Epson 4490 in Debian

[Fredrik]

Hi,

I'm trying to use an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo under Debian etch
(testing). It's supposedly fully supported by the epkowa backend. This
is what I did so far:

- installed Debian's sane, sane-utils and libsane-extras packages (the
  last one contains the epkowa backend)

- downloaded iscan-2.0.0-0.c2.tar.gz from www.avasys.jp, for the
  binary-only component not distributed by Debian

- copied the binary-only component libesmod.so to /usr/lib/epkowa/,
  in accordance to the instructions given in
  /usr/share/doc/libsane-extras/README.Debian

- removed "epson" from /etc/sane/dll.conf (also following the same
  instructions) and made sure epkowa was enabled

The result? sane-find-scanner detects the scanner fine, but
scanimage -L does not. Adding "usb 0x04b8 0x0119" to /etc/epkowa.conf
makes scanimage -L *claim* to find the scanner,
(device `epkowa:libusb:001:002' is a Epson  flatbed scanner)
but scanning does not work.
(scanimage: sane_start: Invalid argument)

So, where did I go wrong? Any ideas?

Some ideas of my own:

The instructions in /usr/share/doc/libsane-extras/README.Debian says
that one should make sure to use a matching version of the binary
component. That would be version 1.16.0-3, according to
/usr/share/doc/libsane-extras/copyright. But www.avasys.jp will only
let me download version 2.0.0. Are older versions available somewhere?
However, I doubt this is the only problem, because strace reveals that
scanimage does not look in /usr/lib/epkowa/ at all, and that can't be
right.

Thanks for reading. :)

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[Fredrik]

Never mind, I figured it out already. :)

I realised I also needed files from
iscan-plugin-gt-x750-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm that were not included in the
iscan source package - it still didn't work, but when I ditched the
epkowa that came with Debian and used the one from avasys directly, it
worked fine.

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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Fredrik Sandstrom <fs@...> writes:

> Hi,

Hi,

I know you already found out what to do, but nevertheless ...

> I'm trying to use an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo under Debian etch
> (testing). It's supposedly fully supported by the epkowa backend. This
> is what I did so far:
>
> - installed Debian's sane, sane-utils and libsane-extras packages (the
>   last one contains the epkowa backend)
>
> - downloaded iscan-2.0.0-0.c2.tar.gz from www.avasys.jp, for the
>   binary-only component not distributed by Debian

As of iscan-2.0.0 the non-free, binary-only components are no longer
in the "source" tarball.  The epkowa backend of that version (as well
as the one in 1.18.0) works fine without these components.

The binary-only components are available (as RPMs) from the download
page for your particular scanner model at:

  http://www.avasys.jp/english/linux_e/index.html

Just select your scanner model and note that it lists two RPMs (for
gcc 3.4 or later and another two for gcc-3.2/3.3).

These non-free, binary-only components used by the backend follow the
following naming convention:

  iscan-plugin-$modelname

where $modelname normally refers to the Japanese version of your
model.
# It's shorter, that's why.

> - copied the binary-only component libesmod.so to /usr/lib/epkowa/,
>   in accordance to the instructions given in
>   /usr/share/doc/libsane-extras/README.Debian

The libesmod.so library is *not* used by the epkowa backend.  It is
only used by the iscan frontend.

> - removed "epson" from /etc/sane/dll.conf (also following the same
>   instructions) and made sure epkowa was enabled

That's only necessary if you find it annoying to see scanners
supported by both backends listed twice.

> The result? sane-find-scanner detects the scanner fine, but
> scanimage -L does not. Adding "usb 0x04b8 0x0119" to /etc/epkowa.conf
> makes scanimage -L *claim* to find the scanner,
> (device `epkowa:libusb:001:002' is a Epson  flatbed scanner)
> but scanning does not work.
> (scanimage: sane_start: Invalid argument)
>
> So, where did I go wrong? Any ideas?

Install the iscan-plugin-gt-x750 package.  For Debian, you probably
want to convert using alien.

