Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Install a scanner in debian (and problem solving in general)

My scanner worked for years with Ubuntu, after a fairly simple procedure of downloading some firmware from the manufacturer's website, and, as far as I remember, simply placing in in a specific directory in Ubuntu.
Recently I'd installed Debian Lenny, and yesterday I needed to get the scanner working again. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember exactly what I'd done in Ubuntu or where I'd found the instructions. I tried a Google search. This was the advice from the first link I found:

Did a make menuconfig and added USB-scanner support to the kernel
Damn! That sounds hard! I sure I didn't do anything that difficult before.

In fact, installing the scanner in Debian wasn't too difficult in the end. After quite a bit more Googling, I found an installation guide for Debian [Update: the link seems to be dead, but the document is now available at SourceForge.], the "backend" for my scanner and the correct firmware.

The problem with the advice above is that it dates from 2002 and is no longer appropriate. This is illustrative of a pitfall when using Google to look for answers to problems in Linux- a lot of the solutions offered my be out of date, no longer appropriate, and quite simply the wrong thing to do.

Two tips are:
  • Limit a wed search to the last year to look for current advice,
  • Look for general guides like the Debian NewbieDocs [Now at SourceForge] guide above, and check it's still current.

6 comments:

  1. Why don't you try upgrade-ing to Squeeze and installing simple-scan. That this, I think this procedure could be the same one as on ubuntu. Squeeze will definitely be the "most simple" Debian so far.

    However I recommend using netinstall instead of using Alpha Squeeze 1 installer.

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  2. I intend to upgrade when Squeeze becomes the stable release- my scanner works fine now, as does everything else I've tried so far in Lenny, except for Compiz, but that's something I can live without until Squeeze. A lot of the packages are a little dated, but again. I can live with them for a few months.

    I was thinking about trying Testing but my CD drive seems to be on the way out, and I'm worried that if I wipe my present installation, I might not be able to reinstall anything- it's been touch and go on a few recent "distro-hopping" installs.

    With Squeeze coming out soon, the risk didn't seem worth it.

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  3. Hi there,
    I have Debian OS and Simple scan installed. I am trying to scan with CanoScan LiDE 20 by Canon, but no success.
    The OS tetects the scanner, but it does not start scanning.
    Where is the problem?

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  4. Have you tried working through the "How to install a scanner in Debian GNU-Linux using Sane" guide I link to (now at SourceForge)? This gives you some diagnostic and test tools.

    The backend for your scanner seems to be "plustek".

    http://sane-project.meier-geinitz.de/sane-mfgs.html#Z-CANON

    Try "man sane-plustek" and see if that helps.

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  5. This may be relevant:

    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/sane#For_plustek_scanners

    Can you scan as root?

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  6. I am quite new at Linux in general, so I will need some time, but I will check everything, FreewheelinFrank.
    Thanks for the help!

    ReplyDelete