Ubuntu 13.10.
I have Epson Stylus NX130. I have xsane loaded. I had a bit of trouble getting it to work for scanning. I had to load the following line "usb 0x04b8 0x0883" in file??? "sane.d/epkowa.conf".
xsane loads up (it takes 2 minutes or so). Then the problem starts.
If I am starting xsane after I have re-booted the computer, it finds the scanner OK.
If I am starting xsane after xsane has been shut down it cannot find the scanner.
I can work around it by finding the scanner on startup then minimisizing it until I want to scan something. (that may be next week).
All this is a bit annoying and I feel that it might need a simple fix. If not I'll live with it.
Thank you.
PS How do I place an icon ie xsane on the desktop?

I have had similar issues with my Epson 3490 scanner.
One thing I have found is that when it does play these tricks, if I delete or rename my ~/.sane dir, then attempt to start it, it usually starts up OK.
I should add that I start via Gimp.
To add a desktop icon, just right click on the desktop and select "create a new launcher here", and add xsane for the command.

Cheers,
Terry

Sorry, should have added that I'm running Fedora and Cinnamon, so adding a desktop icon may be a bit different for you.

Cheres,
Terry

terry-duell, Thank you for your help. I eventually solved the problem. I just got rid of xsane. I then ran the "simple scan" programme.
Works great!!

Re posting icons: I went to /usr/share/applications then copies the icons and pasted them to the desktop. Some don't seem to want to copy/paste but I did enought tosayisfy my needs. Maybe sombody much more versed in Linux csn tell me how to do them all.