> Some ideas of my own:
>
> The instructions in /usr/share/doc/libsane-extras/README.Debian says
> that one should make sure to use a matching version of the binary
> component. That would be version 1.16.0-3, according to
> /usr/share/doc/libsane-extras/copyright. But www.avasys.jp will only
> let me download version 2.0.0. Are older versions available somewhere?

No.  EPSON AVASYS (unfortunately) does not keep old versions around
for download.

> However, I doubt this is the only problem, because strace reveals that
> scanimage does not look in /usr/lib/epkowa/ at all, and that can't be
> right.

That's because the backend doesn't look there in 1.16.0.  As of
1.18.0, the backend will look for non-free, binary-only plugins in
$pkglibdir.  On most systems that will be /usr/local/lib/iscan or
/usr/lib/iscan.  If modules aren't there, certain models are simply
considered *not* supported.
# OK, so it also looks everywhere else your loader is looking by
# default :-{

FWIW, libesmod.so is normally installed in $libdir.

Of course, if the Debian maintainer(s) have been mucking around with
this, that is their problem/responsibility/fault/whatever.

> Thanks for reading. :)
 
You're welcome ;-)

Hope this helps,
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Olaf Meeuwissen                          EPSON AVASYS Corporation, SE1
FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
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[Fredrik]

Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> writes:
> I know you already found out what to do, but nevertheless ...

Thanks for your explanations!

The next problem, now that I got it working, is that I can only seem
to be able to scan at (max) 2400dpi, even though the scanner supports
up to 4800. Any ideas here?

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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Fredrik Sandstrom <fs@...> writes:

> Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> writes:
>> I know you already found out what to do, but nevertheless ...
>
> Thanks for your explanations!
>
> The next problem, now that I got it working, is that I can only seem
> to be able to scan at (max) 2400dpi, even though the scanner supports
> up to 4800. Any ideas here?

If you're using iscan, then it's an arguably stupid limitation in the
frontend.  If you also hit this when using other frontend let me know
what

  $ SANE_DEBUG_EPKOWA=10 scanimage 2> perfection-4490.log

barfs into the perfection-4490.log file.

There should be a list of the resolutions that the device claims to be
able to handle.

It could be that 4800dpi requires different main and sub resolutions,
something neither the epkowa backend nor the epson backend support at
the moment.

Hope this helps,
--
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FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
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[Julien BLACHE-2]

Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> wrote:

Hi,

> Of course, if the Debian maintainer(s) have been mucking around with
> this, that is their problem/responsibility/fault/whatever.

I should be redifining this path, IIRC, to use /usr/lib/epkowa
instead.

I need to update epkowa in libsane-extras, it's long overdue
indeed. I'll get it updated in libsane-extras 1.0.18.1 when
sane-backends 1.0.18 gets released.

JB.

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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Julien BLACHE <jb@...> writes:

> Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>> Of course, if the Debian maintainer(s) have been mucking around with
>> this, that is their problem/responsibility/fault/whatever.
>
> I should be redifining this path, IIRC, to use /usr/lib/epkowa
> instead.

I had a look at the source package since, and, yes, you did change the
path to /usr/lib/epkowa.  Since I've done some reorganising WRT to the
interpreters (libesint*.so), you may find that 2.0.0 (and the upcoming
2.1.0) will be smoother sailing when packaging.  All interpreters are
now installed in $pkglibdir and the backend will now work both with
and without the interpreters installed.

There is also a ./configure option to turn building of the frontend
off to cater to non-i386 builds.  The default is to test for the
architecture and turn it off if non-i386, but you can override on the
command-line.

I guess that for Debian that doesn't really matter much because there
is still a BLOB in the source tarball :-(
# The good news is that there only one now, instead of seven ;-)

> I need to update epkowa in libsane-extras, it's long overdue
> indeed. I'll get it updated in libsane-extras 1.0.18.1 when
> sane-backends 1.0.18 gets released.

