USB Scanner Support
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USB Scanner
This document describes the process of installing a scanner with a USB interface in Arch Linux.
Update: Since I first wrote this document, the installation routine for the sane package has been improved. The only thing you have to do for supported scanners is to install sane with pacman and add your username to the group "scanner". This document is therefore only necessary for scanners that are not listed in the default usermap file of sane, for people who are interested in hotplug configuration or for those who are interested in network support.
Verify that your scanner works with SANE
Many but not all of the scanners on the market are supported by SANE. The best way to find out whether yours is supported is to directly check on the project's website: sane-supported-devices. On this site, you will also find the information, which SANE backend you will need.
Install sane
# pacman -S sane
While xsane is not necessary, but the program is very useful under X windows, it's with gtk2 GUI.
# pacman -S xsane
By default, hotplug has been installed on your Arch system, but if not, you can decide to install or not. However it's strongly recommended.
Get scanner to work
- Open a terminal and log in as root
- Execute the program
# sane-find-scanner
to verify that SANE correctly detects your scanner.
- Get the device name of your scanner. The easiest way to find it, is to user the program scanimage:
# scanimage -L
The output of this was alike:
device `plustek:libusb:003:004' is a Canon N1240U/LiDE30 USB flatbed scanner
With this information, we are ready to start the testscan:
# scanimage -d plustek:libusb:003:004 -x 50 -y 50 --format=tiff > /home/hunzikea/test.tiff
If this correctly creates a file called test.tiff with a reasonable content, we are ready to setup the scanner for the ordinary user.
# gpasswd -a yourusername scanner
Minor remarks for some plustek scanners (noticeably Canoscan ones), they require a lock directory. Make sure that /var/lock/sane directory exists, that its permissions are 660, and that it is owned by <user>:scanner. If the directory permissions are wrong, only root will be able to use the scanner. Seems (at least on x86-64) that some programs using libusb (noticeably xsane and kooka) need scanner group rw permissions also for accessing /proc/bus/usb to work for a normal user.
That's it, have fun with your scanner.
Epson Perfection 1270
This is for some scanners which are listed as 'good' support but you simple don't know how to make it work, here I take Epson Perfection 1270 as an example.
By checking the sane-supported-devices page, you can find very useful information for your scanner. Here I know Epson Perfection 1270 is supported by snapscan backend.
For Epson Perfection 1270, you also need a firmware named esfw3e.bin, you can get it from (anyone could give a working place so I can upload it?), or you can get it yourself by reference to Scanner setup & configure. I get it by installing the driver in the windows.
Modify configuration file of snapscan backend:
# vi /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf
Change the firmware path line with yours. :
# Change to the fully qualified filename of your firmware file, if # firmware upload is needed by the scanner firmware /mnt/mydata/Backups/firmware/esfw3e.bin
And add the following line in the end or anywhere you like
# Epson Perfection 1270 usb 0x04b8 0x0120
You can get such code information (usb 0x04b8 0x0120) by "sane-find-scanner" command.
Also add such information lines in your libsane.usermap file to setup your privilage, like:
vi /etc/hotplug/usb/libsane.usermap #Epson Perfection 1270 libusbscanner 0x0003 0x04b8 0x0120 0x0000 0x0000 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00000000
Replug scanner, you have a working Epson Perfection 1270 now.
NOTE: I can scan image if I define the X and Y value, but without that error meassage occors like: "scanimage: sane_start: Error during device I/O", if anyone know why, please complete the section. ".
Configuring hotplug/udev
The following hotplug configuration steps are no longer needed (with 0.6 or above), For your information only
In this section we will use hotplug to detect when the scanner is plugged in and, as a consequence, set the permissions on the scanner device so that members of the group \"users\" can use it.
- First, you will need to get the Vendor and ProdID number of your scanner. To get those, type, as root,
# cat /proc/bus/usb/devices
Search the output of this command for your scanner. In that block of information, you will find your scanner's Vender and ProdID numbers. In my case, the relevant output of the above command was
T: Bus<code>03 Lev</code>01 Prnt<code>01 Port</code>01 Cnt<code>02 Dev#</code> 4 Spd<code>12 MxCh</code> 0 D: Ver<code> 1.10 Cls</code>ff(vend.) Sub<code>00 Prot</code>00 MxPS<code> 8 #Cfgs</code> 1 P: Vendor<code>04a9 ProdID</code>220e Rev= 1.00 S: Manufacturer=Canon S: Product=CanoScan C:* #Ifs<code> 1 Cfg#</code> 1 Atr<code>a0 MxPwr</code>500mA I: If#<code> 0 Alt</code> 0 #EPs<code> 3 Cls</code>ff(vend.) Sub<code>00 Prot</code>ff Driver=(none) E: Ad<code>81(I) Atr</code>03(Int.) MxPS<code> 1 Ivl</code>16ms E: Ad<code>82(I) Atr</code>02(Bulk) MxPS<code> 64 Ivl</code>0ms E: Ad<code>03(O) Atr</code>02(Bulk) MxPS<code> 64 Ivl</code>0ms
So, for me, the Vendor number is 04a9 and the ProdID is 220e.
