[SOLVED] Updating/Upgrading Document Scanner

[MP923]

This OS is Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon (6.0.4). Kernel is: 5.15.0.91-generic.

Document Scanner "app" is: version 42. The developer says it's 22 months out of date and not supported. I tried to use Synaptic to update it. No joy.

1. How do I update Gnome and/or the scanner app software?

2. Why did the most recent upgrade of Mint to "Virginia" not pickup the newer app? Do I have to download and install it manually?

Thank you Mint Community.

[xenopeek]

Linux Mint is not a rolling-release base distro; you don't get new feature versions of software as they are released but instead have a collection of about 70.000 software components and apps whose versions were tested together to work well together and for the duration of the lifetime of the Linux Mint release you get security updates for them. This is because Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu LTS (and LMDE on Debian stable), a long-term support release. A new LTS release is done every 2 years and then new feature versions of all components become available. That's for upcoming Linux Mint 22 mid this year. In between LTS releases Linux Mint does a minor release every 6 months that makes new versions of software developed by Linux Mint available. Such as Cinnamon, Mint tools, Xapps and more. For some apps you do get new feature releases as regular updates, like for Firefox and Chromium.

If you need a newer version of some specific app you have to install it from somewhere else. Synaptic only shows you software from the configured system repositories.

Software Manager also shows you software from Flathub, the default flatpak remote. That has the newest version of Document Scanner there: https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.SimpleScan. If you search Document Scanner in Software Manager you should find the flatpak or you can use the command from that page to install it. If you've not installed other apps from Flathub yet, it will be a very large download because it will need to install the common flatpak runtime.

These and more ways to install software on Linux Mint are explained in this tutorial: viewtopic.php?t=395310

[MP923]

Trying to get the scanner software updated, I get:

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owner@owner-X540YA:~$ flatpak run org.gnome.SimpleScan

Gtk-Message: 15:29:26.060: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"

What is broken? I tried sudo apt -f, but no joy.

I've read these posts, at: viewtopic.php?t=338955

but Software Update has no way to search for the -module object. Thank you all.

[Pjotr]

Don't upgrade for no good reason. Newer is not always better.

[xenopeek]

Gtk-Message: 15:29:26.060: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"

It's not an error, just an informational message. You can ignore it.

It doesn't help to explain why if the flatpak won't start.

You could try flatpak run --verbose org.gnome.SimpleScan and see if that provides a clue why it won't start.

[MP923]

The scanner app runs, but it does not scan in color. I posted about this on the GitLab developer of the app's webpage. He asked what version Mint is running. It is 42.0. The developer replied 42.0 is 22 months out of date and unsupported. He advised upgrading. That is where this error (or warning) message bring me to this post, as the OP. I tried to upgrade to version 44.0 but no joy. FWIW running the --verbose command, as you suggest returns:

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owner@owner-X540YA:~$ flatpak run --verbose org.gnome.SimpleScan
F: No installations directory in /etc/flatpak/installations.d. Skipping
F: Opening system flatpak installation at path /var/lib/flatpak
F: Opening user flatpak installation at path /home/owner/.local/share/flatpak
F: Opening user flatpak installation at path /home/owner/.local/share/flatpak
F: Skipping parental controls check for app/org.gnome.SimpleScan/x86_64/stable since parental controls are disabled globally
F: Opening user flatpak installation at path /home/owner/.local/share/flatpak
F: Opening system flatpak installation at path /var/lib/flatpak
F: /var/lib/flatpak/runtime/org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/45/433c3873b13cee348d2724c0c32a14e149aebf38dffd9710fe3f514a784feae7/files/lib32 does not exist
F: Allocated instance id 1028393780
F: Add defaults in dir /org/gnome/SimpleScan/
F: Add locks in dir /org/gnome/SimpleScan/
F: Allowing wayland access
F: Allowing x11 access
F: Running 'bwrap --args 39 xdg-dbus-proxy --args=41'
F: Running 'bwrap --args 39 simple-scan'
Gtk-Message: 08:42:19.001: Failed to load module "xapp-gtk3-module"

If the xapp isn't necessary for the upgrade I will ignore it, but if it's a requirement, how do I solve the "failed to load"?

[xenopeek]

If the xapp isn't necessary for the upgrade I will ignore it, but if it's a requirement, how do I solve the "failed to load"?

The xapp comes from your environment, where GTK3_MODULES=xapp-gtk3-module is set. It adds favorites support to the GTK3 file picker dialog of system apps. It does not do anything for flatpak apps because this module isn't available for them. The message is simply stating that fact: in your environment is a setting to load a GTK3 module but that module isn't available to the flatpak app you're running. It's not an error, it doesn't cause a problem (other than having no favorites support in the GTK3 file picker dialog of flatpak apps).