Note that iscan-2.1.0 is slated for release at approximately the same
schedule as the upcoming sane-backends.  If you have any questions WRT
packaging for libsane-extras, you know where to find me ;-)
--
Olaf Meeuwissen                          EPSON AVASYS Corporation, SE1
FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
GnuPG key: 6BE37D90/AB6B 0D1F 99E7 1BF5 EB97  976A 16C7 F27D 6BE3 7D90
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[Julien BLACHE-2]

Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> wrote:

Hi,

> I had a look at the source package since, and, yes, you did change the
> path to /usr/lib/epkowa.  Since I've done some reorganising WRT to the
> interpreters (libesint*.so), you may find that 2.0.0 (and the upcoming
> 2.1.0) will be smoother sailing when packaging.  All interpreters are
> now installed in $pkglibdir and the backend will now work both with
> and without the interpreters installed.

Ah thanks, that'll make my life easier :) The amount of work required
to get the backend in shape for inclusion is one of the reasons why
I'm not updating it more often (that's me being lazy wrt
semi-proprietary stuff :p)

> There is also a ./configure option to turn building of the frontend
> off to cater to non-i386 builds.  The default is to test for the
> architecture and turn it off if non-i386, but you can override on the
> command-line.

That's nice too :)

> I guess that for Debian that doesn't really matter much because there
> is still a BLOB in the source tarball :-(
> # The good news is that there only one now, instead of seven ;-)

IIRC the license for the frontend isn't DFSG-free, though I'd need to
re-read it. So it'd have to go to non-free, which isn't autobuilt
anyway. (hmm, does the license allow for redistribution of the binary
parts ?)

> Note that iscan-2.1.0 is slated for release at approximately the same
> schedule as the upcoming sane-backends.  If you have any questions WRT
> packaging for libsane-extras, you know where to find me ;-)

Thanks for the hint :)

JB.

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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Julien BLACHE <jb@...> writes:

> Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>> I had a look at the source package since, and, yes, you did change the
>> path to /usr/lib/epkowa.  Since I've done some reorganising WRT to the
>> interpreters (libesint*.so), you may find that 2.0.0 (and the upcoming
>> 2.1.0) will be smoother sailing when packaging.  All interpreters are
>> now installed in $pkglibdir and the backend will now work both with
>> and without the interpreters installed.
>
> Ah thanks, that'll make my life easier :) The amount of work required
> to get the backend in shape for inclusion is one of the reasons why
> I'm not updating it more often (that's me being lazy wrt
> semi-proprietary stuff :p)

I won't hold that against you ;-)  After all, you're just volunteering.

>> There is also a ./configure option to turn building of the frontend
>> off to cater to non-i386 builds.  The default is to test for the
>> architecture and turn it off if non-i386, but you can override on the
>> command-line.
>
> That's nice too :)

I got a halfway sane patch (it ditched the frontend sources from the
tarball :-{) and Johannes Meixner was bugging me at about the same
time, so ...

>> I guess that for Debian that doesn't really matter much because there
>> is still a BLOB in the source tarball :-(
>> # The good news is that there only one now, instead of seven ;-)
>
> IIRC the license for the frontend isn't DFSG-free, though I'd need to
> re-read it. So it'd have to go to non-free, which isn't autobuilt
> anyway. (hmm, does the license allow for redistribution of the binary
> parts ?)

The frontend is GPL + exception.  However, same frontend won't work
without libesmod.so which is EAPL and distributed WITHOUT source.
Redistributing EAPL'd binary parts is allowed.  You may even modify
them ;-)  and reverse engineer for debugging purposes and debugging
purposes only (to meet the requirement at the top of section 6. of
the LGPL).

BTW, you want to look at non-free/EAPL.en.txt for the exact
conditions.

