[sane-devel] how do I use scanner hardware sensors (e.g. scan button)?

[m. allan noah]

On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 1:14 PM, Arthur Hebert <arthur at evcl.com> wrote:
> Thanks Allan. I am comfortable digging in and writing code, much more so for
> scripting languages (e.g. bash, python) than compiled/linked languages (e.g.
> C).
>
> A few related questions come to mind:
>
> * Is scanimage considered a frontend or a backend?

frontend

>
> * How do I read/poll the scan-button hardware state from the device? (Note:
> scanimage --help | grep "\-\-scan" results in "no" even when I hold down the
> button)

you would have to write your own frontend, or modify the button daemon
in our old experimental tree. I don't think you can do it with
scanimage.

> * How do I invoke the fujitsu backend by itself (e.g. to see hardware
> states, and to make use of JPEG output)?

the backend is not a program. you cannot 'run' it. it is a library,
which is 'ingested' by some other frontend program. the frontend then
calls functions that are provided by this backend.

> * I installed the SDK from the download page on my OS X 10.5. My system
> developer tools are installed. Where did the SDK install the source code?
> How do I build from it?

I know nothing about this sdk, as it is not provided by us. Perhaps
Mattias can give some help on the OSX specific parts. For front-end
development, you only need to have some minimal sane header files
installed someplace like /usr/include or /usr/local/include. No need
to rebuild sane backends or sane frontends packages (yet).

allan
-- 
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"