plustek@linuxhacker.org

Subject: Re: EPSON Perfection 1260: lampOff, lOffOnEnd, initial position,hotplug
From: Gerhard Jaeger
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 12:46:58 +0200
Hi Gunther,

On Montag, 31. März 2003 10:41, Gunther Reiszig wrote:
[SNIPSNAP]
> Hi friends,
> I have exchanged my LIDE 20 for an EPSON Perfection 1260 last week,
> and yes, it produces scans that can be used!

good to hear. Please make sure to use the latest SANE-version 1.0.10 or .11
(will be the same, regarding the plustek-backend) - reasons:
- MOTOR-Killer bug esp. for EPSON 1260 is fixed there 
- warmup stuff has been fixed

>
> Still, I am having some questions:
>
> (i) Options lampOff, lOffOnEnd, warmup
> --------------------------------------
> Do these options work with the EPSON Perfection 1260 ?

Of course they do!

> With
>   option lampOff 300
>   option lOffOnEnd 1
> in the file plustek.conf, the lamp is moved back to its initial position
> and switched off immediately upon reaching that position. However, with
>   option lampOff 10
>   option lOffOnEnd 0
> in the file plustek.conf, the lamp is moved, but stops moving before
> reaching its initial position, and is never switched off. When scanimage
> is invoked the next time, the lamp moves back to its initial position.

Sounds somewhat strange! The options have nothing to do with the sensor
movement:

warmup means time in seconds to wait before scanning, when the light was off
lOffOnEnd means switch off the light, when the backend has been closes, i.e.
on xsane exit. 
lampOff specifies the time in seconds, when to switch off the lamp auto-
matically if not used... This timer will be reset upon every scan.

>
> In any case, light is kept on when the lamp is moving towards its initial
> position.
>
> Next, when I specify
>   option lampOff 10
>   option lOffOnEnd 0
>   option warmup 60
> the light is switched on, and after about 65 sec, the scanner starts to
> scan. Upon completion, the lamp is moved towards its initial position,
> stops before reaching it, and is kept on forever (see above). The next
> scanimage command would move the lamp to its initial position.
> Unfortunately, I have to wait another 65 secs before scanning starts,
> despite the fact that the lamp has been on for quite some time now.
>
> Q: * How to keep the lamp on for 300 sec after doing a scan?

option warmup 300

>    * How to avoid the warmup period when the lamp has been on for at least
>      the time specified in the warmup option?

should be implemented that way!

>    * Why do the named options have an effect on the moves the lamp is
>      making?

No idea, I'll check this!

>
> (ii) earlier output
> -------------------
> The lamp is always moved back after scanning and before the scanimage
> command terminates. Is there a way to avoid that? Is there a way to send
> the data to the printer as soon as that data is available so that the
> printer can start receiving data before scanimage terminates? (That would
> make copying much faster, I guess.)

Good idea

>
> (iii) hotplug
> -------------
> Can the module scanner be automatically loaded/removed if a scanner is
> plugged into/pulled off the USB connector. How would I do that?

Yes! Use the hotplug utilities:
See this page for some information on how to access a scanner via scanner.o
and/or libusb (lower half of the page):
http://www.angelfire.com/linux/crapsite/installation.html

I suggest the usage of libusb, as regarding the kernel-development, the
scanner.o module will disappear sooner or later.

If you have specific problems upon setting up the hotplug stuff, feel free to
ask....

Gerhard