>> Note that iscan-2.1.0 is slated for release at approximately the same
>> schedule as the upcoming sane-backends.  If you have any questions WRT
>> packaging for libsane-extras, you know where to find me ;-)
>
> Thanks for the hint :)

You're welcome.
--
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FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
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[Johannes Meixner]

Hello,

On Jun 13 16:53 Olaf Meeuwissen wrote (shortened):
> Julien BLACHE <jb@...> writes:
> >
> > Ah thanks, that'll make my life easier :) The amount of work required
> > to get the backend in shape for inclusion is one of the reasons why
> > I'm not updating it more often

Some time ago I got a nice patch from Dirk O. Siebnich
from which I made our patch to build our iscan-free package
which is a really free version of the epkowa backend
(this means the /usr/bin/iscan frontend was also removed
because it requires a non-free library).

Julien,
I would appreciate it if the free version of Iscan would
be as much as possible the same on Debian and on Suse
(and on any other distribution).
If you (or any other distribution package maintainer) are
interested, please contact me.


> >> There is also a ./configure option to turn building of the frontend
> >> off to cater to non-i386 builds.
...
> I got a halfway sane patch (it ditched the frontend sources from the
> tarball :-{) and Johannes Meixner was bugging me at about the same
> time, so ...

Such a ./configure option is nice for internal testing but
it doesn't help us ("us" means at least Novell/Suse but I guess
it is the same for any distribution which provides sources)
to solve the license problem because the sources are the
crucial part regarding the license.

It doesn't help to have free binary packages built with whatever
kind of official or non-official "trick" when there is still
any kind of whatever non-free stuff left in the sources.
E.g. only mention a non-free license in some help-text in the
source even if there is actually no non-free program code
in the sources makes free sources tainted.

The only thing which makes us (same meaning as above) happy
are well seperated free sources and non-free stuff.


Olaf,
by the way:

Since the non-free model-specific stuff was split from the
Iscan sources (very many thanks for this!), I packaged
the non-free model-specific stuff into a seperated
"iscan-proprietary-drivers" RPM.

Unfortunately there seems to be no easy to use download
directory at Epson Avasys from which I could directly
download all your non-free model-specific RPMs.
At the moment I downloaded them by inspecting the docs
which models require non-free stuff and then I did
one or tow zillions of clicks in your Epson Avasys web-site
to download them :-(

Up to now I manually collected the following RPMs with non-free
model-specific stuff (from my iscan-proprietary-drivers.spec):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
# How to get the sources:
# See the README or epkowa.desc from the iscan package which models
# require proprietary driver libraries (in epkowa.desc those models
# have "non-free" in the comment).
# Go to http://www.avasys.jp/english/linux_e/dl_scan.html
# and select each of those models and download the iscan-plugin-*
# RPM (for gcc 3.4 or later).
# At the moment this are the following models and iscan-plugin-* RPMs:
# Perfection 1250 / Perfection 1250 PHOTO / GT-7200U
Source0:      iscan-plugin-gt-7200-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
# Perfection 1260 / Perfection 1260 PHOTO / GT-7300U
Source1:      iscan-plugin-gt-7300-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
# Perfection 2480 PHOTO / Perfection 2580 PHOTO / GT-F500 / GT-F550
Source2:      iscan-plugin-gt-f500-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
# Perfection 3170 PHOTO / GT-9400UF
Source3:      iscan-plugin-gt-9400-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
# Perfection 3490 PHOTO / Perfection 3590 PHOTO / GT-F520 / GT-F570
Source4:      iscan-plugin-gt-f520-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
# Perfection 4180 PHOTO / GT-F600
Source5:      iscan-plugin-gt-f600-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
# Perfection 4490 PHOTO / GT-X750
Source6:      iscan-plugin-gt-x750-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this list complete or did I miss something?

For example a nice tar archive which includes all the non-free
model-specific stuff would be nice.


