[sane-devel] Multiple Scanner Support

Discussion:

Joel Penner

2011-07-13 23:53:03 UTC

Hi. I'm currently using multiple scanners for a project where I have flowers
scanned a few times an hour to make videos of the desiccation process. I'm
currently in Germany where I've managed to get three scanners running off of
one iBook, but at home I have eight scanners strewn across multiple old
computers. My original idea was to have all the scanners running off of one
computer, but issues with drivers conflicting with each other in addition to
poorly programmed drivers which use over half of the CPU's resources while
scanning presented problems. I've been using the included software packages
where possible, and VueScan when not. I've experimented a bit with SANE. I
was wondering what people thought about the possibility of running multiple
scanners off of one computer. Does SANE support this? And I've been using
solely PPC Macs running either 10.4 or 10.5 so far.

You can find some videos of my project here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/sets/72157611634807864/

Thanks,

Joel

m. allan noah

2011-07-14 00:05:39 UTC

Permalink

Neat videos!

The answer to your question depends on the scanner, and the driver (we
call them backends).

1. Some scanners are really dumb and require the host software to do
lots of processing to get a usable image. You could certainly stagger
the scans so that two scanners were never in use at the same time.

2. Some backends are written to only talk to one scanner, and may not
play well if two scanners are open from within the same application.
It might be possible to avoid this by running multiple copies of the
app, and giving explicit device names to each copy.

What scanners are you using now?

allan

Post by Joel Penner
Hi. I'm currently using multiple scanners for a project where I have flowers
scanned a few times an hour to make videos of the desiccation process. I'm
currently in Germany where I've managed to get three scanners running off of
one iBook, but at home I have eight scanners strewn across multiple old
computers. My original idea was to have all the scanners running off of one
computer, but issues with drivers conflicting with each other in addition to
poorly programmed drivers which use over half of the CPU's resources while
scanning presented problems. I've been using the included software packages
where possible, and VueScan when not. I've experimented a bit with SANE. I
was wondering what people thought about the possibility of running multiple
scanners off of one computer. Does SANE support this? And I've been using
solely PPC Macs running either 10.4 or 10.5 so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/sets/72157611634807864/
Thanks,
Joel
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--
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Joel Penner

2011-07-14 00:44:43 UTC

Permalink

Thanks. Here I'm using a CanoScan 5600F (the Mac driver of which is kind of
unstable, and the shipped program horribly bloated!,) an Epson Perfection
V33 (a bad scanner!,) and a CanoScan 3200 (which I'm using with VueScan,
it's proven to be very stable.) At home I have another CS 5600F, two CS LiDE
20s, a CS 5000, an Agfa Snapscan e20 and e50, and a really good Epson
scanner, the name of which I forget. I could VNC the computer to find out,
but I'm on my cell phone data connection right now...

The issue of resource hogging isn't common. So far I've only starkly
experienced it with the CS 5600Fs. It's unfortunate that such an amazing
scanner has to have such a shoddy Mac backend/driver. Hopefully the eventual
SANE backend will be better!

Similar to your idea, initially I tried running multiple instances of
VueScan, but because the specific scanners weren't specified to each
instance, they presumably conflicted, causing the different instances
to occasionally crash. How would one give explicit device names to each
copy? I am very comfortable with OS GUIs, but unfortunately have done almost
no programming.

- Joel

Post by m. allan noah
Neat videos!
The answer to your question depends on the scanner, and the driver (we
call them backends).
1. Some scanners are really dumb and require the host software to do
lots of processing to get a usable image. You could certainly stagger
the scans so that two scanners were never in use at the same time.
2. Some backends are written to only talk to one scanner, and may not
play well if two scanners are open from within the same application.
It might be possible to avoid this by running multiple copies of the
app, and giving explicit device names to each copy.
What scanners are you using now?
allan

Post by Joel Penner
Hi. I'm currently using multiple scanners for a project where I have

flowers

Post by Joel Penner
scanned a few times an hour to make videos of the desiccation process.

