access to write

[oz]

Pressing "i' puts you in the insert mode so that you can enter text. Once you've pressed "i", pressing ESC gets you out of insert mode. Remember to exit, it's all three characters:

:wq

[Owen]

The commands in your last message seems to work.
But it looks like I created some sort of mess in my previous efforts.
How do I find/ delete this swap file?

E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name "/etc/sane.d/.hp.conf.swp"
owned by: root dated: Sat Aug 18 12:05:46 2007
file name: /etc/sane.d/hp.conf
modified: YES
user name: root host name: localhost
process ID: 7370
While opening file "/etc/sane.d/hp.conf"
dated: Sat Aug 18 12:10:31 2007
NEWER than swap file!

(1) Another program may be editing the same file.
If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two
different instances of the same file when making changes.
Quit, or continue with caution.

(2) An edit session for this file crashed.
If this is the case, use ":recover" or "vim -r /etc/sane.d/hp.conf"
to recover the changes (see ":help recovery").
If you did this already, delete the swap file "/etc/sane.d/.hp.conf.swp"
to avoid this message.

Swap file "/etc/sane.d/.hp.conf.swp" already exists!
-- More --

[oz]

Go to a terminal, or konsole and enter:

su
(enter root password)

rm /etc/sane.d/.hp.conf.swp

That should delete the .swp file.

[Owen]

Thanks so much!
That did it. I can now edit hp.conf.
Actually I did edit the file but my scanner still is unrecognized. It is on the list of applicable scanners. But being a SCSI unit probably complicates things.
I'm going to let the problem rest over night and probably try again tomorrow.
I would hate to buy another scanner . I also have a Cannoscan 8000F which is suppose to be non-compatible.
Thanks agin for all the time you spent with me.
Owen

[oz]

You are welcome. I'm glad the edit/delete worked.

Yes, scanners can be problematic at times under Linux. I do believe you'll get it working if you stick with it, though.

When you do get ready to tackle that issue, you should start a new thread.