Recommendation for Linux scanner?

I have used my Epson Perfection 3170 Photo scanner for years, but only very seldom. Recently I switched to using a different Linux OS on this machine, and now I cannot get the Epson driver to compile. I've spent too much time on it, and this has happened several times in the last few years whenever I have made changes to my system. It is a good basic scanner but it is old and not worth the time I have had to put into it due to driver issues.

So I'd like to purchase a new scanner that has good solid software support for current 64-bit Linux OS's, and I am hoping that one of you will have direct personal experience with at least one.

Can you recommend me an inexpensive basic flatbed USB scanner (I now only use it for documents) that has current Linux software support with free and easily available Linux/Debian compatible drivers?

Thanks,
Keith

Hi Keith,

Vuescan works well with many scanners on Linux. Vuescan comes as a precompiled binary that will work on Debian. Be aware, however, that not all scanners working on other platforms work on Linux, so you better send the vuescan developers an email to double check before purchasing. I have an Epson v850 and a Plustek OpticFilm 8200i. The Epson works on Linux/OpenBSD with vuescan, the Plustek does not. Both are supported on Mac/Win.

If you want to stick with free/open source software (FOSS) scanning software, check out the scanner hardware compatibility list of libsane, the scanning library used in Linux and BSD. The vast majority of FOSS desktop scanning programs use libsane as their backend. You can run ‘apt-cache info <program name>’ on Debian to check if this is the case for a program. Note that vuescan offers better film scanning than any FOSS program I’ve encountered, including infrared clean support.

I hope this helps!
Anders

I use an Epson V39 with the epson drivers. I use it with both Windows 10 and Linux Mint. It was very easy to get running. It also gets power from the USB. With Linux I use it with Simple Scan which was bundled with the OS.

Thanks for the great suggestions! You have reminded me to check the SANE hardware compatibility list and I think that's the best place to start! (see sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html)

@andersd: Vuescan does not provide its own driver for this scanner, it completely depends on the Epson driver for this scanner. Sane also does not support this scanner, however the V850 is well supported.

@Selena Jain: thanks, I have never used Canon so I will look them over. According to the sane doc most of the LIDE scanners are well supported.

@juan: according to the list cited above, the V39 is not supported by the sane tools so I think I will stay clear of it.

Keith, were you trying to use the Linux drivers posted on Epson's web site? Reason I ask is because it appears to be archaic software, and if the functionality wasn't already incorporated into SANE, you can request it via one of the developer's mailing lists.

Relative to Vuescan, download and install the program without purchasing, That will put you in "free trial" mode, with big watermarks on all images -- but will let you verify for certain that it works with your OS and hardware before you spend money.