[sane-devel] Need recomendation linux/sane compat scanner w/ fast 2bit/greys

[Garrick Sitongia]

My vote goes to the Fujitsu 620C I just bought. Although I read that the 
newer 4120 is even better, if you don't need the flatbed part. The main 
thing I've been reading in the reviews is that the "home" models with the 
ADF feature don't seem have a ADF that is as robust and trouble free as the 
office models. An exception might be the Fujitsu ScanSnap!, but I don't know 
if Sane supports it and it internally processes images to PDF's only. I 
believe PDF images use JPEG encoding, because I have seen the JPEG type 
distortion in them.

Unfortunately, the Fujitsu 620C is not perfectly supported by Sane. The 
sp15c backend doesn't have the brightness/contast functions plumbed to the 
frontends, and so I have hacked the code to make it read a file for those 
values. This sp15c code requires someone's patient attention. The Avision 
backend works, but for some reason I cannot get the brightness/contrast 
effect to work as satisfactory as with the sp15c backend. So I am using the 
sp15c backend, with the hack.

The major issue I have found is finding software for batch scanning. If you 
have black and white papers all the same size, you are homefree. If you have 
many items of considerable diversity, look for a scanner with an ADF that 
will take multiple sized docs in the same feeder batch, so you don't have to 
continuously adjust it by hand. I vaguely think I saw an ad for such a 
thing. Also find software to do what you need for organizing your scans. I 
have been writing my own perl scripts to control the scanner and do file 
processing and saving. With a fast scanner, that is where the majority of my 
time is spent, not scanning the documents. My issue with the 620C is 
software, the hardware is excellent.

Don't forget to check Ebay and factory refurbished outlets for whatever you 
decide to get.

Garrick

>From: Jeff Kowalczyk <jtk@yahoo.com>
>To: sane-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org
>Subject: [sane-devel] Need recomendation linux/sane compat scanner w/ fast 
>2bit/greyscale ADF
>Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 18:33:42 -0800 (PST)
>
>After a long while of doing without, I may suddenly need a good scanner for 
>a
>collection of documents. I would like to find something with the following
>characteristics, if anyone has tried a model that fits the bill.
>
>a) Linux and SANE compatibility exists today. Limited feature support OK.
>
>b) ADF (or ADF option) that has good paper-feed reliability
>
>c) USB (2.0/highspeed) or Firewire interface
>
>d) I really only care about fast b/w and greyscale 300dpi scanning through 
>the
>ADF, controlled by the command-line interface. Other scanning concerns are 
>very
>minimal, I could use a more common scanner for that.
>
>Hoping for something in the $400-$800 range (new, including ADF), depending 
>on
>how fast it is for this type of scanning. I'd also be interested in 
>SANE-ready
>models with very high scanning speeds that happen to cost a bit more
>($1000-$2000). I really wish the HP 5550c had SANE compatibility, that 
>model
>seems perfect otherwise.
>
>Thanks if anyone has any recommendations.
>
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