I'm

Post by Joel Penner
currently in Germany where I've managed to get three scanners running off

Post by Joel Penner
one iBook, but at home I have eight scanners strewn across multiple old
computers. My original idea was to have all the scanners running off of

one

Post by Joel Penner
computer, but issues with drivers conflicting with each other in addition

Post by Joel Penner
poorly programmed drivers which use over half of the CPU's resources

while

Post by Joel Penner
scanning presented problems. I've been using the included software

packages

Post by Joel Penner
where possible, and VueScan when not. I've experimented a bit with SANE.

Post by Joel Penner
was wondering what people thought about the possibility of running

multiple

Post by Joel Penner
scanners off of one computer. Does SANE support this? And I've been using
solely PPC Macs running either 10.4 or 10.5 so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/sets/72157611634807864/
Thanks,
Joel
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m. allan noah

2011-07-14 13:31:30 UTC

Permalink

Sane is very different from the GUI scanning you are used to. what you
want is as simple as this pseudocode:

while(1){
scanimage -d"devicename1" > directory1/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename2" > directory2/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename3" > directory3/`date +%s`.pnm
sleep(1200);
}

unfortunately, this only works if your scanners are supported. the
cs3200 and cs5600, not so much.

allan

Post by Joel Penner
Thanks. Here I'm using a CanoScan 5600F (the Mac driver of which is kind of
unstable, and the shipped program horribly bloated!,) an Epson Perfection
V33 (a bad scanner!,) and a CanoScan 3200 (which I'm using with VueScan,
it's proven to be very stable.) At home I have another CS 5600F, two CS LiDE
20s, a CS 5000, an Agfa Snapscan e20 and e50, and a really good Epson
scanner, the name of which I forget. I could VNC the computer to find out,
but I'm on my cell phone data connection right now...
The issue of resource hogging isn't common. So far I've only starkly
experienced it with the CS 5600Fs. It's unfortunate that such an amazing
scanner has to have such a shoddy Mac backend/driver. Hopefully the eventual
SANE backend will be better!
Similar to your idea, initially I tried running multiple instances of
VueScan, but because the specific scanners weren't specified to each
instance, they presumably conflicted, causing the different instances
to occasionally crash. How would one give explicit device names to each
copy? I am very comfortable with OS GUIs, but unfortunately have done almost
no programming.
- Joel

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

Joel

2011-07-14 13:35:24 UTC

Permalink

Neat. So far my experience with SANE is using it as a TWAIN plugin for Mac OSX's Image Capture. The text based commands seem much better than the gaudy manufacturer supplied GUIs though! Maybe I'll direct my future scanner purchases to SANE supported scanners. Into which program(s) do I input the pseudocode?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig)

Post by m. allan noah
Sane is very different from the GUI scanning you are used to. what you
while(1){
scanimage -d"devicename1" > directory1/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename2" > directory2/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename3" > directory3/`date +%s`.pnm
sleep(1200);
}
unfortunately, this only works if your scanners are supported. the
cs3200 and cs5600, not so much.
allan

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

m. allan noah

2011-07-14 13:52:24 UTC

Permalink

No, you re-write the pseudocode in a real programming language :) What
I gave was something kinda like shell, which can be stored in a text
file, made executable, and run directly. Not sure how that works on a
mac...

