Pakon F-X35 Custom Drivers
What is this?
This repository contains the source code for drivers, compatible with modern 64-bit versions of Windows, that I created for the Pakon "F-X35" line of film scanners. The drivers were developed through a multi-week research effort, documented extensively on my blog1
Why does this exist?
The original Pakon scanner drivers suffered from two major issues:
- No 64-bit versions were ever made, which automatically prevents the scanners from being used with a Windows 11 system.
- The 32-bit versions that existed had a critical bug that prevented them from working on systems running Windows Vista or later. As a result, the only "reasonable" option was to use a system running Windows XP, which is far from ideal.
As it turns out, there is a sizable group of people who rely on these scanners - both for personal and professional jobs - so I decided to try my hand at improving the situation.
What's in this repository?
The project consists of 4 components:
| Folder | Purpose |
|---|---|
| FX35Loader | This is the driver that deploys firmware to the scanner upon connection and power-on. |
| FX35Package | This contains all of the resource files for the different scanner models, such as firmware and Windows driver info files. |
| FX35USB | This is the actual scanner driver, responsible for relaying data between the scanner and the scanning client. |
| SkmPakonInstaller | This is the installer for the drivers. It's effectively a wrapper around pnputil and some other tedious tasks. |