Scanner drivers update for MorphOS 3.15, which should fix problems with scanner disconnection and transfer errors on Apple machines. Update script included.

Scanners_update.lha

Hi zukow,

thanks for the update!

I upload to MorphOS-Storage too

Excellent, thanks!

Thank you! Will try when I'm at home next week.

@ zukow - So, I can confirm on my MacMini MorphOS system that:

1. the USB devices are no longer blocked when/after the scanner is plugged in/out
2. Connection now works correctly when the program launches and the scanner is set to connect automatically

So that's great news, and thanks a lot for your trouble in fixing this long-term issue - I'll send you a donation if I can, or send one to the Dev. Team if that is the only other option - let me know how you'd prefer the donation to be handled.

However, the Settings gadget do not save the options of selecting JPEG as the preferred file save option, and that includes the "%" compression or Progressive option, or any other save-able options.

Also, the "automatically crop" option doesn't seem to work now, and it is not a save-able option as that also cannot be saved as part of any user settings, in fact I just don't think the Settings works/saves any user requirements at all, so that needs to be addressed/fixed. In fact I should mention that the SCANdal Amigaguide file is currently shown for SCANDAL 1.3, dated 27.12.2009, and it was mentioned in that file that the Scanning Settings would be made to function as a separate project - but that still does not seem to have been implemented as yet, so that is why they aren't being saved I suppose?

The SCANdal documents need a refresh/update and would be better if they were corrected for English readers - if you would like me to edit the current file to improve its readability then I will do that for you, just let me know if this is of any use to you?

The plugins seem to work OK with SCANdal v1.10, apart from the "Negative.plugin" which does the conversion but you cannot seem to "Undo" it - other than to choose the "clrcorrection.plugin" and preview/process the negative view back to a "positive" image.

Save project as, was always a strange option, as there does not seem to be any real use for it, as far as I can tell, as I get a virtually blank IFF file (FORM DATA w k n q x y Epson * 3 ) | * Perfection 1640 1 6 # o Q jpeg. muxer d TIFF COMPRESSION+0 e SUNRASTER BPP=24 f RAWVIDEO FORMAT=ARGB32 g PNG COMPRESSION=7 h JPEG COMPRESSION=92 PROGRESSIVE i IFFILBM COMPRESSION=0 BPP=24 j IFF DEEP COMPRESSION=0 BPP=24) created but it does not seem that the data as such is of any image, or is a Settings file that can be utilised as such, though that is what it appears it is more intended for it seems. It doesn't seem to be explained as to what use it should be used for either.

There is no MUI bubble-help on any gadget in the right-hand side of the interface, just on the left-hand gadgets for the rotate, crop, zoom options. I should also mention that the "FX" button is shown with MUI bubble help as Filters, but they are installed as "plugins" so there should be some continuity in what they are to be used/intended for so users don't get confused by there being 2 naming types for the one processing tool.

While I mention the GUI, the main window still cannot be sized to fully fit height/width in a 1280 x 1024 screen, and presumably other larger/smaller supported screenmodes. I think I have mentioned this before, but it is still an issue, and as a result of that screenmode issue the main program GUI window is only 3/4 of the page height, and the gadgets on the right hand side are oversized for their realistic usage, as the Left, Width, Top, Height gadget input fields are massive compared to their use, as they only hold 2 to 3 numeric for the "mm" area to scan, and so they seem to be one of the limiting factors in that part of the window being unnecessarily out of proportion.

For me, it would be a major improvement in the interface if the height of the main window could be resized to allow the whole screenmode height/width to be used, and the gadgets on the right hand field to be automatically moved over to the right slightly. Additionally a "Balance" MUI device would be an improvement if it allowed the gadgets to be shuffled further over to the right as required, which would allow the scan page to be viewed at a larger resolution than 3/4 of the page/screen/GUI interface height, and maybe a scrollbar gadget could be added to allow a page that is viewed as large as the available width will allow for the remaining vertical area, and maybe even the horizontal area, to be scrolled to see it all in greater detail for more accurate cropping or other uses.

