on both intel based Macs and the newer M1 based Macs. However drivers written for older intel Macs probably won’t work on M1 Macs. IOW, you need to search for an M1 Mac driver for the V800

 

(see Epson Perfection V800 Photo Support | Epson United Kingdom

and you will not see a driver for an M1 Mac but you will see a driver for Intel Monterey)

I found the V800 driver on Epson Support.com but it seems the scanner needs to be "wired". I'm not sure what they mean exactly by that, but I have it connected via USB 2 in an expensive hub the has the tiny "Lightening" plug for the tiny port in the back of the computer.

These two screenshots show the driver is for the V800 scanner, and for macOS 12 (Monterey). I need to do more research to find out why it doesn't work with my scanner. However, I'll forget about it for a while because I've got other scanning software that works:

1) Image Capture (works but I was only getting basic dark scans that had to be adjusted in an external editor)

2) Vuescan Trial (works good and pretty fast, has watermarks, so purchase is necessary to keep using it)

3) Silverfast Demo (works good and also pretty fast, again has watermarks, purchase is necessary)

I can now move on and see what I can do to get the Epson R2400 printer to work with this new M1 computer. I believe there's a site that programmed it to work. I'll update soon if all goes well.

I had a driver issue with an older Canon printer for which there was no driver for Catalina. I got Printfab and it resolved the issue. It costs money but you get a 30 day trial. For me, it was the saviour of my Pro 9000MKII. The url is www dot printfab dot net

PrintFab | Printer Driver & RIP for Mac

Below is the link for an R2400

Titel

More often than not, a major change in the hardware (CPU, etc.) means getting new software and peripherals to run on it. This is not just a Mac situation.

My old Macs with High Sierra still run my older versions of Photoshop, and even Excel and Word.

I don't see anything new that I absolutely MUST have, so I am still "trailing edge"

I got Printfab and it resolved the issue.

I have good news about my R2400 printer, but first thanks for posting that name "Printfab", I brought that site up the other night and failed to bookmark it, I looked for it again today and do you think I could find it, no way ... I forgot the name and searching for it in "History" and on the web the second time proved fruitless. Now I'll do the sensible thing and bookmark it.

The good news is I got the Epson R2400 printer to work on this new M1 chip 12 Monterey 24" computer by installing a different Epson driver. There's two drivers, one is called "Legacy", and the other is called "SPhotoR" which happens to be the right one. "Legacy" is what I installed the other night and the printer wouldn't work, so that driver is useless for the purpose. After installing the "SPhotoR" driver, I deleted the printer in the "Printers and Scanner" panel in System Preferences then added the printer again ... I did this to make sure the printer picked up on the new driver.

I printed a 6x4 color photo to see if it was working properly without any hiccups and it printed quite normally, but ... there's a mile of adjustments in the new "Preview" print panel and they just go on and on, down and down, seems they never end and I have no idea what 90% of them are about. All those adjustments appear when "Advanced" and "Fine" are clicked on. I'm sure most are not needed but there's plenty there to use if one can understand what they do.

So now I can scan and print but I still haven't got Epsonscan 2 to work, hard to say if I ever will, so a purchase of a third party scanning program will have to suffice for scanning with the V800. It's very regrettable that the Nikon LS 8000 scanner can't be hooked up to this computer, but there may be a way some time in the future if someone designs a quality conversion of Firewire to USB. Apparently it's possible but I haven't seen it done yet.

It's very regrettable that the Nikon LS 8000 scanner can't be hooked up to this computer, but there may be a way some time in the future if someone designs a quality conversion of Firewire to USB.

kmac when I wanted to use my nikon 9000 on my mac mini m1 i connected x2 apple adapters. When I bought them there was no single adapter available, now? I tried to save a little money with other adapters first but could not get them to work. I settled on these and it runs fine.

Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter + Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

kmac when I wanted to use my nikon 9000 on my mac mini m1 i connected x2 apple adapters. When I bought them there was no single adapter available, now? I tried to save a little money with other adapters first but could not get them to work. I settled on these and it runs fine.

Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter + Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

That's great, thanks. I'm researching them now for the 24" desktop M1 Mac which has the two "Thunderbolt 4" ports on the back.

I’m pretty sure they are talking about older Macs using old chips (pre-2020) that can still run newer OSs but good luck

You're quite right. More research is telling me that Monterey is for older Macs going back a bit, as well as for the new M1 chip Mac. So it seems Epson hasn't rewritten the Epsonscan 2 driver for the M1. I can't see why they won't do that, it's probably just a matter of time.

I made the leap from Snow Leopard to Monterey, that's a big leap, and I know next to nothing about everything in between, Monterey is a shock to the system, there's a lot in it requiring me to re-learn and discover the differences from the old OSX .... back to school again!

More often than not, a major change in the hardware (CPU, etc.) means getting new software and peripherals to run on it. This is not just a Mac situation.

I thought so too, but I'm succeeding in getting old "peripherals" hooked up and working on this M1 Mac. Thanks to inoneeye I just got the Nikon 8000 scanner up and running. I bought the two adapters, Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter + Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapters, joined them together and they worked for the Nikon 8000, the same as they worked for inoneeye's Nikon 9000 ... I had doubts, but they're OK

The Nikon 8000 and the Epson R2400 printer are pretty old, but now it's good to know they won't end up as landfill. Both are working on the new M1

So the peripherals working so far are: An old Spyker card reader (through a new hub specifically for the M1), the old R2400 printer, and the old LS8000 scanner. The Epson V800 scanner also, but only with third party software.

It’s ironic Kmac can get decades old hardware to work with the M1 chip but I cant get contemporary software to work and the software vendor is unlikely to release an M1 version anytime soon.

It's early days it would seem. Software vendors might be concentrating on upgrades for PCs. Apple users may have to wait.

My next adventure is to hook up an old external CD disc drive to this new 24" M1 which is only 11.5mm thick, far too thin for an internal CD drive, and it's obvious it was not designed to have one. I'll report back on how I go with it. After that, I'll buy a solid state external backup device and hope there's a free port left to plug it into the hub, an additional hub may be needed.

As I was researching Apple's M1 chip, I found there's not just one, but four. Mine is the smallest of the four. Ludmilla, yours might be the next one along, the M1 Pro. The mind boggles what "Ultra" could do!