Xsane not working - Need to add a backend???

[Irish1]

Hello all,

I have an older printer, a Lexmark X-73 all-in-one type deal, and I can't get Xsane to recognize it at all. I can print, but nothing else. All I really want to do is scan and save files. I keep getting the message 'Failed to open device gt68xx:libusb:003:003: invalid argument' I have gone to the SANE GT68xx Backend Homepage and my scanner is listed on the page of scanners that should work, but I just don't know what to do with the file I download - oslo3071b2.usb. I keep getting the message that it's an unknown file type. Do I need to put the file in a specific folder or open it with a specific program?

Any help would be appreciated.

On a side note, because I can tell I'll need a new one in the not too distant future, which company makes a good scanner that works best with Ubuntu?

Thanks again.

[waterhead]

According to the SANE web site for the GT68xx backend, the oslo3071b2.usb file is firmware. Firmware usually is put in the /lib/firmware folder. You need root privileges to do that.

sudo cp oslo3071b2.usb /lib/firmware

If the firmware is in a folder other than your /home/<user> folder, then give the entire path to the file. You may find a message that it is looking for the firmware, by running this command:

dmesg | grep firmware

As for supported all-in-one devices, HP has excellent Linux support. There are some pretty cheap HP devices too, I have a PSC 1210 (1200 series) that was pretty cheap

[waterhead]

I guess that we both need to read the f*ck*ng manual before we come to any conclusions!

Further down on the SANE page, it says this:

Put your firmware file in /usr/local/share/sane/gt68xx/ (or /usr/share/sane/gt68xx/ if you use a SANE package that came with your distribution). You may need to create this directory. Or use whatever directory you want, but you must specify the path in gt68xx.conf later. Example:

su -
mkdir /usr/share/sane/gt68xx/
cp PS1fw.usb /usr/share/sane/gt68xx/
chmod a+r /usr/share/sane/gt68xx/PS1fw.usb

[Irish1]

Thanks for the help Paul, but I'm still having some troubles. I keep getting a message in the terminal saying the file does not exist or there is no directory. Neither command you provided seems to help. I tried both commands as root as well. Can I manually cut and paste the file into the firmware folder? It appears that I cannot paste anything into that folder.

Ya, I'm a total newbie with Ubuntu.

[Irish1]

Just read your second post Paul, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for all your help, without guys like you, guys like me would be stuck with Windows forever, and I've had my fair share of problems with Windows.

Thanks again.

[waterhead]

You can open a file browser with root privileges using this command:

gksu nautilus

Be careful not to alter any system files, as it could damage your system.

I actually have this folder:

/usr/share/sane/gt68xx

And I don't even have one of those devices! That is where I would need to put the firmware.

[Irish1]

Thanks a lot Paul, your directions were amazing, everything is up and working brilliantly now.

Thank you sooo much.

All the best.

[waterhead]

You're welcome.

Now enjoy Ubuntu!