Linux Format forums

Re: scanner identification problem

crispibits — Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:57 pm

Author: crispibits

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:57 pm

Hi Antony,
Seems weird that Madriva says you need GTK and that GTK needs Java - that just isn't true! You have just entered a state common to newbies and Gurus alike - it's called 'Dependency Hell'. The best way out is to install Ubuntu... Anyway - IIRC Mandriva uses KDE, yes? If so you may already have kooka installed, which is a KDE frontend to SANE. If it isn't installed you might have more success getting that. I await further news...

Re: scanner identification problem

Antony — Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:21 am

Author: Antony

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:21 am

Thanks once again Crispibits.
I guess one problem leads to another. I downloaded the frontend and backend for sane. Installed the backend with no problem but the frontend said I needed to install GTK - so I promptly downloaded that to discover I couldnt install it due to the fact it needs Java installed. So I now need to do that. Well I can at least say my introduction to linux is an interesting one. And despite lots of panicing when things dont go smoothly Iam finally beginning to progress
Antony

RE: scanner identification problem

alloydog — Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:03 am

Author: alloydog

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:03 am

Cheers crispibits I've been battling with my scanner as well - I installed SANE, but that wasn't enough...

RE: scanner identification problem

crispibits — Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:44 am

Author: crispibits

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:44 am

Hello Again!
Scanning is done via SANE (Scanner access now easy - Dodgy Acronyms R Us).
According to the Sane website (www.sane-project.org), the Packard Bell Diamond 1200 plus is covered by the gt68xx driver. According to this page: http://www.sane-project.org/man/sane-gt68xx.5.html you get the firmware in this way:

Quote:

You need a firmware file for your scanner. That's a small file contain-
ing software that will be uploaded to the scanner's memory. It's usu-
ally named *.usb, e.g. PS1fw.usb. It comes on the installation CD
that was provided by the manufacturer, but it may be packaged together
with the installation program in an .exe file. For Mustek scanners, the
file can be dowloaded from the gt68xx backend homepage. For other scan-
ners, check the CD for .usb files. If you only find *.cab files, try
cabextract to unpack. If everything else fails, you must install the
Windows driver and get the firmware from there (usually in the win-
dows/system or system32 directories). Put that firmware file into
/usr/local/share/sane/gt68xx/. Make sure that it's readable by every-
one.

If you have access to a Windows machine it should be fairly easy to get hold of the .usb file, otherwise you will have the joys of using cabextract. I think it's fairly straightforward to use. If it isn't installed on your computer, try going to http://rpmfind.net (note lack of www), then doing a search for cabextract - there should be an rpm file for Mandriva there.

The gt68xx link mentioned above also describes how to configure your scanner, but I'm not too sure if there's a different way in Mandriva. Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

scanner identification problem

Antony — Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:10 pm

Author: Antony

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:10 pm

I have a Packard Bell Diamond 1200 plus scanner which I would like to use with Mandriva. When I set it up it recognised my scanner as a Mustek despite the PB being on the list of recognisable scanners. I have tried to set up the scanner manually but it refuses to accept it. The output text tells me I may have to update the firmware for the scanner. can anyone tell me what the file is called to do this and where I might obtain it please?
Thanks
Antony