The Mode, Resolution, Halftone, Gamma, Threshold, Sharpness, Option input gadgets and the Preview Mode checkmark gadget have already been made smaller than earlier SCANdal releases, but it is the lower half of the gadget section - the Left, Width, Top, Height gadget input fields that are still part of the trouble on the "Scan" tab, and the other gadgets on the "Save" tab that need addressing/fixing so it all works better, more efficiently.

If there was a Save As option then surely it would be great to have a "Save As ... PDF", especially if you could catalogue/combine several images into one file/PDF, so you could create a booklet from a few scans all saved as the one PDF - is this possible for a future implementation/feature?

The Print option seems to block the GUI/program, especially if there is no printer switched on/connected at the time, and there is also no option to select a method of printing or a device to use to print to, even if that is intended to be catered for via the default system printer. Sometimes you might want to print to another printing device than the default one, but printing does seem to be a major issue in that sense, and if no printer is detected after a short time, 30 seconds as a maximum, it should release itself from the task and generate an error requester, rather than block the whole program from then on tying up resources, probably justifying a reboot to be safe it isn't stopping other processes, especially printing from another application.

It was not my intention to make such a long response to your improvements to this program, as the improvements are beneficial, and fix the 2 issues previously mentioned in the Scandal and Mustek Bearpaw probs... thread, but they still need fixing, and ideally implementing that justify them being mentioned now.

Donations are always welcome :) my paypal is rzookol@poczta.onet.pl.
Regarding PDF, it is easy to be added but only in one page mode, i need to think about handling multipage save. Printing will be rewritten to handle my printing system. Projects are for storing current options set from connected scanner (scan parameters + checkmarks + selection). I need to analyze other things, especially ui issues.

@ zukow - thanks for taking on board my comments and observations, and hopefully most, if not all, of my points can be implemented by you, ideally with far less than a 11-12 year wait (v1.3 amigaguide text).

If you want the English amigaguide file to be updated by me then I will do that for you, if that is of any help?

Quote:
So, does that mean this is a type of "Saved Settings" file? ... or something else? As it seems to be a Settings option but is not possible to Load as a Settings file into the program. It seems like you intended this to be a Settings option but didn't get around to completing it being fully incorporated so it could be used like that, or is it something else?

I thought about the Print option a bit more, and for me, ideally, and probably for other users too, the "Print" button, should also have a menu option, and should include a settings option to select a device to print to (USBPAR: or NETPAR:, etc.) and/or look through the system "Printer(s)" available to be able to print specifically, and thus selectable, to the one required by a user.

The Print option/button might also be adapted to incorporate a "Print to/as PDF"

The fixes you have supplied now make working with SCANdal a lot simpler, and friendlier from a system point of view, and I hope the other issues I have tried to explain make it into a not too distant future update.

I'll send you a donation to the address you've supplied in the next few days, as you definitely deserve it from my POV.

In my case update does'nt work. Same problem as before -> Connection error!

40416165ri.jpeg

40416166gk.jpeg

Scanner is connected to PowerMacs internal USB-Port (Front-port).

Useing following system:

SYSTEM: PowerMac7,3
REGISTERED: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PROCESSOR: 970FX (G5) (V3.0) 2300MHz (FSB 1150MHz)
PROCESSOR: 970FX (G5) (V3.0) 2300MHz (FSB 1150MHz)
VERSION: MorphOS version 3.15, Ambient version 1.44, Kickstart version 51.48
RAM: Node type $8A, Attributes $1505 (FAST), at $14000CA8-$80000000 (~1728.0 meg)
BOARDS:
Vendor $1002 Device $4150 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI], RV350 [Radeon 9550/9600/X1050 Series]
Vendor $106B Device $0059 Apple Inc., U3H AGP Bridge
Vendor $106B Device $0040 Apple Inc., K2 KeyLargo USB
Vendor $106B Device $0040 Apple Inc., K2 KeyLargo USB
Vendor $1033 Device $0035 NEC Corporation, OHCI USB Controller
Vendor $1033 Device $0035 NEC Corporation, OHCI USB Controller
Vendor $1033 Device $00E0 NEC Corporation, uPD72010x USB 2.0 Controller
Vendor $1033 Device $0035 NEC Corporation, OHCI USB Controller
Vendor $1033 Device $0035 NEC Corporation, OHCI USB Controller
Vendor $1033 Device $00E0 NEC Corporation, uPD72010x USB 2.0 Controller
Vendor $106B Device $0043 Apple Inc., K2 ATA/100
Vendor $106B Device $0042 Apple Inc., K2 FireWire
Vendor $106B Device $004C Apple Inc., K2 GMAC (Sun GEM)
Vendor $1166 Device $0240 Broadcom, K2 SATA