allan

Post by Joel
Neat. So far my experience with SANE is using it as a TWAIN plugin for Mac
OSX's Image Capture. The text based commands seem much better than the gaudy
manufacturer supplied GUIs though! Maybe I'll direct my future scanner
purchases to SANE supported scanners. Into which program(s) do I input the
pseudocode?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow
Sane is very different from the GUI scanning you are used to. what you
while(1){
scanimage -d"devicename1" > directory1/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename2" > directory2/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename3" > directory3/`date +%s`.pnm
sleep(1200);
}
unfortunately, this only works if your scanners are supported. the
cs3200 and cs5600, not so much.
allan
Thanks. Here I'm using a CanoScan 5600F (the Mac driver of which is kind of
unstable, and the shipped program horribly bloated!,) an Epson Perfection
V33 (a bad scanner!,) and a CanoScan 3200 (which I'm using with VueScan,
it's proven to be very stable.) At home I have another CS 5600F, two CS LiDE
20s, a CS 5000, an Agfa Snapscan e20 and e50, and a really good Epson
scanner, the name of which I forget. I could VNC the computer to find out,
but I'm on my cell phone data connection right now...
The issue of resource hogging isn't common. So far I've only starkly
experienced it with the CS 5600Fs. It's unfortunate that such an amazing
scanner has to have such a shoddy Mac backend/driver. Hopefully the eventual
SANE backend will be better!
Similar to your idea, initially I tried running multiple instances of
VueScan, but because the specific scanners weren't specified to each
instance, they presumably conflicted, causing the different instances
to occasionally crash. How would one give explicit device names to each
copy? I am very comfortable with OS GUIs, but unfortunately have done almost
no programming.
- Joel
Neat videos!
The answer to your question depends on the scanner, and the driver (we
call them backends).
1. Some scanners are really dumb and require the host software to do
lots of processing to get a usable image. You could certainly stagger
the scans so that two scanners were never in use at the same time.
2. Some backends are written to only talk to one scanner, and may not
play well if two scanners are open from within the same application.
It might be possible to avoid this by running multiple copies of the
app, and giving explicit device names to each copy.
What scanners are you using now?
allan
Hi. I'm currently using multiple scanners for a project where I have flowers
scanned a few times an hour to make videos of the desiccation process. I'm
currently in Germany where I've managed to get three scanners running off of
one iBook, but at home I have eight scanners strewn across multiple old
computers. My original idea was to have all the scanners running off of one
computer, but issues with drivers conflicting with each other in addition to
poorly programmed drivers which use over half of the CPU's resources while
scanning presented problems. I've been using the included software packages
where possible, and VueScan when not. I've experimented a bit with SANE. I
was wondering what people thought about the possibility of running multiple
scanners off of one computer. Does SANE support this? And I've been using
solely PPC Macs running either 10.4 or 10.5 so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/sets/72157611634807864/
Thanks,
Joel
--
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

Joel

2011-07-14 14:01:16 UTC

Permalink

Oh okay. That makes more sense. :-) I'm going to try Linux out more. Which distro do you use?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig)

Post by m. allan noah
No, you re-write the pseudocode in a real programming language :) What
I gave was something kinda like shell, which can be stored in a text
file, made executable, and run directly. Not sure how that works on a
mac...
allan

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

m. allan noah

2011-07-14 14:07:07 UTC

Permalink

OSX has unix in there somewhere, no need to switch OS just for this.
Why do you assume I use Linux? Because I have been helpful, and not
asked for any money? :)