Kind Regards
Johannes Meixner
--
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90409 Nuernberg, Germany                    WWW: http://www.suse.de/

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[Till Kamppeter]

Johannes Meixner wrote:

> Hello,
>
> On Jun 13 16:53 Olaf Meeuwissen wrote (shortened):
>
>>Julien BLACHE <jb@...> writes:
>>
>>>Ah thanks, that'll make my life easier :) The amount of work required
>>>to get the backend in shape for inclusion is one of the reasons why
>>>I'm not updating it more often
>
>
> Some time ago I got a nice patch from Dirk O. Siebnich
> from which I made our patch to build our iscan-free package
> which is a really free version of the epkowa backend
> (this means the /usr/bin/iscan frontend was also removed
> because it requires a non-free library).
>
> Julien,
> I would appreciate it if the free version of Iscan would
> be as much as possible the same on Debian and on Suse
> (and on any other distribution).
> If you (or any other distribution package maintainer) are
> interested, please contact me.

I have seen it on our OpenSuSE mirror here at Mandrive. What I have done
now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.

   Till

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[Johannes Meixner]

Hello,

On Jun 13 13:30 Till Kamppeter wrote (shortened):
> Johannes Meixner wrote:
> > Some time ago I got a nice patch from Dirk O. Siebnich
> > from which I made our patch to build our iscan-free package
> > which is a really free version of the epkowa backend
> > (this means the /usr/bin/iscan frontend was also removed
> > because it requires a non-free library).
...
> I have seen it on our OpenSuSE mirror here at Mandrive.

Note that our current iscan-free is still based upon
iscan-1.18.0-1.c2.tar.gz - i.e. it is not yet updated
to the current Iscan version.


> What I have done
> now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
> with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
> I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.

Be prepared to be very patient - I asked this since 14 Jul 2004,
see the shortened mail at the bottom :-(
I like to emphasize that it is not Olaf Meeuwissen who is to blame
that there is almost no progress here.

Perhaps it helps the Epson Avasys decision makers to make the right
decisions when all (or at least almost all) Linux distributors
demand the same thing.


By the way:
The same problem exists for the Epson Avasys printer drivers
"pips" and "pipslite".


Kind Regards
Johannes Meixner
--
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5      Mail: jsmeix@...
90409 Nuernberg, Germany                    WWW: http://www.suse.de/

#####################################################################
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 15:09:51 +0200 (CEST)
From: Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@...>
To: Olaf Meeuwissen <[...]>
Cc:  <lsm-printing@...>
Subject: Re: [lsm-printing] Summary of the printing summit


Hello Olaf,

[...]

I have a request for the future:

[...]

Shouldn't it be possible that Epson Kowa does a package split
into the free part and the proprietary part
and change the free part software so that it can work with
and without the proprietary modules.

Then we could add this free package to our default system.
Then we could install the free package by default.
Then the free package would work on any hardware architecture.

[...]
#####################################################################


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[Julien BLACHE-2]

Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@...> wrote:

Hi,

>> What I have done
>> now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
>> with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
>> I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.
>
> Be prepared to be very patient - I asked this since 14 Jul 2004,
> see the shortened mail at the bottom :-(

And the answer will probably be "it would confuse our users even
more", but then, so does using japanese model names all over the
place. I'm a bit fed up with trying to remember which japanese model
name matches which non-japanese model name :/

(It's painful enough with all those rebranded scanners, so if
manufacturers like Epson could stick to having only one model name...)

> I like to emphasize that it is not Olaf Meeuwissen who is to blame
> that there is almost no progress here.

Indeed, Olaf does as much as humanly possible to improve the
situation, but even sending patches to him doesn't help as he doesn't
have the time to merge them due to tight deadlines and schedule (he's
sending patches to himself to queue them until management allocates a
time frame to merge them in, IIRC).

And management is, well, management, aggravated by the fact that this
is a japanese company, the development is split between two entities
and includes IP from some other entities, with horrible communication
between the parties involved.

Basically, this is the situation as I get it, correct me if I'm wrong :)

> Perhaps it helps the Epson Avasys decision makers to make the right
> decisions when all (or at least almost all) Linux distributors
> demand the same thing.

