sane-mustek.5



sane-mustek(5)           SANE Scanner Access Now Easy           sane-mustek(5)


NAME

       sane-mustek  -  SANE backend for Mustek SCSI flatbed scanners (and some
       other devices)


DESCRIPTION

       The sane-mustek library implements a SANE  (Scanner  Access  Now  Easy)
       backend  that  provides  access to Mustek (and some relabeled Trust and
       Primax) SCSI and parport flatbed scanners.  At present,  the  following
       scanners are known to work more or less with this backend:

              Paragon MFS-6000CX
              Paragon MFS-12000CX
              Paragon MFC-600S, 600 II CD, ScanMagic 600 II SP
              Paragon MFC-800S, 800 II SP
              Paragon MFS-6000SP
              Paragon MFS-8000SP
              Paragon MFS-1200SP, MFS-12000SP
              ScanExpress 6000SP
              ScanExpress  12000SP,  12000SP  Plus, Paragon 1200 III SP, Scan-
              Magic 9636S, 9636S Plus
              Paragon 1200 LS
              ScanExpress A3 SP
              Paragon 1200 SP Pro
              Paragon 1200 A3 Pro/1200 A3 Pro
              Paragon 600 II EP
              Paragon 600 II N
              Trust Imagery 1200
              Trust Imagery 1200 SP
              Trust Imagery 4800 SP
              Trust SCSI Connect 19200
              Primax Compact 4800 SCSI

       More  details  can  be  found  on  the  Mustek  SCSI  backend  homepage
       http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/mustek-backend/.

       Don't  mix  up  MFS (Paragon), Pro and ScanExpress models! They're com-
       pletely different. Check the exact model name! Note that  we  have  en-
       countered  some Mustek models that are not specifically Paragon branded
       (e.g. "1200 A3 Pro"), but are also known to work.

       Note that most of the above scanners come with a SCSI  interface.   The
       only  non-SCSI scanners that have some support at this point is the 600
       II N and 600 II EP scanners. The former one comes with its own parallel
       port adapter (i.e., it does not attach to the printer port). Both scan-
       ners use the SCSI protocol internally, too. More info  on  how  to  use
       these  parallel  port  scanners  can be found below in section PARALLEL
       PORT SCANNERS.  Other parallel port scanners are not supported by  this
       backend  but you may be successful using the Mustek parallel port back-
       end mustek_pp, see sane-mustek_pp(5).  USB scanners are also  not  sup-
       ported  by this backend but the ma1509, mustek_usb, gt68xx, and plustek
       backends  include  support  for  some  of  them,  see   sane-ma1509(5),
       sane-mustek_usb(5), sane-gt68xx(5), and sane-plustek(5).

       Mustek  scanners have no protection against exceeding the physical scan
       area height.  That is, if a scan is attempted with a  height  that  ex-
       ceeds  the  height  of the scan surface, the scanner begins making loud
       noises and the scan mechanism may be damaged.  Thus, if you hear such a
       noise, IMMEDIATELY turn off the scanner. This shouldn't happen if  your
       scanner  is in the list of known scanners. There is more information in
       the /usr/local/share/doc/sane-backends/PROBLEMS file.

       If you own a Mustek (or Trust) scanner other than the ones listed above
       that works with this backend, please let us know by sending  the  scan-
       ner's  exact model name (look at the front and back of the scanner) and
       a debug output to sane-devel@alioth-lists.debian.net.  You can get  the
       debug output by setting the environment variable SANE_DEBUG_MUSTEK to 5
       and  showing  the list of available scanners with scanimage -L.  Please
       send all of it to the mailing list. You must be subscribed to  sane-de-
       vel    before    you    can    send    mail    to    the    list.   See
       http://www.sane-project.org/mailing-lists.html for details.


DEVICE NAMES

       This backend expects device names of the form:

              special

       Where special is either the path-name for the special device that  cor-
       responds  to  a  SCSI  scanner or the port number at which the parallel
       port scanners can be found (see section PARALLEL PORT SCANNERS  below).
       For  SCSI  scanners, the special device name must be a generic SCSI de-
       vice or a symlink to such a device.  The  program  sane-find-scanner(1)
       helps  to  find out the correct device. Under Linux, such a device name
       could be /dev/sg0 or /dev/sg3, for example.  See sane-scsi(5)  for  de-
       tails.


CONFIGURATION

       The  contents  of  the mustek.conf file is a list of options and device
       names that correspond to Mustek scanners.  Empty lines and lines start-
       ing with a hash mark (#) are ignored.  See sane-scsi(5) on  details  of
       what constitutes a valid device name.

       The  supported  options  are linedistance-fix, lineart-fix, legal-size,
       buffersize,  blocksize,  strip-height,  disable-double-buffering,  dis-
       able-backtracking, and force-wait.

