implicity

i just installed my scanner under linux and it was relatively painless, but only because i'd done it (multiple times?) before. the scanner is a 'Packard Bell Diamond 1200 Plus'. linux scanner software is called 'sane', and this scanner uses the 'gt68xx' backend for sane, both of which come installed by default with ubuntu. a backend is the part of the scanner program which speaks directly to the hardware, and so is different for different makes and models of scanner.

plugging in the scanner and running sane-find-scanner in a terminal produced the following
found USB scanner (vendor=0x055f, product=0x021b, chip=GT-6816?) at libusb:002:003
# Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by
# SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend's manpage.
scanimage of course was disappointing:
mnvl@sonja2:~$ scanimage -L
No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages). to get the scanner working, i had to find a firmware file on the CD which came with the scanner, in the folder 'WinXP', and copy it to /share/sane/gt68xx/. the file is called 'PS1Dfw.usb' and the similar file 'PS1Gfw.usb' will NOT work. this fact is NOT in the sane manual.

i performed my first scan by typing scanimage in the terminal. by default, this prints the image information directly to the screen, in the form of 113,000 lines looking something like this:
jkjkjlmnnqnmllkjkmlmmnnnmlllikiijklpqpnqnkjjkkkllmmnjlkikgiilllmlmjkkgjmljkkkkknkl
kkilpplklmknmkjjjijjilkjllqnpkikjkjlkkllkkjjijijkkkmmlkkkkjkjigjkkkkjjkkgijiijijkl
jkjjiigigiiijjljifigiiiillllmlljjkiiijkkmlmllkiijgijjlnkllllkiijgiijmllkkllkgigiki
mkklkijkjkklllllmmmkikikgjjkjlmmkkkkjjikikkmllllkkjijgkklljkkkkjfgjiilqqlkkiiijigg
gklklkklx€ypkjfkkjmkkjjgeeeeffgikljjjgfddefjjgjjjgnvrtpnmlgjjlligfefeeeeffigiiigfif
eegjjkkjjjiifgefefikgkggigfffgfjkkkgiggfffeffggggiiggdddedegffigiggedfgfeefgigjggg
ggggfggjjkkiggffffgggjlliklkjiigigjiijkjiggiigjggfijkigfgfffegfejjkjjkjffeefiijjll
kigggeffjjijijiggieiggifiijkjigikiggggjlkjjikijgggiijkjijgjfggijgkkkkkkjgijgilljkm
mmiijfjimmjkjlkkkigigiijggktyqlilmmljfggjjjjjjifffffffiiigijfggfedeeegigifebddedee
efgijgiffgifig
(a lot of the code was even more interesting than this, with some in a strange font, possibly an asian alphabet?). a more useful way of scanning is from the desktop menu 'Applications->Graphics->XSane Image scanning program'. this program labors under the delusion that my scanner is something called a 'Mustek Bearpaw 1200 CU Plus', but worked perfectly.

# posted by weierstrass @ 21:18