Our household setup is now a MacBook running Snow Leopard which is 
USB-connected to a Brother DCP-7030 Printer-Scanner (the low-end model 
of the DCP-7xxx line), which is shared over a household WiFi LAN with a 
couple of other Snow Leopard MacBooks and MacBook Pros. 

We've got the printer working fine; this post is to ask if anyone has 
tips or direct experience to share for _scanning_ using that particular 
unit in a closely similar setup?

I'm currently wrestling with the typically massive and opaque Brother 
documentation for this unit (108-page User's Guide + 199-page Software 
Users Guide) and am sure I can get scanning to work; but if anyone can 
offer a short and sweet experience-based recipe for what to do, 
especially on the software side (Brother unit and Mac software) I'll 
gladly try it.

On the Brother side what components of all the stuff on their CD do I 
really have to install?

And on the Mac side, I've used Canonscan and Vuescan for years, but the 
choices of software with TWAIN scanner connectivity apparently now 
include Preview, GraphicConverter, Image Capture, iPhoto, Vuescan, 
Acrobat(?), Adobe Reader(?), Photoshop Elements(?), and, God forbid, 
maybe even iTunes.  Which one is the simplest/easiest choice?

And overall, what's the fastest, simplest way to get scans from the 
DCP-7030 into a folder on the MacBook? -- preferably without running 
back and forth between the Mac and the no-sheet-feed DCP-7030?

On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 10:46:36 -0500, AES wrote
(in article 
<siegman-F1CFEB.07463621012011@bmedcfsc-srv02.tufts.ad.tufts.edu>):

> Our household setup is now a MacBook running Snow Leopard which is 
> USB-connected to a Brother DCP-7030 Printer-Scanner (the low-end model 
> of the DCP-7xxx line), which is shared over a household WiFi LAN with a 
> couple of other Snow Leopard MacBooks and MacBook Pros. 
> 
> We've got the printer working fine; this post is to ask if anyone has 
> tips or direct experience to share for _scanning_ using that particular 
> unit in a closely similar setup?
> 
> I'm currently wrestling with the typically massive and opaque Brother 
> documentation for this unit (108-page User's Guide + 199-page Software 
> Users Guide) and am sure I can get scanning to work; but if anyone can 
> offer a short and sweet experience-based recipe for what to do, 
> especially on the software side (Brother unit and Mac software) I'll 
> gladly try it.
> 
> On the Brother side what components of all the stuff on their CD do I 
> really have to install?
> 
> And on the Mac side, I've used Canonscan and Vuescan for years, but the 
> choices of software with TWAIN scanner connectivity apparently now 
> include Preview, GraphicConverter, Image Capture, iPhoto, Vuescan, 
> Acrobat(?), Adobe Reader(?), Photoshop Elements(?), and, God forbid, 
> maybe even iTunes.  Which one is the simplest/easiest choice?
> 
> And overall, what's the fastest, simplest way to get scans from the 
> DCP-7030 into a folder on the MacBook? -- preferably without running 
> back and forth between the Mac and the no-sheet-feed DCP-7030?

I don't have that particular model Brother, but on the one I do have the 
procedure was:

1 plug in the MFD

2 install the software from the disc that shipped with the MFD

3 scan.

I can scan using:

1 Photoshop, GraphicConverter, Acrobat, ReadIRIS, and any other graphics app 
which can use a TWAIN plug-in, using the standard plug-in

2 ImageCapture

3 directly from the printer app; there's a button on the app which selects 
scanning instead of printing.

This works when the MFD is connected directly to the Mac using USB, or when 
it's on the network using its built-in Ethernet port. (I have a MFC-440CN. 
Your MFD might not have built-in Ethernet.)

To scan using TWAIN you need merely launch the graphics app (e.g., 
GraphicConverter) and select the scanner from the appropriate list. (Which 
menu and which list will depend on which graphics app. On GraphicConverter, 
it's File/Scan/Scan With TWAIN, or simply press command-T. If you have more 
than one TWAIN device you'd have to select which one, of course. That will 
vary with graphics app, too. On GraphicConverter, it's File/Scan/Select TWAIN 
Scanner.) 

-- 
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

In article <ihcsrl02hde@news4.newsguy.com>,
 J.J. O'Shea <try.not.to@but.see.sig> wrote:

> 
> To scan using TWAIN you need merely launch the graphics app (e.g., 
> GraphicConverter) and select the scanner from the appropriate list. (Which 
> menu and which list will depend on which graphics app. On GraphicConverter, 
> it's File/Scan/Scan With TWAIN, or simply press command-T. If you have more 
> than one TWAIN device you'd have to select which one, of course. That will 
> vary with graphics app, too. On GraphicConverter, it's File/Scan/Select TWAIN 
> Scanner.) 
> 
> -- 
> email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

Thanks.  Sounds like the TWAIN approach makes things a lot more 
flexible, and also simpler -- once you sort out the flexibility!