[sane-devel] Plustek issues (Re: error messages from add-apt-repository sane-release)

[Ralph Little]

Hi,

On 2021-05-21 6:09 p.m., Perry Hutchison wrote:
>
> I was able to clean that up using the configuration mechanism in
> Software Updater, and got sane updated.  I now get:
>
> $ scanimage --version
> scanimage (sane-backends) 1.0.32; backend version 1.0.32
>
> $ scanimage -L
> device `pixma:MF4800_192.168.0.10' is a CANON Canon i-SENSYS MF4800 Series multi-function peripheral
> device `gt68xx:libusb:005:003' is a Plustek OpticSlim M12 flatbed scanner
>
> The Canon seems to work properly (as it did using the original
> version of sane).  The Plustek partly works, but I haven't been
> able to get "good" results:
>
> * Using SimpleScan, the parts that should be black come out as gray,
>   even with contrast set to maximum and brightness set as dark as
>   possible.  (The white parts are correct.)
>
> * Hoping to get rid of the gray, I tried:
>   $ scanimage -d gt68xx:libusb:005:003 --mode=Lineart
>   and got a blank (all white) image.
>
> How would I go about finding a scanimage command that passes the
> same backend settings as SimpleScan is using, as a starting point?
I would assume that simple-scan would pick mostly the default values for
pretty much all settings, which is what scanimage should be doing.
You could run simple-scan with SANE_DEBUG_PIXMA to see what option
settings are called.

$ SANE_DEBUG_PIXMA=10 simple-scan

You would probably have to experiment with the debug level to get the
tracing of the calls that you require though and it might not really
tell you all that you need to know. :(

Other than that, perhaps give xsane a try. It has a better interface
that you can use to fiddle with the various settings.

Cheers,
Ralph