Photo Scanner

hellonorman · Post by **hellonorman** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:31 pm

So I am sending my mom a computer in a few weeks and I plan on installing linux. Besides normal web/email/docs etc usage she has a project that she would like to tackle. She wants to scan all of our old photos onto the computer and be able to perform some basic touchup of the digitized photos.

So I need to find a scanner( maybe all in one?) that will simply work in linux with no fuss and hopefully photo software can integrate with xsane. My hope is that she can just open the photo editing software, click import photo and perform some basic touchup.

Does anyone have a recommendation on the hardware and software do this? I'm thinking the gimp might be overkill for her. Do any of the lighter weight programs integrate with scanners?

Thanks for any help.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:38 am

ShoFoto is a very nice app for touching up/cropping/etc pictures. I don't know if it integrates well with scanners or not, but it's worth a look.

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:42 am

A scanner is definitely an item on my list of things to get. Any recommendations for a scanner that plays nicely with Linux?

doublejoon · Post by **doublejoon** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:17 pm

Patrick wrote:A scanner is definitely an item on my list of things to get. Any recommendations for a scanner that plays nicely with Linux?

I've had good results with the HP All in One Devices using HPLIP package

hellonorman · Post by **hellonorman** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:53 pm

Sheesh. I just went through the entire page of scanners on newegg that are less than $250 and not one is in the xsane complete support list.

doublejoon what does good results mean?

p.s. I suppose on better news side it appears that digikam has an import scanner feature.

Post by **dann** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:17 pm

Scanners are a pretty tough area for support. I've noticed that when a scanner reaches some level of support on the Sane website more often than not it is hard to get ahold of said scanner because everyone is carrying newer models.

I have an epson perfection 610 which is about 5 years old and it works great. I bought it specifically because it was listed as being very compatible with Sane. When I went looking around at what was available a few years ago to upgrade my father's scanner from his parallel port nightmare, I could not get any definite hits on what I was finding.

Did you look at the LQ hardware list? Maybe you can find more info there.

doublejoon · Post by **doublejoon** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:08 pm

hellonorman wrote:Sheesh. I just went through the entire page of scanners on newegg that are less than $250 and not one is in the xsane complete support list.

doublejoon what does good results mean?

p.s. I suppose on better news side it appears that digikam has an import scanner feature.

In Particular I have used the HP PSC 1210 all in one. All of the features worked for me with hplip/xsane. I gave it up to mom to buy a Lexmark 6170 All in one so I could scan/copy Legal size documents. Long story short .....Lexmark=paperweight ( nothing worked at all with Linux for me). I should have kept the old HP

hellonorman · Post by **hellonorman** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:32 pm

What a frickin nightmare. There doesn't appear to be any scanner that can be purchased new for less than $400 that is known to work in linux.

WTF. I can't very well put linux on my mothers computer since the biggest reason she wants it is to scan photos.

Any suggestions where to buy older used scanners besides eBay?

Post by **Patrick** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:58 am

Looking on this list:
http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html

I found these USB flatbed stand alone scanners with at least "good" support under Linux(according to the above list from SANE):
Visoneer OneTouch 7300 - $85 at Compusa
Epson Perfection 3490 - $107 at Compusa
Canon Lide 60 - $72 (free shipping) at Amazon, $79 at Walmart, $83 (shipping included) at Buy.com

Epson Perfection 4990 - $449 at Frys (listed as complete functionality under Linux)

Post by **Patrick** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:49 am

I couldn't resist. I ordered the Canon Lide 60 from Amazon.

brakthepoet · Post by **brakthepoet** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:14 pm

I bought a Canon Lide 20 back when it was listed with only "Good" support, and it worked perfectly then. And I've had nothing but good luck with various Canon scanners. Perhaps "Good" support in Linux equates to "Mediocre" support anywhere else.

Post by **Patrick** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:19 pm

brakthepoet wrote:Perhaps "Good" support in Linux equates to "Mediocre" support anywhere else.

As long as it can scan my pictures in and have good quality I'll be happy. Most of the "features" included on the software these vendors provide is not even necessary. I'm not looking for foot rubs.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:39 pm

brakthepoet wrote:Perhaps "Good" support in Linux equates to "Mediocre" support anywhere else.

Don't you mean "excellent" anywhere else?

And while Pat isn't looking for foot rubs, you can bet that Dann bought the Fleshlight option for his scanner.

brakthepoet · Post by **brakthepoet** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:48 pm

Snarkout wrote:
brakthepoet wrote:Perhaps "Good" support in Linux equates to "Mediocre" support anywhere else.
Don't you mean "excellent" anywhere else?

Yeah, I did. I just can't construct a sentence worth a damn.

hellonorman · Post by **hellonorman** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:33 pm

Patrick wrote:Looking on this list:
http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html

I found these USB flatbed stand alone scanners with at least "good" support under Linux(according to the above list from SANE):
Visoneer OneTouch 7300 - $85 at Compusa
Epson Perfection 3490 - $107 at Compusa
Canon Lide 60 - $72 (free shipping) at Amazon, $79 at Walmart, $83 (shipping included) at Buy.com

Epson Perfection 4990 - $449 at Frys (listed as complete functionality under Linux)

The 4990 is over $400 as I mentioned. The 3490 is not really available from compusa(sold out) and not likely to be since it's an old model.

While I may chance a "good" rating for myself it's much different when you are spending someone else's money on something and you don't really know well it will work. Especially when the only two models that MAY work are the absolute cheapest, which brings up a concern about quality even if the driver support is good enough.