Difficulty getting scanner to work with Debian
 

Hi! I have a new Gigabyte computer with Debian 8 installed and I'm trying to get this work with a Canon Lide 110 scanner. The scanner is being recognized by the computer but the output quality isn't very good. At first the image was corrupted and almost illegible. I put up the resolution to 300 and it was much improved but still not a sharp clean copy. What do you suggest in order to get resolution and shade accurate? I just scan text files and my printer is black and white so color is not an issue. Thank you in advance.

The first thing I would do is try whatever higher resolutions you have available.

Oops! I forgot to mention--the scanner program on my computer is xsane. It may have controls that help to regulate the settings but I'm not sure where they are. Perhaps someone can suggest a better easier to use scanner program than xsane? Thanks again.

In the main interface for xsane, there is a series of selection dialog bars. It's the last one, just above the three sliders. See the picture at the link.

http://pineviewfarm.net/weblog/wp-co...7/05/xsane.jpg

Wow! Is it okay to set it as high as 600?? The default was 100 (unintelligible) and I put it up to 300. That was much better but still light and not that sharp. What about that "preview" screen...what does that enable you to do?

I've set it even higher--I did one scan at 1200 because my brother needed it to have printable resolution. 600 seems to be a nice middle ground. All that happens is the saved file gets bigger.

I have the Viewer selected (dialog at the top right of the interface)--that was the default and I've not been moved to change it. When I scan a document, it opens in a window. I can then decide whether I want to save it or need to try again.

I'm not sure that that's what you mean my "preview" screen. It's just what I'm used to.

What I meant was under Window (top right) where it says "Show Preview." What is that window for? Can you actually see the image prior to scanning it? I haven't figured out how to do that.

You can go up to 2400 based on the specs:
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/p...specifications

Have you tried using "the gimp" to scan? There's also gscan2pdf and simple-scan. As suggested I would try higher resolutions like 600 dpi. Sure, 300 dpi is the FAX standard of old, but most drivers assume 600 dpi (or higher) for the past decade or more.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/p...oscan-lide-110

Is The Gimp a scan program in itself or is it something that works in addition to xsane? What if you are copying a document that's more than a single page...is there is setting that will list however many pages as a single file? Thanks.

The Gimp, aka gimp. It's kind of a swiss army knife of image things. There's an xsane plugin for gimp. And a few other plugins that might prove useful.

https://www.gimp.org/

A few extra points.

Xsane is the most powerful program for just managing a scanner. Read all about it here
http://www.xsane.org/doc/sane-xsane-doc.html

The Gimp is Linux's answer to Photoshop. It's great!
http://docs.gimp.org/

Thanks for this! It sounds like xsane is the way to go, although I've read that Simple Skan is a bare bones program. Is Gimp difficult to use or is it user friendly? I was never able to get really comfortable with Picassa and it sounds something like that. This is all very helpful, though. Let me check it out!

So is there no need to use the actual software that accompanies the scanner? That's what I used previously and it did make it a bit easier to copy things. But I was using a Mac-mini and the software was compatible.

GIMP is big program that does a lot of things with images, so, no, it's not simple.

However, if all you want to do is scan, that's pretty straightforward. this explanation (PDF) is a great tutorial.

If you want to learn how to manipulate images with GIMP, this is the best site I've yet found: https://meetthegimp.org/ Go back through the archives, start with the earliest posts and work your way forward, and you will find a marvelous collection of video tutorials. Watch the first four and your friends will think you are an expert.

The GIMP is a marvelous program and well-worth getting acquainted with.

The GIMP program sounds wonderful...if you know what you're doing. So I imagine you could use cameras on it as well. Isn't there something called "acquire" that allows you to use your scanner in GIMP? What about printing output? Does GIMP function with that as well? As I say, I never got that proficient using Picassa and I've never used Photoshop. It sounds like GIMP is more powerful than both.