[sane-devel] SANE vs. Epson backends

Gene Heskett gene_heskett@iolinc.net
Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:11:32 -0500


On Wednesday 20 November 2002 21:43, Karl F. Larsen wrote:
>Hi, I got my Epson Perfection 1250 working with SANE well and the
> Xsane back end. I never did get iscan working. It still says it
> can't find a scanner.
>
>On Wed, 20 Nov 2002, Michael J. Hammel wrote:
>> Thus spoke Henning Meier-Geinitz
>>
>> > Then you didn't use the SANE backend, because the SANE epson
>> > backend does not support that scanner. Unfortunaly, the
>> > backend made by Epson is also called "epson".
>>
>> Okay, now I'm confused here.  I have both SANE and iscan
>> installed.  If I add the appropriate device to the epson.conf
>> file, QuiteInsane and XSane find the scanner.  If I add it to
>> plustek instead, neither finds the scanner.
>>
>> The scanner is an Epson Perfection 1260.
>>
>> Does this mean that all my front ends are using the ImageScan
>> backend then?
>>
>> Is there a way to (at least temporarily) switch between the
>> ImageScan backend and the official SANE Epson (re: Plustek)
>> backend?  I need to do this in order to do some comparisons for
>> an article I'm writing.  I want to make sure I'm looking at the
>> right thing for each frontend I review.  Is the SANE backend
>> preferrable to the ImageScan backend?  If so, what are the
>> reasons for the preference?
>>
>> PS:
>> I just noticed that libsane-epson.so is a symlink to
>> libsane-epsonkw.so.1.0.6. Maybe if I just moved the
>> libsane-epson* files out of /usr/lib/sane, that would force the
>> front ends to use the plustek driver instead - yes?

It works here Karl, as in I get a requestor asking me which backend 
I want to use when I launch xsane from its icon.

So lets see where the problem might be.

1. I don't for this use rpms.  I use the source.  And, I've never 
been abe to make iscan fully build, it always dies while doing the 
gui.  BUT, its already built the backend and libraries by then, and 
these seem to be perfectly happy being administered by xsane.   So 
even if the make dies on the gui, go ahead and do a make install, 
which will put them into the system.
2. When I launch xsane, and click past the root warning, it comes up 
with Olivers 'S' logo, and a set of clickboxes below it.  The top 
one will usually be the default, and that default is labeled epson, 
and at the far end of the line it says "plustek:/dev/usb/scanner0"
The bottom box that I can check is also labeled epson, and the 
identification continues as "GT7200  Flatbed scanner   
epson:/dev/usb/scanner0".

Either one runs although the features are somewhat different.

Now, in /usr/local/etc/sane.d/dll.conf, I have these active entries:
-------------
# enable the next line to allow access through the network:
net
epson
plustek
-------------
there's a whole Sears catalog more, but you get the idea.

Now, the revelant *active lines* of /usr/local/etc/sane.d/epson.conf
----------------
# epson.conf
#
# here are some examples for how to configure the EPSON backend
#
# USB scanner - only enable this if you have an EPSON scanner. It 
could
#               otherwise block your non-EPSON scanner from being 
#               recognized.
#		Depending on your distribution, you may need either the
#		first or the second entry.
#usb
#device /dev/usb/scanner0
usb /dev/usb/scanner0
-------------------------------
And the same lines from /usr/local/etc/sane.d/plustek.conf
-------------------
# Plustek-SANE Backend configuration file
# For use with Plustek parallel-port scanners and
# LM9831/2/3 based USB scanners
#
# For autodetection use
# [usb]
# device /dev/usbscanner
#
# NOTE: autodetection is safe, as it uses the info it got
#       from the USB subsystem. If you're not using the
#       autodetection, you MUST have attached that device
#       at your USB-port, that you have specified...
#
[usb]
#
# options for the previous USB entry
#
# switch lamp off after xxx secs, 0 disables the feature
option lampOff 0

# warmup period in seconds, 0 means no warmup
option warmup 30

# 0 means leave lamp-status untouched, not 0 means switch off
# on sane_close
option lOffOnEnd 1

#
# options to tweak the image start-position
# (WARNING: there's no internal range check!!!)
#
# for the normal scan area
#
option posOffX 0
option posOffY 0

# for transparencies
option tpaOffX 0
option tpaOffY 0

# for negatives
option negOffX 0
option negOffY 0

#
# for setting the calibration strip position
# (WARNING: there's no internal range check!!!)
# -1 means use built in
#
option posShadingY -1
option tpaShadingY -1
option negShadingY -1

#
# to invert the negatives, 0 disables the feature
#
option invertNegatives 0

# for skipping calibration step
option skipCalibration 0

# for replacing the gain values found during
# calibration
option red_gain   -1
option green_gain -1
option blue_gain  -1

#
# for adjusting the default gamma values
# use values of 2.5 for CanoScan
#
option redGamma         1.0
option greenGamma       1.0
option blueGamma        1.0
option grayGamma        1.0

#
# to enable TPA (non Plustek devices only)
# 0 means default behaviour as specified in the internal tables
# 1 means enable
#
option enableTPA 0

#
# and of course the device-name
#
device /dev/usb/scanner0
-------------------------

Thats it!  Its all built from source, using gcc-3.2 on a RH8.0 
system with the real KDE-3.0.4.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
AMD K6-III@500mhz 320M
Athlon1600XP@1400mhz  512M
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