Linux Network Scanning and Faxing

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The sane scanning software is divided, like many other networkable packages, into a back-end (saned) and a front-end (xsane).

You can easily share the scanner with Windows client PCs, as well as other Linux computers.

Back-end Installation

Install xinetd, sane, xsane and saned packages. On Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install sane-utils

Back-end Configuration

Connect the scanner to the 'server' PC.

Edit /etc/sane.d/saned.conf:

vim /etc/sane.d/saned.conf

Add:

localhost
192.168.2.0/24

You will probably need to create the file /etc/xinetd.d/saned so that xinetd starts the saned daemon:

Containing:

# default: off
# description: The sane server accepts requests
# for network access to a local scanner via the
# network.
service sane-port
{
  port        = 6566
  socket_type = stream
  wait        = no
  user        = saned
  group       = saned
  server      = /usr/sbin/saned
}

Then restart the xinetd super-server:

sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Though most scanners are automatically detected, you may need to edit /etc/sane.d/dll.conf if your scanner is not.

Testing

Run this command as a regular user. If it fails, try running it as root to see if you have a permissions problem.

scanimage -L

Troubleshooting

This command will tell you if saned is responding or not:

telnet localhost 6566

This command will show if xinetd is listening to port 6566:

netstat -tap

Kill xinetd and restart manually in debug mode:

sudo xinetd -d
scanimage -d net:localhost:test -T

Permissions Problems

Scanner devices are controlled by permissions. The following permissions changes are not normally needed on more recent Linux distibutions.

This command will add a user saned and a group saned if they don't already exist:

if ! id saned; then groupadd saned; useradd -g saned -G scanner -s /bin/false -d /dev/null saned; fi

Add your (non-root) user to the scanner group with the command:

usermod -a -G username scanner

After the above procedure, you can now run scanimage -L as 'username'.

Older Linux distros didn't include the necessary entry in /etc/services. Check for the proper entriy with this command:

grep sane-port /etc/services

You should see a line like:

sane-port       6566/tcp        sane saned      # SANE network scanner daemon

Linux Client PCs

Setup

Install xsane and sendfax.

On Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install hylafax-client xsane

Edit the /etc/sane.d/net.conf file and add the IP address of your sane back-end.

vim /etc/sane.d/net.conf

Example:

192.168.1.2

Network Faxing

Setup

To setup network faxing in the XSane front-end, click Preferences -> Setup -> Fax Tab.

If your fax server is Hylafax, click the Hylafax button. In the Command field enter the following:

sendfax -h IP.of.fax.svr

Also check the page size settings, then click Apply and Ok.

Sending

In the XSane front-end:

set the sheet feeder mode appropriately
set the resolution to 300
set the color to Binary
lastly, set the mode to Fax

A new "Fax Project" window will open.

in the top field, name a temporary folder for fax projects
click Create Project
In the next field put in the phone number you will be faxing to
select Fine mode
place your document(s) in the scanner
if you have a sheetfeeder, set the number of pages to be scanned
then click scan

Your scan will show up in the Fax Project window.

If you don't have a sheetfeeder, you may then need to scan more pages into the project. If you have an image already scanned that you would like to fax you can Insert File, browse to the file and insert. NOTE: the file must be a postscript file (.ps) and have no spaces in the file name.

You can arrange the order the pages will be faxed by highlighting and clicking the up and down arrows in the Fax Project window.

Click Send Project to send the fax.

Windows Client PCs

Grab the zip file from here.

Extract the zip archive to C:\ so that you get the directory C:\sane. Do not place it in any other place. XSane will only work when placed in C:\sane.

Edit C:\sane\etc\sane.d\net.conf and put the IP address of the Sane server where your scanner is connected into one line.

Example:

192.168.1.25

Make sure that C:\sane\etc\sane.d\dll.conf contains the line:

net

Start XSane from: C:\sane\bin\xsane.exe

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