I’m trying to sort out a friend’s PC. He’s into photography but has found that Windows 7 doesn’t support half his hardware and is reluctant to replace the hardware. As a result I’ve set him up dual boot with Linux Mint 14 KDE. (I’ve also tried the Ubuntu Studio live disc but it claims it cannot communicate with the scanner, even though Mint can and does, albeit badly).
Using XSane and VueScan we have all but this transparency scanner working. It is recognised, makes a lot of ‘to be expected noises’ and then produces a solid black rectangle as the results of its scan.
Searching for this model number seems to indicate that its been working with Linux for some years.
The ideal solution is to set up a consistent work flow in Linux so that all that he needs it within the one OS. He is quite happy to stick with Linux, if it can be made to work.
Does anyone recognise the symptoms and know of a fix?
is it USB ?
is it the Dimage Scan Elite 5400 ?
If so, according to this:
www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html
and
http://www.sane-project.org/sane-backends.html#S-AVISION
it’s supported by the "avision " sane backend.
Have you tried getting the latest sane backends and compiling them ?
https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=30186
(I dunno which version is in Mint ?)
The Vendor:Device ID string might help in searching for a solution … can you supply them ?
Yes, that’s the fellah.
Have got as far as identifying the avision back end thingy, but not as far as compiling newer sources. I did come across mention of it working on older distros so am somewhat curious as to why it doesn’t work.
Can you post the output from:
lsusb
Further developments.
I brought the Minolta scanner home with me and plugged it into my slackware box. It sprang into life and worked perfectly.
So, figuring that I can render slackware into a useable desktop that would be as easy to use as Mint, I went and put slackware on his computer in place of Mint. The scanner however continues to produce black rectangles. From this I conclude that if both boxes have the same distro, from the same install disc, updated from the same online source and the symptoms don’t occur on one box and do on the other, that this maybe some obscure hardware problem akin, in consequence if not in origin, to IRQ conflicts ‘back in the day’.
I offered him a couple of choices, one of which was “back to XP” which he opted for, despite my warning that XP reaches EoL in January of next year, which I suspect Microsoft will end up backing down from when the resultant outcry reaches a sufficient volume.
(Oh what joy it will be to see them forced to become a giant IT welfare organisation as all the people they thoughtlessly tied to their useless products now expect a lifetime of support and begin squealing in the millions when such support is threatened with withdrawal. Just as it’s only a matter of time before someone with serious health problems arising from eating fast food successfully sues the fast food Co’ for the cost of their medical treatment. If you use unjust and dishonest methods to secure your customer base, it seems only fair, especially if you profited greatly, that you should then be made to pay for the resultant cleanup).
Yeh, definitely a hardware/kernel issue then … where both Mint and Slackware using the same kernel ?
(not that it matters if he’s gone back to XP)
I think M$ will drop support for XP this time, they’ve extended XP support a few times now … but no matter what they do they’re going to annoy a lot of people 
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I think M$ will drop support for XP this time, they’ve extended XP support a few times now … but no matter what they do they’re going to annoy a lot of people
I’m sure they’d love to. But never underestimate the power of cheesed off voters harassing their Senators. Neither the voters nor the Senators have the first clue, they just understand “times is hard” and small businesses and the Health and Education Sector could really do without a software bill hitting the many thousands, just because Microsoft want to force everyone to buy Windows all over again.
There is an argument to be made that they ought to have no choice in the matter and that updates should be ended at the point where usage of XP falls below a certain percentage and not before. Anything less is highwayman behaviour.
Holding the keys to global IT maybe a great little money spinner but it also carries rather a lot of responsibility and sooner or later responsibility costs.
What I’m saying is that I think the only reason M$ has already extended XP support a couple of times is to cover themselves for exactly the governmental/legal backlash you talk of.
“We’ve been more than reasonable, and given people extra time to change … but we cannot support it permanently, and the code is becoming a security risk, so it’s for their own good”
kinda thing.
And to tell the truth, I’d have to agree with them (anyone not on at least Win7 by 2014 only has themselves to blame) … well maybe not about the security thing, that was always flawed … but you get my point.
and the code is becoming a security risk
BECOMING?
rofl
You been taking lessons from the Zen Master of Understatement?
I was suggesting what Microsoft themselves would say.
If I’d been taking lessons from Master Zen, I’d have said…
“there are one or two pieces of malware starting to appear for it, that on rare occasions can screw up the system”