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

[Adolf Winterer]

Am Montag, 17. März 2008 15:42 schrieb Claus:
> Adolf Winterer skrev:
> > Hello Claus,
> >
> > Am Sonntag, 16. März 2008 00:00 schrieb Claus Boje:
> >> Lørdag den 15. Marts 2008 skrev Adolf Winterer:
> >> > Thank you for your answer, Alessandro.
> >> >
> >> > Am Freitag, 14. März 2008 15:17 schrieb Alessandro Zummo:
> >> > > On Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:50:27 +0100
> >> > >
> >> > > Adolf Winterer <adolf.j.winterer at inn-salzach.de> wrote:
> >> > > > Can anyone on the list please help me with the following
> >> > > > questions?
> >> > > >
> >> > > > 1. What is missing from the epson2 backend to reach the "complete"
> >> > > > status for the Epson V700 Photo?
> >> > >
> >> > >  maybe some particular features of the scanner are missing. I myself
> >> > >  don't own one, but given that is has been listed as good on epson
> >> > > backend it should work well on epson2 too.
> >> >
> >> > I've not yet made up my mind. Maybe I just take the risk and buy the
> >> > device.
> >>
> >> I took the risk with the epson 4990
> >
> > When did this happen?
>
> ~2 years a ago

Meanwhile the SANE backend package has been released in version 1.0.19. Your 
changes should be part of it (it certainly is in the source tarball, which I 
checked for it).

> >> and ended up with the job to hack the
> >> backend, mostly because the firmware in the scanner made som funny
> >> things and have some funny features too. I hacked the epson driver, but
> >> this driver did not do the extended commands, but before I got the epson
> >> backed update to the extended commands the epson2 driver from Alessandro
> >> came up,
> >
> > Is this code included in the 1.0.19 backend release?
>
> yes, but in Debian (testing/unstable) the epson2 driver i comment out i
>    /etc/sane.d/dll.conf,
>    very easy to enable again, maybe it is the same with other dis.

I'm using Debian testing. Yes, indeed, epson2 is commented out in dll.conf. 
Thank you for the hint.

> >> and it did the job for me, except for the funny buggy software of the
> >> epson 4990 scanner,
> >
> > Wrong or old firmware file?
>
> I don't know but I think wrong.
> The problems with the epson 4990 is
>
> -It do not report all resolutions back (only up to 3200 dpi)
> -It have some special (and (one) undocumented) commands for the tpu if
> you want to use the hole area.
> -It sometimes reports error under "lamp warm up" (the drive fix that)

Found that workaround in the code.

> If you take the source (epson2.c) from sane and search for 4990 you can
> se what special for 4990 it's not much.
>
> >> which I have hacked today (it is in the driver now). Sow if
> >> your scanner not have funny firmware it proberly runs on epson2
> >
> > The 4990 model is listed with "complete" support both in the epson
> > backend and the epson2 backend. This is somewhat strange as with a
> > support status of "complete" this should never happen.   :-(
>
> The "complete" in the epson driver is more or less my fault, because I
> reported it complete before I found the problems with the tpu.
> The only "missing" in epson driver I think is that you can't use the
> hole tpu area, but there can be more, because I started to hack the
> epson2 driver , and then stopped testing the epson driver

Olaf wrote some words about the "good" status of the V700 scanner, which left 
quite some room for interpretation.

> >> (if it use
> >> the ESC/I, but I think that both v700 and v750 use the ESC/I commands,
> >> but don't blame me if I'm not right) commands, but . We can too ask
> >> epson for the programmers manual, I did that with the 4990 and got them
> >> without problems.
> >
> > How did you get these programmers manuals? Whenever I read something
> > about scanner support I see "no documentation available" and "reverse
> > engineering with USB traffic sniffing".
>
> I got them from here
> http://www.epsondevelopers.com/home/guides_redirect, you need to ask for
> them, but I got them without problems. You can get the epson 4990 and
> 4870 from me if you are interested

The manuals would be no help for me as I'm not able to write the C code needed 
to improve the driver.  :-(

> >> I don't know how much you can do, can you compile a packet your self ? -
> >> do you programe/understand some c ?
> >
> > I can read C programs to get the most basic idea what it should do, but
> > this is not nearly enough for driver development.   :-(
> >
> > You offered a radically different view onto the support situation of the
> > named epson devices (4990 / V700). So I'm again a bit more uncertain
> > about purchasing one of these. But at the moment I'm lacking
> > alternatives!
>
> I chose the epson 4990 because I could get the technical information.
>
> The biggest problem to help you is that I don't have a v700/v750 scanner.

Let's assume you have the programmer's manuals for the V700 (which should be 
the easier part) AND a V700 scanner (this could be more difficult). Would you 
then like to complete the epson2 driver for the V700 scanner?

> Best
>
> CLaus

Best regards,
   Adolf