Thanks for the help given over trying to set up my Snapscan e20. Someone suggested the root problem was a buggy firmware file - now upgraded.
However, although Xsane/scanimage have been generally communicating fine with the backend things do not seem to be very predictable. Right now scanimage returns: [snapscan] Cannot open firmware file /usr/local/etc/sane.d/Snape20.bin [snapscan] Edit the firmware file in snapscan.conf scanimage: open of device snapscan:/dev/usb/scanner0 failed: Invalid argument and Xsane returns: Failed to open snapscan:/dev/usb/scanner0 Invalid argument This happened a few days ago and then suddenly everything was working fine, though I had done nothing. Now I'm back here again, and I haven't a clue I'm afraid. Any advice? Thanks, Alisdair