Re: Alternative to SANE (not supporting new scanners): TWAIN or Mac OS X binary compatibility?

From: Henning Meier-Geinitz (hmg_at_gmx.de)
Date: 04/18/04 

Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2004 16:05:58 -0000

Hi,

Timur <blackdir@yahoo.com> schrieb:
> I recently got an HP Scanjet 3690 as a present. I have Linux only PCs
> but I was aware of SANE project since a long time so I was confident
> I could have used it also under my OS. Unluckly I found out that the
> SANE project not only lack of support for it (in the mailing list they
> said HP is not providing any useful info on this scanner, so it is not
> possible to build a driver)

I don't know if HP doesn't provide any info as I haven't asked.
Anyway, such info isn't absolutely necessary. There already is some
code for the chipset used in your scanner (GL646) but it can't scan
yet: http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/genesys-backend/

So I wouldn't say that it's not possible to build a driver. It's just
not ready yet.

> but also SANE does not support any of the scanners that can be
> currently bought in a computer shop (if you do not believe this
> please check it before flaming).

I just checked one of the online shops I already used to buy scanners
(www.alternate.de). The six scanners listed on their start page are:

* Canon LiDE 30
  Supported (plustek backend)
* Canon LiDE 50
  Not supported (but will be by genesys backend)
* Mustek Be@rPaw 2400CU
  Supported (by gt68xx backend)
* Canon CanoScan 5000F
  Not supported
* HP ScanJet 3670C
  Not supported (may work with genesys in future)
* Epson Perfection 1670 Photo
  Supported (by snapscan backend)

So 50% of these scanners are supported. The list depends on the shop
obviously.

> My question is: is there a way I can use other OS driver under Linux
> to make it work? To be more specific:
>
> - is there a way to use Mac OS X drivers (which are provided by HP)
> under Linux?

I don't think so. An open source driver would help to create a SANE
backend, but it's not open source as far as I know.

> - alternatively is it possible to use TWAIN drivers (in binary format)
> under Linux?

You can try to use one of the Windows "emulators" (vmware, wine). But
even if that works, it's a kludge.

> Are there any commercial application that allow me to use a modern HP
> scanner under Linux?

There is vuescan from Hamrick software. I haven't checked if it
supports that scanner.

Bye,
  Henning
   

-- 
http://www.sane-project.org/cgi-bin/driver.pl (Scanner search engine)
http://www.sane-project.org/ (SANE homepage)
irc://irc.freenode.net/sane (SANE IRC channel)
http://www.meier-geinitz.de/kernel/ (Linux USB kernel driver homepage)

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