Scanner Compatibility

Predrag Punosevac punosevac at math.arizona.edu
Thu Dec 6 00:59:26 PST 2007


Jason C. Wells wrote:
> Does this represent the state of the art in scanners under FreeBSD?
>
> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/scanners.html
>
> Any other up to the minute tips on purchasing a scanner?  Does 
> 7.0-RELEASE present any new issues?
>
> Thanks,
> Jason C. Wells
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That article is very well written. The only thing that is not emphasized 
enough is that lots of scanners do require firmware (binary blobs)
that you have to extract from M$ .cab files.  (You will need to use 
/usr/ports/archievers/cabextract program to do so).
You definitely want to look very carefully the list of supported devices

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-supported-devices.html

before you make a purchase.

I do believe that Epson scanners are probably best solutions for 
Unix/Linux scanning.

I use Epson Perfection 1670 and it works like a charm. Unfortunately it 
does require binary blob which might be something you want to avoid.

The another option is to look the list of devices supported by HPLIP 
drivers. HPLIP drivers  enable  full functionality of many all-in-one HP 
products and  also HPLIP can unlock some HP flat bad scanners that where 
problematic in the past.

Bottom line is that you have to do your homework.

If you need step by step instructions how to install scanner you might 
contact me via private mail.

Best,
Predrag


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