Hi there... I have read in an article on the Kodak DC-280 that it has a transfer via USB port, BUT one NEED TO USE WINDOWS 98 to have it working... Can you tell me if this is correct or if my USB ports will also work with Windows 95 ! Thank you to answer via E-Mail...

-- J-P. Scherrer (scherrer@infomaniak.ch), December 20, 1999

Answers

If you have version B or C of win95 it might work. My experience is that getting USB with win95 is hell. The drivers on my sony 505 were incompatible with win95 but once i upgraded to win98 it worked great.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), December 20, 1999.

If the article indicated Windows 98 was needed, it probably is. Windows 95 USB implementations are spotty, even with the later versions, SRs, etc. Often the drivers are not available for the particular piece of equipment, or, they don't "recognize" the 95 versions. For example the Epson Photo 750 box indicates compatibility with Windows 95, 98, USB, Parallel Ports, etc. However not all the possible combinations are supported. It requires 98 to use USB (or at least did at the time I acquired it.) However the 740 worked just fine on my computer over USB and I have 95 SR 2. You could try it but consider that 98 may be necessary. There also appear to be some problems that occur when you "upgrade" to 98 vs do a full install. Haven't done it yet myself (gone to 98) but upgrade methods seem to have gotten lots of comment in the past.

-- Craig Gillette (cgillette@thegrid.net), December 21, 1999.

I just went from 95 to 98 so I could use my new HP scanner. The best bet is to reformat the hard drive and do a complete reinstall of everything. If you have any clunky hardware- in my case it was an older CDROM drive, ditch it and replace it with something current that plug and play understands. Once Win98 installs cleanly you'll be quite happy with it.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), December 24, 1999.