En/iscan software 64 bit

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Image Scan: an image scanning software for Epson scanners was the subject of a previous paper (en/iscan_software), where the software build procedure for a standard 32 bit Slackware Linux distribution was described in detail.

Newer Image Scan releases introduced some useful features:

1. Support for a wider range of scanners.
2. Full 64 bit architecture support.
3. udev integration for device handling, recognition and configuration.

The Avasys web site was subject of a redesign too. The web pages were updated in order to provide users with two download links:

• One for the scanning software and data packages.
• A second one for plug-in packages containing both drivers and firmware for the selected scanner.

The following link points to the download page for the latest Iscan release available, release 2.26.1 at present:

  software

The plug-in download page link follows:

  plug-ins

Were you unsure about which plug-in to download, you are strongly suggested to visit the Avasys download page and to select your scanner model among the listed ones. By selecting the scanner and filling in the form at page bottom you'll be redirected to a download page where to find links to the plug-in.

This paper is about the build procedure for Iscan packages aimed to run on a 32 or 64 bit Slackware Linux.

All tests for the present paper were performed using an Epson "Perfection v200 Photo" scanner.

We'll assume that both the sane and xsane packages are installed and properly functioning.

Iscan release 2.26

Image Scan release 2.26.1 consists of 3 distinct components:

• The Iscan scanning software.
• Some scripts for udev subsystem integration.
• Plug-ins consisting of proprietary drivers and firmware for scanners.

Avasys releases the source code for both the two former components. It is therefore possible to build related packages for the Linux distribution of choice. The latter package is released in binary form only; a conversion to tgz or txz format of a supported distribution package is mandatory. We'll convert the Fedora packages that can be downloaded from the Awasys web site.

Download the scripts and follow the steps listed below to produce Slackware packages:

1. Software Build.
2. Plug-in rpm package conversion to a txz archive, the latest Slackware supported package format.
3. Packages install and system configuration.
4. Sane / Xsane integration (Optional).
5. Gimp integration (Optional).

Software Build

Iscan release 2.26 consists of two packages: iscan-data and iscan. The former contains some configuration files and scripts needed by udev. The latter contains the scanning software itself. Let's start with iscan-data. Download the iscan-data.tar.gz archive into the /tmp directory and open a root shell. The archive can be decompressed issuing commands:

 root@darkstar04:/root# cd /tmp
 root@darkstar04:/tmp# tar -zxf iscan-data.tar.gz

Directory "iscan-data" will be created into /tmp. The new directory should contain:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp# cd iscan-data
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-data# ls -la
  total 32
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-11-26 16:14 .
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2010-12-12 20:26 ..
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  373 2010-11-26 16:15 README
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  323 2010-07-08 15:54 doinst.sh
  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6438 2010-12-12 20:26 iscan-data.SlackBuild
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  434 2010-11-26 16:18 iscan-data.info
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  796 2010-07-21 17:11 slack-desc

File iscan.info will provide you with a download link for the source code and a checksum, parameter MD5SUM, useful to check the downloaded archive integrity.

Download the source code archive into directory /tmp/iscan-data and check its consistency:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-data# md5sum iscan-data_1.5.0-0.tar.gz 
  666cb5a79abe0ba23f1d8169ce709713  iscan-data_1.5.0-0.tar.gz

Should the checksum output differ from the one found inside the iscan-data.info file, the downloaded archive is probably corrupted. Download it again possibly from a different source.

Let's suppose the check concluded successfully; we'll proceed updating iscan-data.Slackbuild file. The variables at the script beginning need proper value assignment. Open the file with your text editor of choice and update the VERSION parameter to match the downloaded software release number. The variables should be initialized as follows:

  PRGNAM="iscan-data"
  VERSION=${VERSION:-"1.5.0-0"}
  VERSION_SHORT=`echo ${VERSION} | awk -F\- '{ print $1 }'`
  ARCH=${ARCH:-"i486"}
  BUILD=${BUILD:-1}
  TAG=${TAG:-"_sg"}

Variable ARCH imposes the target architecture for the build process. Use value i486 for a 32 bit Intel machine. Change the value into x86_64 if you desire to produce a package able to run on a 64 bit machine.

