[sane-devel] sp15c vs. avision backends

[jazz_johnson at verizon.net]

I decided to do some testing on the avision backend with the Fujitsu SP15C.

The first major difference I've noticed,  is that the avision backend 
monopolizes the scanner so that only one program can use the scanner while 
that program is running, i.e. the first user who runs xsane will see the 
avision/sp15c backends listed, but after they select avision, if another user 
then runs xsane, that user won't see that scanner (neither the avision nor 
the sp15c backends will be listed).

By contrast, one can run multiple xsane sessions with the sp15c backend. A 
user can even run xsane on one desktop and also execute batch scanning from a 
shell on another, which is very convenient. Imagine you have a pile of 
documents, most of which can be scanned from a batch shell script without 
user intervention, but interspersed throughout that pile are a handful of 
pages which require manual adjustments to gamma/brightness/contrast/color. 
It's convenient to keep xsane open on a desktop for interactively scanning 
these few documents, but to do the bulk of the scanning from a 
non-interactive shell script. And if other users also need to occasionally 
scan something to email or to fax, they can do so from their own xsane 
sessions without interrupting each other.

---

Jeremy