sane-epson2(5)

🌈 sane-epson2(5) — SANE backend for EPSON scanners 🌈

🎀 NAME 🎀

sane-epson2 — SANE backend for EPSON scanners

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay bestie, so the sane-epson2 library implements a SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) backend that gives you access to Epson flatbed scanners. It supports a similar set of scanners as the sane-epson driver, but it was developed to support a wider range of connections to the scanner — including network access. 💅

Because sane-epson and sane-epson2 drivers support many of the same devices, if one driver gives you problems you may try disabling it to try the other. You can do this by removing the driver name from dll.conf or maybe by commenting out the options in epson.conf or epson2.conf. ✨

At present, the following scanners are known to work with this backend:

🖨️ Known-good scanner roster 🖨️

Model — Connection Type:

• ActionScanner II — SCSI, parallel
• AcuLaser CX11 Series — USB, Network
• AcuLaser CX21 Series — USB, Network
• CX-3200 — USB
• CX-3600 — USB
• CX-3650 — USB
• CX-4050 — USB
• CX-4600 — USB
• CX-4800 — USB
• CX-5000 — USB
• CX-5200 — USB
• CX-5400 — USB
• CX-6300 — USB
• CX-6400 — USB
• CX-6500 — USB
• CX-6600 — USB
• DX-3800 — USB
• DX-5000 — USB
• DX-5050 — USB
• DX-6000 — USB
• DX-7400 — USB
• ES-300C — SCSI, parallel
• ES-300GS — SCSI
• ES-600C — parallel
• ES-1200C — parallel
• Expression 636 — SCSI
• Expression 800 — SCSI
• Expression 1600 — USB, SCSI, IEEE-1394
• Expression 1680 — USB, SCSI, IEEE-1394
• FilmScan 200 — SCSI
• GT-5000 — SCSI, parallel
• GT-5500 — SCSI
• GT-6000 — parallel
• GT-6500 — parallel
• GT-7000 — SCSI
• GT-8000 — SCSI
• GT-8500 — SCSI
• Perfection 610 — USB
• Perfection 636S — SCSI
• Perfection 636U — USB
• Perfection 640 — USB
• Perfection 1200S — SCSI
• Perfection 1200U — USB
• Perfection 1240 — USB, SCSI
• Perfection 1640 — USB, SCSI
• Perfection 1650 — USB
• Perfection 1660 — USB
• Perfection 2400 — USB
• Perfection 2450 — USB, IEEE-1394
• Perfection 3200 — USB
• Perfection 4870 — USB
• Perfection 4990 — USB
• RX-425 — USB
• RX-500 — USB
• RX-600 — USB
• RX-700 — USB
• V700 — USB, IEEE-1394
• V750 — USB, IEEE-1394
• and many more. The official list is on the Sane web site.

For other scanners the software may or may not work. Please send mail to the sane-backend mailing list to report success with scanners not on the list or problems with scanners that are listed. 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

The options the backend supports can either be selected through command line options to programs like scanimage(1) or through GUI elements in programs like xscanimage(1) or xsane(1). 🎀

Valid command line options and their syntax can be listed by using

scanimage --help -d epson2

Not all devices support all options. 🙈

💅 Scan Mode 💅

• --mode — selects the basic mode of operation of the scanner. Valid choices are Binary, Gray and Color. Binary mode is black and white only, Gray will produce 256 levels of gray or more depending on the scanner, and Color means 24 bit color mode or more depending on the scanner. Some scanners will internally use 36 bit color, but their external interface however may only support 24 bits.
• --depth — selects the bit depth the scanner is using. This option is only available for scanners that support more than one bit depth. Older scanners will always transfer the image in 8bit mode. Newer scanners allow one to select either 8 bits, 12 or 14 bits per color channel. For a color scan this means an effective color depth of 36 or 42 bits over all three channels. The valid choices depend on the scanner model.
• --halftoning — selects the mode that is used in Binary mode. Valid options are "None", "Halftone A (Hard Tone)", "Halftone B (Soft Tone)", "Halftone C (Net Screen)", "Dither A (4x4 Bayer)", "Dither B (4x4 Spiral)", "Dither C (4x4 Net Screen)", "Dither D (8x4 Net Screen)", "Text Enhanced Technology", "Download pattern A", and "Download pattern B".
• --dropout — selects the so called dropout color. Valid options are None, Red, Green and Blue. The default is None. The dropout color is used for monochrome scanning and selects the color that is not scanned. This can be used to e.g. scan an original with a colored background.
• --brightness — controls the brightness of the scan. Valid options are integer values from -3 to 3. The default is 0. The larger the brightness value, the brighter the image gets. If a user defined table for the gamma correction is selected, the brightness parameter is not available.
• --sharpness — sets the sharpness of the image data. Valid options are integer values from -2 to 2, with -2 meaning "Defocus", -1 "Defocus slightly", 0 "Normal", 1 "Sharpen slightly" and 2 "Sharpen".
• --gamma-correction — controls the scanner's internal gamma correction. Valid options are "Default", "User defined", "High density printing" "Low density printing" and "High contrast printing".
• --color-correction — controls the scanner's internal color correction function. Valid options are "No Correction", "Impact-dot printers", "Thermal printers", "Ink-jet printers" and "CRT monitors". The default is "CRT monitors".
• --resolution — selects the resolution for a scan. Some EPSON scanners will scan in any resolution between the lowest and highest possible value. The list reported by the scanner can be displayed using the "--help -d epson" parameters to scanimage(1).
• --threshold — selects the minimum brightness to get a white point.
• --mirror — controls the way the image is scanned. By reading the image data from right to left the image is mirrored. Valid options are "yes" and "no". The default is "no".
• --auto-area-segmentation — activates the automatic area segmentation for monochrome scans. The scanner will try to determine which areas are text and which contain images. The image areas will be halftoned, and the text will be improved. Valid options are "yes" and "no". The default is "yes".
• --red-gamma-table — can be used to download a user defined gamma table for the red channel. The valid options are the same as for --gamma-table.
• --green-gamma-table — can be used to download a user defined gamma table for the green channel. The valid options are the same as for --gamma-table.
• --blue-gamma-table — can be used to download a user defined gamma table for the blue channel. The valid options are the same as for --gamma-table.
• --wait-for-button — can be used to wait until the button on the scanner is pressed to actually start the scan process.
• --cct-1 --cct-2 --cct-3 ... --cct-9 — the color correction coefficients will install color correction coefficients for the user defined color correction. Values are specified as integers in the range -127..127.
• --preview — requests a preview scan. The frontend software automatically selects a low resolution. Valid options are "yes" and "no". The default is "no".

