[sane-devel] HP 3970 scanner

[Henning Meier-Geinitz]

Hi,

On Tue, Feb 03, 2004 at 12:20:30PM +0100, Bakay Árpád wrote:
> Now I am upset enough to invest some effort myself in getting those
> bastard 48 bits out of the scanner for Linux. 
>  
> IF
> 1.	No one has done it yet.

I don't think so. See
http://www.sane-project.org/unsupported/hp-scanjet-3970c.html

> 2.	Someone can give me some practical advice on how to start with that. 

See above (link to our contribution page).

> a.	Shall I try to snoop USB on a MAC? (I can get access to it)

I don't know if there are sniffing programs for MacOS.

> b.	Can anyone give me some information on the chipset?

The above mentioned page says "realtek RTS8822L". Also check if it is
really similar to one of the other HP scanners.

> In general: what is your impression: can I expect much quality
> enhancement from a 48 bit consumer-grade scanner, or it should just
> be considered a marketing trick?

Most scanners can do 48 bit (16 bit per color) inernally. It's used
for color correction internally. Usually you don't need 16 bit
externally but it can make sense if you want to do color correction
after the image has been scanned. E.g. to make a dark image brighter.

Bye,
  Henning