On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 17:11:09 +0100 (CET) Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@suse.de> wrote:
Hello,
On Jan 26 10:44 ken wrote (shortened):
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 14:27:56 +0100 (CET) Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@suse.de> wrote:
....
.... "sane-find-scanner" (that's also what YaST uses to find scanners) can detect USB scanners via special USB chipset detection (see "man sane-find-scanner") to distinguish scanners from other USB devices.
In your case "sane-find-scanner" correctly detected that there is a USB scanner but this does not mean that it is supported by a driver in SANE, see "man sane-find-scanner": "sane-find-scanner will even find USB scanners, that are not supported by any SANE backend".
This clarifies quite a bit and so would be good to include in the documentation.
Unfortunately I don't have exact information which SCSI+USB scanner is supported only via SCSI or only via USB so that I cannot show an appropriate message in YaST. There is an "interface" keyword in the SANE description files but I don't know for sure if this is always correct. I.e. if only "SCSI" is mentioned does this really mean that "USB" is not supported?
Yeah, that would be useful information for everyone. Sometimes it's good to know if something is not possible to do. At least you know you can stop wasting time trying. :)
When I then click on "Configure" I'm given the list of drivers (="backends"?) and select the one for Microtek X12USL. Clicking on "Next", the next panel shows that "microtek2" as an "Active Driver", but lists no "Active Scanner". Telling me the same thing as "scanimage -L".
Guess which command is executed by YaST to determine an "Active Scanner"? Have a look at /usr/lib/YaST2/bin/*scanner*
Aha! The similarity in functionality gave me to suspect that. It would be nice sometimes to know that some GUI app does the same as some command or set of commands. Generally, using the CLI provides more error information than GUIs do, so they're often more helpful in tracing out a problem.
Summary: YaST does exactly what is in compliance with SANE to detect and set up a scanner. YaST uses only the SANE tools. YaST does not use selfmade magic. Therefore what you get with YaST should be (hopefully) exactly the same which you would get by using the SANE tools. What YaST not does is special changes in the backend config files (e.g. in /etc/sane.d/microtek2.conf). The reason is that the defaults in backend config files are such that it is safe. For excample you can enforce most backends to recognise any USB device as a scanner with arbitrary consequences, see for example /etc/sane.d/epkowa.conf: "... you may, at your own peril(!!), force the backend to recognise ..." I will not let any innocent user do such things via YaST.
The above would be a good preamble to notifying the user about yast's using "scanimage -L". I'd say that the last line-- about "innocent user"-- is a good policy. More accomplished users, though, might appreciate knowing there are further-- albeit more drastic-- alternatives.
Johannes, one part of the documentation I didn't understand concerned the libraries (found in /usr/lib/sane/). Perhaps you could clarify what needs to be done there and how to ensure it's been done (correctly).
Please be more specific which section in which part of the documentation you do not understand and what exactly your question is.
I've read so much documentation that I can't remember in which doc the question came up. But some documentation said something to the effect that I should ensure the libraries were installed "in the proper place" and either in (or not in) some PATH. Perhaps that document should have said, Run this command to ensure the proper libraries are installed in the proper place: # export SANE_DEBUG_DLL=4; export SANE_DEBUG_EPSON=128; \ export SANE_DEBUG_SANEI_USB=128; \ scanimage -L && echo OK || echo FAILED; unset SANE_DEBUG_SANEI_USB; \ unset SANE_DEBUG_EPSON; unset SANE_DEBUG_DLL
I don't know what should be done in /usr/lib/sane/. Simply installing the package sane (YaST would force you to have "sane" installed when you set up a scanner and if necessary, YaST would install other neded packages like "iscan") and all should be o.k. in /usr/lib/sane/.
Perhaps the problem is so much documentation; one document raises a question, but then doesn't assist in answering it. So then I wonder, Well, is my problem due to wrong or missing libraries? So including the command above as part of a checklist, like: "If you're uncertain as to whether the libraries are installed correctly, run [the command above]." Even if your documentation didn't create the uncertainty, it could address and resolve it. And though the sane package might have installed everything in the correct places, not all packages do and so the uncertainty can always be there. The "cost" of running one (even rather long) command is well worth eliminating one uncertainty. hth, ken
Kind Regards Johannes Meixner -- SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5 Mail: jsmeix@suse.de 90409 Nuernberg, Germany WWW: http://www.suse.de/
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