Why the flatpak won't start I don't know.

[Pjotr]

The scanner app runs, but it does not scan in color. I posted about this on the GitLab developer of the app's webpage. He asked what version Mint is running. It is 42.0. The developer replied 42.0 is 22 months out of date and unsupported. He advised upgrading.

It's the to-be-expected answer of the developer of simple-scan, because devs (understandably) only wish to spend energy helping people, when those people use the latest version of their software. That's the only version they're working on to improve.

But I'm afraid it's a dead end in this case. Because the version of simple-scan belonging to Mint 21.x, works fine with colour on my machines and scanning devices. So the problem lies deeper, in all likelihood: a failing proper recognition of your hardware (scanning device) by the system. Think the kernel and the drivers therein.

With the scanner turned on and connected, what do these commands say:

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inxi -Fxxxpmrz

and:

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lsusb

And what's the brand and type of your scanner / MFC?

[MP923]

For PJOTR:

The MFC is a Hewlett Packard 8015e (8010 series) MFC. It is not connected via USB cable, but wirelessly. It worked in color until a few months ago. I thought upgrading to Mint 21.3 (Virginia) would solve the problem, but no joy. Below is the output you requested, including the lsusb info. Thank you.

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 owner@owner-X540YA:~$ inxi -Fxxxpmrz
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0
    Desktop: Cinnamon 6.0.4 tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X540YA v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X540YA v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: X540YA.323 date: 12/31/2019
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 28.8 Wh (98.0%) condition: 29.4/33.2 Wh (88.7%)
    volts: 10.8 min: 10.8 model: ASUSTek X540-30 type: Li-ion serial: N/A
    status: N/A cycles: 324
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M325
    serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
    status: Discharging
Memory:
  RAM: total: 3.25 GiB used: 1.87 GiB (57.3%)
  RAM Report:
    permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: AMD E2-6110 APU with AMD Radeon R2 Graphics bits: 64
    type: MCP smt: <unsupported> arch: Puma rev: 1 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 998 min/max: 1000/1500 boost: disabled cores: 1: 998
    2: 998 3: 998 4: 998 bogomips: 11976
  Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Mullins [Radeon R2 Graphics] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: radeon
    v: kernel ports: active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:01.0
    chip-ID: 1002:9852 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Chicony USB2.0 VGA UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
    bus-ID: 2-1.2:4 chip-ID: 04f2:b52b class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: ati,radeon
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa gpu: radeon display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0")
    s-diag: 414mm (16.3")
  Monitor-1: eDP res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 101 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6")
    diag: 394mm (15.5")
  OpenGL: renderer: KABINI ( LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 2.50 5.15.0-91-generic)
    v: 4.5 Mesa 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Kabini HDMI/DP Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:01.1 chip-ID: 1002:9840 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD FCH Azalia vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:14.2 chip-ID: 1022:780d class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-91-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lite-On
    driver: rtl8723be v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:b723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000
    bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 2-1.1:3 chip-ID: 0bda:b721 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down
    bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
    address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 141.22 GiB (14.8%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: TeamGroup model: T2531TB size: 953.87 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: LA.5 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 462.36 GiB used: 141.19 GiB (30.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 96 MiB used: 31.1 MiB (32.4%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 59.6 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 63.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2300
Repos:
  Packages: 2983 apt: 2969 flatpak: 14
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com virginia main upstream import backport
    2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
  Processes: 215 Uptime: 14m wakeups: 3 Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5
  Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12/9 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16
  running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.13

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owner@owner-X540YA:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 04f2:b52b Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd USB2.0 VGA UVC WebCam
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0bda:b721 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Bluetooth Radio 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0438:7900 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Root Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0438:7900 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Root Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 2109:0813 VIA Labs, Inc. VL813 Hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 1c4f:0002 SiGma Micro Keyboard TRACER Gamma Ivory
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 2109:2813 VIA Labs, Inc. VL813 Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[Pjotr]

Can you scan in colour, when using the buttons on the machine itself (i.e. operating system independent)?

[MP923]

PJOTR wrote: "Can you scan in colour, when using the buttons on the machine itself (i.e. operating system independent)?"

I tried to find a USB port to save a scan to a flash drive, no joy as no USB port. However, using the Windows (10) partition on this laptop, the scans are in color. Thanks. I hope this helps.

[Pjotr]

OK, then the machine itself is fine.

Try this:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... s.html#ID2
(item 2)

Note: if the 8015e isn't listed, select the 8010 instead.

[MP923]

The solution, for me, is to remove the version packaged in the Mint repos. Find the developer website and using his flatpak command (home page of his site), install the latest version. Works fine over wifi. Nothing else needed. I'll close this topic.

THANK YOU, Linux Community.