The Brother DCP7030 packed up somewhere between when I posted my thanks and today... The PC 'knows' there's a scanner there but it can't connect to it. I'm beginning to think I should read EM Forster's Howard's End to it ('only connect...') xsane is reporting a 'Failed to open device. Invalid argument'... I just know that's beyond me... Any suggestions anyone, please? If it's bad news like: "You have to do all that stuff you did first time round" then please sugar the pill somewhat by telling me I can buy an ink jet printer that will scan as well because I hate my Canon inkjet and I might prefer that as a solution... I like my ancient Brother DCP 7030

Tilley; Have you tried the simple-scan program instead of xsane? I've been using it for a long time. Maybe it will work for you. Available through your repositories in all likelihood. Turn on printer first and then start simple-scan, as it seems to need an available printer/scanner online to pick up on it. cheers

Thane - Thank you! Yes I have tried that. It can 'see' the scanner ok but then fails to connect. I suspect some update has possibly done something along the way and that I might have to retrace my steps... At least I know what the steps are now even if I don't fancy them much!

Ok. Unfortunate. But I've done the setup multiple times and it gets far easier, once you've done it once or twice. Nothing daunting.

I shall see it as a learning situation and smile (through gritted teeth)...

I've got beyond absolute newbie because I now know when things are more complex than I understand - when I started everything was more complex than I understood...

OK now fixed. I think what had happened is a file had got itself over-written. What finally fixed it was adding a line to the libsane rules... though I have no idea whether redoing any of the other stuff had an impact. It took me less than 30 minutes instead of the couple of days last time so I'm feeling smug... Thanks again Thane!!!