sane-project-website/old-archive/1998-12/0013.html

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<!-- name="Matto Marjanovic" -->
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<title>sane-devel: Re: USB scanners?</title>
<h1>Re: USB scanners?</h1>
<b>Matto Marjanovic</b> (<a href="mailto:maddog@mir.com"><i>maddog@mir.com</i></a>)<br>
<i>Wed, 2 Dec 1998 03:16:49 -0500 (EST)</i>
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<i> &gt;From: David Mosberger-Tang &lt;<a href="mailto:davidm@mostang.com">davidm@mostang.com</a>&gt;</i><br>
<i> &gt;</i><br>
<i> &gt;It occurred to me that this whole boring debate about parallel-port</i><br>
<i> &gt;scanners and the lack of support may soon disappear as a result of USB</i><br>
<i> &gt;picking up in popularity. Maybe we should focus on USB support? It</i><br>
<p>
I think I missed any recent debate --- just discovered this weekend that<br>
due to a unknown multi-week mailer snafu, I got unsubscribed from this<br>
list, and have missed about 2 weeks of messages, among other things.<br>
<p>
Anyhow, to chime in, I think USB per se is not really a SANE issue.<br>
SANE supports SCSI scanners on pretty much every unixish/posixish OS<br>
which has a "generic SCSI" interface. And those are standard,<br>
general, but OS-specific mechanisms written by someone else. The<br>
same goes for SANE's digital camera backends which use the ubiquitous<br>
standard serial ports. In both cases, a low-overhead system API<br>
exists for pushing data around whatever medium.<br>
<p>
This might be feasible soon with parallel ports, at least under Linux.<br>
Anyone know what the "parport" driver in the newer kernels does?<br>
<p>
[my minor rant on parallel ports moved to end...]<br>
<p>
I'm not sure how to "focus on USB" if I have no USB equipment.<br>
What is the state of general USB support in various OS's? As soon as<br>
kernel access to the USB bus exists, and someone has a USB scanner, I<br>
imagine it'll be the familiar story of writing a complicated backend<br>
which makes up for the deficiencies of retarded scanner firmware,<br>
which is coupled to the machine by a bit of "sanei-usb.h" glue code.<br>
(I don't know anything about the USB bus, but I figure it can't be<br>
too far away from "send a command to a device, receive a reply".)<br>
<p>
Then the job for the rest of us is just to be vigilant and make sure<br>
the code and its coupling to the system are neat and respectable.<br>
<p>
-matt m.<br>
<p>
<p>
and, here's the rant:<br>
<p>
The parallel port is still relatively useless, though, because:<br>
a) a low-overhead system API is pretty scarce, if it exists at all<br>
b) what else has a parallel-port besides a PC? you can find SCSI<br>
and serial ports on Sparc's, PowerPC's, SGI's, etc...<br>
And, if the port needs to be driven in some screwy bit-by-bit way<br>
like the B/W QuickCam, let a properly psychotic hacker write a<br>
backend, and label it with the warning "Why would you want to do this<br>
to your happy, efficient OS? Make a stand! Throw that junk scanner away."<br>
(Winmodems are cheap and plentiful now, too, but you are a *dumb ass* <br>
who is perpetuating bad engineering if you buy one, plain and simple.)<br>
<p>
<p>
<pre>
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<li> <b>Next message:</b> <a href="0014.html">alberto pacella: "(nessun oggetto)"</a>
<li> <b>Previous message:</b> <a href="0012.html">David Mosberger-Tang: "Re: USB scanners?"</a>
<li> <b>Maybe in reply to:</b> <a href="0005.html">David Mosberger-Tang: "USB scanners?"</a>
<!-- nextthread="start" -->
<li> <b>Next in thread:</b> <a href="0031.html">David Huggins-Daines: "Re: USB scanners?"</a>
<li> <b>Next in thread:</b> <a href="0028.html">Jonathan Buzzard: "Re: USB scanners?"</a>
<li> <b>Reply:</b> <a href="0031.html">David Huggins-Daines: "Re: USB scanners?"</a>
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</ul>