[sane-devel] SANE backend epson2 and Epson Perfection V700 Photo

[Adolf Winterer]

Am Dienstag, 18. März 2008 01:11 schrieb Olaf Meeuwissen:
> Adolf Winterer <adolf.j.winterer at inn-salzach.de> writes:
> > Hello Olaf,
> >
> > Am Montag, 17. März 2008 01:19 schrieb Olaf Meeuwissen:
> >> Hope this helps,
> >
> > It helps a little bit. The question I have to answer is: If I
> > purchase a V700 Photo, do I get a working device with the epson2
> > backend or do I get an expensive, useless brick on my desk? I no
> > longer accept proprietary software, there had been to many really
> > bad experiences in the past and the situation did NOT improve.
>
> You get a partially working device.  

Hm, so this means it should work to some extent, but "partial" leaves quite 
some room for interpretation.

> The Perfection V700 PHOTO does 
> NOT require any of the non-free libraries that are part of or can be
> plugged into iscan.  

This is good news and confirms what I expected and hoped for.

> What that means is that you can use the device 
> with any of the epson, epson2 and epkowa backends on any architecture
> but you will have to use a free SANE frontend.

I definitely want to use a SANE frontend, most likely Kooka.

> Our iscan frontend 
> will not work on any architecture other than i386 at the moment.

The iscan frontend is not critical, it's the backend that matters most.

> The device may not support all of the advertised capabilities and the
> three backends will, unfortunately, show somewhat different coverage
> of these capabilities.
>
> > From your mail address I see that you are working for Avasys. In the
> > hope that you have any influence inside Avasys or at least can relay
> > this,
>
> I will forward your concerns "up the food chain".

Thank you.

> > please let me state:
> >
> > "Outside of Windows and MacOS, please move your support more to the
> > open source side, for scanners this would be the SANE project. A
> > binary driver is always cumbersome in an open source environment, be
> > it Linux, *BSD, OpenSolaris or others. A source file can be compiled
> > on many platforms, i386, amd64, ppc or other. But with a binary file
> > you are stuck very fast as it cannot be adapted or corrected. If
> > Avasys lacks manpower, then at least be generous with openly
> > available documentation and / or participate in the Linux Driver
> > Project. Thank you."
>
> Hope this helps,

Bit by bit I get a more complete view on the issue.