[sane-devel] where to put firmware files?

[Henning Meier-Geinitz]

Hi,

On Sat, Oct 05, 2002 at 08:19:08PM +0200, Till Kamppeter wrote:
> Henning Meier-Geinitz wrote:
> >
> >The main problem is that I haven't found any way to extract the files.
> >I tried unzip, cabextract, and i6comp but nothing was able to extract
> 
> What is "i6comp"? Where can I find it?

That's a tool to decompress windows packages created by Install Shield.
http://myplc.com/sony/i6comp_howto.htm

I can run it in wine, but it doesn't seem to be able to unpack the
binary files.

> >the firmware from the windows binaries. These aren't simple
> >self-extracting zip files but a complete installation program with the
> >twain drivers, firmware, documentation in one single file.
> >
> 
> So every manufacturer re-invents the wheel with a new 
> compressing/packaging format?

Hey, that's Windows! :-)

> Or do they even encrypt there stuff to ensure that the user has
> Windows running on his box?

No idea.

> >Maybe this firmware-download on-demand is an idea for the
> >distributions' scanner tools.
> >
> 
> It should be in the program which sets up the scanner. The firmware 
> should not be taken from the internet/CD whenever one starts "xsane" or 
> "(x)scanimage". Therefore we also need a standardized place where to put 
> the extracted firmware files.

That's what I meant, yes.

> >It would be easier if we could place the firmware files on a webserver
> >somewhere. Or if someone writes a GPLed frimware :-)
> >
> 
> When the manufacturers allow us to re-distribute them. Then we could 
> even put them onto the CDs of the distros.

I have asked Mustek about that. Let's see what they say.

Fo one scanner (BearPaw 1200 CU), there is a Linux RPM package that
contains the firmware. For some others, the firmware is /unpacked) in
the CD's WinXP directory. But for some scanners, the only way seems to
be to install the driver on a Windows system and copy the firmware
from the Windows directory to the Linux system.

Bye,
  Henning