Microtek ScanMaker E3 Plus - Parallel Port - working!

From: Adam Benjamin (aebenjam@opentext.com)
Date: Wed Apr 04 2001 - 15:07:34 PDT

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    Hello All,

    Please forgive me if this information was already known. I spent a
    lot of time searching archives in various places looking for someone
    who had successfully got a Microtek ScanMaker E3 Plus with parallel
    port working under Linux and came up with many dead ends. Lots of folks
    had got to the point of trying the following:

    % scanimage -d microtek2:/dev/sg0 > test
    scanimage: open of device microtek2:/dev/sg0 failed: Error during device I/O

    If there was a solution posted, I never saw it. I'm writing this email
    as a public service for those who may still be trying and hoping but
    haven't seen anything.

    Step 1: Get your scanner working/visible as a SCSI device under
             Linux.

    I'm under the very strong impression that your parallel cable that
    should have come with the scanner is different than a mere mortal
    printer cable. You'll need this cable.

    Then you'll need to patch your kernel using the patch-2.2.15pre14-ppscsi1
    that is referred to at http://people.redhat.com/twaugh/parport
    Actual patch is at:
        ftp://people.redhat.com/twaugh/parport/patch-2.2.15pre14-ppscsi1.gz

    Hopefully you're comfortable with compiling your own kernel and using
    the patch program as I don't have time/energy to write about that
    here. Note that in the end the only things you really need are the
    ppscsi module and the onscsi module. Hence once everything is
    compiled you can do:
      insmod ppscsi
      insmod onscsi
    and you should see your scanner. Also, do a cat /proc/scsi/scsi and
    you should see your scanner listed. Mine looks like:

        Attached devices:
        Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
          Vendor: Model: Scanner 300A4 Rev: 3.00
          Type: Scanner ANSI SCSI revision: 02

    Step 2: Get your scanner working/visible with sane

    This is the part I was stuck at. It turns out that the problem was
    that my version of the microtek2 backend was not recognizing the model as
    belonging to an E3 plus. I hacked the code to recognize my model (0x90)
    as the model listed as an E3Plus (0x92.) I've been happily scanning
    since.

    The microtek2 backend I used was microtek2-pre0.9.020100.tar.gz as
    found at ftp://ftp.muc.de/people/bernds/mtek2/ I don't know if this
    was necessary, but it's the one I used. Then I patched the code as
    follows:

    --- /home/aebenjam/microtek2.c Sun Jan 2 07:41:37 2000
    +++ microtek2.c Thu Mar 22 11:55:44 2001
    @@ -2191,6 +2191,10 @@
             case 0x8d:
               *model_string = "ScanMaker 330";
               break;
    + case 0x90:
    + mi->model_code = 0x92;
    + *model_string = "E3+ / Vobis HighScan";
    + break;
             case 0x91:
               *model_string = "ScanMaker X6 / Phantom 636";
               /* The X6 indicates a data format of segregated data in TMA mode */

    So this is probably not the "correct" solution, but believe me I was
    absolutely thrilled to get the scanner working and wasn't so
    interested in programming finesse.

    There are configuration options that were recommended, but I'm not
    sure if they even do anything. (I wasn't in the exploring mood - it
    worked, I wanted to scan. 'nuff said. :) ) You may want to check
    them out at:
        http://www.aquila.muc.de/mtek2/doc/sane-microtek2-config-doc.html

    Anyway, my scanner now works. I will remain on this mailing list for
    a few days longer in case anyone has any questions appropriate for the
    public forum, otherwise I will unsubscribe and go on my merry way.
    Sorry for the post-and-run, but I just wanted to leave a trail in case
    some other poor person wanted their E3 Plus parallel-port scanner
    working and couldn't figure it out.

    Btw: for those looking for more details now or later - please feel
    free to email me. If I can at all help, I'd be happy to - time
    permitting.

    Yours in (low resolution :/ ) scanning heaven,

    Adam Benjamin
    Systems Administrator
    Open Text Corporation

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