fixed : CanoScan 5600F driver for macOS 15 Sequoia

Question :

I have a Canon CanoScan 5600F scanner that worked great with my previous Mac, but now I have upgraded to a new M4 Mac running macOS 15 Sequoia.

I’ve looked on the Canon website and searched the internet, but there is no macOS 15 Sequoia compatible driver available for this scanner.

Is there any way to use this CanoScan 5600F scanner in macOS 15 Sequoia ?

Answer :

Yes, there is …and it still works (nearly) the same way on Intel Macs and Apple silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) Macs running macOS 15 Sequoia :

  • goto Canon’s US website : https://www.usa.canon.com
  • choose Support > Scanners > Film & Negative Scanner > CanoScan 5600F
  • or use this link : https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/scanners/film-negative-scanner/canoscan-5600f/canoscan-5600f?subtab=downloads-drivers
  • there, click on the “Drivers & Downloads” tile (huge button)
  • then, choose “macOS Mojave v10.14” (even though your on macOS Sequoia v15 – don’t worry) as your operating system and “English” as your language
  • now, you will see 2 drivers listed :
    • > 5600F Scanner Driver Ver.14.11.5h (Mac) : msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
      • > ICA Driver Ver.4.1.4a (Mac) : misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
  • download both of them
    • note that despite the fact that both are versions from 2018, these will still work with macOS 15 Sequoia
  • goto your downloads folder
  • first, double-click on the file named msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
  • this will mount the ScanGear_CanoScan 5600F_141105.pkg
  • again, click on that and version 14.11 of the ScanGear driver installer will open
  • now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest ScanGear driver will be installed
  • if you have an M1/M2/M3/M4 Mac, you will need to allow to allow the Rosetta Intel-simulator software too (probably only needed for the installer, the actual driver can probably do without)
  • then, double-click on the file named misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
  • this will mount the Canon IJScanner2_040104.pkg
  • again, click on that and version 4.1.4 the IJScanner2 driver installer will open
  • now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest IJScanner2 driver will be installed
  • when done, click on the Apple-logo top-left in the top menu bar
  • in the pulldown menu that appears, click on “System Settings”
  • in the window that opens, scroll down in the menu list on the left and click on “Printers & Scanners”
  • if the CanoScan 5600F is already listed in the Scanners chapter, click it
  • if not, click the “Add Printer, Scanner or Fax” button first to add the scanner
  • when done, click the CanoScan 5600F in the Scanners chapter
  • when the scanner details open on the right, click on the “Open Scanner”-button
  • now, the built-in macOS ImageCapture.app will open and it will immediately do a preview scan of whatever is in the scanner

NOTE : you might run into a small problem every once in a while ; when the automatic scanning preview starts, you might get an error saying “Scanner reported an error – Cannot communicate with scanner for these reasons: – Scanner is turned off. – USB cable is disconnected. Please check and try again.” If so, just flip the scanner’s ON/OFF-switch in OFF-position manually and then back into ON-position. Then click “OK” in the error message window, then click the “Overview” button in the ImageCapture window. That should help in making the scanner preview work again.

enjoy 😉

fixed : which Macs, iPads and iPhones can Apple Intelligence run on ?

Question :
As Apple is starting to roll out it’s own version of AI, entitled Apple Intelligence, the most important question seems to be :

Is my current Mac, iPad or iPhone able to run Apple Intelligence ?


Answer :
Apple has published the specs needed for Apple Intelligence :
– OS specs : iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 or macOS 15.3 Sequoia or newer
– software specs : Siri needs to be turned ON
– CPU specs : A17 Pro, A18 or M1 or newer

translating the CPU specs into device specs :

iPhone : iPhone 16 / 16 Plus (2024) and newer
iPhone Pro : iPhone 15 Pro / 15 Pro Max (2023) and newer
iPhone SE : iPhone 16e (2025) and newer
iPad : -none- !! not even the iPad 11 (2025) !!
iPad mini : iPad mini 7th gen. (2024) and newer
iPad Air : iPad Air 5th gen. (2022) and newer
iPad Pro : iPad Pro 3rd gen. [11″] & 5th gen. [12.9″] (2021) and newer
MacBook : -none- !! the latest MacBooks from 2017 were Intel-based !!
MacBook Air : MacBook Air M1 (2020) and newer
MacBook Pro : MacBook Pro M1 (Late 2020) and newer
iMac : iMac M1 (2021) and newer
Mac mini : Mac mini M1 (2020) and newer
Mac Studio : Mac Studio M1 (2022) and newer
Mac Pro : Mac Pro M2 (2023) and newer

