Hi, I have an old Mustek 1200 III EP parallel port scanner I'd like to use under Linux. Unfortunately, it's not supported by the sane-mustek_pp backend. I'm not going to boot into Windoze just to use the scanner, so right now it's useless. It's not even heavy enough to use as a boat anchor 8^). Even if I end up frying it, I'm no worse off.
I'm considering trying to implement support for this scanner. I'm an experienced developer, though my C is a bit rusty, and I haven't yet developed anything under Linux. I've also never written a device driver. I've been using Linux for over a year now, and had quite a bit of Solaris experience before that. I've read all the recommended introductory material (which is how I ended up on this list). I haven't gotten to the sane standard itself yet. That's next on my list. I'm assuming it's version 1 of the standard that I want, not the version 2 that's under development (haven't seen this clearly stated anywhere - "Version 2.0 (Development)" could mean the version to be used for backends and frontends that are under development). I tried contacting Mustek to see if they would provide any technical info. Tech Support flatly refused, and Customer Service simply ignored me. They wouldn't so much as tell me if it was a CCD or CIS type scanner. I saw messages on this list suggesting that some people have established contact with Mustek. Perhaps they can get more info? The FCC id suggests a CCD (it has "A4SII" in it), and following the instructions on the mustek_pp web page, I've been able to determine that it uses asic 1505. I've compiled and installed SANE-Backends-1.0.16 and sane-frontends 1.0.14 (under Mandriva 10.1, 2.6.8.1-24mdk kernel, if it matters), and "sane-find-scanner -p" reports that it 'found possible Mustek parallel port scanner at "parport0"'. I do have a conflict to resolve with sane-backends-1.0.14-3mdk.i586 sane-frontends-1.0.13-1.1010.1mdk.i586 that are already installed by default (the problem is Mandriva's dependency mgmt wants to remove all kinds of other essential packages). I'm working on this. FWIW, I've downloaded the Windoze driver. I don't suppose anyone has done something like ndiswrapper or captive ntfs to make Windoze drivers work under sane? I could disassemble it, but I'm not sure what that would tell me. I'm assuming I should extend the mustek_pp backend, rather than building a separate one. I saw some mention of a sane-mustek_a4s2 backend. Should I try this instead? Or am I mistaken? Any advice? What next? Should I bother? Thanks, and sorry for the long post. -- Ron ronhd at users dot sourceforge dot net Opinions expressed here are all mine.
