How to Connect an SCSI Scanner to a Computer

Video Transcript

"Man, I think there is something missing...oh hi, today we are going to teach you how to connect a SCSI Scanner to your computer. Isn't that a TV show where they solve crimes or something? What, how to connect a SCSI Scanner to a computer? Well it's quite complicated actually. You've got to connect a SCSI interface card right into the mother board. Now look it's not quite that easy but it is not quite that complicated either. SCSI is an older way of connecting things to your computer. It usually came with a 50 pin cable or a 25 pin cable. There are others that are still around but mostly SCSI has gone by the wayside. Now before you can connect a SCSI Scanner to your computer well you are going to need a few things. You are going to need a SCSI Scanner. You are going to need a computer that can accept a SCSI card and you're going to need a SCSI interface card that kind of looks like this. Now the first thing we have done is taken the cover off of the computer and the next thing we are going to do is look for a slot. This happens to be an ISA an ISA slot where the card can go. Then we'll need to remove the protector on the back. I've already taken the screw off and now we are going to take the card, the SCSI card and insert it down into the slot. You'll notice that there is a smaller portion here and a larger portion here. It can only go one way but remember brain over brawn, they're easy to break. Insert the card using force on either side. It should just kind of pop down into place. And there you have it. Now in order to keep the card stationary you are going to want to keep this screw that was holding the little plate in place. That will keep the SCSI card from floating around. The installed SCSI adapter card looks something like this once you have installed. This is our flat bed scanner. Of course you will always want a power cable to go with it. Don't plug it into the wall until the very last thing. On this particular scanner we actually have the choice of 25 pin or 50 pin and we'll start with the 50 pin plug. It simply plugs right into this socket, clicks into place and then there is a couple of little catches that actually hold it in place and then we'll take the other end which in this case is 25 pins and we'll plug it right into our SCSI card in the computer. It is always good to screw the cables in so that they don't float around. Now the last few things that we want to check before we plug anything in and turn anything on including the computer, we want to make sure that they are unlocked. You should see a little icon here that will show you when it has been unlocked. Usually there should be a little switch on the back of more modern scanners that will allow you to turn the termination on or off. The last thing that you are going to need is to set the address. You'll actually see a small button here that allows you to change the address of this device. Now let's see what it looks like connecting it with the 25 pin socket. Once again we can plug this in very simply. It an only go one direction. We are going to plug it into the back of the scanner and we'll do the same to the SCSI card. Once again we need to check for the address and the termination and that my friends is how to connect a SCSI scanner to your computer. So please if you really want to connect a SCSI scanner to your computer hey, read the flippin' manual."