[sane-devel] Recommendations for color, network scanner with ADF and no non-free driver needed?

[Olaf Meeuwissen]

"J.B. Nicholson-Owens" <jbn at forestfield.org> writes:

> Does anyone have any recommendations for a scanner that meets the
> following criteria:
>
> - color scanning is required,
> - ADF (automatic document feeder),
> - flatbed scanner for large/fragile documents that should not go
> through the ADF,
> - duplex ADF scanning,
> - no non-free driver is needed for full scanner and ADF support,
> - device should not be an all-in-one printer/fax/scanner; only a
> scanner is desired.
>
> I'm considering the following:
>
> - Epson GT-2500 Plus
>
> I have experience with this scanner and it works well, but I have no
> idea if it works without the non-free software used to scan from the
> flatbed and the document feeder.

That's basically a GT-2500 with a network interface card (and a bunch
of proprietary software) if I understand the product catalog correctly.

The GT-2500 is supported by the epkowa backend but the network card
requires a non-free plugin with that backend.  It is also reported to
work with the epson2 backend which may support the network card to some
extent.

> Does anyone have one of these (even if yours is an Epson GT-2500 to
> which you later added the Epson network card)?  If so, any problems
> with SANE's network scan support?

If with "SANE's network scan support" you mean saned than there is no
difference compared to using it locally attached in terms of support.
What saned gives you is a scan server, not support for a scanner that is
directly connected to a network.

> - Epson GT-30000

The epkowa and epson2 backends both support this model.  Support for its
network interface requires a non-free plugin with the epkowa backends
and may or may not work to some extent with the epson2 backend.

> [...]

Hope this helps,
-- 
Olaf Meeuwissen, LPIC-2           FLOSS Engineer -- AVASYS CORPORATION
FSF Associate Member #1962               Help support software freedom
                 http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=1962