older cannon scanners

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wf54
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older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

Cannon scanners should come with an health warning for Linux users, side affect tearing your hair out.
My old Cannon [Lide100] still works fine on bloody Windows, but Cannon don’t support Linux or it seem that it just plays lip service to Linux.

On 18.3 it wasn’t good but on 19 it’s no better and maybe a little worse for any page that may have a fold or small distortion.
The scanner works fine on bloody Win10 which sucks.

Ive tried gimageReader, gscan2pdf xsane and Simple-scan, also installing any recommended and suggested packages to try and improve the end result , without much success.
In fact to my surprise Simple-scan was just as good, or bad, as any of the others.
Unless I’m missing something, which is very likely, it appears that the only option for anyone using an older Canon scanner is to purchase VueScan.
Anyone know if there’s plans to improve scanner drivers on 19?
Examples.
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kyphi
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by kyphi »

wf54 wrote: Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:59 am Unless I’m missing something, which is very likely, it appears that the only option for anyone using an older Canon scanner is to purchase VueScan.
There was a time when Canon had no support for Linux whatsoever but that has finally changed (except for their older scanners).
Another option to consider would be to buy a new scanner or multifunction device - not necessarily from Canon.
Hewlett Packard have long supported Linux and the necessary drivers are already installed in Linux Mint. Plug it in and it works. Other manufacturers have drivers for Linux readily available. The choice is yours.
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wf54
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

Have a HP deskjet3636 with the same problem but not quite as bad as the cannon.
Thinking about trying VueScan, if that's the same then anything that requires a good scan of will just use Windows.
Although I hate having to resort to using Windows, it's not worth buying a new scanner when the other two work fine on widows.
Cannon does suck when it comes to supporting Linux, but sadly they are not alone in that dept.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by lmuserx4849 »

Check to see if you have the current driver: http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html#Z-CANON

I'm also using a Cannon, lide 220. According to doc, 100 & 220 use the same genesys driver at version 1.0-63.

I'm on 17.3 had to add ppa: https://launchpad.net/~rolfbensch/+arch ... u/sane-git

Vuescan can be tried for free before purchase.

After doing a little more reading at the debian sane-devel email list and the sane-project above, I'd say, since the line for the 100 (as well as the 220) shows "complete", there will be no changes unless bugs are reported and fixed, and installed from the ppa. I don't think a sane bug fix would make it as LM update unless security related.

There is a $HOME/.xsane directory. Move it to a backup and try scanning again. Maybe there is some wacky calibration stored.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

I've installed 19 hoping drivers would be updated but as you say I don't believe that there will be much done for the older cannon scanners.
As far as I can tell even on Windows, Cannon doesn't provide software downloads for the scanner, those who haven't a CD/DVD player are out of luck. So they are unable to use the software program on the old CD.
VueScan's quite costly for just the odd scan, so since the scanner works fine on Windows I'll be using it on the wife's laptop.
It appears that Mint's still lagging behind on out of the box support for PDF and OCR, two arrears I believe that would attract more users.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by Portreve »

Back in the day, I used to use flatbed scanners quite a lot because I worked in the graphic design and desktop publishing world. In fact, I owned three myself: a Mustek unit which was a three-pass unit (basically, a grayscale scanner with three different color filters used on three successive passes), a UMAX T630 which was a single-pass color scanner, and then some model of Epson that I don't remember any more. The Mustek unit's scanner array developed a fault which caused a section of the image to be darker than the rest. I replaced it with the UMAX unit, and really loved that. In fact, it was my ownership of two different scanners at that point which led me to advise my then-employer on what to buy when the UMAX unit we had in our production office died (it was a three-pass scanner). When we bought the new UMAX scanner, we also opted for the transparency-capable lid unit, and so it was pretty cool to be able to shoot film as well as paper material. Both my Mustek and UMAX scanners were SCSI-interfaced. Eventually, I transitioned over to Mac OS X, but then when I upgraded to a new iMac G4, there was no USB support available for that scanner, so I had to buy a new one, which was the Epson unit.

Eventually, there was no longer any support for the Epson in later versions of Mac OS X, so I stopped using it as well. I only very rarely used it anyhow, so its loss was not a massive sacrifice.

