[sane-devel] Mustek ASIC 1505 Scanners

[Melanie]

Hello,

  this is my first posting to this list, even though I have read the list 
achives, I may cover some ground that's been well trodden on already, 
please forgive me.

I have been given a Mustek ScanExpress A3 EP scanner, which turned out to 
be 1505 based (ID 0xA2). I have so far located 3 different Mustek backends, 
only one of which offers the beginnings of support for the 1505 chipset.
The one that is included in the most recent SANE release has a #define 
that, when turned on, will make the driver recognize the chip. However, 
there is no further support for the chipset and the scanner simply sits 
there and does nothing.
The other driver, fom www.penguin-breeders.org, does not mention the 1505 
chipset at all, but seems to permit some basic communication with the 
scanner. At least it is able to turn the lamp off, after modifying the 
driver to accept ASIC type 0xA2. In fact, it turns the lamp off at a time 
where it should be turned on.
None of the drivers, with no possible option, can cause any carriage 
movement whatsoever.

I have read, on a web page that I've since lost the address of, that Mustek 
has in one case released the source code of a TWAIN driver for another 
scanner model and that this was the crucial information needed to support 
that type of scanner.

I am well equipped and could possibly make traces of parallel port traffic 
if someone would tell me how to do that in Windows.
I also have much experience in C/C++ coding and controlling hardware 
devices, so I could, with a bit of information, possibly write some code to 
make it work. I have next to no experience with image processing, but since 
the scanner apparently uses a well-supported CCD module, processing the 
image data could likely be done using existing code.

The main issue, as far as I see, is to write the code to get the scanner to 
move the carriage and start sending image data. My assumption, based on the 
fact that existing code is able to turn the lamp off, is that basic 
communication with the scanner is possible using existing code as well.

It seems to come down to decoding the register's meaning and possible 
values.

I would be interested in finding out if anyone has ever had any success in 
activating even the most basic functions on 1505 scanners, and possibly 
source code or documentation to that effect. If there is driver development 
in progress, I also would be interested to find out the current status and 
maybe join in for a few lines of code, too.

Finally, I wonder if the person who has once received a favourable response 
from Mustek is subscribed to this list and would be willing to try for the 
source code to the 1505 based scanner's TWAIN driver as well, or would at 
least disclose the contact at Mustek who has previously released 
information and / or source code.

Getting a scanner for free was rather unexpected, but the experience would 
be far more pleasing if I could get it to work with my favourite operating 
system, Linux!

All the best,

Melanie