       Options  come  in  two flavors: global and positional ones.  Global op-
       tions apply to all devices managed by the  backend  whereas  positional
       options  apply  just  to the most recently mentioned device.  Note that
       this means that the order in which the options appear matters!

       Option linedistance-fix is positional and works around a  problem  that
       occurs  with some SCSI controllers (notably the ncr810 controller under
       Linux).  If color scans have horizontal stripes and/or the  colors  are
       off,  then  it's likely that your controller suffers from this problem.
       Turning on this option usually fixes the problem.

       Option lineart-fix is positional and works around a timing problem that
       seems to exist with certain MFS-12000SP scanners.   The  problem  mani-
       fests  itself  in dropped lines when scanning in lineart mode.  Turning
       on this option should fix the problem but may slow down scanning a bit.

       Option legal-size is positional and sets the size of the scan  area  to
       Legal  format.  Set this option if you own a Paragon 12000 LS. It can't
       be distinguished by software from a ScanExpress 12000 SP (ISO  A4  for-
       mat).

       Option  buffersize  is  a  positional option that overrides the default
       value set for the size of the SCSI buffer. The buffer size is specified
       in kilobytes. The default value is 128. Because of double buffering the
       buffer actually sent to the scanner is half the size of this value. Try
       to increase this value to achieve higher scan speeds.  Note  that  some
       ScanExpress  scanners don't like buffer sizes above 64 kb (buffersize =
       128). If your sg driver can't set SCSI buffer sizes at runtime you  may
       have to change that value, too. See sane-scsi(5) for details.

       Option  blocksize  is  a  positional  option that overrides the default
       value set for the maximum amount of data  scanned  in  one  block.  The
       buffer  size  is  specified  in kilobytes. Some scanners freeze if this
       value is bigger than 2048. The default value is 1 GB (so effectively no
       limit) for most scanners. Don't change this value if you don't know ex-
       actly what you do.

       Option strip-height is a global option that limits the  maximum  height
       of  the  strip  scanned with a single SCSI read command.  The height is
       specified in inches and may contain  a  fractional  part  (e.g.,  1.5).
       Setting  the  strip-height to a small value (one inch, for example) re-
       duces the likelihood of encountering problems with SCSI driver timeouts
       and/or timeouts with other devices on  the  same  SCSI  bus.   Unfortu-
       nately,  it  also  increases scan times. With current SCSI adapters and
       drivers this option shouldn't be needed any more.

       Option disable-double-buffering is a global option. If set, the backend
       will only send one buffer at a time to the scanner. Try this option  if
       you  have  trouble  while  scanning,  e.g. SCSI errors, freezes, or the
       first few cm are repeated over and over again in your image.

       Option disable-backtracking is a positional option. If set, the scanner
       will not move back its slider after each SCSI buffer is filled  (`back-
       tracking').  Setting this option will lead to faster scans but may also
       produce horizontal stripes. This option doesn't work with every scanner
       (only some of the paragon models can modify backtracking).

       Finally, force-wait is a global option. If set, the backend  will  wait
       until  the  device is ready before sending the inquiry command. Further
       more the backend will force the scan slider to return to  its  starting
       position  (not implemented for all scanners). This option may be neces-
       sary with the 600 II N or when  scanimage(1)  is  used  multiple  times
       (e.g. in scripts). The default is off (not set).

       A sample configuration file is shown below:

              # limit strip height of all scanners to 1.5 inches:
              option strip-height 1.5
              /dev/scanner    # first Mustek scanner
              # 1 MB buffer for /dev/scanner:
              option buffersize 1024
              /dev/sge        # second Mustek scanner
              # turn on fixes for /dev/sge:
              option lineart-fix
              option linedistance-fix


SCSI ADAPTER TIPS

       You need a SCSI adapter for the SCSI scanners. Even if the connector is
       the  same  as that of parallel port scanners, connecting it to the com-
       puters parallel port will NOT work.

       Mustek SCSI scanners are typically delivered with an ISA SCSI  adapter.
       Unfortunately, that adapter is not worth much since it is not interrupt
       driven.   It  is (sometimes) possible to get the supplied card to work,
       but without interrupt line, scanning will be very slow and put so  much
       load on the system, that it becomes almost unusable for other tasks.

       If  you  already  have  a  working  SCSI controller in your system, you
       should consider that Mustek scanners do not support the SCSI-2  discon-
       nect/reconnect  protocol  and hence tie up the SCSI bus while a scan is
       in progress.  This means that no other SCSI device on the same bus  can
       be accessed while a scan is in progress.

       Because  the  Mustek-supplied  adapter  is  not  worth much and because
       Mustek scanners do not support the SCSI-2  disconnect/reconnect  proto-
       col,  it  is  recommended to install a separate (cheap) SCSI controller
       for Mustek scanners.  For example, ncr810 based cards are known to work
       fine and cost as little as fifty US dollars.