It'd be nice if something could be organised between Epson's
management, SANE developers (Henning ? khk ? Oliver Schwartz ?) and
some key distributions to discuss the situation and see what can be
done to improve it as much as possible. (obviously I'd have no problem
attending such a meeting, as long as I am available on that day and
can make it to the meeting).

JB.

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[Julien BLACHE-2]

Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@...> wrote:

Hi,

> I would appreciate it if the free version of Iscan would
> be as much as possible the same on Debian and on Suse
> (and on any other distribution).
> If you (or any other distribution package maintainer) are
> interested, please contact me.

Of course. I think I'm going to split epkowa from libsane-extras
anyway, as libsane-extras was intended as a collection of experimental
backends in the first place.

JB.

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[Fredrik]

Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> writes:

> If you're using iscan, then it's an arguably stupid limitation in the
> frontend.  If you also hit this when using other frontend let me know
> what
>
>   $ SANE_DEBUG_EPKOWA=10 scanimage 2> perfection-4490.log
>
> barfs into the perfection-4490.log file.
>
> There should be a list of the resolutions that the device claims to be
> able to handle.

It only gives these resolutions:
[epkowa] resolution (dpi): 300
[epkowa] resolution (dpi): 600
[epkowa] resolution (dpi): 1200
[epkowa] resolution (dpi): 2400

But iscan gives a lot more options, but alas 2400 is the highest
resolution there too. The scanner is however advirtised as being
capable of 4800x9600.

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fs@...

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[Johannes Meixner]

Hello,

On Jun 13 15:13 Julien BLACHE wrote (shortened):

> >> What I have done
> >> now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
> >> with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
> >> I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.
> >
> > Be prepared to be very patient - I asked this since 14 Jul 2004,
> > see the shortened mail at the bottom :-(
>
> And the answer will probably be "it would confuse our users even
> more"

Of course it must be terrible confusing for the poor users,
when they have out of the box Linux support for their devices
in all Linux distributions on all hardware platforms ;-)

Some more what I already wrote in my above mentioned mail:
##############################################################################
See
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2003/11/jsmeix_print-info-for-manufacturers.html
for the advantages for manufacturers of free software
(of course it applies also for scanners):
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The advantage for the ... manufacturer is that he will receive
comprehensive Linux support for his devices in all products ...
on all hardware platforms for which these products are available
and for new versions of the products ... without any extra expenses
for the ... manufacturer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
##############################################################################


> but then, so does using japanese model names all over the
> place. I'm a bit fed up with trying to remember which japanese model
> name matches which non-japanese model name :/
> (It's painful enough with all those rebranded scanners, so if
> manufacturers like Epson could stick to having only one model name...)

I don't care about model names or whatever else when I get a free
normal working driver for all those models ;-)

> > Perhaps it helps the Epson Avasys decision makers to make the right
> > decisions when all (or at least almost all) Linux distributors
> > demand the same thing.
>
> It'd be nice if something could be organised between Epson's
> management, SANE developers (Henning ? khk ? Oliver Schwartz ?) and
> some key distributions to discuss the situation and see what can be
> done to improve it as much as possible. (obviously I'd have no problem
> attending such a meeting, as long as I am available on that day and
> can make it to the meeting).

Same for me.


Kind Regards
Johannes Meixner
--
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5      Mail: jsmeix@...
90409 Nuernberg, Germany                    WWW: http://www.suse.de/

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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Fredrik Sandstrom <fs@...> writes:

> Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> writes:
>> If you're using iscan, then it's an arguably stupid limitation in the
>> frontend.  If you also hit this when using other frontend let me know
>> what
>>
>>   $ SANE_DEBUG_EPKOWA=10 scanimage 2> perfection-4490.log
>>
>> barfs into the perfection-4490.log file.
>>
>> There should be a list of the resolutions that the device claims to be
>> able to handle.
>
> It only gives these resolutions:
> [epkowa] resolution (dpi): 300
> [epkowa] resolution (dpi): 600
> [epkowa] resolution (dpi): 1200
> [epkowa] resolution (dpi): 2400
>
> But iscan gives a lot more options, but alas 2400 is the highest
> resolution there too. The scanner is however advirtised as being
> capable of 4800x9600.

