Bugzilla Bug 129198

If the "epkowa" driver isn't listed, invoking iscan results in a not-helpful
error message:

# iscan
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'pisa_error'
Aborted

Recommend the ebuild add the driver since it is not listed in dll.conf by the
sane-backends install, something like:

echo "epkowa" >> /etc/sane.d/dll.conf

Portage 2.1_pre7-r4 (default-linux/x86/2006.0, gcc-3.4.6, glibc-2.4-r1,
2.6.16-ck3 i686)
=================================================================
System uname: 2.6.16-ck3 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
Gentoo Base System version 1.12.0_pre16
distcc 2.18.3 i686-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632)
[disabled]
ccache version 2.4 [enabled]
dev-lang/python:     2.4.2-r1
sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.17
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.59-r7
sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2
sys-devel/binutils:  2.16.1-r2
sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.22
virtual/os-headers:  2.6.11-r3
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86"
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=athlon-xp -mtune=athlon-xp -pipe -Os -funit-at-a-time
-frename-registers -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-ident -msse2"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/env
/usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/kde/3/share/config
/usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/eselect/compiler /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild
/etc/terminfo /etc/env.d"
CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon-xp -mtune=athlon-xp -pipe -Os -funit-at-a-time
-frename-registers -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-ident -msse2
-fvisibility-inlines-hidden -fno-enforce-eh-specs"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--nospinner"
FEATURES="autoconfig ccache confcache digest distlocks metadata-transfer nodoc
noinfo sandbox sfperms strict"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.mirrors.pair.com
/http://mirror.datapipe.net/gentoo http://gentoo.osuosl.org/
http://gentoo.llarian.net/"
LANG="en_US"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--sort-common -s"
LINGUAS="en"
MAKEOPTS="-j2"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.namerica.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="x86 3dnow 3dnowext 7zip X a52 aac abook acpi allegro alsa apache2 apm arts
artworkextra avi bash-completion berkdb bitmap-fonts bzip2 cairo ccache chroot
cli crypt ctype cups custom-cflags dba dbus dedicated dga dio dnd dri effects
emboss encode expat ext-png ext-zlib extensions fame fastbuild fat firefox
flatfile foomaticdb force-cgi-redirect fortran ftp gb gd gdbm gif gimp
gimpprint ginac glut glx gmail gmailtimestamps gnome gnome-print gpgme gphoto2
gpm gs gstreamer gtk gtk2 gzip hal imlib imlib2 inkjar isdnlog java joystick
jpeg kde keyscrub lame lcd lesstif libdsk libg++ libwww lm_sensors lynxkeymap
lzo mad maildir matroska matrox mbox mcal md5sum memlimit mikmod mimencode
mixer mmap mmx mmxext mod motif moznocompose moznoirc moznomail mozsvg
mozxmlterm mp3 mpeg mpeg2 mplayer musepack music ncurses net network nptl
nptlonly ofx ogg oggvorbis on-the-fly-crypt openal opengl oss pam pam_chroot
pam_console pam_timestamp parse-clocks pcre pdf pdflib perl physfs pic png
posix ppds pppd python qt quicktime rar rdesktop readline real rogue rtc
scanner sdl server session shorten simplexml snmp soap sockets sounds sox spell
spl sse sse2 ssl sysfs szip tcltk tcpd tga theora threads tokenizer truetype
truetype-fonts type1 type1-fonts udev unicode usb uudeview v4l v4l2 vfat videos
vnc vorbis win32codecs wxwindows x11vnc xface xml xmms xosd xscreensaver xsl xv
xvid xvmc yv12 zip zlib elibc_glibc kernel_linux linguas_en userland_GNU"
Unset:  ASFLAGS, CTARGET, INSTALL_MASK, LC_AL

hmmm...

this is printed out after installation:

einfo "Hint: to enable the backend, add 'epkowa' in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf"
einfo "Then edit /etc/sane.d/epkowa.conf to suit your needs."

Of course, I can add "epkowa" to dll.conf if it is missing. But this doesn't
solve the "edit epkowa.conf to suit your needs".

I think about it...

hmmm. very strange.

I removed "epkowa" from dll.conf, removed ~/.iscan_preference, started "iscan". 

The only thing I got is this message-box:
"Could not send command to scanner. Check the scanner's status."

but it doesn't crash. So the missing "epkowa" entry is *not* the problem.
Perhaps your sane-backends are broken somehow? Please re-emerge both,
sane-backends and iscan, then test it again. And don't forget etc-update.

thanks.

I don't believe scan-backends was broken, I was scanning fine with the epson
backend previously. But I tried re-emerging sane-backends and iscan anyway,
etc-update, no change. If epkowa isn't in dll.conf, I get that "pisa" error.

Maybe the error message is specific to AMD64? iscan may give a different error
message when it can't find the epkowa backend when compiled for 64-bit.

Also, I don't know if the scanner buttons are supposed to work with iscan-2.0.0
and my Epson Perfection 640U, but enabling the checkbox in iscan does nothing
when I push the button(s) on the scanner. Do the buttons work when built for
x86?

if you compiled it on amd64, then it might be a 64-Bit Bug. I can't reproduce
it on x86. Nontheless, I have added extra code in pkg_postinst() for adding the
'epkowa' entry (still in my portage overlay).

but today I found out, that you can use the firmware-files in
/usr/share/iscan/*.bin with one of the latest sane-backends with the 'snapscan'
backend.

I add this feature in the upcoming -r1 revision.

You should add this to /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf:

# Perfection 3170 PHOTO (esfw32.bin)
#firmware /usr/share/iscan/esfw32.bin
# Perfection 2480/2580 PHOTO (esfw41.bin)
#firmware /usr/share/iscan/esfw41.bin
# Perfection 3490/3590 PHOTO (esfw52.bin)
#firmware /usr/share/iscan/esfw52.bin
# Perfection 4180 PHOTO (esfw43.bin)
#firmware /usr/share/iscan/esfw43.bin
# Perfection 4490 PHOTO (esfw54.bin)
#firmware /usr/share/iscan/esfw54.bin

Uncomment the right firmware and add 'snapscan' to dll.conf.

I tested it successfully with Perfection 3490 PHOTO on x86. The 'snapscan'
backend seems also much better (i.e. more resolutions, etc.) than the 'epkowa'
backend.

If you have amd64, it would be nice to test it there. Thanks!

I don't have an Epson photo scanner, mine is a lowly Perfection 640U. I gather
I can't use any of those firmwares with my scanner? (doesn't seem to work when
I try it, even after adding a line for my specific 640 scanner in
snapscan.conf)

> Epson Corp. Perfection 640U (04b8/010c)

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-backends.html#S-EPSON

=> status == complete

looks like, that your scanner is already supported by one of the sane-backends.
If not 'snapscan', then 'epson' maybe. Perhaps you have to add your USB IDs
manually. But you don't need a firmware!

http://www.sane-project.org/cgi-bin/driver.pl?manu=Epson&model=&bus=usb&v=&p=

it's 'sane-epson'.

in CVS.