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<TITLE>sane-devel: Re: Canoscan FB630U</TITLE>
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<H1>Re: Canoscan FB630U</H1>
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<STRONG>From:</STRONG> Marian Eichholz (<A HREF="mailto:marian.eichholz@freenet-ag.de?Subject=Re:%20Canoscan%20FB630U&In-Reply-To=&lt;3AA3B57A.F184751D@freenet-ag.de&gt;"><EM>marian.eichholz@freenet-ag.de</EM></A>)<BR>
<STRONG>Date:</STRONG> Mon Mar 05 2001 - 07:49:14 PST
<P>
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Simon Heywood wrote:
<BR>
<P><EM>&gt; Today I telephoned Canon UK, and was informed that Canon are not going to
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; release any technical specs at all, even with a NDA (what a surprise);
</EM><BR>
<P>...Bummer. They are *really* unwilling to release information. Perhaps
<BR>
they made a *very* bad- design and are really afraid, that people might
<BR>
notice it.
<BR>
<P><EM>&gt; however I was given the Managing Director's address for delivery of any
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; letters I might care to write explaining the situation. Does anyone have a
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; recommendation as to starting an online petition (and of course whether
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; you think this would be appropriate).
</EM><BR>
<P>This is like my situation with Microtek. The engineer, who wrote to me,
<BR>
mentioned an NDA but knew in advance, that I would not accept it.
<BR>
<P>I tried/am trying to convince him, that I will publish a driver anyway,
<BR>
regardless of all possible problems and insane design due to lack of
<BR>
information, and that it will be the best for Microtek and us all, if
<BR>
they support it by specification disclosure, rather than to slow the
<BR>
progress down by obfuscation.
<BR>
<P>I really hope, that Microtek is smart and honest and discloses the
<BR>
scanner details. But I have no idea, if I used the right tone and
<BR>
temperament. But what did we had to lose?
<BR>
<P>NDAs are a real problem with the cheap &quot;no api&quot; solutions. The Microtek
<BR>
scanner - for example - uses a register transfer model over USB, fairly
<BR>
simple and straight. It saves the company lots of money, because they
<BR>
don't have to build a hardware abstraction (in terms of SCSI2 or so),
<BR>
but they have no chance to hide the device internals and I.P. in this
<BR>
model.
<BR>
<P><EM>&gt; Canon claim they are &quot;looking into&quot; producing a driver package for Linux.
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; However, they were unable to tell me whether or not this would work in
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; conjunction with SANE, or in fact conform to any established Linux
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; standards.
</EM><BR>
<P>Drivers by a vendor are good, but specification and/or drivers with
<BR>
source and an open license are really better. Just take NVIDIA as an
<BR>
example. It is nice, that they are building 3D-drivers. How nice it
<BR>
would be, if they worked reliable. :-(((
<BR>
<P>And there are &quot;driver construction kids&quot; for Linux out there, that
<BR>
really breach *any* kernel mode protection. Nobody should give vendors a
<BR>
chance to work with such blundering tools without beeing blamed for it.
<BR>
<P><EM>&gt; In the meantime, I will investigate the possibilities offered by
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; &quot;sniffing&quot; the comms protocol and/or looking at the
</EM><BR>
<EM>&gt; &lt;canonscanner.sourceforge.net&gt; code. Time to read up on USB/SANE methinks.
</EM><BR>
<P>I wish You all the best with it!
<BR>
<P><PRE>
--
Mit freundlichen Gruessen / Yours sincerely
<P>Marian Eichholz (0211/53087-521)
<P>--
freenet.de AG Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrates: Gerhard Schmid
Deelb<EFBFBD>genkamp 4c Vorstand: Eckhard Spoerr (Vors.), Axel Krieger
22297 Hamburg Amtsgericht Hamburg, HRB 74048
<P>--
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