Your scanner can scan at 4800dpi optical.  However, the support level
of the epkowa (and epson) backend only allow settings in the list you
included :-(  The iscan frontend does the other ones in software.

To add support for resolutions > 3200 modifications in both the
frontend as well as the backend are required.

If you want this supported, I suggest you file a support request with

  pipsnews at avasys.jp

Hope this helps,
--
Olaf Meeuwissen                          EPSON AVASYS Corporation, SE1
FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@...> writes:

> Hello,
>
> On Jun 13 13:30 Till Kamppeter wrote (shortened):
>> Johannes Meixner wrote:
>> > Some time ago I got a nice patch from Dirk O. Siebnich
>> > from which I made our patch to build our iscan-free package
>> > which is a really free version of the epkowa backend
>> > (this means the /usr/bin/iscan frontend was also removed
>> > because it requires a non-free library).
> ...
>> I have seen it on our OpenSuSE mirror here at Mandrive.
>
> Note that our current iscan-free is still based upon
> iscan-1.18.0-1.c2.tar.gz - i.e. it is not yet updated
> to the current Iscan version.

May I suggest you skip iscan-2.0.0 because iscan-2.1.0 is due for
release Real Soon Now.

>> What I have done
>> now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
>> with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
>> I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.
>
> Be prepared to be very patient - I asked this since 14 Jul 2004,
> see the shortened mail at the bottom :-(
> I like to emphasize that it is not Olaf Meeuwissen who is to blame
> that there is almost no progress here.
>
> Perhaps it helps the Epson Avasys decision makers to make the right
> decisions when all (or at least almost all) Linux distributors
> demand the same thing.

Seeing that we now have SUSE, Mandriva and Debian all together on the
same channel and we are drifting out of the SANE area, maybe we should
take this off list and drag in some of those "decision makers".

> By the way:
> The same problem exists for the Epson Avasys printer drivers
> "pips" and "pipslite".

I know (and it hurts to see them :-{)
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FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Julien BLACHE <jb@...> writes:

> Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>>> What I have done
>>> now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
>>> with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
>>> I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.
>>
>> Be prepared to be very patient - I asked this since 14 Jul 2004,
>> see the shortened mail at the bottom :-(
>
> And the answer will probably be "it would confuse our users even
> more", but then, so does using japanese model names all over the
> place. I'm a bit fed up with trying to remember which japanese model
> name matches which non-japanese model name :/

Same here, that's why I've started pointers in our epkowa.desc.

> (It's painful enough with all those rebranded scanners, so if
> manufacturers like Epson could stick to having only one model name...)

Model names for EPSON devices vary by geographic region :-(

>> I like to emphasize that it is not Olaf Meeuwissen who is to blame
>> that there is almost no progress here.
>
> Indeed, Olaf does as much as humanly possible to improve the
> situation, but even sending patches to him doesn't help as he doesn't
> have the time to merge them due to tight deadlines and schedule (he's
> sending patches to himself to queue them until management allocates a
> time frame to merge them in, IIRC).

Thanks for not blaming me ;-) and your summary is mostly correct.
I've not been sending myself many patches lately.  Hacking on iscan
for work as well as in my own time is not always that much fun and at
the pace patches made it in ...

> And management is, well, management, aggravated by the fact that this
> is a japanese company, the development is split between two entities
> and includes IP from some other entities, with horrible communication
> between the parties involved.
>
> Basically, this is the situation as I get it, correct me if I'm wrong :)

I would quite call the communication horrible, but it probably leaves
to be desired and things get "lost in translation".
# My Japanese in not even halfway decent ...  I just hobble along.

