Hi Tim, True, it doesn't "just work". For starters you need to get the firmware (snape52.bin) for the scanner. There's a high chance Ubuntu won't be able to distribute this due to licensing restrictions, therefore it's difficult to make this scanner work out of the box.
It would be nice if Ubuntu could make it as easy as possible for the user to install the firmware, for example by guiding them through the installation, but making the end user aware of their responsibilities. There are examples elsewhere of packages which can't be redistributed but which are still easy to install e.g. Adobe Flash (small package goes off and fetch Flash plugin from Adobe's servers), Sun Java (package asks user to accept Sun license upon installation). If devices with proprietary firmware (e.g. this scanner, USB broadband modems) used such an approach, then more hardware would be usable by more of the Ubuntu user population. However I think the original poster had problems getting the scanner to work at all, so at least there's been real progress here, therefore I'd close this bug (but I'm not sure on Ubuntu's bug status change procedures). Thanks, Paul -- snapscan e25 doesn"t work https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/110111 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
