Scan documents?

users
#1

Is it possible to scan an older printed document directly into LO?

I have an old 2 page document that I want to reproduce and modify with LO but
don't find any entries in the menus for scanning directly into LO. This is in
a Linux system and would probably use xine for the scanning.

I suppose I could scan into a pdf and bring that into LO but would prefer to
work on an *.odt format.

Thanks, Tom list moderator

#2

Hi.
I have scanned to file with xine and then used OCR to convert the image to text I can then edit in LO.
Steve

#3

I just tried this for the first time on my Slackware Linux system and it does seem to be broken. (LO 3.6.7.2) I used Insert -> Picture -> Scan -> select source to verify it was using my Epson USB flatbed scanner. The problem with my version is that it defaults to the existing, but unconnected video device (v4l:/dev/video0). When I select my scanner in the "Device used" option, it shows the "epson2:libusb:00", which I assume is correct. However, it still will not scan and the "About Device" button results in the info for the video device even though I changed the device. It will not run the scanner and results in a garbage block (probably the unconnected video card). LO does not seem to support USB scanners.

I would do a separate scan with Xsane and save it in whatever format you want. I usually use jpeg, but others could work also. Just do _not_ use encapsulated Postscript. Then insert that file into your document. I have had good success with that process.
HTH.
Girvin Herr

#4

I used tesseract to OCR. Here are a couple references.
http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/442456-how-to-scan-and-ocr-like-a-pro-with-open-source-tools
http://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2010-06/15-linux_ocr_software_comparison
steve

#5

Xsane sorry, not xine.
Hi.
I have scanned to file with xine and then used OCR to convert the image to text I can then edit in LO.
Steve

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
Yeh, i think we guessed that you used a scanner rather than a
video-player.

Don't worry! Many of us have difficulty remembering the names of
whassnames compared to thingumybobs. Luckily double-clicking or typing in
a bit of a description usually brings up the right tool. Errr, it's only
Windows where you really need to know the right name and if you are using
xsane and xine then i'm guessing you are either on Gnu&Linux or Mac so you
are safe. (sorry, couldn't resist the urge to have a dig at W! :wink:

Have a good weekend all!
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

I had great difficulty finding workable driver for my Epson print/scan/copy/fax device, since Epson did not support Linux [Ubuntu]. It took a OS update before I could get the scanning to work properly. The key here is where did you get the driver for the scanner and how well can other packages use it? Yes, you do seem to have an issue that seems to associate the Epson scanner with the video device in the config files.

Here is a question and possible fix.
Unplug the video device and keep the scanner plugged in and on. rename the LO config folder and reopen LO to recreate it. See if the video device is still listed. If so, then there may be something "outside" of the LO "system" that maybe causing the issue. Is the Video device and the scanner both Epson tech? If so, then that might cause some confusion somewhere.

To be honest, I deal with Win7 and various Ubuntu types of Linux - i,e, Ubuntu 13.xx / 14.xx, and Linux Mint. So I do not know the internals of Slackware or any RPM based Linux.

As I stated, I had a lot of trouble with an Epson Artisan 810 Print/Scan/Copy/Fax device. I could not get even half of its options to work properly with Ubuntu based OSs.

#8

Go to: http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/searchModule

Drivers for your scanner, including network drivers are found here, in .deb format for your Ubuntu system. (They're also there in .rpm format and others.)
After you select one of the drivers, it will ask you to accept some bs and then it will go to the download. Pick the one(s) you need and go.

If you're coming from Google instead of the url I show above, you should put in Epson printer (or scanner) driver, Linux.
Then select Epson Linux Download Center, NOT Avast. (Avast got out of that business several years ago.)

The printer drivers work fine also, if you need them.

See illustration below:

  Epson <http://global.epson.com>

  * *Support
    <http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/searchModule#>*

  * DOWNLOAD <http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/>
  * FAQ <http://download.ebz.epson.net/faq/>
  * MANUAL <http://download.ebz.epson.net/man/>
  * LICENSE AGREEMENT <http://download.ebz.epson.net/la/>
  * LINK <http://download.ebz.epson.net/link/>

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#9

Kracked,
I do _not_ have a problem with scanning to a file. Yes, XSANE does come up and lists both the video card for some reason and my scanner as options. That is an anomaly which started with Slack 14.0 (k3.2.29). However, unlike LO, when I select my scanner, XSANE does use the scanner, not the video card. My video card is an internal card and I am not going to keep removing it just to allow me to directly scan from LO. As I said, I can insert scanned images using the file insert procedure. I do not need to use the insert scan procedure. Good thing, since it seems to be broken in my older version of LO. Also, I am sure XSANE has far more scanning features than LO would ever hope to have, so I prefer to use XSANE.

I use the SANE driver that came with my Slackware distro. It uses the udev system to sense my Epson 1660U USB scanner and installs the correct driver for it. I did have to copy the stock Epson udev rule to /etc/udev/rules.d/99-epson-scanner.rules in order to modify it to allow user mode access. The stock rule would only allow scanning as root - an old problem with security-centric Slackware. I never downloaded any hardware drivers. I have no experience with Ubuntu. I feel Ubuntu is too much like Windog and I prefer to keep control over my computer, not hand that control over to the distro developer who has some crazy idea that they know what I want better than I do. Ubuntu is fine for some people, just not me.

Thanks for the help.
Girvin

#10

When I had my Epson Artisan 810, I could not get the scanner part to work. Printer driver worked fine, but not the scanner. When Ubuntu 12.04LTS came out, there was an update to Xsane that "fixed the issue" since before upgrading to 12.04 the Xsane [or other scanner packages] did not work. I have been using a Canon print/scan/copy since Jan 9th 2013, so I did not need to deal with the Epson, except for the FAX option. I bought a Canon print/scan/copy/fax printer Feb 18th 2014 after the scanner part of the Epson died.

SO I have not had to deal with any Epson Linux driver sites for a few years.