>> Perhaps it helps the Epson Avasys decision makers to make the right
>> decisions when all (or at least almost all) Linux distributors
>> demand the same thing.
>
> It'd be nice if something could be organised between Epson's
> management, SANE developers (Henning ? khk ? Oliver Schwartz ?) and
> some key distributions to discuss the situation and see what can be
> done to improve it as much as possible. (obviously I'd have no problem
> attending such a meeting, as long as I am available on that day and
> can make it to the meeting).

If something like that would materialise, I suggest we also drag in
the CUPS and ghostscript packagers to get the EPSON AVASYS printer
drivers on the right track as well.
# Johannes Meixner has already contacted us, Till Kamppeter just did.

Hope this helps,
--
Olaf Meeuwissen                          EPSON AVASYS Corporation, SE1
FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
GnuPG key: 6BE37D90/AB6B 0D1F 99E7 1BF5 EB97  976A 16C7 F27D 6BE3 7D90
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[Olaf Meeuwissen]

Olaf Meeuwissen <olaf.meeuwissen@...> writes:

> Julien BLACHE <jb@...> writes:
>
>> Johannes Meixner <jsmeix@...> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>>>> What I have done
>>>> now is suggesting to the upstream developers to make two packages, one
>>>> with the frontend and one with the backend, to be more distro-friendly.
>>>> I have no answer yet, lets see what they say.
>>>
>>> Be prepared to be very patient - I asked this since 14 Jul 2004,
>>> see the shortened mail at the bottom :-(
>>
>> And the answer will probably be "it would confuse our users even
>> more", but then, so does using japanese model names all over the
>> place. I'm a bit fed up with trying to remember which japanese model
>> name matches which non-japanese model name :/
>
> Same here, that's why I've started pointers in our epkowa.desc.
>
>> (It's painful enough with all those rebranded scanners, so if
>> manufacturers like Epson could stick to having only one model name...)
>
> Model names for EPSON devices vary by geographic region :-(
>
>>> I like to emphasize that it is not Olaf Meeuwissen who is to blame
>>> that there is almost no progress here.
>>
>> Indeed, Olaf does as much as humanly possible to improve the
>> situation, but even sending patches to him doesn't help as he doesn't
>> have the time to merge them due to tight deadlines and schedule (he's
>> sending patches to himself to queue them until management allocates a
>> time frame to merge them in, IIRC).
>
> Thanks for not blaming me ;-) and your summary is mostly correct.
> I've not been sending myself many patches lately.  Hacking on iscan
> for work as well as in my own time is not always that much fun and at
> the pace patches made it in ...
>
>> And management is, well, management, aggravated by the fact that this
>> is a japanese company, the development is split between two entities
>> and includes IP from some other entities, with horrible communication
>> between the parties involved.
>>
>> Basically, this is the situation as I get it, correct me if I'm wrong :)
>
> I would quite call the communication horrible, but it probably leaves
> to be desired and things get "lost in translation".
> # My Japanese in not even halfway decent ...  I just hobble along.

Eh, that's "I would not quite call ..."

>>> Perhaps it helps the Epson Avasys decision makers to make the right
>>> decisions when all (or at least almost all) Linux distributors
>>> demand the same thing.
>>
>> It'd be nice if something could be organised between Epson's
>> management, SANE developers (Henning ? khk ? Oliver Schwartz ?) and
>> some key distributions to discuss the situation and see what can be
>> done to improve it as much as possible. (obviously I'd have no problem
>> attending such a meeting, as long as I am available on that day and
>> can make it to the meeting).
>
> If something like that would materialise, I suggest we also drag in
> the CUPS and ghostscript packagers to get the EPSON AVASYS printer
> drivers on the right track as well.
> # Johannes Meixner has already contacted us, Till Kamppeter just did.
>
> Hope this helps,

--
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FSF Associate Member #1962           sign up at http://member.fsf.org/
GnuPG key: 6BE37D90/AB6B 0D1F 99E7 1BF5 EB97  976A 16C7 F27D 6BE3 7D90
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