# Re: Microtek scanners

Bernd Schroeder (bernd@aquila.muc.de)
Tue, 16 Mar 1999 01:16:53 +0100

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On Fri, Mar 12, 1999 at 04:19:43PM +0100, Leon van Zundert wrote:
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> We have quite a few customers asking for Linux drivers.
>
> Could you tell us which scanners are supported by S.A.N.E., so we don't
> get any dissapointet customers after sending them to your homepage.

Basically you can find a list of supported scanners on the sane webserver.
With sane-1.00 (microtek2 backend v0.5) the X6EL is working, too, but is
missing on this list, because it was unclear, whether it would work, when
this version was released. Ditto V300. In the meanwhile it has been
reported, that the V600 works with this version, too.

There exists a major problem with most models with 36-bit color depth:
After one successful color scan subsequent scans produce a corrupted image
(looks somehow like random noise scattered over the image). For FW-version
1.0 of the devices the backend v0.5 has a workaround, but devices with a newer
FW-version need to be patched to apply the workaround.

For some models I have no information, whether they work, whereas some
other probably work, if only a check for the model code is added to
the backend (notably the Scanmaker 336).

These are all SCSI models.

A pre0.6 release of the backend exists on

ftp://ftp.muc.de/people/bernds/mtek2/microtek2-pre0.6.120399.tar.gz .

This version includes the workaround mentioned above for all FW-versions
known to me. This version also knows about the 9600XL.

However, some people have reported that under some circumstances the
colors are wrong with an older pre0.6 release, and I don't know yet, whether
this newer version fixes this.

> Does S.A.N.E. also support parallel and USB scanners?

As for the those models with a SCSI to parallelport adapter:
According to an information from the the Linux parport mailing list and
a link on the parport web server these devices have a builtin
OnSpec90C26 chip. If the communication protocol between the device and the
host is the same as for the pure SCSI models, these models should work
once a generic parport driver is available. Maybe you can confirm,
that they have this chip.

Maybe the same is true for USB scanners, but at present USB is not supported.

The Slimscan and Phantom<insert a number here>cx series will probably never
be supported by the microtek2 backend. I asked Microtek in Taiwan for the
documentation some months ago, and they told me that they don't have any
documentation. In addition these models use a different technology and hence
probably a rather different protocol.

Basically the backend is written rather generic, so that all models
to which the documentation of the SCSI command set applies, should
work. However, during the development of the backend I have noticed that
a number of models violate the spec in this respect or have some other
oddities, which makes it often time consuming or impossible to figure
out workarounds or how it really works.

Examples are the mentioned corrupted images or the "two-many-bytes-per-
scanline" problem discussed some days ago on this list.

It would be very helpful if Microtek could give some support to solve
these kinds of problems (maybe you can arrange for such a help). The fact
that Microtek (and probably other manufacturers) get questions regarding
Linux drivers is a clear indication for its growing importance.

Bernd

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    Bernd Schroeder
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