- Create a usbscanner.usermap file in /etc/hotplug/usb. Open your favorite text editor, e.g.
# cd /etc/hotplug/usb # vi usbscanner.usermap
Add the following two lines to this file:
#Name of your scanner usbscanner 0x0003 0x04a9 0x220e 0x0000 0x0000 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00000000
Instead of the values 0x04a9 and 0x220e, insert the Vendor oder ProdID numbers from step 1. Save the file as usbscanner.usermap. (for newer udev, edit the /etc/udev/rules.d/sane.rules)
- We now need to create a shell script to set the correct permissions on the scanner device. Again, with you favorite text editor, create a file called usbscanner in /etc/hotplug/usb. Insert the following text
#!/bin/bash # # /etc/hotplug/usb/usbscanner # GROUP=users if [[ \"${ACTION}\" = \"add\" ]] && [[ -f \"${DEVICE}\" ]] then chmod o-rwx \"${DEVICE}\" chgrp \"${GROUP}\" \"${DEVICE}\" chmod g+rw \"${DEVICE}\" fi and save the script. # Make the script executable # chmod +x /etc/hotplug/usb/usbscanner
Test your configuration
- To test your configuration, plug in your scanner and turn it on. If it was already plugged in before, plug it out and in again to invoke the script.
- List the contents of /proc/bus/usb by typing
# ls -lR /proc/bus/usb
There should be at least one device which doesn't say \"root\" twice. On my machine, the output looks like so:
/proc/bus/usb/003: total 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43 Apr 12 22:02 001 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 73 Apr 12 22:02 002 -rw-rw---- 1 root users 57 Apr 12 22:08 004
Notice the last line.
Use your scanner in your favourite application
You can now use gimp or xsane to scan pictures with your scanner. Enjoy!
Network scanning
Sharing Your Scanner Over a Network
You can share your scanner with other hosts on your network who use sane, xsane or xsane-enabled Gimp. To set up the server (the PC which is connected to your scanner), first indicate which hosts on your network are allowed access.
Add the following to the /etc/sane.d/saned.conf file:
# required localhost # allow all local hosts 192.168.0.0/24
Of course, you may need to change "192.168.0.0/24" to suit your local area network. You can also specify individual hosts, as the following examples illustrate:
# specific host with static IP address 192.168.0.2 # specific hosts supported by local DNS or /etc/hosts bristol brandal brutus
You also have to allow connections from network to saned by adding following (or similar) line to /etc/hosts.allow:
saned: 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0
Ensure xinetd is installed:
# pacman -S xinetd :: xinetd-#.#.##-#: is up to date. Upgrade anyway? [Y/n] n
Also be sure to add xinetd to the list of DAEMONS in /etc/rc.conf
Next, create a file called /etc/xinetd.d/sane-port and include the following:
service sane-port { port = 6566 socket_type = stream wait = no user = nobody group = nobody server = /usr/sbin/saned disable = no }
Note: Apparently you are more likely to achieve success specifying:
user = root group = scanner
Add the following line to /etc/services:
sane-port 6566/tcp # SANE network scanner daemon
Ensure that ports 6566 and 6567 are not blocked by any firewall which would affect connections inside your local area network. You can check which ports are being used by running the daemon in debug mode:
# saned -d128
instead of using xinetd.
Normally, you just need to start (or restart) xinetd as root:
# /etc/rc.d/xinetd start
Your scanner can now be used by other workstations, across your local area network.
Accessing Your Scanner from a Remote Workstation
You can access your network-enabled scanner from a remote Arch Linux workstation.
To set up your workstation, begin by installing xsane:
# pacman -S xsane
Next, specify the server's host name or IP address in the /etc/sane.d/net.conf file:
# static IP address 192.168.0.1 # OR /etc/hosts or DNS supported host name stratus
Now test your workstation's connection, from a non-root login prompt:
$ xsane
After a short while, xsane should find your remote scanner and present you with the usual windows, ready for network scanning delight!
Common problems with scanner sharing
If your saned backend, at the computer that you're trying to access shared scanner from, says that no scanners are available on the server, but scanning works locally and you're sure, that you have done everything according to the previous two chapters, check following scenarios:
Denied connection to saned
Look to the /var/log/messages.log and search for the line like following:
May 5 12:34:12 mypc xinetd[6892]: libwrap refused connection to saned (libwrap=saned) from 192.168.0.2
If you find such, than you didn't allow connections to saned in hosts.allow. Add following line to /etc/hosts.allow
saned: 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0
Or similar - depends on who you want to allow scanning to.
Missing hostname declaration
Stop xinetd (as a root):
/etc/rc.d/xinetd stop
Run saned in debug mode as a user belonging to group scanner:
saned -d
Try to scan from the client. If the scanning program at the client side reports no available devices and saned at the server reports following before exiting:
[saned] check_host: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known [saned] init: access by host 192.168.0.2 denied
then it's probably just missing declaration of your hostname in /etc/hosts
Fix it by adding following line to the /etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1 yourhostname
where "yourhostname" is the same as the one, you have chosen during instalation. Check the following line in /etc/rc.conf:
HOSTNAME="yourhostname"
And start xinetd again (as root):
/etc/rc.d/xinetd start