The geometry options -l, -t, -x, and -y control the scan area:

• -l — sets the top left x coordinate.
• -t — sets the top left y coordinate.
• -x — selects the width of the scan area.
• -y — selects the height of the scan area.

All parameters are specified in millimeters. 📏

• --source — selects the scan source. Valid options depend on the installed options. The default is "Flatbed".
• --auto-eject — will eject a page after scanning from the document feeder.
• --film-type — will select the film type for scans with the transparency unit. This option is only activated if the TPU is selected as scan source. Valid options are "Negative Film" and "Positive Film".
• --focus-position — selects the focus position for all scans. Valid options are "Focus 2.5mm above glass" and "Focus on glass". The focus on the 2.5mm point above the glass is necessary for scans with the transparency unit, so that the scanner can focus on the film if one of the film holders is used. This option is only functional for selected scanners, all other scanners will ignore this option.
• --bay — selects which bay to scan.
• --eject — ejects the sheet in the ADF.
• --adf-mode — select the ADF mode (simplex/duplex).

🎀 CONFIGURATION FILE 🎀

The config file /etc/sane.d/epson2.conf tells the backend which device(s) it should use, bestie. The possible connection types are:

💾 SCSI

This is the default, and if nothing else is specified the backend software will open a given path as a SCSI device. More info about valid syntax for SCSI devices lives in sane-scsi(5). Usually SCSI scanners are configured with a line scsi EPSON in this file. In some cases it may be necessary to only use the string scsi — like for the GT-6500.

🔌 PIO - Parallel Interface

The parallel interface can be configured in two ways: an integer value starting at the beginning of a line will be interpreted as the IO address of the parallel port. To make it clearer that a configured IO address is a parallel port, the port address can be preceded by the string PIO. The PIO connection does not use a special device file in the /dev directory. The IO address can be specified in hex mode — just prefix it with 0x.

🦋 USB

For USB scanners that aren't automatically detected, you can manually specify their VENDOR and PRODUCT ID in the config file. More information about valid syntax for USB devices can be found in sane-usb(5).

🌈 Network

Network scanners can be auto-discovered if autodiscovery is specified after the net keyword. An IP address to connect to can also be used.

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✨ FILES ✨

• /usr/lib64/sane/libsane-epson2.a — the static library implementing this backend.
• /usr/lib64/sane/libsane-epson2.so — the shared library implementing this backend (present on systems that support dynamic loading).

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🫶 ENVIRONMENT 🫶

• SANE_DEBUG_EPSON2 — if the library was compiled with debug support enabled, this environment variable controls the debug level for this backend. E.g., a value of 128 requests all debug output to be printed. Smaller levels reduce verbosity.
• SANE_DEBUG_EPSON2_SCSI — if the library was compiled with debug support enabled, this environment variable controls the SCSI related debug level for this backend. Only a value of 2 is supported.
• SANE_DEBUG_EPSON2_NET — if the library was compiled with debug support enabled, this environment variable controls the network related debug level for this backend. E.g., a value of 128 requests all debug output to be printed. Smaller levels reduce verbosity.
• SANE_EPSON2_CMD_LVL — this allows one to override the function or command level that the backend uses to communicate with the scanner. The function level a scanner supports is determined during the initialization of the device. If the backend does not recognize the function level reported by the scanner, it will default to function level B3. Valid function levels are A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, D1 and F5.

⚠️ Use this feature only if you know what you are doing!

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• sane-scsi(5)
• sane-usb(5)
• scanimage(1)
• xscanimage(1)
• xsane(1)

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💀 BUGS 💀

None :-) At least none are currently known.

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🙈 UNSUPPORTED DEVICES 🙈

The backend may be used with Epson scanners that are not yet listed under the list of supported devices. A scanner that is not recognized may default to the function level B3, which means that not all functions that the scanner may be capable of are accessible.

If the scanner is not even recognized as an Epson scanner, this is probably because the device name reported by the scanner is not in the correct format. Please send this information to the backend maintainer — the email address is in the AUTHOR section of this man page or in the AUTHORS file of the SANE distribution.

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

The package is written by Alessandro Zummo and is based on previous work done by Karl Hienz Kremer in the epson package as well as based on work by Christian Bucher and Kazuhiro Sasayama.

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That's the whole vibe, bestie — this lil page is sane-epson2(5), dated 22 Jan 2009. 💅✨