[sane-devel] HP 8620 <- Re: CanoScan LiDE 120 "Untested"?

[ken]

On 05/09/2015 08:31 PM, Simon May wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've recently bought a Canon LiDE 120. I got my hopes up because on
> http://sane-project.org/lists/sane-mfgs-cvs.html#Z-CANON
> the LiDE 100, 110, 200, 210 and 220 were all listed as completely
> supported and the LiDE 120 is at least marked "untested". However, now
> that I've tried to get it to work and after digging some more, it seems
> the 120 (and perhaps the 220 as well?) is not quite ready yet.
>
> Is there a chance that the LiDE 120 will work soon? Is there any way I
> can help? Or should I return the scanner and get a CanoScan LiDE 220
> instead? Perhaps any suggestions for a similarly cheap, but
> Linux-friendly scanner?
>
> Best wishes,
> Simon May

Simon,

I bought a couple Canons, both of which I returned.  The first wouldn't 
work, allegedly unless I upgraded my OS, which I wasn't then wanting to 
do.  The second Canon, from Amazon, was returned without my trying it 
out because Amazon said if I opened the box, I couldn't return it. 
Because both Canons came to the market at the same time, I assumed the 
electronics in both would be the same, so I elected not to open the box.

Then I bought an HP Officejet Pro 8620, tried it out, got 99% of it 
working with Linux, was impressed by it, so kept it and have been using 
it without problems for a few months now.

This is a multi-function "all-in-one" printer/scanner/fax and performs 
all those functions reasonably well.  One thing which doesn't currently 
work at all (with Linux-- haven't tested with any other OS) is sending a 
fax document which resides on my computer.  I don't send faxes very 
often, even less often a document residing on my hard drive, so this 
functionality is a very minor concern.  Moreover, there's a USB port on 
the front of the printer, so should I really need to fax a document from 
my hard drive, I can always copy that file to a thumb drive, walk the 
hard drive to the printer, and send the fax from it.

A larger problem is that, according to 
<http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04085902>, the scanner is capable 
of 1200x1200 dpi.  But using Linux it can do at best 300x300, a 
significant disappointment.  Perhaps the driver upgrade (which requires 
for me an OS upgrade) will remedy that.

The link cited above gives more but not all information about this 
multi-function printer and others from HP with similar capabilities. 
One capability I didn't know about until after I bought it and read the 
manual was SNMP.  I've been too busy to play around with this, let alone 
fully implement it.  But I'm quite impressed with what I've read.  Most 
important for me was how easy it was to get it to work with Linux.  I 
got it on my network-- first over cable, then over wifi-- within a 
minute or two.  I did a lot of the configuration from the printer's 
touchscreen and the rest using its onboard webserver.  The HPLIP 
software installed in a minute and provided utilities that made setting 
it up with CUPS easier than any other printer I've owned... so too with 
the scanner.  The fax system  took a little longer, but only because it 
took awhile before I found that I couldn't fax from my Linux laptop; 
otherwise that would have happened quickly as well.

The only actual bad thing I can say about this printer/scanner/fax is 
that it's made me lose patience with stuff that doesn't work well and 
easily with Linux.

If you have any questions (which can't be better answered by Auntie 
Google), feel free to send them my way and I'll try to answer them.