However (and the reason for my response here) is in the time that I've been running GNU+Linux full-time, it's occasionally crossed my mind that I should get another because I have some physical documents of various kinds that I'd like to scan. I've looked into the matter and frankly I've kind of been scared away from going down that path because it seems like a far greater PITA than it should be. What I've been thinking about, alternatively, is buying one of these scanner/printer units which can be used as a stand-alone device, and then never trying to connect it to my computer. Just scan everything as high-resolution as I can, save the images as (I guess) JPGs to a flash drive or SDcard, and then bringing those images over to my computer for all post-processing and handling.

I've been looking at units in the ~ $40 - $100 (€35 - €87 / AUD$55 - $137) range, and I really haven't run across one which sufficiently screams "Here! Take my money!" to have done so, but I am actively looking.

My attitude is one of pragmatism here: I really don't want to introduce complexity where none should truly be required; therefore, if I can avoid doing so, I will.

EDIT: It is my opinion that the scanning of physical media is slowly passing into the twilight of a bygone era, and this as much as anything is a good reason why we don't see — and likely never will see — an improvement in GNU+Linux scanner support, either on the part of manufacturers or our collective community.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by kyphi »

When I started using a Linux operating system I had a Canon scanner. It was a long time ago and I do not recall the model number. It did not work with Linux and Canon at that time had no interest in Linux users - that changed much later when it was realised that Linux users were a potentially significant customer base with money to spend. After all, business is business.
The Canon scanner was donated to a charity outlet for resale.

Next came a Hewlett Packard multifunction device (Photosmart) - printer and scanner which worked out of the box. Eventually the printer spat ink across a wall in an apoplectic fit, as can happen with devices that see only occasional use and it was duly relegated to the local recycling service.

Then came an Epson Artisan multifunction device which after 8 years of use still gives excellent service.

Now, in the year 2018, one would be hard pressed to make a choice should a replacement ever become necessary. The only thing that I am certain about regarding printing and scanning devices is that there is one brand I would shun.
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wf54
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

Thanks for the replies.
I agree with you portreve as regarding the apparent lack of interest in scanner's and updating xsane. However, I do believe that they still have a purpose for the home user for sending docs via email and getting pages onto the computer, although camera's are improving and may take over that task.

It's sad that none of the manufacturers are taking Linux serious enough to provide a package for Linux, it may be a case of why bother when they can cobble something together themselves.
Just have to scan on Windows and mess about transferring over to Linux,
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by kyphi »

wf54 wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:34 pm It's sad that none of the manufacturers are taking Linux serious enough to provide a package for Linux ...
Where did you get that idea from?
In the early days of Linux only a few manufacturers provided drivers for their printers and scanners. That has changed. Hewlett-Packard provide drivers which are incorporated in most Linux distributions. Epson and Brother have drivers available on their respective websites. Even Canon, a relative latecomer has drivers available for download.

If you have an old scanner or other old device that predates Linux drivers availability then, yes, you will be out of luck. Some of the older Canon scanners only came with drivers written specifically for Windows and in Linux became paperweights.
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wf54
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

When I was referring companies supporting Linux, I was meaning for them to provide complete software packages to install their software using the Software Manager.

Rather than just the drives to use with Simple Scan, as with the images posted they don't always get results.
Not knocking Simple Scan it gets the job done most of the time.
I was using the older scanner as an example but the situation isn't much better with new ones, they quite happy to have the sales but not provide the service.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by JerryF »

wf54 wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:34 pm ...
It's sad that none of the manufacturers are taking Linux serious enough to provide a package for Linux, it may be a case of why bother when they can cobble something together themselves.
...
A name that people don't think of much (including myself) is Brother. I bought a business style all-in-one model MFC-J5830DW and Brother has excellent Linux support.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by kyphi »

wf54 wrote: Mon Aug 20, 2018 12:59 pm When I was referring companies supporting Linux, I was meaning for them to provide complete software packages to install their software using the Software Manager.
That is an excellent idea. :D Why don't you propose that to the development team?
Of course the team would have to closely examine every bit of software from all the manufacturers to make sure that it integrates properly and without conflicts with the operating system and that means all Linux operating systems. That is also dependent on these manufacturers making their code available free of charge as open-source-software.

As it stands, all the manufacturers now provide Linux drivers for their products. What they do not provide is product support for individual Linux distributions and considering how many Linux distributions exist that is understandable.

If the whole world would use Linux computer systems then it would be easy. That, however, would make it a dull world. Fortunately we can enjoy variety and diversity. It is for us to choose which path to follow.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

I agree, the variety and number of disto’s would be a problem although if they started just supporting Ubuntu, surly those based on Ubuntu would in the main be compatible and then go forward from there. Even if they made older software more comparable with Wine.

