How to buy a scanner for Linux?

Andrew Gideon · External Since: Mar 17, 2006 Posts: 45

This isn't "what scanner to buy" but literally: *how* to buy it. Or
perhaps "where to buy it" is a better way to ask.

I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
unpopular models; I don't know.

So what's the trick here? I don't want to have to work through that
entire list until I find something I can easily buy. Is there some
better approach? Perhaps an online store with a huge inventory of
different scanner models that is likely to have one on that list? A
store that explicitly sells Linux-compatible scanners? Something else?

Thanks...Andrew

P.S. My ideal scanner, in case it matters, is color, has an
ADF that can by bypassed (ie. for photos), and is on
a LAN instead of directly connected to an individual
computer.

Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be
perfect (as compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've
not seen this as a feature except in larger "document management"
type solutions (which I believe are expensive).

AZ Nomad · External Since: Jan 09, 2009 Posts: 20

On 26 Oct 2009 13:19:17 GMT, Andrew Gideon <c182driver1.RemoveThis@gideon.org> wrote:

>This isn't "what scanner to buy" but literally: *how* to buy it. Or
>perhaps "where to buy it" is a better way to ask.

>I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
>of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
>buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
>unpopular models; I don't know.

I bought from ebay. I had good luck with both HP and epson scanners.

ray · External Since: Nov 13, 2004 Posts: 3387

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:19:17 +0000, Andrew Gideon wrote:

> This isn't "what scanner to buy" but literally: *how* to buy it. Or
> perhaps "where to buy it" is a better way to ask.
>
> I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
> of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
> buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
> unpopular models; I don't know.
>
> So what's the trick here? I don't want to have to work through that
> entire list until I find something I can easily buy. Is there some
> better approach? Perhaps an online store with a huge inventory of
> different scanner models that is likely to have one on that list? A
> store that explicitly sells Linux-compatible scanners? Something else?
>
> Thanks...Andrew
>
> P.S. My ideal scanner, in case it matters, is color, has an
> ADF that can by bypassed (ie. for photos), and is on a LAN
instead of
> directly connected to an individual computer.
>
> Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be perfect (as
> compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've not seen this as a
> feature except in larger "document management" type solutions
(which I
> believe are expensive).

I'd use this three-step procedure to "buy a scanner for Linux":

1) navigate to the Epson online store
2) select a scanner
3) buy it.

Matter of fact - I've done that.

Moe Trin · External Since: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 1732

On 26 Oct 2009, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.networking, in article
<plhFm.142065$bH4.118897@news.usenetserver.com>, Andrew Gideon wrote:

>I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a
>couple of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate
>places to buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or
>perhaps they're just unpopular models; I don't know.

Where are you looking? New? Used?

>So what's the trick here? I don't want to have to work through that
>entire list until I find something I can easily buy. Is there some
>better approach?

The technique I've always used for buying O/S specific hardware is
to go to the various local stores, and make a list of the specific
products they have in stock - manufacturer, part number, and any
other obvious identifying data - and then hit the search engines
with the keywords "manufacturer, part-number, ``Linux''" and see
what success others have had with it. Finding which available
device works is usually a lot easier than wading through a giant
list of stuff - some of which has been out of production for years,
and then hoping to find the model you've chosen somewhere.

Old guy

Günther · External Since: Oct 10, 2006 Posts: 8

Andrew Gideon wrote:

> I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
> of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
> buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
> unpopular models; I don't know.

I purchase stuff for use with Linux the other way round: first looking
for reasonable offers from my favorite suppliers and then searching
usenet and web if one of these is supported.

> P.S. My ideal scanner, in case it matters, is color, has an
> ADF that can by bypassed (ie. for photos), and is on a LAN
instead of
> directly connected to an individual computer.
>
> Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be perfect (as
> compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've not seen this as a
> feature except in larger "document management" type solutions
(which I
> believe are expensive).

As sane uses a client-server protocol it might be cheaper as well as more
flexible and convenient to combine a simple scanner with an old and
probably headless Linux box than buying fancy networked device which will
need an ftp or mailserver. And then this is comp.os.linux.networking
anyway.
Once the scanner is working in a local session the network setup is quite
simple:
On the server:
Check that the service is enabled in /etc/xinetd.d/sane-port.
You might have to restart xinetd.
Add a "+" to /etc/sane.d/saned.conf.
On the clients:
Add the host name of the server to /etc/sane.d/net.conf.
Uncomment the line matching "net" in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf.
Now the remote scanner should show up in the sane device dialog.
The security issues that come with sane running as a network service
might be considered as unimportant on a home or small office network.

