scanimage notes

1_scanimage.md

List devices:

scanimage --list-devices

Get device capability:

scanimage --help --device-name=brother4

Do not use /dev path here but the first part of the device string provided by the list devices command:

brother4:bus2;dev1 -> brother4

Scan all the files in the automatic document feeder:

scanimage --source "ADF Duplex" --resolution 300 --mode Gray --format=tiff --batch=bank_statement_p%04d.tiff

Be careful to use a pattern in the --batch argument. Without it, the same file would be overwritten again and again.

For OCR

prefer True Gray than Gray. Gray produce dithering and is used to simulate Grayscale on scanner only able to do black and white. Although resolution can propose very high values (9600 dpi) only some of those are managed natively by the scanner. A 300 dpi scanner can produce a 9600dpi scan but it just will be interpolated (no real quality gain). Prefer TIFF (lossless). scanimage does not produce compressed TIFF which can generate big files. You can compress on the fly with imagemagick:

scanimage --format=tiff | convert -compress LZW tiff:- page1.tiff

sane_issues.md

Here is a list of interesting issues:

Use of python to communicate directly with the scanner: sane-project/backends#622

ScanSnap_iX2400.md

https://gitlab.com/sane-project/backends/-/issues/838