[sane-devel] Canan CanoScan 8400F backend driver

[John McGill]

The 8400f is reported to have a GL843 processor. Study the source code
of the genesys backend. You may be able to clone the settings of an
existing supported GL843 scanner.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CheckIfScannerIsClone

Stef Voltz maintains the genesys backend and may be able to help you.

Jack


On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 7:41 AM, Alejandro Imass  wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 5:01 AM, Chris Molanus  
> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I would like to attempt to create backend support for the Canon CanoScan
>> 8400f Scanner.
>> I am finding it difficult to to find information on how to start as I have
>> never done this before.
>> I can program in C but have no?experience?in writing back end drivers.
>> Can anyone point me to some information are tell me a good place to start?
>> Chris
>> --
>
> There are already some Canon ADF drivers that work pretty well. The
> process is not that simple as there are a lot of details regarding
> mechanical movements, sensors and there is always the possibility of
> damage to the device while developing.
>
> The usual method is to snoop the comm between the OS and the scanner
> by using the officially supported driver in the supported OS, e.g. the
> Windoze driver. Is the interface is USB you can use the USB Snoop
> program and capture a sample scan of a black and white page and then a
> color one. Your test subjects should be large rectangles of color
> and/or black so it makes it easier to identify the image data block.
>
> It's a painstaking job but you need to figure out the protocol first.
> You will need background into many subjects of which C is probably the
> least of your worries. Before you talk to the scanner in Linux you
> need to understand about the USB subsystem, probably deal with libusb,
> udev and/or hal (a.k.a. hell ;-) ) and many other layers of software
> and options that Sane handles. Remember that Sane runs on many types
> us *nix set-ups so there are *many* options and paths to talk to the
> hw.
>
> I wanted to build a driver myself a few years ago, but even with 23
> years of work experience in the field, I decided to hire someone from
> this list and then just helped to snoop, test, debug and even hack the
> driver a little bit. ?This experience taught me the basics of sane
> driver building and hacking and I can now appreciate some of the
> complexities of this. Of course, given enough time, you will
> eventually become an expert, but at least in my case I usually don't
> have much free time to head-bang at something that requires a very
> wide of skills and I'd rather focus my time on the expertise I already
> have. YMMV of course.
>
> Your best option IMHO is to download the Sane and Sane Backends source
> code and look at the existing Canon drivers. Who knows, the current
> drivers may even work with the 8400f, and you could contact the author
> of some of these drivers directly and perhaps they could dedicate some
> one-to-one time which you'll probably have to pay for but in my case
> it was completely worth it.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> --
> Alejandro Imass
>
> --
> sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
> Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
> ? ? ? ? ? ? to sane-devel-request at lists.alioth.debian.org
>

[sane-devel] Visioneer Strobe Pro USB

[John McGill]

About a year ago I donated several sheetfed scanners that I bought on ebay
to Stef Voltz. Most were genesys scanners, but I included Strobe Pro USB. He
did some preliminary USB snoop logs, but I don't think he started writing a
backend for this scanner. He did tell me the following:

"It has a Z80 based firmware which reminds me of my early programming days.
It will need a backend of its own."

Hope this helps


On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 10:06 AM, m. allan noah  wrote:

> Almost no chance it's an avision. More likely it's genesys logic
> based, or related to something by Plustek or Ambir. Get a log with
> this tool, and post a link to your file here on the list.
>
> http://www.pcausa.com/Utilities/UsbSnoop/
>
> allan
>
> On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 9:56 AM,   wrote:
> > Hello all --
> > I'm looking to write a backend for the Visioneer Strobe Pro USB. The
> > only information I could find about it was an old post* suggesting that
> > many Visioneer models would be supported by the Avision backend. Given
> > how long ago that was, I'm guessing this didn't apply to the Strobe Pro.
> > Is anyone else working on this? Otherwise, I'm just going to fire up
> > usb-snoopy, and you'll hear from me if I make any progress.
> >
> > *
> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/sane-devel/2005-June/013760.html
> >
> >
> > --
> > sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> > http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
> > Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
> > to sane-devel-request at lists.alioth.debian.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
>
> --
> sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
> Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
> to sane-devel-request at lists.alioth.debian.org
>
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[sane-devel] NO scanner is now recognized. :(

[John McGill]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompileSaneFromSource

On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 10:07 PM, Mr Fair Go  wrote:

> >> I compiled and installed the latest sane-backends-1.0.21 and tried to
> >> use it with a Canon DR-2010C scanner,
>
> G'day!
>
> I have a Canon  MX310 which was scanning OK, but only in colour.  There was
> some sort of bug in Greyscale and B&W.  I attempted to "compile and install"
> the newer sane backends also, but as a newbie I clearly did something wrong,
> because now none of my Linux scanning software will find the Canon or any
> other scanner (I have 3).  I even uninstalled and reinstalled SANE and
> gscan2pdf via the Package Manager, but still "
>
> Can someone point me to a *very basic* Linux how-to that explains for a
> newbie exactly how to "compile and install" with Linux?  Everything I look
> at assumes I have more knowledge about "compiling" than I actually have.
>
> Running LinuxMint 9 (Isadora) which is built on Ubuntu, for nearly a year
> now.  Up to this point upgrading and installing packages via Package Manager
> has been adequate for my needs, but the newer version is not available this
> way, thus I attempted the more challenging route, but can not find
> "instructions" anywhere.
>
> Thanks
>
> Mr Fair Go
>
>
>
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[sane-devel] Ubuntu Community Documentation

[John McGill]

Dear list,
Over the last several weeks, I have tried to improve the Ubuntu Community
Documentation for Scanners.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Scanners

I wrote a few guides on updating to the latest version of sane, setting
permissions and how to check to see if your unsupported scanner is a clone
of a supported scanner. I put in links to several proprietary drivers.

I tried to simplify things for the beginning ubuntu user as much as
possible.

Feel free to edit my work, or add your own content.

Jack
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[sane-devel] Support for HP Scanjet G4050

[John McGill]

Allan- in that case, I am not very sure that it is a GL843. While
researching other genesys scanners in the mailing list archive, I had seen
this scanner called a GL843.
Jack

On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 11:39 AM, m. allan noah  wrote:

> Jack- how sure are we about that GL843? Every version of sane before
> 1.0.21 mistakenly reported all unknown GL chips as 843...
>
> allan
>
> On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 2:33 PM, John McGill 
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Alejandro Imass  wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> Does anyone have this scanner working with Sane?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Alejandro Imass
> >>
> >> --
> >> sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> >> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
> >> Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
> >> to sane-devel-request at lists.alioth.debian.org
> >
> > That scanner uses a genesys GL843 chip. The genesys backend does not
> > currently support for this chip, although there has been some work on the
> > canonoscan 4400f. See http://github.com/andr345/
> >
> > Regards,
> > Jack
> >
> > --
> > sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> > http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
> > Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
> > to sane-devel-request at lists.alioth.debian.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
>
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[sane-devel] Support for HP Scanjet G4050

[John McGill]

On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Alejandro Imass  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Does anyone have this scanner working with Sane?
>
> Thanks,
> Alejandro Imass
>
> --
> sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
> Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
> to sane-devel-request at lists.alioth.debian.org
>

That scanner uses a genesys GL843 chip. The genesys backend does not
currently support for this chip, although there has been some work on the
canonoscan 4400f. See http://github.com/andr345/

Regards,
Jack
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[sane-devel] Sheetfed Scanners

[John McGill]

<=1200dpi 
<=2400dpi */
{ 128, 20, 1 }, { 128, 20, 1 }, { 128, 20, 1 }, { 128, 20, 1 }, 
{ 128, 20, 1 }},
/* Color mode MCLK settings */
{ 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0 },
{ 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0, 6.0 },
/* Gray mode MCLK settings */
{ 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0 },
{ 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0, 16.0 },
},

My snoop logs are available at 
http://sites.google.com/site/roadwarriorscanner/top-page.

Currently the scanned images have faint vertical stripes. The image quality is 
suboptimal. The colors seem to be correct at lower resolutions, and switched at 
300dpi. Calibration does not seem to be working correctly. Results of 
SANE_DEBUG_PLUSTEK=19 are attached.

To Do
1. Get calibration to work, so we can get the proper values for illumination 
mode settings.
2. Optimize flags in DCapsDef section, especially _MIO and add 
_WAF_RESET_SO_TO_RGB. Paper sense switch seems to be working for regular scans, 
but possibly not for the calibation scans. This scanner does not have any 
buttons, but does have a paper sense switch.
3. Optimize motor settings. What is MCLK? How do I find these settings. Did I 
guess the right settings? How do you set the lineend adjustment?
4. Is kNEC8861 the correct setting for DCapsDef section? This has something to 
do with calibration.
5. Figure out the correct value for sensor distance in DCapsDef section. I will 
look in plustek-usbscan.c and see how this is derived. For now, will use the 
Travelscan 464 value.
6. Is stepper motor control (reg 0x45) correct? My log gives the value of 0x13. 
7. What does the very last entry of HWDef section mean? Is it the usb speed?