As for if every one used Linux, we would probably be surprised at many now do us Linux.
Microsoft are quick to shout about sales and updates {original updates} not so quick to shout about failed updates from machines no longer speaking to Microsoft. Maybe because it may suggest a greater migration from Microsoft to other OS systems.

Even Zoron are shouting about the number of users, so those users must have come from somewhere other than people already using Linux.

I will be counted as a user of Windows for at least five machines, when in reality only one still has Windows running (although my daughter who I gave one of them too isn't a fan yet), so times that by world sales and it puts quite a hole in Microsoft's figures.

Maybe companies will start to realise that there’s a market out there ready and waiting.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by Portreve »

wf54 wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:34 pmI agree with you portreve as regarding the apparent lack of interest in scanner's and updating xsane. However, I do believe that they still have a purpose for the home user for sending docs via email and getting pages onto the computer, although camera's are improving and may take over that task.
I guess what I'm getting at is these days, with an increasingly tech savvy population, people can generate broadly accessible files directly without an intervening stage of print-then-eventually-scan. I mean, if you can just send someone a Word or Excel doc, or a PDF, why would you go some other way? And with digital cameras being the 99.9...% norm, why scan a photo that you have the image of already?
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by JerryF »

Portreve wrote: Tue Aug 21, 2018 6:17 pm ...
I guess what I'm getting at is these days, with an increasingly tech savvy population, people can generate broadly accessible files directly without an intervening stage of print-then-eventually-scan. I mean, if you can just send someone a Word or Excel doc, or a PDF, why would you go some other way? And with digital cameras being the 99.9...% norm, why scan a photo that you have the image of already?
Sending a Word, Excel, or PDF is fine if it's already in that format. Taking a pic is also ok if you only want an image. There are times when you need to convert the one and only original printed document and save it as text along with any additional images.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by kyphi »

The days of using scanners may be coming to an end, as all technology eventually has to step aside for new concepts but I do not think that it has arrived yet.

I have just received a notification from my energy provider outlining the new conditions of energy use according to time of day and its cost. Nothing new there except they have now introduced seasonal variations. The changes were presented as a series of pie charts of such convoluted complexity that I want to share these with a friend in another state who has an interest in monitoring energy costs. The most convenient way I can do that is to scan it and send it via email in an image format.

Apart from scanning, my Epson Artisan can do so much more - it is truly a multifunction device. The Canon scanner I had many years ago could only scan.

When buying new equipment, the first consideration should be (in my opinion) that the device can do what is required of it. Price may be an obstacle but it is secondary.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by oldgranola »

I have a simple old cannon scanner from at least the turn of the century (first LED I think) that I could no longer get to work on windows because no driver was available for windows anymore :lol: I was going to toss it till I fired it up on LM using xsane from GIMP. Have to say that was one of the early hooks that got me onto the LM bandwagon. Works on LM19 too of course.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

Out of curiosity I've just installed a version of Zorin 12.4 on and my old laptop and tried the Scanner using the same programs and settings.
The results with Zorin were better than those on MInt 19, for example no thick vertical yellow line running down the centre of the page and very little colour in the creases of the page,
This doesn't mean that I'm dumping Mint because the scanner works better on Zorin. Overall, I believe Mint has the edge over Zorin in many other ways, however it does make you wonder that while concentrating on the bells and whistle that some of the basics are being missed.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by Tomgin5 »

I picked up 3 canon scanners up the other day Lide20 is the oldest. My LM18.3 Cinnamon did not see any of them but when I clicked "Simple scan' they all worked perfectly.
They only ran $8 each with the USB cables. I was able to zoom 400% and the images were fine. No funny lines or obvious distortions.
On one, I am keeping I am copying an old family tree book compiled in the late 1800's. translating the OCR from select blocks to Libercalc as a database. This allows sorting the 15 generations and siblings into individual pages and is expandable. This how the original book was compiled by hand on printed form pages.
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Re: older cannon scanners

Post by wf54 »

On Mint 19 Simple Scan surprised me by giving the best results, on the left. Xsane and others didn't do so well.
It the same with documents, having to set the setting down to grey scale in order to turn the red and yellow marks into black or grey.
I'm at a loss as how to get rid of the distortions up and across the pages. Having to use Windows 10 to get a clean scan.
Would wine be an option?
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