       For Mustek scanners, it is typically necessary to  configure  the  low-
       level  SCSI driver to disable synchronous transfers (sync negotiation),
       tagged command queuing, and target disconnects.  See  sane-scsi(5)  for
       driver- and platform-specific information.

       The  ScanExpress  models  have  sometimes  trouble with high resolution
       color mode. If you encounter sporadic corrupted  images  (parts  dupli-
       cated or shifted horizontally) kill all other applications before scan-
       ning and (if sufficient memory is available) disable swapping.

       Details  on how to get the Mustek SCSI adapters and other cards running
       can be found at http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/mustek-backend/#SCSI.


PARALLEL PORT SCANNERS

       This backend has support for the Paragon 600 II EP and Paragon 600 II N
       parallel port scanners.  Note that the latter scanner  comes  with  its
       own ISA card that implements a funky parallel port (in other words, the
       scanner does not connected to the printer parallel port).

       These  scanners  can  be  configured  by listing the port number of the
       adapter or the parallel port in the mustek.conf file.  Valid port  num-
       bers  for  the  600  II N are 0x26b, 0x2ab, 0x2eb, 0x22b, 0x32b, 0x36b,
       0x3ab, 0x3eb.  For the 600 II EP use one of these: parport0,  parport1,
       parport2, 0x378, 0x278, 0x3bc.  Pick one that doesn't conflict with the
       other  hardware in your computer. Put only one number on a single line.
       Example:

              0x3eb

       Note that for these scanners usually root privileges  are  required  to
       access the I/O ports.  Thus, either make frontends such as scanimage(1)
       and  xscanimage(1)  setuid root (generally not recommended for security
       reasons) or, alternatively, access this  backend  through  the  network
       daemon saned(8).

       If  the  Mustek backend blocks while sending the inquiry command to the
       scanner, add the option force-wait to mustek.conf.

       Also note that after a while of no activity, some  scanners  themselves
       (not the SANE backend) turns off their CCFL lamps. This shutdown is not
       always  perfect  with  the  result that the lamp sometimes continues to
       glow dimly at one end. This doesn't appear to  be  dangerous  since  as
       soon as you use the scanner again, the lamp turns back on to the normal
       high brightness. However, the first image scanned after such a shutdown
       may  have  stripes  and  appear to be over-exposed.  When this happens,
       just take another scan, and the image will be fine.


FILES

       /usr/local/etc/sane.d/mustek.conf
              The  backend  configuration  file  (see  also   description   of
              SANE_CONFIG_DIR below).

       /usr/local/lib/sane/libsane-mustek.a
              The static library implementing this backend.

       /usr/local/lib/sane/libsane-mustek.so
              The shared library implementing this backend (present on systems
              that support dynamic loading).


ENVIRONMENT

       SANE_CONFIG_DIR
              This environment variable specifies the list of directories that
              may contain the configuration file.  On *NIX systems, the direc-
              tories are separated by a colon (`:'), under OS/2, they are sep-
              arated  by a semi-colon (`;').  If this variable is not set, the
              configuration file  is  searched  in  two  default  directories:
              first,  the current working directory (".") and then in /usr/lo-
              cal/etc/sane.d.  If the value of the environment  variable  ends
              with  the directory separator character, then the default direc-
              tories are searched after the explicitly specified  directories.
              For example, setting SANE_CONFIG_DIR to "/tmp/config:" would re-
              sult in directories tmp/config, ., and /usr/local/etc/sane.d be-
              ing searched (in this order).

       SANE_DEBUG_MUSTEK
              If the library was compiled with debug support enabled, this en-
              vironment  variable  controls  the debug level for this backend.
              Higher debug levels increase the verbosity of the output.

              Value  Description
              0      no output
              1      print fatal errors
              2      print important messages
              3      print non-fatal errors and less important messages
              4      print all but debugging messages
              5      print everything

              Example: export SANE_DEBUG_MUSTEK=4


SEE ALSO

       sane(7),   sane-find-scanner(1),   sane-scsi(5),    sane-mustek_usb(5),
       sane-gt68xx(5),   sane-plustek(5),  sane-mustek_pp(5),  sane-ma1509(5),
       scanimage(1), xscanimage(1)

       /usr/local/share/doc/sane-backends/mustek/mustek.CHANGES
       http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/mustek-backend/


AUTHOR

       David Mosberger, Andreas Czechanowski, Andreas Bolsch (SE  extensions),
       Henning Meier-Geinitz, James Perry (600 II EP).


BUGS

       Scanning with the SCSI adapters supplied by Mustek is very slow at high
       resolutions and wide scan areas.

       Some scanners (e.g. Paragon 1200 A3 + Pro, SE A3) need more testing.

       The  gamma table supports only 256 colors, even if some scanners can do
       more.

       More detailed bug information is available at the Mustek backend  home-
       page: http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/mustek-backend/.

                                  13 Jul 2008                   sane-mustek(5)

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