Tips & Tricks

Computing Terms

TWAIN

TWAIN is an industry wide standard that allows a computer to communicate with a graphic device, such as a scanner or digital camera. Nearly all scanners, digital cameras, and web cams are TWAIN compliant.

Devices that are not TWAIN compliant will usually only work with very specific software, which usually comes with the device, while a TWAIN compiant device will usually work with a wide range of software. For instance, Microsoft Word supports acquiring an image from a twain compliant camera or scanner, as does Word Perfect, Adobe PhotoShop, Scansoft Paperport, OmniPage Pro, and so on. Such software is known as TWAIN compliant software in order to differentiate it from the TWAIN compliant device (hardware). The cables used for the TWAIN device must also be TWAIN compliant. For instance, a standard printer cable is not TWAIN compiant and will not work correctly with a scanner even if the connections fit. (Devices and cables will be marked, on the package or on the hardware itself, as TWAIN compliant, if they are.)

TWAIN compiancy also comes with a number designation, which simply indicates if the hardware or software meets the CURRENT standards, or if it is an older legacy product. The current standard is for 1184 TWAIN compliance.

On an interesting note, the debate rages on as to whether TWAIN is an acronym for Technology Without An Interesting Name or if the name was lifted from Kipling's "and never the twain shall meet..." refering to the difficulty of connecting PC's and scanners.

-- Lee Trulove

Great Deals Just For You!