Firewire Camera for Microscope

[benjamingrantdu]

Hi All,
I work in a research lab and recently swapped computers for a bit of a faster one and it's running windows 7 professional. Only compatibility issue I'm running into is that the camera I use to take screenshots of my microscope is rather old, and no windows 7 drivers are available. It's just a simple firewire camera where I can control exposure and a couple of other settings. Do you think there's a generic driver I could give a shot? Any other suggestions? XP and Vista drivers are available, was going to give them a shot but they appear to be 32 bit anyway and I have a 64 bit system.

 

[osholt]

You may want to try the Vista drivers in compatibility mode (assuming they come with an installer).

This has a small possibility of working but it's less likely to work than than it is to work.

As for generic drivers, if Windows 7 doesn't find one immediately when you plug it in I think you're down for the count.

Depending on high res the photos you take are and a couple of other things you might be able to replace it witha cheap USB webcam.

The only other (impractical) alternative is to use Windows XP Mode.

Oli

 

[benjamingrantdu]

Thanks Oli. No installer came with the drivers. I need pretty high resolution photos, it's a pretty expensive camera which makes me pretty irritated they won't ever be offering support for windows 7 because firewire is a legacy component. I agree with their assessment, but I'm stuck with their fancy expensive now somewhat useless camera.

Why is XP compatibility mode impractical -- because it's bulky/slow? Best
Ben

 

[osholt]

XP mode basically means you'd have to install XP Mode on your PC, Install you camera on that virtual machine and take all your photos inside that virtual machine.

You then have to manually move them back into Windows 7 if you want to do anything with them.

I also just did some research and discovered that, no Virtual Computer clients (at least the 3 I would recommend) support Firewire.

Unfortunately I believe you may be stuck.

If you fill in your system specs (and it turns out you have less than 4GB of RAM and that you also installed Windows 7 yourself using a retail 32/64bit disc) you could reinstall Windows 7 as a 32bit OS. You could aslo try dual booting.

Sorry.

Oli

 

[benjamingrantdu]

Thanks again, just ended up throwing an old computer there to be connected the the microscope and do nothing else. A total waste for sure. Anyway, this definitely was not Windows fault. Not supporting a 64 bit system is a bit absurd. thank you
Ben

 

[osholt]

No problem, I had a similar problem when upgraded my CcTV system from XP to Windows Home Server Vail (64bit). I had to get some new software and hardware for that to work so I can empathise with you.

Oli