* norman [04-08-09 10:06]:

I am about to put my hand in my pocket and buy a scanner for scanning photographs into GIMP. I am having great difficulty in finding whether or not the scanners I can afford work with XSane. I go to Google, find various lists but there is no indication how up to date they are.Please help a poor old man make a good purchase. I can go up to £100 sterling.

I told you the place to check is: http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html

it *is* up-to-date as far as any source.

On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 10:04 AM, norman wrote:

I am about to put my hand in my pocket and buy a scanner for scanning photographs into GIMP. I am having great difficulty in finding whether or not the scanners I can afford work with XSane. I go to Google, find various lists but there is no indication how up to date they are.Please help a poor old man make a good purchase. I can go up to £100 sterling.

Norman

I recently found a used flatbed scanner for USD$15.00. It is a CanoScan LiDE 35. I see all sorts of used flatbed scanners at the thrift shops for USD$10-15. It does a good job. The 4 buttons on it don't work in Debian, but that's okay... XSane has all the buttons you'll need!

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html

When I was in the used-computer shop, I simply asked the proprietor to look-up the CanoScan LiDE 35 on the Internet and he did. My $15 CanoScan LiDE 35 has the exact same form-factor as the one in the retail store selling for over $100.

If it's listed on the above sane-mfgs.html page, it should be good!

On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 10:04 AM, norman wrote:

I am about to put my hand in my pocket and buy a scanner for scanning photographs into GIMP. I am having great difficulty in finding whether or not the scanners I can afford work with XSane. I go to Google, find various lists but there is no indication how up to date they are.Please help a poor old man make a good purchase. I can go up to ?100 sterling.

Norman

I recently found a used flatbed scanner for USD$15.00. It is a CanoScan LiDE 35. I see all sorts of used flatbed scanners at the thrift shops for USD$10-15. It does a good job. The 4 buttons on it don't work in Debian, but that's okay... XSane has all the buttons you'll need!

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html

When I was in the used-computer shop, I simply asked the proprietor to look-up the CanoScan LiDE 35 on the Internet and he did. My $15 CanoScan LiDE 35 has the exact same form-factor as the one in the retail store selling for over $100.

If it's listed on the above sane-mfgs.html page, it should be good!

I've got a Canon Lide 50 and I'm using it with Ubuntu 8.10 and GIMP without any problems. I works like a charm!

On Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 2:33 AM, norman wrote:

< snip >

I've got a Canon Lide 50 and I'm using it with Ubuntu 8.10 and GIMP without any problems. I works like a charm!

Thank you for that and thank you to all those who have given their help. The problem is that very often, when I have drawn up a short list of scanners to buy, they are not mentioned on the list of tested scanners. That is why I asked this question on this list. Not because I am too lazy or incompetent or don't know my way around, it is because the answer to my question is not there.

Norman

I guess it all depends on which way you approach it?

I first went to the retail store and made a list of all the flatbed scanners that were in my price range. Then I checked that list against the Sane list of scanners that work with Linux. None of the flatbed scanners in the retail store were on the Sane list.

Then I checked for used scanners. I lucked-out and found one on the Sane list, right off the bat. The CanoScan LiDE 30-40-50 brands all work with Sane, and are on the Sane list. My CanoScan 35 works like a charm.

I prefer to do a little bit of workaround so I don't have to depend on the convicted Monopolist's proprietary (+expensive/buggy/virus-prone) operating system. In the end, it seems to work out cheaper+better. My CanoScan LiDE 35 cost USD$15.00. The CanoScan LiDE flatbed scanners in the retail store were all USD$100.00+ and only worked with the convicted Monopolist's OS.

So maybe the best approach would be to print-out the Sane list and take it with you when you go shopping for a used-flatbed scanner at your local thrift-shops, and used-computer shops? Also, check E-Bay, etc. I recently read about a fellow who found a flatbed scanner in the trash-bin. He pulled it out, took it home, dusted it off, and fired it up on Linux, and it worked just fine. YMMV. 8^D