My vote goes to the Fujitsu 620C I just bought. Although I read that the newer 4120 is even better, if you don't need the flatbed part. The main thing I've been reading in the reviews is that the "home" models with the ADF feature don't seem have a ADF that is as robust and trouble free as the office models. An exception might be the Fujitsu ScanSnap!, but I don't know if Sane supports it and it internally processes images to PDF's only. I believe PDF images use JPEG encoding, because I have seen the JPEG type distortion in them.
Unfortunately, the Fujitsu 620C is not perfectly supported by Sane. The sp15c backend doesn't have the brightness/contast functions plumbed to the frontends, and so I have hacked the code to make it read a file for those values. This sp15c code requires someone's patient attention. The Avision backend works, but for some reason I cannot get the brightness/contrast effect to work as satisfactory as with the sp15c backend. So I am using the sp15c backend, with the hack. The major issue I have found is finding software for batch scanning. If you have black and white papers all the same size, you are homefree. If you have many items of considerable diversity, look for a scanner with an ADF that will take multiple sized docs in the same feeder batch, so you don't have to continuously adjust it by hand. I vaguely think I saw an ad for such a thing. Also find software to do what you need for organizing your scans. I have been writing my own perl scripts to control the scanner and do file processing and saving. With a fast scanner, that is where the majority of my time is spent, not scanning the documents. My issue with the 620C is software, the hardware is excellent. Don't forget to check Ebay and factory refurbished outlets for whatever you decide to get. Garrick >From: Jeff Kowalczyk <j...@yahoo.com> >To: sane-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org >Subject: [sane-devel] Need recomendation linux/sane compat scanner w/ fast >2bit/greyscale ADF >Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 18:33:42 -0800 (PST) > >After a long while of doing without, I may suddenly need a good scanner for >a >collection of documents. I would like to find something with the following >characteristics, if anyone has tried a model that fits the bill. > >a) Linux and SANE compatibility exists today. Limited feature support OK. > >b) ADF (or ADF option) that has good paper-feed reliability > >c) USB (2.0/highspeed) or Firewire interface > >d) I really only care about fast b/w and greyscale 300dpi scanning through >the >ADF, controlled by the command-line interface. Other scanning concerns are >very >minimal, I could use a more common scanner for that. > >Hoping for something in the $400-$800 range (new, including ADF), depending >on >how fast it is for this type of scanning. I'd also be interested in >SANE-ready >models with very high scanning speeds that happen to cost a bit more >($1000-$2000). I really wish the HP 5550c had SANE compatibility, that >model >seems perfect otherwise. > >Thanks if anyone has any recommendations. > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. >http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html > >-- >sane-devel mailing list: sane-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org >http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/sane-devel >Unsubscribe: Send mail with subject "unsubscribe your_password" > to sane-devel-requ...@lists.alioth.debian.org _________________________________________________________________ All the action. All the drama. Get NCAA hoops coverage at MSN Sports by ESPN. http://msn.espn.go.com/index.html?partnersite=espn
