[sane-devel] Spot scanners / need help on some notions

[Henning Meier-Geinitz]

Hi,

On Mon, May 12, 2003 at 10:25:37AM +0200, Thomas VIAL wrote:
> I'm considering writing a driver and backend for my
> scanner, which, to my knowledge, is not supported yet.
> For info, here are some specs & numbers I could find
> on it (I think it used to be shipped under various
> brand names and models):
> 
> - name: MaxiScan A4
> - interface: proprietary "Spot" ISA card with DB25
> connector (male on the card size)
> - the card address can be configured with jumpers. The
> allowed values are 0x{c8|d0|d8|e0|e8}000.
> - FCC ID: MLDSF-600CC
> - Model no.: SF-600CC

Well, good luck! To be honest, I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble :-)

> The scanner itself is a flatbed device whose optical
> resolution is 300 dpi (up to 4800 dpi with
> interpolation).

Interpolation is done in the driver, so you can also interpolate to
10000000 dpi if you like :-)

> * SlideOn
> This is a function that takes a bit parameter,
> probably an on/off switch. What is it supposed to turn
> on/off? It's not the lamp, the front LED or the motor,
> since there are other functions for these purposes.
> Does "slide" refer to the sensor, with the function
> turning optical capture on/off?
> The parameter is merely copied into a bit of one of
> the control registers.

If this scanner has an (optional) transparency adapter, it may be
turned on by that. Just a wild guess...

> I can give more info if requested. I'd also like to
> know whether people are interested in a SANE backend
> for this scanner (I'll do it anyway since I am
> definitely interested!).

Well, I personally don't need it but the more backends we have, the
better :-)

If you intend to include this backend in the SANE distribution, please
make sure that all the low-level stuff (especially port/memory access)
is in a seperate file in sanei/ (see e.g. sanei_ab306.c for support of
a proprietary card). It should compile on any platform, even if that
means providing summy functions for platforms that don't support
access to the card.

Bye,
  Henning