HOW-TO Epson Perfection 3170 Scanner - 8.10

[reidi]

This is what I did to enable the Epson Perfection 3170 Photo scanner in Ubuntu 8.10.

(1) Get the software from http://www.avasys.jp/lx-bin2/linux_e/scan/DL1.do for the Perfection 3170 PHOTO.
As of 1/1/2009 there were two downloads for Ubuntu 8.10.
Download both rpms to the Desktop:
iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
iscan-plugin-gt-9400-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm

(2) Open a terminal and enter the entire following string on one line, its okay if it wraps, just don't press enter until it is all entered correctly. You may get one or two non-fatal warnings as the deb packages are built and intalled - don't worry.

sudo apt-get install alien && cd $HOME/Desktop && sudo alien -d iscan*.rpm && sudo dpkg -i iscan*.deb

(3) Now add these packages, using the terminal:

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5
sudo apt-get install xsane
sudo apt-get install sane-utils

In the terminal enter:
sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/50-libsane-extras.rules
Search for the line for the Perfection 3170, and change 0664 to 0666.
Save and exit.

Reboot
Run sane-find-scanner, you should see a line for your scanner.
Run scanimage -L, you should see a line for your scanner.
Sometimes it takes a couple of power cycles on the scanner before scanimage finds the hardware.
Run xsane.

##########
Also note /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh had previously been edited to support USB in Virtualbox. I have no idea if this is necessary for the hardware to be found in Ubuntu 8.10:

Note 5 lines added starting with "FOr Virtualbox..."
do_start () {
#
# Mount a tmpfs on /dev/shm
#
SHM_OPT=
[ "${SHM_SIZE:=$TMPFS_SIZE}" ] && SHM_OPT=",size=$SHM_SIZE"
domount tmpfs shmfs /dev/shm tmpfs -onosuid,nodev$SHM_OPT

#
# Mount /dev/pts. Master ptmx node is already created by udev.
#
domount devpts "" /dev/pts devpts -onoexec,nosuid,gid=$TTYGRP,mode=$TTYMODE
#
#FOr VirtualBox per http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/User_FAQ
mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

}
###########

[sdennie]

Moved to Tutorials & Tips. Thanks for the HOWTO.

[contrarian_66]

Hi,

I am trying to get an Epsom Perfection 4490 photo going, so should be the same procedure. I have followed the first steps i.e. convert the iscan packages to .deb using alien then install them, along with xsane. However when I come to edit 50-libsane-extras-rules, this doesn't exist on my system. I am on Ubuntu 8.10 with all latest updates.

Neither xsane or iscan recognises my scanner, although it is reported correctly when I run sane-find-scanner. Running imagescan -L also reports that it cannot find the scanner. The results are the same if I run xsane or iscan as root.

I have not tried the additions that you mention to mountdevsubfs.sh as I don't understand them and am feeling very out of my depth there. Any more advice anyone? I'm guessing what I have here is more a USB issue than a scanner issue.

[juliette]

Hi,

I am trying to get an Epsom Perfection 4490 photo going, so should be the same procedure. I have followed the first steps i.e. convert the iscan packages to .deb using alien then install them, along with xsane. However when I come to edit 50-libsane-extras-rules, this doesn't exist on my system. I am on Ubuntu 8.10 with all latest updates.

Neither xsane or iscan recognises my scanner, although it is reported correctly when I run sane-find-scanner. Running imagescan -L also reports that it cannot find the scanner. The results are the same if I run xsane or iscan as root.

I have the same problem.

I have not tried the additions that you mention to mountdevsubfs.sh as I don't understand them and am feeling very out of my depth there. Any more advice anyone? I'm guessing what I have here is more a USB issue than a scanner issue.

I have those lines in mountdevsubfs.sh, since I use virtualbox, but they do not help.

UPDATE:
Problem solved by reinstalling scanner according to the howto in this thread http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-587371.html

[Indyviews]

What to do if you can't get the sane extras -rules? I get a blank screen and nothing changed after nearly an hour. When I click it off, it asks if I want to lose fifty some minutes.

Does it take hours...should I wait longer?

[Indyviews]

In case there is anyone out there..I have downloaded backends and seem to get farther along with this....now when I hope to get the 50-libsane-extras-rules, it says:

E: Couldn't fine package sane - utilssudo

Can anyone tell me what to do as of course I don't understand this but feel I am close to getting my scanner working.

