[sane-devel] GUI for sane configuration (again...)

[stef]

	Hello,

	I came across the last discussion of GUI for sane configuration. I agree that
a backend should be good enough to work out of the box. But in some cases, it just
can't happen. For instance the umax_pp backend cannot detect properly which model is
attached. Even UMAX provided windows drivers can't: they detect my scanner as a 
Astra 2000P or 1220P depending on the last version of the driver installed. More,
IEEE1284 probe information is still 'UMAX Astra 1220P' for 2000P models (with
bogus class 'IMAGE' by the way).

	Second, due to the use of parallel port, the backend is affected by parport
bugs (either software or hardware). Or has some bugs that only appear on some 
hardware, and that can hardly be corrected since I've no docs for these scanners. So,
sometime direct hardware access fails and you have to use ppdev character device,
and sometime, it is the opposite.

	Third, since umax_pp scanner probing may confused any device on the parport,
it is commented out in 'dll.conf'. But many people don't read carefully the docs, or
forget about that and can't get sane working.
	
	So, for these reasons, the umax_pp backend just can't work out of the box,
and hand tweakings of conf files is needed. No problem with me, but there is a large
class of use who'd rather point and click than edit a couple of files. 

	I'd rather spend some time in helping write such a GUI, than endlessly send
the same emails about how to configure the scanner. 

Regards,
	Stef