Mitch Wiedemann wrote: > I'm in the market for a new USB scanner. Of course I'd like it to be > easy to set up and to work flawlessly with FC1, Gimp, Sane, etc. Can > anyone give me a recommendation about current models on the market? Epson Perfection 1260 (with or without the slide adaptor, which is just a box that sits on top of the scanner glass when you scan slides). The scanner was plug-and-play, none of Epson's software and no non-free software drivers are needed. Simply plug in the power, the USB cable, and run xsane or the GIMP (of course, you'll want the xsane-gimp package installed to use the scanner from within the GIMP). A new Epson Perfection 1260 scanner should cost you around US$70 mail-order online (more in stores). A used refurbished one goes for about US$30. The 35mm slide adapter unit costs about US$40. Check http://www.pricewatch.com/ and http://froogle.google.com/ for prices and online stores. The only catch is to make sure you have version 1.0.10 or greater of the sane and version 0.45-5 or higher of the sane-backends. This is not a problem for FC1, as FC1 ships with a more recent version of all the necessary software. But it was an issue for RH9 and earlier users. See http://www.gjaeger.de/scanner/plustek.html#epson for more information. I mention this in case you upgraded from RH8 or RH9 and somehow did not upgrade the sane software packages. Happy scanning.
