Testing scanners under Linux
Scan It
© Lead Image © wbraga, 123RF.com
Using scanners to digitize documents in Linux was once a perilous business, but Linux scanner technology has improved in recent years. We study the state of the art with some leading scanners from various manufacturers.
If the paperless office were already a reality, no one would need a scanner anymore. But wherever you look in the corporate environment today, you very quickly see that traditionalists continue to defend the ubiquitous role of scanners in the office. And not only that, increasing numbers of multifunction printers with integrated scanning units are being used in home offices and by private users.
Electronics stores continue to sell dedicated flatbed scanners, as well as equipment for special applications. This includes devices for mobile use, but also document scanners that automatically digitize large volumes of documents (see the "Big Devices" box). This article investigates how this device farm gets along with Linux.
Standards
When scanners gradually became affordable for smaller companies in the early 1990s, a consortium of various hardware and software manufacturers developed the TWAIN specification. It defines a uniform interface for controlling scanners from within applications. While the TWAIN interface was initially only developed for Microsoft and Apple operating systems, version 2.0 also has supported Linux [1] from 2008.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.