Are you perfectly sure that correct scanner driver is selected? Anything in debuglog?

Damm - you are right! Prefs-path for device points to wrong directory. Your script renews the devices in MOSSYS: and not in Scandals homedirectory (as they where located in earlier Scandal-versions) - did'nt recognize that.
Thank you - now it works!

@ zukow - I know it's been a while since you fixed the communications error with SCANdal - which I am grateful for, but there are a few issues that remain when using SCANdal that get me a bit frustrated.

I remember using a lot ScanQuix, by Andreas Günther, his scanning software was a great program and I can't remember it left anything to request updates for. So, maybe I/we were all a little "spoilt" when using that program as that's the program I use as a benchmark for any other scanning programs.

Anyway, here are my questions/requests:

SCANdal seems to only be capable of precision to 1mm rather than 1 pixel. I cannot get the SCANdal cursor to move with such precision so that I either end up with sections smaller than wanted/necessary, or needing cropping in another image editing program after I've used SCANdal. Is it possible to "tweak" the precision to get this to happen?

Also, I noticed that when I choose an area with the SCANdal cursor the rest of the page goes black, so when I need to choose an adjacent area of the page I have to rescan the whole page, even at low resolution (50 dpi) to see what section I need to move to next to scan. So, is it possible to retain a visual of the whole scan area so this rescaning process is no longer necessary?

Also, when I used ScanQuix and scanned several pages/images of/from, for instance, a manual the program used to retain a "history" of the saved/scanned files within its GUI so you knew what you'd scanned as a reminder of any more scans that were still to do - is this possible to implement? I know the place any files/data were saved last could be accessed, via the file requester, to see what has been saved already, but it is very handy to have a visual directly in the program there and then rather than looking back into the system to find what you need.

I also noticed that when I have a small area that I've scanned if I need to move or adjust the size of the frame I have arranged in SCANdal that I have already scanned, then if I quickly place the mouse cursor or the SCANdal cursor over the scan frame boundary then sometimes, if I move it quickly, and don't wait long enough for the program to react, as I'd expect it to, the cursor does not change to the correct one for the position it is over. Sometimes I have to hover or move back and forth over the edge, corner or centre spot to get the cursor to change to the required cursor. So, when I think I have the correct position of the edge cursor (double ended arrow) or corner cursor (diagonal double-ended arrow) or the placement cursor (4-way arrow) over an area I might end up clicking with one or the other cursors on a part and the cursor is not actually the correct, as-in, it has not had time to metamorphosize into the intended cursor for the position I am clicking on and accidentally making the scan area totally different than what I wanted. Sometimes this goes back to the full scan area which is a real nuisance - can this be fixed?

Why does SCANdal not save the selected image type when you save its settings, as the default IFF-ILBM saver for scans always is the image type that appears when SCANdal is launched, which is a nuisance - can this be fixed?

The interface has a fixed size window, so over half of the width of the screen is taken over by the buttons and gadgets, which ideally could be resized, moved to the right, possibly with a balance gadget, to allow the buttons and gadgets to be reduced/minimalised in size, or alternatively a separate gadgets window and a separate scan area window, so they could be moved independently of one another, so that a user could enlarge the view of the scan area so that more detail of the scan area could be seen even without zooming into the screen/scan area - can this be re-worked to function better?

I know you're busy with other MorphOS tasks in any case, but it would be great to have this program that little bit more precise, and responsive, with these features fixed.

Thx Zukw for this big update !
My Epson 1260 is now really happy ;)