 

Jack McGill


--- On Fri, 10/31/08, Gerhard Jaeger  wrote:

> From: Gerhard Jaeger 
> Subject: Re: [sane-devel] Sheetfed Scanners
> To: jmcgill at bigfoot.com, "SANE-List"  lists.alioth.debian.org>
> Date: Friday, October 31, 2008, 3:21 AM
> Hi Jack,
> 
> On Thursday 30 October 2008 19:53:46 John McGill wrote:
> [SNIPSNAP]
> > Your email inspired me to keep going. I have made some
> progress on the DS Mobile.  
> > (I will wait to work on my TravelScanPro 600 until
> after I learn how to get this one working).  
> 
> good to hear that ;)
> 
> > Based on my usbsnoop logs, I made new new DCapsDef and
> HWDef sections. I think I have the 
> > motor speeds correct.  
> 
> Great. In fact the motor speeds are correct, when the
> thingy moves smoothly.
> 
> > The colors are still not correct using SENSORORDER_gbr
> or rgb. 
> > When I try other combinations, I get a I/O error. 
> 
> Not that good...
> Which colors are swapped?
> Have you tried SENSORORDER_gbr? 
> What about the settings for IRIScan/Q-Scan USB001? 
> 
> I noticed that the sensor order changes depending on the
> resolution to scan.
> Try to scan @75 dpi and @ 300 dpi - what changes?
> 
> > There are two parameters that I don't know how to
> set, which may be 
> > the key to this problem. Maybe you could help.  
> > 
> > First, in HW Def, just after reg 0x29. The 464
> settings are:
> > 
> > { 3, 500, 1045, 500, 990, 500, 990 },
> > { 2, 500, 1045, 500, 990, 500, 990 },
> > 
> > While the Qscan uses:
> > 
> > { 3,0,0, 2593, 4600,0,0 },
> > { 2, 2593, 7100, 2593, 4600, 2593, 4480 },
> > 
> > I am currently using the 464 settings. Next I will try
> the Qscan settings for 
> > this parameter. Are these values based on the usb
> snoop log? Are they guessed or calculated? 
> 
> The first sets will come out of the snoop log. The first
> line will be
> used for gray scans, the second one for color scans. The
> first value is reg 0x29, the 
> following ones are for registers 0x2c...0x37, the rgb lamp
> on off values...
> Yes I know these settings are also found later on and are
> somehow duplicated, but I
> never found the time to cleanup that ;)
> 
> In general I got the final settings from the calibration
> step, where I set
> the debug environment (epxort SANE_DEBUG_PLUSTEK=19) and
> see what the automatic
> lamp adjustment produces:
> 
> [plustek] ## ADJUST LAMP (COARSE)###
> [plustek] MotorDPI=1200, MaxMoveSpeed=0.230,
> FFStepSize=452, Steps=180
> [plustek] MOTOR: PWM=0x08, PWM_DUTY=0x1f 0x45=0x13
> 0x48=0x01, 0x49=0xc4
> [plustek] MCLK_FFW = 12 --> 0x16
>.
>.
>.
> [plustek] usb_ScanBegin() done.
> [plustek] usb_IsDataAvailableInDRAM()
> [plustek] Data is available
> [plustek] usbDev_ScanEnd(), start=1, park=0
> [plustek] * PhyBytes  = 30606
> [plustek] * PhyPixel

[sane-devel] Visioneer RoadWarrior Scanner, GL842

[John McGill]

Hello,
I have a Visioneer RoadWarrior scanner which has the GL842 chip. This is a 
small, mobile document scanner, not a flatbed scanner. It also has an ICD RAM 
EDO 4MB that is labelled IS41LV16256B-35TL.

This is a link to the results of SniffUSB v1.8 while scanning my business card 
at 200dpi, black and white, 8.5 x 11 inch settings 
http://sites.google.com/site/roadwarriorscanner/Home. I also captured a 
calibration scan, but did not include it, because is was 30MB zipped.

I am not a programmer. I was hoping that this would help in the development of 
support for this scanner in the genesys backend. If a programmer is willing to 
work on this, I could do additional usbsniffing at different scanner settings.

Thank you,
Jack McGill