  ARCH=${ARCH:-"x86_64"}

Once the package version and targeted architecture match your needs, it is possible to start software compilation issuing commands:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-data# chmod a+rx iscan-data.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-data# ./iscan-data.SlackBuild

The former command assigns execution permissions to the build script while the latter executes the script itself. The script will then take all actions needed to create a working package into directory /tmp. The package will be ready upon script conclusion. Run the following commands to install the package:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-data# cd /tmp
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# installpkg iscan-data-1.5.0-i486-1_sg.txz for 32 bit machines.
  or
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# installpkg iscan-data-1.5.0-x86_64-1_sg.txz for 64 bit machines.

Root privileges are of course needed to install the packages.

The very same procedure is useful to build Image Scan 2.26 software. Download the iscan.tar.gz archive into directory /tmp and decompress it by running:

  root@darkstar04:/root# cd /tmp
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# tar -zxf iscan.tar.gz

A new directory named "iscan" will be created containing:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp# cd iscan
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan# ls -la
  total 40
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-11-26 16:14 .
  drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2010-12-12 20:37 ..
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  868 2010-07-10 23:54 README
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  114 2009-05-04 05:54 doinst.sh
  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9039 2010-12-12 20:37 iscan.SlackBuild
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  185 2009-05-03 19:18 iscan.desktop
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  414 2010-11-26 16:21 iscan.info
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  753 2009-05-03 19:18 slack-desc

Again the download source for the software source code and the checksum value can be found inside file with extension *.info: iscan.info.

Download the source code archive into directory /tmp/iscan and check its consistency:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan# md5sum iscan_2.26.1-3.tar.gz 
  106a40eb5b40bfc53311238ed47c3f07  iscan_2.26.1-3.tar.gz

Update the variables at the beginning of script iscan.SlackBuild. Variable values should be initialized to match the following ones:

  PRGNAM="iscan"
  VERSION=${VERSION:-"2.26.1-3"}
  VERSION_SHORT=`echo ${VERSION} | awk -F\- '{ print $1 }'`
  ARCH=${ARCH:-"i486"}
  BUILD=${BUILD:-1}
  TAG=${TAG:-"_sg"}

As for the previous build, variable ARCH should be modified to build a 64 bit package:

  ARCH=${ARCH:-"x86_64"}

After the configuration, a package can be built and installed running commands:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan# chmod a+rx iscan.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan# ./iscan.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan# cd /tmp
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# installpkg iscan-2.26.1-i486-1_sg.txz for 32 bit machines.
  oppure
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# installpkg iscan-2.26.1-x86_64-1_sg.txz for 64 bit machines.

Plug-in rpm archive conversion

The third and final Iscan component consists of the binary plug-in which connects the computer to the attached scanner. The plug-in is provided by Avasys in binary form only and thus needs to be extracted from a rpm archive. A different plug-in is needed for each scanner and for each architecture. Packages provided for scanner Epson "Perfection v200 Photo" are: iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.1.0-3.c2.i386.rpm and iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.1.0-3.c2.x86_64.rpm respectively for 32 and 64 bit machines.

Download archive iscan-plugin.tar.gz into directory /tmp and decompress it:

  root@darkstar04:/root# cd /tmp
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# tar -zxf iscan-plugin.tar.gz

The newly created iscan-plugin directory should contain:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp# cd iscan-plugin
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# ls -la
  total 32
  drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-12-12 18:28 .
  drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2010-12-12 20:45 ..
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1685 2010-07-10 23:40 README
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  114 2010-07-11 20:10 doinst.sh
  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7328 2010-12-12 20:45 iscan-plugin.SlackBuild
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2518 2010-11-25 01:01 iscan-plugin.info
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  819 2010-07-11 20:25 slack-desc

As usual download source and checksum value are available inside the file with *.info extension.

What follows are the download, consistency check, conversion and install operations for both 32 and 64 bit plug-in package versions. Steps for a 32 bit machine are:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# md5sum iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.1.0-3.c2.i386.rpm 
  193e270a38ac9941f03e012bb3bb4483  iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.1.0-3.c2.i386.rpm

Values for the iscan-plugin.SlackBuild script variables are:

  PRGNAM="iscan-plugin"
  # Select one among gt-f670, gt-f700, gt-f720, gt-1500, gt-s80, gt-s600, gt-x750
  # or gt-x770.
  PLUGIN="gt-f670"
  VERSION="2.1.0"
  RPM_VERSION="3.c2"   # This is the build number used by Avasys Fedora Rpm
  ARCH=${ARCH:-"i386"}
  BUILD=${BUILD:-1}
  TAG=${TAG:-"_sg"}

