Linux Might See Open-Source Support For Plustek Scanners

[starshipeleven]

I don't understand why scanners are regarded as problematic under Linux. Just scan something and let the result being sent as email attachement or some ftp upload. Most modern scanner support that. Whats the problem?

That on average this system relies on proprietary servers to work at all. If someone pulls the plug on them, the device is useless.

Also there is the whole issue that this is yet another appliance whose firmware is utter shit and won't be updated EVER that needs internet access, which means it gets insta-pwned by everyone that wants to.

Seriously, last year I've got to clean up a HP multifunction printer that was spamming malware in the local network (thankfully a reset from the hidden service menu was enough, the hard part was diagnosing from where the fuck all the PCs in the office were getting infected from), then add it to the firewall's blacklist to prevent ANY internet access to it (as even by disabling from its own menus it was still chatting with the outside).

From then on all bullshit appliances we install get firewalled.

[starshipeleven]

It seems the thread wasn't reviewed closely, as the taiwanese developer already replied.

He had yet to reply when I posted. WE ARE SEEING HISTORY AS IT IS WRITTEN MAN!!!! AWESOME!!!!

It's really disappointing a company wants to support Open Source drivers, yet isn't going to put ONE DAMN full time developer. I'm sure they have a half even for MacOS only.

That's normal for most secondary peripheral manufacturers (i.e. not GPUs).
They develop drivers for a device for a platform and then the team is re-purposed. There is no guy on watch for Windows or MacOS driver bugs, everyone is usually busy making drivers for the latest stuff, and fixing bugs is secondary (read as "afterthought done in the developer's free time if he feels like it") to that.

It's already great that they said they can put someone on half-watch (probably again someone working at other drivers that also doubles as linux mantainer). Hell, it's a mailing list after all, they won't need a guy full-time on it to do a good job anyway.

Why is this still happening? Open Source is a miracle, it works with this really pathetic support from companies...

Yeah, the power of opensource. The more companies realize this the better.

[M@GOid]

I don't understand why scanners are regarded as problematic under Linux. Just scan something and let the result being sent as email attachement or some ftp upload. Most modern scanner support that. Whats the problem?

If you scan small files, that could work. But photography stuff are scanned at high resolutions, so the raw files you get are big enough to be rejected by e-mail services.

You also wanna make previews of the scan, to get only a part of the image, or do adjustments to gamma and stuff. To do that you need a scam program to have direct access to the scanner. Is way more practical with direct access.

[andresdju]

I don't understand why scanners are regarded as problematic under Linux. Just scan something and let the result being sent as email attachement or some ftp upload. Most modern scanner support that. Whats the problem?

You could do that also in the mid 90's. Connect the scanner to a Windows 95 PC through USB with binary drivers and then send the scanned image as an email attachment. This way is done, but the computer with the non accessible, impossible to update and totally vulnerable OS and with binary drivers is now included inside the scanner and is connected to your network. It is not "problematic under Linux" because your are not managing it under your Linux computer. Anyway, either your scanner has a super complete user interface or configuring advanced scanning parameters is a nightmare (or impossible).

[GraysonPeddie]

and of course vBullshittin screws up formatting even if it is inside CODE brackets.

...

Thanks for contacting us.

allan[/CODE]

vBulletin did not screw up formatting. The code tag is for showing pre-formatted code. The text you've inserted does not do line-wrapping for you. You must do it yourself with the CODE tag or use QUOTE.

[starshipeleven]

vBulletin did not screw up formatting. The code tag is for showing pre-formatted code. The text you've inserted does not do line-wrapping for you. You must do it yourself with the CODE tag or use QUOTE.

Lolwhut? The text I've inserted was preformatted, it's the vBullettin's editor that is a piece of shit and removes end of line markers because lulz. I hoped CODE tags had any effect (as in most forums they mean "don't fucking touch that"), but it didn't

Here an example (copy-pasting the same text into the editor):

Jenson- The SANE project certainly could accept your code for inclusion into our repository, if a few conditions are met. Namely: 1. The code must be completely open and suitable for use with our license. No binary or precompiled code, other than possible firmware uploads. 2. The code must use our sanei_* libraries for things like usb or threading. It should not directly use libusb or any kernel modules, etc. 3. The code should be free from obvious security holes and bad programming practices like using gets() or mktemp(). 4. One or more members of your team need to join the SANE project so you can see user support requests on this mailing list and our bug tracker. 5. The code must build on other platforms that SANE supports, like the various BSD Unixes. Generally, this just requires not calling anything Linux specific. Additionally, we prefer that all backends use our debugging library, so that an environment variable like SANE_DEBUG_PLUSTEK=10 could be used to enable user visible information from the backend. If you and your management can accept those terms, the SANE project would be glad to have your help. Additionally, your users would benefit from having your drivers installed out of the box with their distro of choice. Thanks for contacting us. allan

---

and here an example where I paste the same text with the editor disabled, (the first button on the top left, a sheet of paper with <> inside) and when you press it all buttons are grayed out (as the editor is disabled).


Jenson- The SANE project certainly could accept your code for
inclusion into our repository, if a few conditions are met. Namely:

1. The code must be completely open and suitable for use with our
license. No binary or precompiled code, other than possible firmware
uploads.
2. The code must use our sanei_* libraries for things like usb or
threading. It should not directly use libusb or any kernel modules,
etc.
3. The code should be free from obvious security holes and bad
programming practices like using gets() or mktemp().
4. One or more members of your team need to join the SANE project so
you can see user support requests on this mailing list and our bug
tracker.
5. The code must build on other platforms that SANE supports, like the
various BSD Unixes. Generally, this just requires not calling anything
Linux specific.

Additionally, we prefer that all backends use our debugging library,
so that an environment variable like SANE_DEBUG_PLUSTEK=10 could be
used to enable user visible information from the backend.

If you and your management can accept those terms, the SANE project
would be glad to have your help. Additionally, your users would
benefit from having your drivers installed out of the box with their
distro of choice.

Thanks for contacting us.

allan

[Azrael5]

support for mustek bearpau 1200 cu aka trust direct webscan 19200 (and similar models) would be appreciated. Currently I adopt a system to get it operative by scanner utility (skanlite), however buttons of the scanner don't work.

[starshipeleven]

support for mustek bearpau 1200 cu aka trust direct webscan 19200 (and similar models) would be appreciated. Currently I adopt a system to get it operative by scanner utility (skanlite), however buttons of the scanner don't work.

The company in the news is Plustek, not Mustek.

From the name it's probably still tawanese... lemme check... yes it is from Taiwan.

It seems all technology companies from Taiwan must end in "tek" (Asustek, Realtek, Mediatek, Plustek, Mustek).