I'm trying to install iscan (Espon scanner frontend) in Ubuntu Gutsy. I've installed SANE (sudo apt-get install sane), SANE library (sudo apt-get install libsane) and SANE utilities (sudo apt-get install sane-utils). I also installed rpm (sudo apt-get install rpm) so that I could install the iscan rpm package (sudo rpm -i iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386.rpm) I downloaded as a Debian driver (retrieved through the Epson website from AVASYS). This is where I run into problems, as there seem to be a bunch of dependency problems. Hopefully, some simple package will cure most of the problems. What really baffles me is the line that says sane-backends is needed. On trying to install sane-backends, I get a message that the package cannot be found. In addition, it tells me that /bin/sh is needed. I thought I already had that.
Here is the terminal output after trying to install iscan:

error: Failed dependencies:
/bin/sh is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libatk-1.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3.4) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libdl.so.2 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgcc_s.so.1 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgcc_s.so.1(GCC_3.0) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libglib-2.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgmodule-2.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgobject-2.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libieee1284.so.3 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libjpeg.so.62 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libm.so.6 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libnsl.so.1 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libpango-1.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libpangox-1.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libpangoxft-1.0.so.0 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libstdc++.so.6 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libstdc++.so.6(CXXABI_1.3) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libstdc++.so.6(GLIBCXX_3.4) is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
libusb-0.1.so.4 is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386
sane-backends is needed by iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386

Any ideas? I am using slackware, these are way to many dependencies as they appear. As for using gutsy I think you could just sudo apt-get at least some of them.

I never did figure it out. I've subsequently upgraded to Hardy and haven't given it a try yet. I will probably give it another try, but there is no sense of urgency at this time. I'll let you know if I stumble across the answer.
Though I love linux, this is one of those areas where Windoze has a definite advantage over linux. I've just been booting up my Win2K box when I need to scan something.

Chuck

I just got the Avasys driver working under Hardy. I'm using an Epson Perfection 4180, which is the predecessor of the 4190 so there should really be no difference. If you haven't done so already make sure to get libsane and libsane-extras as well as sane and sane-utils. I'm not sure how you got your .deb package so I'd recommend going back to the Avasys website and downloading both rpm's--iscan as well as iscan-plugin--that's right, rpm's here

Then get alien (sudo apt-get install alien) if you don't have it. Convert the rpm's to deb like so

sudo alien -d --scripts iscan-2.10*.rpm
sudo alien -d --scripts iscan-plugin*.rpm

Make sure to include --scripts for both. Now plug in and turn on the scanner. The scanner probably won't come on, but that doesn't mean it's not being detected. To check and see, type sane-find-scanner and you should see something like

found USB scanner (vendor=0x04b8 [EPSON], product=0x0118 [EPSON Scanner]) at libusb:005:004

(I think the 4490 might have 0x0119 or similar; don't worry about the numbers after libusb)

Then install the deb packages using dpkg via the terminal

sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite iscan_2.10*.deb
sudo dpkg -i iscan-plugin*.deb

(you need to use --force-overwrite for iscan but not the plugin, in order to resolve a conflict with libsane-extras...however libsane-extras must be installed for all of this to work)

Now type

sudo iscan

and the scanner should power on. (After the first time you should be able to run iscan as normal user, without sudo) Hope this helps.

I couldn't find the iscan-plugin rpm. I went ahead and installed v2.11 (on Hardy) following your lead (without the plugin) and got to the final point of trying the scanner. After typing iscan (and sudo iscan), I just get the same dialog that says "Could not send command to scanner. Check the scanner's status." That's ends the experiment with my Perfection 610 - so far.
Where did you find the plugin? What does it do?

BTW, it works great in XP running on a VMWare virtual machine.

Thanks,
Chuck

Hmm...the plugin rpm isn't listed for the 610--it is listed for most of the other models as

iscan-plugin-gt-f600-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm

You might want to try grabbing both rpms for one of the other models, for example the 4180 (maybe find version 2.10 instead). But uninstall your current deb before installing other ones. You could also try building the source rpm although that probably won't work with the 4.x gcc compilers. Any success with these drivers appears to be quite unpredictable.

As far as I can tell the plugin is used by the gimp and maybe xsane. I don't see why it would be essential for running the main iscan program. I am surprised yours works in a VM though. My scanner the VM (XP) every time I turn it on.

I'll try one of the other plugins and see if it works. Right now I'm trying to get SANE to load the driver. From what I have been reading (and trying) so far, there are some needs to make some adjustments to the dll.conf, epkowa.conf and epson.conf files. But none of these moves have made a difference yet. My biggest problem is that the epkowa driver is apparently not getting loaded (as verified by scanimage -L). The scanner shows up in lsusb and with sane-find-scanner, so it is there. I'll keep working at it and will report if I have any success.
There seems to be a word missing from your comment about VM (XP) on your machine, so I don't quite understand what you're saying. I'm pleased that my scanner works flawlessly in VM, but I would rather have a native solution.

Chuck