[sane-devel] Mustek ScanExpress A3 USB 1200 PRO

[Scot]

> Le Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:25:20 -0500,
> "m. allan noah" <kitno455 at gmail.com> a ?crit :
> 
> > On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 11:34 PM, Scot <sane at mailcan.com> wrote:
> > >> by m. allan noah-3 Jan 18, 2010; 08:52pm
> > >>
> > >> On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 2:57 PM, scar <scar at ...> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> since i require an inexpensive A3 scanner, i plan on purchasing
> > >>> one of these soon, i have not found any other options. ?Mustek
> > >>> appears to have a linux driver on their Taiwanese website,
> > >>> although i read reports here of it not working. ?if all else
> > >>> fails i will attempt to install Windows XP in a virtual machine
> > >>> and use the scanner through there, which was also a possible
> > >>> solution i read on this list.
> > >>>
> > >>> naturally i would want to help develop a working sane driver. ?i
> > >>> do not program but i have a degree in computer engineering so my
> > >>> background should be adequate enough to provide some help, given
> > >>> there is someone to provide me with suitable advice on how
> > >>> precisely to help.
> > >>
> > >> Sure- If you get one of these, we would need you to get a trace of
> > >> the windows driver making a small black and white scan, using this
> > >> tool:
> > >>
> > >> http://www.pcausa.com/Utilities/UsbSnoop/
> > >>
> > >> That should give us enough info to at least tell if the protocol is
> > >> similar to other scanners.
> > >>
> > >> allan
> > >
> > > The requested snoop output is bundled together with the
> > > corresponding small black and white image and posted at:
> > >
> > > ?http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mustekscanner/
> > > ?PublicFolder/mustek-a3-1200-pro.zip
> > >
> > > Please let me know what else I can do to help!
> > 
> > Well, it does alot of small control transfers, probably setting up
> > registers. I'm not well-versed in such machines. Perhaps someone else
> > will recognize it, or have time to compare to the existing mustek
> > backends.
> > 
> > allan
> 
> Hi, I did not investigate much, but it really looks like sq113 ship. In
> my opinion, you should try the mustek_usb2 backend.
> Regards
> 
> Tam

Thanks guys for taking a look, I really appreciate it.

Tam, it looks like you were right about the chip:

----------------
$ sudo sane-find-scanner
found USB scanner (vendor=0x055f [Hewlett-Packard.        ], product=0x040b [USB2.0 Scanner            ], chip=SQ113) at libusb:001:013

$ export SANE_DEBUG_MUSTEK_USB2=255;scanimage -L
[sanei_debug] Setting debug level of mustek_usb2 to 255.
[mustek_usb2] sane_init: start
[mustek_usb2] SANE Mustek USB2 backend version 1.0 build 10 from sane-backends 1.0.20
[mustek_usb2] sane_init: authorize != null
[mustek_usb2] sane_init: exit
[mustek_usb2] sane_get_devices: start: local_only = false
[mustek_usb2] GetDeviceStatus: start
[mustek_usb2] Asic_Open: Enter
[mustek_usb2] Asic_Open: no scanner found
[mustek_usb2] MustScanner_GetScannerState: Asic_Open return error
[mustek_usb2] sane_get_devices: exit

No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).
[mustek_usb2] sane_exit: start
[mustek_usb2] sane_exit: exit
----------------

Searching for "[mustek_usb2] Asic_Open: no scanner found" leads to some posts on the list in November 2008 titled "Can't seem to find config files". It seems like there is no .conf file for the mustek_usb2 backend because it only supports one scanner. So the author went into the source code and tweaked the usb identifier data for his (slightly different) scanner, achieved partial success, and then disappeared.

The mustek_usb2 driver supports the "BearPaw 2448TA Pro" scanner, with specs listed here:
http://en.kioskea.net/guide/details/170414-mustek-bearpaw-2448ta-pro

The "ScanExpress A3 USB 1200 PRO" scanner has a horizontal optical resolution is 1200dpi instead of 2400, and a page size of A3 instead of A4. I'd feel uncomfortable doing much experimentation with recompiling the sources, out of concern for damaging the scanner, which I need to use for a project.

Would any of you guys be interested in getting this scanner to work with SANE? I'd be willing to contribute one of these right away... not that you need yet another one :-)

Scot