digital camera [help wanted]

[mstechca]

a few days ago, I bought a digital camera. It came with a set of drivers on a CD-ROM. The problem I have is that the drivers do not work, and I couldn't find any similar drivers. It appears that I have to lay out lots of money if I want to use the camera because I am using Windows 95 instead of the minimum required windows 98.

USB works completely with my OS, but the camera does not.

A picture of my pocket digital camera can be located at www.3eyefish.com.

Since everyone is fussy to go backwards compatible with new devices, the only thing I could do is make a serial to USB port and send and receive data from the camera. The question is exactly what data do I send to it to receive the pictures from it?

The model number that windows keeps on detecting and not properly installing is "DUAL-MODE DSC(2770)".

I need answers fast. Thanks.

 

[Roboticinfo]

reply

Well if it requires win98 and you have win95 it won't work.

You solved it your self.

 

[ljcox]

I needed a driver to receive pictures from my camera when I had Windows 98.

But when I up-graded to XP, I discovered that it has the drivers for most cameras and all I have to do is plug the camera into the USB cord and switch it on. XP does the rest.

Len

 

[Roboticinfo]

reply

Well that is xp not 95, the didn't have that many digital cameras during that time period.

You have to upgrade buddy.

 

[1Steveo]

I do not see a pocket digital camera on that link!
It might be possable to use a driver from another camera, but we need to know what chips it uses.
Do a search for "libusb-win32-filter-bin-0.1.8.0" and download it.
Remove the driver windows tries to install, then install the "Libusb windows driver". Run the test program and record the "idVendor/idProduct" Ids.
With a simple edit to a ".INF" You might get your camera working with a driver for another brand.

Steveo

 

[TekNoir]

The reason that you cannot use the camera connected directly to the computer (and why it has Win98 as the minimum requirement) is because Windows 95 does not natively support USB in any capacity whatsoever. Some USB items can be installed with drivers that emulate (technically they encapsulate) USB capability on Win95, but it is a cheap workaround by some vendors at best (and later by Microsoft in a patch), primarily for those who refused to upgrade to Win98 and complained that USB items would not work correctly and for the most part, at all. The fact of the matter is that less than 5% of all USB1.1 compliant devices will work on Win95 with any large capacity and none of those will work to their full potential. USB simply was not around when Win95 was coded and it wasn't fully considered as viable until Win98 began development.

The very best workaround for a digital camera, specifically, would be a serial/parallel port based card reader. Either that or an upgrade to Win98 or better.

Win98 was the first Microsoft OS to fully support USB1.0 compliant devices, though they still had to have drivers installed to support all features of the device. Win2000 and XP natively supports the USB1.1 and 2.0 standards, which allows devices to have generic capabilities natively supported by the OS for virtually any device. For example, most cameras simply register as an external hard drive and Windows will treat it as such. It doesn't need to know that it is a camera, simply that it contains a storage device as per the USB standard. This gives the illusion that WinXP and whatnot supports nearly any device when, in fact, it simply supports certain types of devices, like communication, storage, and so on.

 

[audioguru]

I had to replace my more than 10 years old 486 computer (running Win98 very well) a few months ago when its hard drive flew apart.
The day after Christmas I got the latest Pentium4 system for a very good price. After a huge price-matching discount (with the store's own website that had none in stock) and big mail-in rebates for the computer, LCD monitor and printer, it cost me nearly nuthin. I still have its printer for sale. Yes, Mstechca, in Canada.
I plugged in my son's Sony digital camera and WinXP knew it was a Sony and exactly what to do. :lol:

 

[Roboticinfo]

reply

Because it has a large amount of drivers pre installed so you don't need the cd.

 

[1Steveo]

mstechca said, "USB works completely with my OS, but the camera does not."
I did have and "kbgear JamCam" working with windows 95 using the usb port. ( still have the install cd ).
If we hand the "idVendor/idProduct" Ids. there might be a chance that an older driver from another camera will work.
Have you seen what they have done with the single-use digital Camera's from CVS drug stores

Steveo

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I agree with everyone else, Win95 "DOES NOT SUPPORT USB", it came with legacy drivers which were hoped to give some sort of USB support, but it generally doesn't work.

Your camera will certainly specify a minimum of Win98, and might even specify a minimum of Win98SE - but these were the first Windows OS's to offer USB support.

 

[tansis]

Dont forget there is also a wealth of information to be found on the web
just in case you have a WIN 98 disc but no product key to go with it..
also a good idea to check if the microsoft amnesty on pirate copies
is still being honoured if you plan using the machine online to get updates
for the OS direct from microsoft.

 

[mstechca]

In that case, I'll go manual. Please see my newer post about the camera. I'm typing it right now.