Dear Dev-Team, first of all I'm a complete newbie in terms of scanners resp. the development of sane. I hope you can help me a bit to sort out some questions.
Background: We are going to develop a new kind of scientific measurement device which acts similar to a scanner. Our measurements are latterly resolved e.g. we can create a pixel by pixel map whereas the measurement signal might be represented by a colour. This is, so fare well known already for similar devices already (Actually, it is not different to a normal scanner). Our reading unit can read line by line and thus we are thinking to use the mechanical set-up of a normal scanner to acquire a complete picture. Idea: For sure, it would be perfect, if we can address this type of new scanner in the same way like a normal scanner. E.g. by TWAIN-Protocol or by SANE. This guarantees to capture measurements many kind of different software. Problem: I have totally no idea how the communication between a scanner and the computer works. I read about intelligent scanners which just get commands like "scan with 600dpi one A4 page" and about dumb scanners which requires commands like "turn on stepper motor for next line, scan line, etc." Is there any information available which might help me to identify which basic scanner set-up might be the best for our purpose. I guess the dumb version gives us access to lower level functions which we might need ?Any kind of this hacks known already ? Does somebody know a scanner brand or a specific model which is easy hackable for our purpose. Is there one out with full open/known programming interface or does this require always a reverse engineering of all the different commands ? Is there a sane-dev favourite scanner due to the easiness of use and addressing ? A USB-model might be preferable but a LPT-based model might be easier to access ?! I appreciate any kind of information and help. Best regards Totti
