[sane-devel] Thank you !

[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Roger Sewell writes:

> Andrea,
>
>> I also had the same problem with the scanner part of an Epson
>> multifunction printer. I solved it by installing the drivers from the
>> Epson web site, which are indeed almost impossible to find. Here a
>> link: http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/searchModule,
>
> Thank you - the package I found there seems to work fine - very grateful.
>
>> Basically I switched the backend form epson2 to epkowa, which comes
>> with the package form the Epson download site. It now works fine at
>> least with Image Scan for Linux (also from the Epson package, although
>> you can install it separate if you want). 
>
> However, I can't find any evidence that a new SANE backend called epkowa
> is being used

The site you downloaded from is a bit confusing.  It provides downloads
for:

 - Image Scan! for Linux (provides epkowa backend)
 - Image Scan v3 (provides imagescan backend)

These aren't the same thing and both cater to different sets of
scanners.  I would assume that Andrea's scanner is supported via Image
Scan! for Linux which includes a SANE epkowa backend.  The Image Scan v3
bundle includes a SANE imagescan backend.

# BTW, Image Scan v3 is a "corporate" rebrand of the Utsushi software
# that I mentioned in an earlier post.  Utsushi provides an utsushi
# backend which, to all intents and purposes, is the same.

> instead it seems to use something at
> /usr/lib64/sane/libsane-imagescan.so.1, despite the fact that
> /etc/sane.d/dll.conf doesn't contain any line enabling that backend.

Quite a few distributions also implicitly include the snippets below
/etc/sane.d/dll.d/ as if they were part of /etc/sane.d/dll.conf.  Both
Image Scan v3 and Utsushi install the configuration file snippets there,
IIRC.  Not sure anymore about Image Scan! for Linux.

# I've been intimately involved in the development and maintenance of
# all three for a long time.  However, as of April 2016 I am no longer
# involved any only keep Utsushi somewhat in sync with Image Scan v3.

> So I don't entirely understand why it works, but I'm glad that it
> does!
>
>> I didn't try it with xsane, but you should be good to go.
>
> Thank you - it works fine with xsane also.

Please note that support for network attached devices with the imagescan
(or utsushi) backends relies on a non-free plugin.  This is despite the
fact that Epsons's Software License Agreement makes you believe the
whole package/bundle is GPLv3.

# I'm off complaining about that now ...

Hope this helps,
-- 
Olaf Meeuwissen, LPIC-2            FSF Associate Member since 2004-01-27
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