Hello, On Jul 1 22:52 Leslie Jensen wrote (shortened): > Well; because I'm using FreeBSD (7.2-RELEASE) the third party driver the 4490 > required was not an option so eventually I sold the 4490 again. > > I now need advise on how to choose a scanner with "complete" support. I > mainly need to scan simple documents and photoes. > > The newer Epson models "only" has "good" support and I think I need the > scanner to have complete support.
I cannot recommend a particular model. Nevertheless some general information which might hopefully help a bit: Regarding Epson scanners which require a proprietary driver, see http://www.sane-project.org/lists/sane-backends-external.html#S-EPKOWA and don't buy a model which "requires DFSG non-free" whatever stuff. Find out which sane-backends version your FreeBSD (7.2-RELEASE) has. Then go to http://www.sane-project.org/sane-supported-devices.html and there to "Old SANE Versions" to get a list of supported models which work for your sane-backends version. Unfortunately scanners which are listed there may be no longer for sale and then the tricky part begins - i.e. you must somehow (I don't know how) try to find out which currently buyable model might also work with your sane-backends version... Regarding "good" versus "complete" support, see the "Legend" at those lists which read: --------------------------------------------------------------------- "basic" means it works at least in the most important modes but quality is not perfect. "good" means the device is usable for day-to-day work. Some rather exotic features may be missing. "complete" means the backends supports everything the device can do. --------------------------------------------------------------------- For the use-case which you described "good" should be "good enough". It is even possible that a "good" supported scanner works better than a "complete" supported scanner. E.g.: Assume an ACME Funscanner 300 can scan only up to 300 dpi and has no additional features like an automated documet feeder (ADF) and the SANE driver suppports scanning up to 300 dpi then the ACME Funscanner 300 is a "complete" supported scanner. Assume an ACME Funscanner 600 can scan up to 600 dpi and has an ADF as additional feature and the SANE driver suppports scanning up to 600 dpi but the ADF is not supported then the ACME Funscanner 600 is only a "good" supported scanner. Assume an ACME Funscanner 1200 can scan up to 1200 dpi and has an ADF as additional feature and the SANE driver suppports scanning but only up to 600 dpi and the ADF is also supported then the ACME Funscanner 1200 is also only a "good" supported scanner. Kind Regards Johannes Meixner -- SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5, 90409 Nuernberg, Germany AG Nuernberg, HRB 16746, GF: Markus Rex
