[sane-devel] Good office scanners with ADF support?

[Philip J. Hollenback]

On 06/01/05, Jens Gulden wrote:
> Philip J. Hollenback wrote:
> > This scanner is destined to replace a fax machine and so must have
> > and automatic document feeder capable of holding 50 sheets.  It
> > also needs to work with a linux system
> 
> My private scanner and printer is a Brother MFC 3420C
> (http://www.brother.com/europe/fax/info/mfc3420c/mfc3420c_ove.html). It
> is a scan/print/copy/fax combination, which I bought mainly for ADF
> scanning, but now use for printing, too. It was much cheaper than a
> scanner-only device with additional ADF support (about 150
> EUR). According to my experiences it's about 50 pages that you can
> feed in per batch, a web-page at Brother I found says 20 pages, but
> I'm quite sure it's more with 'normal' paper... maybe it's possible
> to try it out in a shop.
> 
> The Linux support is GREAT. Brother offers both SANE-drivers and
> lpr-drivers (for printing) by themselves
> (http://solutions.brother.com/linux/sol/printer/linux/sane_drivers.html,
> http://solutions.brother.com/linux/sol/printer/linux/lpr_drivers.html),
> and both installed and work without problems.
> 
> Unlike most other cheap scan/print/copy/fax devices, it can scan
> both via ADF and via flatbed, many such devices have ADF only. The
> disadvantage of this is that it's quite a big box. (Looks like a
> photocopier washed too hot, like 50% of the size of a 'real'
> photocopier.)
> 
> If the images you are going to scan are fax-like quality, and not
> art-paintings (as your mail suggests), this may be useful to you. If
> you don't need an optional flatbed, maybe another device of that
> company is suitable - I think their Linux support is worth to take a
> look at.
> 
> Hope this is helpful,
> Jens

Thanks for the info, certainly Brother seems to have strong Linux
support.

However, I am a bit concerned by the reviews on the Amazon page for
this printer:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000CA162/102-0416636-9700117?v=glance

because they seem to be incredibly negative.  Do you think that's just
a case of a few people compalining loudly?

P.

-- 
Philip J. Hollenback
Telemetry Investments
phollenback@telemetry-investments.com