I've been following both the USB and the sane list since I bought an AGFA
snapscan USB scanner. After much testing and fighting, and despite loads of help
from both groups, I eventually flogged this scanner for a SCSI one. However, I
do know that there has been success in this area. Namely, David Nelson was able
to get a few HP USB scanners to work. The solution is two-fold. First, you have
to get the scanner talking to your PC over the USB port. This is the job of the
USB driver. This will give you a /dev/usbscanner. Next, you need to get sane to
talk to your scanner via /dev/usbscanner.
First point: Have a look @ www.linux-usb.org and get on there mailing list.
David Nelson has got some HP scanners talking via usb, and with a little
modification of his code, I had my AGFA talking as well. David was quite helpful
with this, considering that I'm am not a programmer, he showed me exactly where
to modify the code and exactly what to change to get it talking. Once you get
your scanner talking over USB, then you need to work with the sane side.
Sane side: Now that your scanner is talking over USB, it may not be talking
SCSI. If you are lucky, as David was with HP, the scanner may use the same
protocol. Otherwise, you will need to find out what protocol the scanner uses
over USB. The HP's did use SCSI over the USB port, but, sadly, my AGFA scanner
didn't. This was why I eventually sold it to my niece, who is using Windows98.
This will be a major undertaking on your part to get this working. Lots of
people on both lists will be quite helpful, but you can expect to do quite a bit
of work, with assistance. IF you can get it working, you can feel quite good in
yourself for making such a major contribution to Linux. USB and scanners are
areas that need lots of work. If not, be more careful when buying hardware. I
know, I've made many mistakes buying hardware only to find that the support
wasn't there. I am now much more careful to check what is and isn't supported
before I buy now. I've had to replace a modem, a printer and a scanner. And I've
gotten loads of grief from the wife each time.
Good luck with your scanner and I hope you can get it working. Linux need as
much hardware support as possible. Especially USB.
Cheers,
John Gay
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