allan

Post by Joel
Oh okay. That makes more sense. :-) I'm going to try Linux out more. Which
distro do you use?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow
No, you re-write the pseudocode in a real programming language :) What
I gave was something kinda like shell, which can be stored in a text
file, made executable, and run directly. Not sure how that works on a
mac...
allan
Neat. So far my experience with SANE is using it as a TWAIN plugin for Mac
OSX's Image Capture. The text based commands seem much better than the gaudy
manufacturer supplied GUIs though! Maybe I'll direct my future scanner
purchases to SANE supported scanners. Into which program(s) do I input the
pseudocode?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow
Sane is very different from the GUI scanning you are used to. what you
while(1){
scanimage -d"devicename1" > directory1/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename2" > directory2/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename3" > directory3/`date +%s`.pnm
sleep(1200);
}
unfortunately, this only works if your scanners are supported. the
cs3200 and cs5600, not so much.
allan
Thanks. Here I'm using a CanoScan 5600F (the Mac driver of which is kind of
unstable, and the shipped program horribly bloated!,) an Epson Perfection
V33 (a bad scanner!,) and a CanoScan 3200 (which I'm using with VueScan,
it's proven to be very stable.) At home I have another CS 5600F, two CS LiDE
20s, a CS 5000, an Agfa Snapscan e20 and e50, and a really good Epson
scanner, the name of which I forget. I could VNC the computer to find out,
but I'm on my cell phone data connection right now...
The issue of resource hogging isn't common. So far I've only starkly
experienced it with the CS 5600Fs. It's unfortunate that such an amazing
scanner has to have such a shoddy Mac backend/driver. Hopefully the eventual
SANE backend will be better!
Similar to your idea, initially I tried running multiple instances of
VueScan, but because the specific scanners weren't specified to each
instance, they presumably conflicted, causing the different instances
to occasionally crash. How would one give explicit device names to each
copy? I am very comfortable with OS GUIs, but unfortunately have done almost
no programming.
- Joel
Neat videos!
The answer to your question depends on the scanner, and the driver (we
call them backends).
1. Some scanners are really dumb and require the host software to do
lots of processing to get a usable image. You could certainly stagger
the scans so that two scanners were never in use at the same time.
2. Some backends are written to only talk to one scanner, and may not
play well if two scanners are open from within the same application.
It might be possible to avoid this by running multiple copies of the
app, and giving explicit device names to each copy.
What scanners are you using now?
allan
Hi. I'm currently using multiple scanners for a project where I have flowers
scanned a few times an hour to make videos of the desiccation process. I'm
currently in Germany where I've managed to get three scanners running off of
one iBook, but at home I have eight scanners strewn across multiple old
computers. My original idea was to have all the scanners running off of one
computer, but issues with drivers conflicting with each other in addition to
poorly programmed drivers which use over half of the CPU's resources while
scanning presented problems. I've been using the included software packages
where possible, and VueScan when not. I've experimented a bit with SANE. I
was wondering what people thought about the possibility of running multiple
scanners off of one computer. Does SANE support this? And I've been using
solely PPC Macs running either 10.4 or 10.5 so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/sets/72157611634807864/
Thanks,
Joel
--
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

Joel

2011-07-14 14:56:44 UTC

Permalink

Haha. I meant in general I've wanted to try it out more because I want to get away from the absurd greed in the corporate driven OS options.

:-) Nice. Which OS do you primarily use?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig)

Post by m. allan noah
OSX has unix in there somewhere, no need to switch OS just for this.
Why do you assume I use Linux? Because I have been helpful, and not
asked for any money? :)
allan

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

m. allan noah

2011-07-14 15:03:10 UTC

Permalink

OS/distro is a fairly religious subject, and what I use might not be
the best for a new user. So, you'd best do your own research.

allan

Post by Joel
Haha. I meant in general I've wanted to try it out more because I want to
get away from the absurd greed in the corporate driven OS options.
:-) Nice. Which OS do you primarily use?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow
OSX has unix in there somewhere, no need to switch OS just for this.
Why do you assume I use Linux? Because I have been helpful, and not
asked for any money? :)
allan
Oh okay. That makes more sense. :-) I'm going to try Linux out more. Which
distro do you use?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow
No, you re-write the pseudocode in a real programming language :) What
I gave was something kinda like shell, which can be stored in a text
file, made executable, and run directly. Not sure how that works on a
mac...
allan
Neat. So far my experience with SANE is using it as a TWAIN plugin for Mac
OSX's Image Capture. The text based commands seem much better than the gaudy
manufacturer supplied GUIs though! Maybe I'll direct my future scanner
purchases to SANE supported scanners. Into which program(s) do I input the
pseudocode?
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow
Sane is very different from the GUI scanning you are used to. what you
while(1){
scanimage -d"devicename1" > directory1/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename2" > directory2/`date +%s`.pnm
scanimage -d"devicename3" > directory3/`date +%s`.pnm
sleep(1200);
}
unfortunately, this only works if your scanners are supported. the
cs3200 and cs5600, not so much.
allan
Thanks. Here I'm using a CanoScan 5600F (the Mac driver of which is kind of
unstable, and the shipped program horribly bloated!,) an Epson Perfection
V33 (a bad scanner!,) and a CanoScan 3200 (which I'm using with VueScan,
it's proven to be very stable.) At home I have another CS 5600F, two CS LiDE
20s, a CS 5000, an Agfa Snapscan e20 and e50, and a really good Epson
scanner, the name of which I forget. I could VNC the computer to find out,
but I'm on my cell phone data connection right now...
The issue of resource hogging isn't common. So far I've only starkly
experienced it with the CS 5600Fs. It's unfortunate that such an amazing
scanner has to have such a shoddy Mac backend/driver. Hopefully the eventual
SANE backend will be better!
Similar to your idea, initially I tried running multiple instances of
VueScan, but because the specific scanners weren't specified to each
instance, they presumably conflicted, causing the different instances
to occasionally crash. How would one give explicit device names to each
copy? I am very comfortable with OS GUIs, but unfortunately have done almost
no programming.
- Joel
Neat videos!
The answer to your question depends on the scanner, and the driver (we
call them backends).
1. Some scanners are really dumb and require the host software to do
lots of processing to get a usable image. You could certainly stagger
the scans so that two scanners were never in use at the same time.
2. Some backends are written to only talk to one scanner, and may not
play well if two scanners are open from within the same application.
It might be possible to avoid this by running multiple copies of the
app, and giving explicit device names to each copy.
What scanners are you using now?
allan
Hi. I'm currently using multiple scanners for a project where I have flowers
scanned a few times an hour to make videos of the desiccation process. I'm
currently in Germany where I've managed to get three scanners running off of
one iBook, but at home I have eight scanners strewn across multiple old
computers. My original idea was to have all the scanners running off of one
computer, but issues with drivers conflicting with each other in addition to
poorly programmed drivers which use over half of the CPU's resources while
scanning presented problems. I've been using the included software packages
where possible, and VueScan when not. I've experimented a bit with SANE. I
was wondering what people thought about the possibility of running multiple
scanners off of one computer. Does SANE support this? And I've been using
solely PPC Macs running either 10.4 or 10.5 so far.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/featheredtar/sets/72157611634807864/
Thanks,
Joel
--
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"
--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