At the time of writing (March 2025) Apple Intelligence does come with the current OS versions in beta only… the general release date planned for April 2025 seems to be postponed.
If the official general release has only been postponed for certain regions (e.g. the EU) is not clear. According to Apple, the initial release will only include English, Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Korean. Other languages will follow later on, but Dutch will probably not be one of the first to join.



fixed : trackpad moving but not clicking after sleep mode

Question :
I have a MacBook Air M4 and it works great. But there’s a problem that I’m encountering that I’ve never seen before on any of my Macs : when my MacBook wakes from sleep mode, I can move the cursor without any problems, but clicking the trackpad to do a ‘mouse click’ to activate anything on screen doesn’t work… the only solution I’ve found until now is to reboot my MacBook using the power button, but that is a very annoying solution…

Is my MacBook’s trackpad broken ? Or is this a software problem that I can fix myself ?

Answer :
There is a small chance you have run into a hardware failure (meaning your MacBook’s trackpad is broken), but it’s far more logical that the problem you are encountering is a software problem :
Did you recently use a wireless Magic Mouse with your MacBook maybe ?
If so, just make sure you have your Magic Mouse turned OFF when you’re not using it.
That’s it !

Even if your Magic Mouse is in another room and/or in a bag, it can interfere with your MacBook’s trackpad, especially after waking from sleep your MacBook can automatically connect to the Magic Mouse and if anything is pressing on it, your MacBook will think that you are already clicking the mouse button and therefore it will not register any clicking of the mousepad…
If you manually switch OFF your Magic Mouse if you’re done using it (so before you put it in your laptop case), your problem will be fixed.

The above could also occur if you use another type or brand of bluetooth mouse (or external trackpad, controller or joystick) with your MacBook.

If you have never used a bluetooth mouse or controller with your MacBook and you still encounter this problem, it will usually be fixed by resetting the PRAM (and NVRAM) :
– shut down your MacBook
– restart your MacBook using the power button
– then, immediately (during the first stage of reboot) press and hold this key-combo :
[CMD]+[ALT]+[P]+[R]
– keep holding the key-combo when your MacBook restarts
– release the key-combo when you hear the macOS startup chime (sound) for the second time and wait for your MacBook to start up

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : where can I find the original Mac icons in macOS 15 Sequoia ?

Question :
I want to change the icon of my internal Mac ‘disk’ (the one that is called ‘Macintosh HD’ by default) to the official icon of my new MacBook Pro.
I used to be able to find the official OSX device icons in this folder :
/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemIcons.bundle/Contents/Resources
…but now I am on macOS 15 Sequoia and there no longer is such a SystemIcons.bundle to be found in that location…

Where can I find the official macOS device icons ?

Answer :
In macOS 15 Sequoia, if you want to replace a folder icon by one of the official device icons (for Macs, iPhones & iPads), do this :
– open a new Finder window
– open to this folder :
/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle
– open the CoreTypes.bundle by right-clicking on it and selecting ‘Show Package Contents’ from the pulldown menu
– in the Contents folder that opens, go to :
/Contents/Resources/
– there you will find the official icons for all Macs, iPads and iPhones, so select the one you want to use
– right-click on the .icns file and select ‘copy’ from the pulldown menu
– then, in the Finder Settings, make sure that under the ‘General’ tab, there is a checkmark at ‘Hard disks’ so your Macintosh HD will appear on your Desktop
– then right-click on the Macintosh HD’s icon and choose ‘Get Info’ from the pulldown menu
– in the window that opens, click on the current icon top left (just above the ‘Add Tags’ text)
– then, typ the [CMD]+[V] key combo on your keyboard (to paste)
– now, the actual icon will not change, but the preview will
– to complete the replacement of the Macintosh HD icon, restart your Mac
– after the reboot, the Macintosh HD icon will now show the Mac icon of your choice

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : download an (embedded) online presentation from Google Docs

Question :
I was given a link to an online presentation, and when I opend it it turned out to be a presentation that was hosted in Google Docs that I could view and scroll through, which is great. But I would like to keep it for future reference, and even though I could just bookmark the URL, I would prefer to download the presentation to make sure I can still access it when I’m offline.

Is there any way to download this presentation ?