Set the proper values and execute the usual commands:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# chmod a+rx iscan-plugin.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# ./iscan-plugin.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# cd /tmp
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# installpkg iscan-plugin-2.1.0-i386-1_SBo.txz

For 64 bit machines:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# md5sum iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.1.0-3.c2.x86_64.rpm 
  64399c73c701d0c45b9135c43613c96d  iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.1.0-3.c2.x86_64.rpm

Values for the iscan-plugin.SlackBuild script variables are:

  PRGNAM="iscan-plugin"
  # Select one among gt-f670, gt-f700, gt-f720, gt-1500, gt-s80, gt-s600, gt-x750
  # or gt-x770.
  PLUGIN="gt-f670"
  VERSION="2.1.0"
  RPM_VERSION="3.c2"   # This is the build number used by Avasys Fedora Rpm
  ARCH=${ARCH:-"x86_64"}
  BUILD=${BUILD:-1}
  TAG=${TAG:-"_sg"}

Set the proper values and run the following commands in sequence:

  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# chmod a+rx iscan-plugin.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# ./iscan-plugin.SlackBuild
  root@darkstar04:/tmp/iscan-plugin# cd /tmp
  root@darkstar04:/tmp# installpkg iscan-plugin-2.1.0-x86_64-1_SBo.txz

System configuration

If the three packages were installed following the order described above: isca-data, iscan, iscan-plugin, no further configuration should be needed. Udev subsystem rules plus file /var/lib/iscan/interpreter are enough for the computer to recognize the attached scanner and to load the proper firmware.

If any issue should arise, rules file, /etc/udev/rules.d/60-iscan.rules, can be manually created running: /usr/lib/iscan-data/make-policy-file --force --mode udev --out-file /etc/udev/rules.d/60-iscan.rules Wile file /var/lib/iscan/interpreter can be edited with a text editor of choice adding a line for each scanner needed library and commenting out the other ones.

If nothing seems to solve the issue, reinstalling packages in the correct order should do the trick.

What follows are images taken while running release 2.26.1 of Image Scan on a 64 bit Slackware 13.1.

Sane / xsane integration

Iscan can be run without any specific configuration, for sane or xsane some files need to be updated inserting proper information instead: information related to the scanner model. The touched files were listed in the previous article about Image Scan release 2.11. All files are located into the /etc/sane.d directory; they are:

• /etc/sane.d/dll.conf
• /etc/sane.d/epkowa.conf

The /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf file was replaced by /var/lib/iscan/interpreter and is not needed anymore.

If a /etc/sane.d/dll.conf file already exists in your system, insert the back-end Sane will use to communicate with the scanner. Add a single line containing the word "epkowa" to the file.

File /etc/sane.d/epkowa.conf is used to inform Sane if the scanner were usb or scsi connected. Remove the comment character, "#" , from the line containing the right connection port.

Gimp integration

Image Scan can be configured as a Gimp plug-in. Gimp is the best known image manipulation program under Linux. The Gimp integration will allow to run Iscan from within the program and to import images from the scanner. The procedure consists of creating some links to the right executable files. For Gimp release 2.x (latest stable release is 2.6) open a root shell and execute the following command:

  root@darkstar04:/root# ln -s /usr/bin/iscan `gimptool-2.0 --gimpplugindir`/plug-ins/

For older release 1.2 run instead command:

  root@darkstar04:/root# ln -s /usr/bin/iscan `gimptool --gimpplugindir`/plug-ins/

Conclusion

The present paper discussed the installation procedure for a recent Image Scan release, 2.25 or 2.26, able to run on both a 32 or 64 bit Linux box and as such on any Slackware Linux release from 13.0 on.

The links to the Image Scan 2.26.1 and Image Scan Data 1.5.0 slackware packages follow. The packages are distributed in the hope they could be helpful:

• 32 bit.
  • Image Scan 2.26.1
  • Image Scan 2.26.1 md5 checksum
  • Image Scan Data 1.5.0
  • Image Scan Data 1.5.0 md5 checksum
• 64 bit.
  • Image Scan 2.26.1
  • Image Scan 2.26.1 md5 checksum
  • Image Scan Data 1.5.0
  • Image Scan 2.26.1 md5 checksum

Plug-in are not distributed with an open source license and thus can be downloaded from the Avasys web site.

For any feedback, questions, errors and such, please e-mail me at studiosg [at] giustetti [dot] net

External links

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Avasys Corporation

Avasys Corporation download page

Gimp home page

Sane home page

Slackware home page

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Languages: English - Italiano