[sane-devel] New backend for a not yet exisiting device

[m. allan noah]

I think you would want to stick with lower level (stupid) machines
that have chips from a third party which gives away documentation on
their website. Something like rts* gt*, genesys backends should be
useful. If you sensor sled is going to weigh more than the original,
or if you use a different motor, you will probably want to use a
scanner that gets its motor acceleration tables from the driver
(genesys?)

allan

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Torsten Wagner
<torsten.wagner at fh-aachen.de> wrote:
> Dear Dev-Team,
>
> first of all I'm a complete newbie in terms of scanners resp. the development
> of sane. I hope you can help me a bit to sort out some questions.
>
> Background: We are going to develop a new kind of scientific measurement
> device which acts similar to a scanner.  Our measurements are latterly
> resolved e.g. we can create a pixel by pixel map whereas the measurement
> signal might be represented by a colour. This is, so fare well known already
> for similar devices already (Actually, it is not different to a normal
> scanner). Our reading unit can read line by line and thus we are thinking to
> use the mechanical set-up of a normal scanner to acquire a complete picture.
>
> Idea: For sure, it would be perfect, if we can address this type of new
> scanner in the same way like a normal scanner. E.g. by TWAIN-Protocol or by
> SANE. This guarantees to capture measurements many kind of different
> software.
>
> Problem: I have totally no idea how the communication between a scanner and
> the computer works. I read about intelligent scanners which just get commands
> like "scan with 600dpi one A4 page" and about dumb scanners which requires
> commands like "turn on stepper motor for next line, scan line, etc."
>
> Is there any information available which might help me to identify which basic
> scanner set-up might be the best for our purpose. I guess the dumb version
> gives us access to lower level functions which we might need ?Any kind of
> this hacks known already ?
>
> Does somebody know a scanner brand or a specific model which is easy hackable
> for our purpose. Is there one out with full open/known programming interface
> or does this require always a reverse engineering of all the different
> commands ? Is there a sane-dev favourite scanner due to the easiness of use
> and addressing ? A USB-model might be preferable but a LPT-based model might
> be easier to access ?!
>
> I appreciate any kind of information and help.
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Totti
>
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