sane-project-website/old-archive/1998-03/0174.html

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<title>sane-devel: Dimage Scan Dual - request for Tech Info</title>
<h1>Dimage Scan Dual - request for Tech Info</h1>
<b>Mathias Koerber</b> (<a href="mailto:mathias@koerber.org"><i>mathias@koerber.org</i></a>)<br>
<i>Thu, 26 Mar 1998 15:08:42 +0800 (SGT)</i>
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                        MATHIAS KOERBER<br>
                       Blk 405,  #10-689<br>
                       Ang Mo Kio Ave 10<br>
                      Tel:  +65 / 5524250<br>
                   email: <a href="mailto:mathias@koerber.org">mathias@koerber.org</a><br>
<p>
<p>
To: Mr Jesmond Soh<br>
    Minolta Camera Servive<br>
    Singapore<br>
<p>
    Fax: +65 / 732 5631<br>
    Tel: +65 / 732 9910<br>
<p>
<p>
<p>
Date: 26 March 1998<br>
<p>
	<br>
Mr Soh,<br>
<p>
I would like to thank you for your telephone call in response to my<br>
first fax, and for the offer to help me obtain the necessary documents<br>
regarding the Minolta Dimage Scan Dual Film Scanner.<br>
<p>
As explained in the earlier fax, I recently (December 97) bought such a<br>
unit and I am quite happy with it. However, ths scanner is only supported<br>
under the Windows Operating Systems on a PC or on the Macintosh.<br>
<p>
Alas, my PC at home is not usually used with Windows (3.1 or 95), as I<br>
have other requirements, and thus use the Linux Operating system<br>
(see <a href="http://www.linux.org">http://www.linux.org</a>).<br>
<p>
I would very much like to be able to use the scanner with Linux, to avoid<br>
having to always re-boot into Win95 only to scan a few pictures.<br>
<p>
There is an effort underways to provide a unified interface to graphical<br>
input devices for UNIX operating systems (of which Linux is one), which<br>
current supports quite a number of scanners and digital cameras.<br>
	(Just porting the TWAIN interface used in the Macintosh and<br>
	Windows is not possible, as TWAIN does not cleanly separate<br>
	the scanner access from the windowing system, and is thus not<br>
	portable, this is also explained at the SANE homepage (see below))<br>
<p>
This effort is called SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy), and more information<br>
about it is available on its homepage: <a href="http://www.mostang.com/sane">http://www.mostang.com/sane</a><br>
<p>
Here is a list of the currently available drivers for SANE:<br>
<p>
  sane-canon for Canon scanners <br>
  sane-coolscan for Nikon Coolscan film scanners <br>
  sane-dmc for the Polaroid Digital Microscope Camera <br>
  sane-epson for Epson scanners <br>
  sane-hp for HP scanners <br>
  sane-microtek for Microtek scanners <br>
  sane-mustek for Mustek scanners <br>
  sane-pint for PINT-interface <br>
  sane-pnm for testing applications <br>
  sane-qcam for QuickCam cameras <br>
  sane-s9036 for Siemens 9036 scanners <br>
  sane-snapscan for Agfa SnapScan scanners (pre-beta) <br>
  sane-tamarack for Tamarack and ESCOM scanners <br>
  sane-umax for UMAX scanners and Linotype Hell Jade (see also author's -home page) <br>
<p>
<p>
here is a list of Operating systems which SANE works on:<br>
<p>
	 AIX 4.1<br>
	 Apollo Domain/OS<br>
	 DEC UNIX v4.0<br>
	 FreeBSD v2.2.5/v3.0<br>
	 FreeBSD v3.0<br>
	 FreeSCO OpenServer 5<br>
	 HP-UX v9.05<br>
	 IRIX v5.2<br>
	 Linux/Alpha v2.0<br>
	 Linux/m68k v2.0<br>
	 Linux/SPARC v2.0<br>
	 Linux/x86 v2.0<br>
	 NetBSD<br>
	 OS/2<br>
	 OpenStep/m68k<br>
	 OpenStep/x86<br>
	 Solaris/SPARC v5.5.1<br>
	 SunOS/SPARC v4.1.4<br>
<p>
Note, that Linux alone is estimated to have more than 3 million<br>
users worldwide (see <a href="http://counter.li.org">http://counter.li.org</a> for the basis and<br>
reasoning for this claim and for the hard data). The other<br>
operating systems like Solaris, AIX and Digital Unix are also very<br>
widespread, especially in the workstation market.<br>
<p>
<p>
Obviously, it would not be in Minolta's interest to ignore this<br>
sizeable market. However, currently no Minolta Scanner Backend<br>
is available for SANE, and users of Linux (and the other systems listed<br>
above) will have to choose some other scanner..<br>
<p>
The main reason why there is no Minolta Backend is that the necessary<br>
information is not (freely, easily) available, and that Minolta<br>
also has not seen fit to provide a SANE backend (yet).<br>
<p>
If this information was made available to the SANE community, there are<br>
a number of programmers waiting to attempt the development of the<br>
driver. (This is how most if not all of the current SANE backends<br>
have been developed, as a community effort).<br>
<p>
I would thus like to request that Minolta make available the necessary<br>
documents to the SANE community, or alternative that Minolta pitch in to<br>
this effort and develop their own driver for SANE (for more information<br>
see the SANE homepage listed above)..<br>
<p>
I myself would be one of the developers attempting such a driver..<br>
<p>
Without knowing too many details I think the following would be the<br>
information required:<br>
<p>
	1. The SCSI commandset used to control the scanner<br>
	    (incl the APS cartridge) including all<br>
	    parameters, options and returncodes.<br>
	2. The data formats used by the scanner (native graphics<br>
		format etc)<br>
	3. If it exists, the Programmers guide for the device.<br>
<p>
I would again thank you for your assistance<br>
<p>
<p>
Best regards<br>
<p>
Mathias Koerber<br>
<p>
<p>
<p>
<pre>
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<li> <b>Next message:</b> <a href="0175.html">Mathias Weigt: "Re: mustek mfs-6000cx w/ proprietary host adapter"</a>
<li> <b>Previous message:</b> <a href="0173.html">D. Diederen: "report"</a>
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<li> <b>Next in thread:</b> <a href="0180.html">Michael K. Johnson: "Re: Dimage Scan Dual - request for Tech Info"</a>
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