Günther

Dale Dellutri · External Since: Apr 08, 2004 Posts: 31

On 26 Oct 2009 13:19:17 GMT, Andrew Gideon <c182driver1.RemoveThis@gideon.org> wrote:

> This isn't "what scanner to buy" but literally: *how* to buy it. Or
> perhaps "where to buy it" is a better way to ask.

> I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
> of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
> buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
> unpopular models; I don't know.

> So what's the trick here? I don't want to have to work through that
> entire list until I find something I can easily buy. Is there some
> better approach? Perhaps an online store with a huge inventory of
> different scanner models that is likely to have one on that list? A
> store that explicitly sells Linux-compatible scanners? Something else?

> Thanks...Andrew

> P.S. My ideal scanner, in case it matters, is color, has an
> ADF that can by bypassed (ie. for photos), and is on
> a LAN instead of directly connected to an individual
> computer.

> Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be
> perfect (as compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've
> not seen this as a feature except in larger "document management"
> type solutions (which I believe are expensive).

Wouldn't it be simpler to just get a supported all-in-one printer
that scans to an attached device (USB storage, or SD card, or ...)
and then serves it out using samba/cifs?

At home I have an HP OfficeJet Pro L7590. I put an 512MB SD card
in it, and set it up to scan to the card. Then, from any computer
in the LAN, I just connect up to the exported share and grab
whatever was scanned.

At work I have a Toshiba eStudio 35 copier with a disk in it that
works the same way: scan to the disk, then connect to the share
and grab the scanned file.

In Linux, you could use smbclient to get an ftp-like interface
to the share. Some all-in-ones also allow you to get the files
on the devices via web browser.

--
Dale Dellutri <ddelQQQlutr.RemoveThis@panQQQix.com> (lose the Q's)

General Schvantzkoph · External Since: Dec 29, 2004 Posts: 1207

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:19:17 +0000, Andrew Gideon wrote:

> This isn't "what scanner to buy" but literally: *how* to buy it. Or
> perhaps "where to buy it" is a better way to ask.
>
> I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
> of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
> buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
> unpopular models; I don't know.
>
> So what's the trick here? I don't want to have to work through that
> entire list until I find something I can easily buy. Is there some
> better approach? Perhaps an online store with a huge inventory of
> different scanner models that is likely to have one on that list? A
> store that explicitly sells Linux-compatible scanners? Something else?
>
> Thanks...Andrew
>
> P.S. My ideal scanner, in case it matters, is color, has an
> ADF that can by bypassed (ie. for photos), and is on a LAN
instead of
> directly connected to an individual computer.
>
> Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be perfect (as
> compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've not seen this as a
> feature except in larger "document management" type solutions
(which I
> believe are expensive).

An HP OfficeJet sits on a LAN (at least the better ones do), is
completely Linux compatible, and you can get them anywhere. I've read on
this group that there are some HP standalone scanners that aren't
supported (I don't know if that's still true), however I can say with
absolute certainty that the OfficeJet all in ones are 100% Linux
compatible.

CF · External Since: Oct 31, 2009 Posts: 4

Andrew Gideon wrote:
> This isn't "what scanner to buy" but literally: *how* to buy it. Or
> perhaps "where to buy it" is a better way to ask.
>
> I've seen the list of supported scanners. However, I've chosen a couple
> of scanners from the list only to find it difficult to locate places to
> buy them. Perhaps they're not the latest model, or perhaps they're just
> unpopular models; I don't know.
>
> So what's the trick here? I don't want to have to work through that
> entire list until I find something I can easily buy. Is there some
> better approach? Perhaps an online store with a huge inventory of
> different scanner models that is likely to have one on that list? A
> store that explicitly sells Linux-compatible scanners? Something else?
>
> Thanks...Andrew
>
> P.S. My ideal scanner, in case it matters, is color, has an
> ADF that can by bypassed (ie. for photos), and is on
> a LAN instead of directly connected to an individual
> computer.
>
> Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be
> perfect (as compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've
> not seen this as a feature except in larger "document management"
> type solutions (which I believe are expensive).
>
I've had great luck with eBay. Two Canon LiDe scanners: a 20 model and
a 35 model. Worked in every operating system I had, even OS/2.

Michael Black · External Since: Jan 26, 2009 Posts: 19

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009, Andrew Gideon wrote:

> Something that emails scans as PDFs or TIFFs would be
> perfect (as compatibility wouldn't be an issue). But I've
> not seen this as a feature except in larger "document management"
> type solutions (which I believe are expensive).
>
>
I don't think this is a scanner issue. Mine has some buttons that suggest
such things, but it seems to just be a method of controlling software that
does the actual work. I'm assuming that, since I've only used it with
Linux and there's nothing magical going on. I suppose one might even find
software to read such buttons, though I don't know.

Michael