[beech_13465]

Thanks for tge HOWTO! It worked fine for me, but 2 remarks:

sudo apt-get install alien && cd $HOME/Desktop && sudo alien -d iscan*.rpm && sudo dpkg -i iscan*.deb

Make sure to store the downloads in your desktop folder, otherwise you have to change the path ($HOME/Desktop).

In the terminal enter:
sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/50-libsane-extras-rules
Search for the line for the Perfection 3170, and change 0664 to 0666.
Save and exit.

The name of the file is "50-libsane-extras.rules". If it doesn't exist, create it and paste the following line:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", SYSFS{idVendor}=="04b8", SYSFS{idProduct}=="0116", MODE="666", GROUP="scanner"

Hope it helps.

[interknighterrant]

There might be a much simplified solution on how to install the Epson Perfection 3170 Scanner in Intrepid. I did the howto, got stuck with the blank udev file, and worked backwords a bit. I don't want to re-install Intrepid to test this, so if someone could confirm this working for them it might speed things up for people in the future:


1. Install libsane-extras and the other packages in the original howto (original packages necessary???):

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 sane-utils libsane-extras xsane

2. Edit the udevs file, according to the original howto

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/50-libsane-extras.rules

Search for the line for the Perfection 3170, and change 0664 to 0666.
Save and exit.

3. Rebooting may or may not be necessary. libsane-extras restarts the hardware.

4. Test to see if it is installed ok

Type in "sane-find-scanner, see if the output is similar to what I put down.

user@computer:~$ sane-find-scanner

  # sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the
  # result is different from what you expected, first make sure your
  # scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer.

  # No SCSI scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that
  # you have loaded a kernel SCSI driver for your SCSI adapter.

found USB scanner (vendor=0x0bb4, product=0x0c02) at libusb:007:004
found USB scanner (vendor=0x04b8 [EPSON], product=0x0116 [EPSON Scanner]) at libusb:003:002
  # Your USB scanner was (probably) detected. It may or may not be supported by
  # SANE. Try scanimage -L and read the backend's manpage.

  # Not checking for parallel port scanners.

  # Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports
  # can't be detected by this program.

  # You may want to run this program as root to find all devices. Once you
  # found the scanner devices, be sure to adjust access permissions as
  # necessary.

Type "scanimage -L" and see if the output is similar

user@computer:~$ scanimage -L
device `epson:libusb:003:002' is a Epson  flatbed scanner

If that all works ok, start up xsane or any other scanner software and it should see the scanner.


If anyone uses this quick howto and it works ok, please give a comment. I'd love to squirrel this away for the future. Although in just another few weeks I guess Jaunty should be out anyway.

[kurisha]

Hello all,
I fallowed the instructions to the letter and I had the problem lacking that rules file but i created it with that line also mentioned in this thread and saved it.
When I opened the XSane and clicked the scan button it returned an error: Failed to start scanner: invalid argument.

I'm using the Ubuntu 8.04 but I didn't think since the instructions were for 8.10, that it would be so different. Is it? or did I not fallow complete instructions? or did I not set some access rules for the device?
Everything i did fallowing the instructions was done completely and i got now issues. All packages were downloaded and installed although i had XSane app already but it installed still without mention that it existed already. The driver files were on desktop and so all instructions worked for me and it was even detected when i used the command to detect the scanner. But as i said, in the XSane scan application, when i push scan, it returns the error.
I don't know how to set device or file rules but I'm sure i can find the command line parameters for it.
If anyone has any idea what I can do now, please let me know.

thank you in advance!

Kurisha

[gazer22]

In Jaunty (9.04), I was able to get the scanner working with a slightly modified process:

1. Download iscan-plugin-gt-9400 rpm from: http://www.avasys.jp/lx-bin2/linux_e/scan/DL1.do to your desktop
2. From the terminal:
   

   sudo apt-get install alien
   cd ~/Desktop
   sudo alien -d iscan-plugin-gt-9400-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
   sudo dpkg -i iscan-plugin-gt-9400_1.0.0-2_i386.deb
   sudo apt-get install sane-utils libsane-extras xsane

3. Add yourself to the scanner group (adding the scanner group if needed) System->Administration->Users and Groups - unlock, then hit manage groups.
4. Reboot
5. sane-find-scanner should yield something like:
   

   found USB scanner (vendor=0x04b8 [EPSON], product=0x0116 [EPSON Scanner]) at libusb:001:010

6. scanimage -L should give something like:
   

   device `epson:libusb:001:010' is a Epson  flatbed scanner
   device `epkowa:libusb:001:010' is a Epson Perfection 3170 flatbed scanner

When running xsane, use the epkowa driver.