I have started work on Eikazo, a new Sane frontend (http://eikazo.berlios.de). It focuses on "mass scans", especially with ADF scanners -- it is not intended to compete with XSane or Kooka with their quite elaborate functions.
Some Eikazo features: - To maximize throughput for ADF scanners, a new scan is started, while the previous scan is being processed and stored or printed. - plugin mechanisms to support special device features, image processing and output modules. Currently, plugins exist for: o image rotation (If a duplex ADF scanner is used, different rotation angles can be selected for frontside and backside) duplex scanners) o automatic thresholding o "dirt removal" o support for some speical features of the Fujitsu fi4120 and fi5120 scanners - Scanned images can be saved to a file and optionally simultaneously printed ("print only" if course possible too). - scan parameters can be saved in an SQL database (MySQL and PostgreSQL are supported). This option is probably not very useful in most cases; it is intended as an example, how output functions can be customized. Technically, the frontend is based on Python, GTK/PyGTK and the Python Imaging Library. Thanks especially to the authors of the test backend: it was invaluable when developing the GUI: it's faster than any "real" backend, allows to test all variants of Sane options -- and it uncovered a bug in the Sane module of the Python Imaging Library. The program is released under the GPL. Abel