Joel

2011-07-14 15:04:26 UTC

Permalink

Yeah I know, I was just curious.
--
Joel
Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig)

Post by m. allan noah
OS/distro is a fairly religious subject, and what I use might not be
the best for a new user. So, you'd best do your own research.
allan

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"

Richard Ryniker

2011-07-14 16:12:58 UTC

Permalink

Allen has been a steadfast contributor to this list of information and
advice to scanner users, for which it is entirely appropriate to say
"Thank you" from time to time. Thank you, Allen, for the significant
personal effort you contribute to make SANE and this list a valuable
resource for many others.

With respect to the original poster's question about what operating
system you prefer, this is the first time I can recall where you have
been discreet, even reticent, to offer an opionion about software. You
have every right to reserve comment, of course. Among other
possibilities, you may simply seek to avoid a cascade of posts about the
perceived advantages or problems of different software platforms.

It is possible your discretion on this topic might start a cult among list
readers that tries to infer your operating system preferences from clues
it claims to find in your posts. I guess that is the price of prominence.

m. allan noah

2011-07-14 18:14:19 UTC

Permalink

I'm not entirely sure how to respond.

First, I very much appreciate the thanks. Performing sane's janitorial
duties doesn't usually elicit praise :) Oddly, it was never my
intention to be in this position. In 2003, I simply wanted to get a
patch into the fujitsu backend, and then leave this list. Obviously
that plan failed :)

Second, I hesitate to recommend an OS because there are some very
dedicated port maintainers on this list. I don't want to put them in a
position where they feel they must defend their organization/employer.

Third, I am somewhat disturbed at the thought of a cult. But I wonder
if I could get them to come and mow my lawn?

allan

Post by Richard Ryniker
Allen has been a steadfast contributor to this list of information and
advice to scanner users, for which it is entirely appropriate to say
"Thank you" from time to time. Thank you, Allen, for the significant
personal effort you contribute to make SANE and this list a valuable
resource for many others.
With respect to the original poster's question about what operating
system you prefer, this is the first time I can recall where you have
been discreet, even reticent, to offer an opionion about software. You
have every right to reserve comment, of course. Among other
possibilities, you may simply seek to avoid a cascade of posts about the
perceived advantages or problems of different software platforms.
It is possible your discretion on this topic might start a cult among list
readers that tries to infer your operating system preferences from clues
it claims to find in your posts. I guess that is the price of prominence.
--
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel
Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password"

--
"The truth is an offense, but not a sin"