SANE: External Backends (Drivers)

This is only a summary! Please consult the manpages and the author-supplied webpages for more detailed (and usually important) information concerning each backend.

If you have new information or corrections, please file a bug report with as many details as possible. Also please tell us if your scanner isn't mentioned in this list at all.

For an explanation of the tables, see the legend.

There are tables for scanners, still cameras, video cameras, APIs, and meta backends.

Scanners

Backends: brother, epkowa, genesys, hp4200, hpaio, hpoj, hp_rts88xx, lhii, primax, scanwit, viceo

Backend: brother

Link(s): http://solutions.brother.com/Library/sol/printer/linux/sane_drivers.html, http://home.arcor.de/matthus/20041104.html
Comment: Supports only USB models. External backend made by brother. As this software contains non-free parts, it can't be included into SANE. Several reports about this backend tell us that it doesn't seem to work at least in older versions. The second link has some more information about this backend. Please tell us if your scanner works with that backend.

Backend: epkowa (1.15.0)

Link(s): http://www.avasys.jp/english/linux_e/dl_scan.html
Manual page: sane-epkowa
Comment: Based on the epson backend of sane-backends-1.0.15.

Backend: genesys

Link(s): http://www.meier-geinitz.de/sane/genesys-backend/
Comment: This backend does not exist yet!

Backend: hp4200

Link(s): http://hp4200-backend.sourceforge.net
Comment: Patches for newer versions of SANE are available from http://www.zago.net/sane/#hp4200. This backend is not yet included because nobody who owns such a scanner wants to maintain it.

Backend: hpaio

Link(s): http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/
Comment: This backend isn't included in SANE because it is included in the HPLIP software.

Backend: hpoj

Link(s): http://hpoj.sourceforge.net/
Comment: This backend isn't included because the authors of hpoj want to keep the backend together with the rest of the hpoj project. See the hpoj website for the latest releases.

Backend: hp_rts88xx

Link(s): http://hp44x0backend.sourceforge.net

Backend: lhii

Link(s): http://www.sane-project.org/backends/lhii/lhii-v0.2.tgz
Comment: This backend is for old handscanners with proprietary adapter cards. You also need a kernel driver. You may find such drivers at that page: http://www.willamowius.de/scanner.html .

Backend: primax

Link(s): http://px-backend.sourceforge.net
Comment: This backend is not included because it depends on the code of the primax command line program. Therefore the author wants to keep it in the primax CVS tree.

Backend: scanwit

Link(s): ftp://ftp.mccme.ru/users/ushakov/scanwit
Comment: The backend is not included because it lacks code for safe detection of the scanner and documentation.

Backend: viceo (0.6)

Link(s): mailto:viceo@stevencherie.net, http://viceo.orcon.net.nz/
Comment: Supports E3 and E4 family USB scanners from Genius, Primax, IBM. The backend is not included because the license situation is unclear. Also it only works on Linux and needs a a patch for the kernel scanner driver which isn't available on 2.6.

Still Cameras

Backends: (none)

Video Cameras

Backends: (none)

APIs

Backends: v4l2

Backend: v4l2

Link(s): http://video.inodes.org/sane-v4l2/
Comment: The status of this backend is unknown. It hasn't been updated for years. The v4l2 API is now in Linux 2.5 but it's not clear if the v4l2 backend is compatible to that API.
Description: Interface to Video For Linux 2 API

Meta Backends

Backends: (none)

Legend:

Backend:

Name of the backend, in parentheses if available: Version of backend/driver; newer versions may be available from their home sites.
NEW! means brand-new to the current release of SANE.
UNMAINTAINED means that nobody maintains that backend. Expect no new features or newly supported devices. You are welcome to take over maintainership.

Link(s):

Link(s) to more extensive and detailed information, if it exists, or the email address of the author or maintainer.

Manual Page:

A link to the man-page online, if it exists.

Comment:

More information about the backend or model, e.g. the level of support and possible problems.

Manufacturer:

Manufacturer, vendor or brand name of the device.

Model:

Name of the the device.

Interface:

How the device is connected to the computer.

Status:

Indicates how many of the features the device provides are supported by SANE.

• unsupported means the device is not supported at least by this backend. It may be supported by other backends, however.
• untested means the device may be supported but couldn't be tested. Be very careful and report success/failure.
• minimal means that the device is detected and scans at least in one mode. But the quality is bad or important features won't work.
• basic means it works at least in the most important modes but quality is not perfect.
• good means the device is usable for day-to-day work. Some rather exotic features may be missing.
• complete means the backends supports everything the device can do.

Description:

The scope of application of the backend.