Answer :
Yes, there is.
And it is even quite simple. Just do this :
– open the link to the online presentation in your (Safari) webbrowser
– click on the generic “docs.google.com” URL to reveal the entire URL
– the entire URL will look like this :
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/yyyyyyyyyyy
where the part represented by xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is the File ID code
and the part represented by yyyyyyyyyyy is the code needed to correctly display the file
in your browser
– copy entire URL ( by using the [CMD] + [C] key combo )
– open a new tab page in your browser ( by using the [CMD] + [T] key combo )
– paste the entire URL in that new tab page (by using the [CMD] + [V] key combo )
– now edit the entire URL by deleting the yyyyyyyyyyy part
– if you want to download the presentation as a PDF, alter the URL to :
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/export/pdf
– or, if you want to download the presentation as a PowerPoint file, alter the URL to :
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/export/pptx
– then press the [ENTER] key on your keyboard
– when a popup window appears asking you if you a re sure you want to download the presentation, click OK
– now, the presentation will be downloaded into your Download folder

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : Finder does not list files and folders by name in alphabetical order

Question :
I must have messed something up, but I can’t figure out how to get the original setting back… whenever I open a new finder window, the files are listed in the order of the date added, but I generally I don’t want that, as it’s usually easier to find files and folders when they’re alphabetically ordered by name… I have tried the switching the file arrangement setting (the Line-3squares-Line-3squares icon) to ‘Name’ but that doesn’t do the trick, and neither does setting it to something else and then setting it back to ‘Name’…

What can I do to fix this ?


Answer :
The soloution is simple, but it’s not in the place where you are looking.
What you are setting with the ‘file arrangement’ setting (the Line-3quuares-Line-3squares icon) is just the ‘chapterization’ of the files, so the ‘grouping’ or whatever you want to call it…

The solution to your porblems is in the ‘More’ setting (the ‘3 dots in a circle’ icon) :
– open a new finder window
– in the top bar of that Finder window, click on the ‘More’ button (the ‘3 dots in a circle’ icon)
– in the pulldown menu that appears, click on ‘Group By’
– in the second pulldown menu that appears, click on ‘Name’
…now the files wil be listed in alphabetical order

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : get a transcription of a YouTube video

I have been watching a YouTube video that was so interesting that I would like to have the text transcribed for reviewing later on.

Is there a FREE and easy way to get a text transcript of a YouTube video ?


Answer :
Yes, there is.
It all depends on the quality of the transcription that you want ot get which type of transcription will suit you best. Previously, the three (‘other’) options listed at the bottom of this post were some of the best around, but things are developing fast in the world of AI, and there now is one FREE option that will probably suit everyone that has an M1 / M2 / M3 / M4 Mac :

Whisper AI – Speech to Text
– get it in the Mac AppStore (make sure you get the app that is by Rocket Techology Inc.) :
https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/whisper-ai-speech-to-text/id6738070552?l=en-GB&mt=12
– type : macOS native app for video/audio transcription ( for self-recorded, live or downloaded video )
– output : options to export to .txt, .docx or .html file
– accuracy : the ‘tiny’ Whisper-model that is preloaded is quite fast and rather accurate (and for more accuracy and or speaker recognition you can download more advanced Whisper-models using the ‘Manage Models’ option)
– privacy : high, as it runs entirely offline ( according to the developer )
– speed : made for Apple Silicon Macs, so extremely fast on M1/M2/M3/M4-Macs


Here are three other options :

Tactiq.io
– use it online at : https://tactiq.io
– type : online video/audio transcription ( for Youtube video ) – the FREE plan can now only be used through the Tactiq Chrome browser extension ( so no longer an option for Safari… )
– output : an auto-generated ( not very accurate ) subtitling .srt document converted into a plain text document
– privacy : low, as it runs online
– speed : extremely fast, but the output is just the subtitles-file converted into plain text ( so including all the time stamps – if you want to get rid of those, you can do that in ChatGPT or something )

Transcribe.mov
– use it online at : https://www.transcribe.mov
– type : online video/audio transcription ( for YouTube video )
– output : a rather accurate plain text document
– privacy : low, as it runs online
– speed : slightly faster that playing the original video : takes 7 minutes to transcribe 15 minutes of video

Aiko
– get it in the Mac AppStore : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aiko/id1672085276&ved=2ahUKEwikv-LT85uLAxUpSf4FHZEZEisQFnoECAwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1s9T7EI1AzX63HnIjAhNuZ
– type : macOS native app for video/audio transcription ( for self-recorded, live or downloaded video )
– output : a rather accurate plain text document
– privacy : high, as it runs entirely offline ( according to the developer )
– speed : made for Apple Silicon Macs, so extremely fast on M1/M2/M3/M4-Macs : takes just 1 to 5 minutes to transcribe 15 minutes of video – but very slow on Intel-Macs : takes about 5 hours ( ! ) to transcribe 15 minutes of video ( because Intel-Macs don’t have the neural engine )

So it all depends on your needs what the best solution is… so take your pick !

enjoy 😉