TOPIC: EPSON
A retrograde way to keep an old scanner going?
5th March 2025For making a copy of a document for official purposes, I needed to get my scanner going with the new workstation. The device is an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo that I acquired in 2007 after its Canon predecessor, a CanoScan 5000F, began to malfunction. It has served me well since then, though digital photography has meant that scanning images is not something that I do very often these days, the last time being in early 2022 to get larger images into my online photo gallery.
The age means that software support is an issue, more particularly for Windows 11. However, Linux can leave old devices behind it too. It does not help that there is little incentive for Epson to update its drivers either. Thus, Linux Mint's move from LIBSANE to LIBSANE1 makes things less straightforward when the Epson software needs the former.
While you can take apart a DEB file, re-edit its components before creating a new version, that sounds tricky to me. Nevertheless, it may be the way to go for others. Instead, I downloaded a DEB file for LIBSANE from Ubuntu and installed that instead. With that installed, the Epson software installed fully, allowing VueScan to work as I needed. Thus, the document got copied as I needed, and the rest then could happen as required.
When I went looking up solutions to my conundrum on Perplexity, it kept telling me that it was not the best way to go. However, I still took the chance, knowing that I could roll things back if needed. Computers never know you that well without a multitude of data, so the safety first approach has its merits, even if it can be overly cautious in some cases.
If I ever do need to replace the scanner, I probably would replace the printer with a multi-function device at the same time. The move would save some desk space, and I have had a good experience with such a device elsewhere. For now, though, such a move is on the long finger; securing a new freelance contract is higher up any to-do list.
Getting an Epson Pefection 4490 Photo scanner going with Ubuntu GNOME Remix 12.10
7th March 2013My Epson Perfection 4490 Photo scanner has been in my possession for a while now, and it is impossible to justify any replacement given that it both works well and digital photography has taken over from its film predecessor for me. Every time I go installing an operating system afresh, I need to reinstate it again; last year's installation of Ubuntu GNOME Remix 12.04 only saw me do the deed recently. When I did so, it was brought back to me that I'd never gone and documented on here how this was done. Given that I sometimes use this place as a repository of stuff to which I need to refer again in the future, it seemed remiss of me, so here it is for you all.
Though I had XSane and SimpleScan already installed on the system, Sane wasn't on there. Hence, I went and added it and a few other extras using the following command:
sudo apt-get install sane sane-utils libsane-extras
Then, it was onto the Epson website for their Perfection 4490 Photo Linux drivers, since Sane's support for this scanner seemingly remains incomplete even though it pre-dates my move to Linux in 2007. Three files were needed, and the following commands install them (depending on when you do this, the file names may be different, so just change them to whatever they are for you):
sudo dpkg -i iscan-data_1.22.0-1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i iscan_2.29.1-5~usb0.1.ltdl7_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i iscan-plugin-gt-x750_2.1.2-1_i386.deb
With those in place, there was one other task that needed doing so that scanning could be done without resorting to running scanning software using sudo privileges. To free up the access to a normal user account, I needed a HAL device information file. These normally are in, but /usr/share/hal/fdi/ they change every time an installation, so any modifications that you may make will be lost. Therefore, there is no point modifying either /usr/share/hal/fdi/preprobe/10osvendor/20-libsane.fdi or /usr/share/hal/fdi/preprobe/10osvendor/20-libsane-extras.fdi where scanner information usually is to be found.
The first task in creating an FDI file was to issue the lsusb command and look for a line corresponding to my scanner. This is the one that I got:
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04b8:0119 Seiko Epson Corp. Perfection 4490 Photo
From this, I gleaned the manufacturer ID and model ID as 04b8 and 0119, respectively. These are needed later on. Next I needed to create the hal/fdi/preprobe/ folder structure under /etc since it was there. Then, I created epson4490photo.fdi in the bottom folder of the tree (/etc/hal/fdi/preprobe/epson4490photo.fdi) as follows:
cd /etc/hal/fdi/preprobe/ && sudo touch epson4490photo.fdi
Then, I edited the new file using the following command:
gksu gedit epson4490photo.fdi &
With the file open, I added in the following text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="info.subsystem" string="usb">
<!-- Epson Perfection 4490 Photo -->
<match key="usb.vendor_id" int="0x04b8">
<match key="usb.product_id" int="0x0119">
<append key="info.capabilities" type="strlist">scanner</append>
<merge key="scanner.access_method" type="string">proprietary</merge>
</match>
</match>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>
Since it's all in XML, the place to look is immediately beneath the scanner name comment. The int attributes of the two match elements immediately following the comment line are populated using the information from the lsusb command output, with 0x prefixing both the manufacturer and model identifiers. The element with a key attribute of usb.vendor_id is the former, and that with a key attribute of usb.product_id is the latter. With epson4490photo.fdi saved, I rebooted the machine to restart HAL and all was as I wanted it to be, apart maybe from XSane making complaints that seemed not to be of any actual consequence. With Epson's Image Scan! and Simple Scan on the PC, there's no need to be bothered with those messages. Choice is good when you have it, especially when you have expended some effort to get that far.
Amateur Photographer reviews…
19th July 2007Amateur Photographer seems to have had a run of reviews recently. First off were the Olympus E-410 and E-510 that they seemed to like. Then, they moved onto the Ricoh Caplio GX100, which they seemed to like that too, though they did say that the quality wasn't up to SLR standards. But then again, it is a compact and that might be expecting a bit too much.
This week, Paint Shop Pro comes under the spotlight, as does Epson's V350 scanner. While I have yet to read these, I have been engaging in a spot of equipment acquisition anyway. My CanoScan 5000F scanner has been usurped by Epson's Perfection Photo 4490 and very happy I am with it too. The quality of the scans that I have been doing of prints has been good, and the presence of an on/off switch is a creditable one. When none of the other scanners that I have had possessed it, having to plug something in and out from the power socket is inconvenient to say the least.
In addition, I have also gone and got myself a new DSLR. Seeing Pentax's K10D going with an 18-55 mm lens for £499 at Jessop's overrode my better reasoning, putting paid to ideas of purchasing any other electronic goods for the rest of this year. It's an award-winning gadget, and Photography Monthly's Will Cheung seemed to get on fine with it. While Which Digital Camera said it was heavy, it has to stand up to use in the great outdoors.
Though the sensor may be a 10 megapixel affair, this will be an upgrade to my Canon EOS 10D; that has a sensor in need of clean right now (I plan to get it done by the professionals) and every time that I want to use an image that it has made, Photoshop's healing brush has to be pressed into service. Pentax does boast about all the seals that it has added to the K10D, a good thing if they cut down on the dust entering the camera. And if dust does get in, the sensor cleaning feature will hopefully see it off from the photos.
Image stabilisation, another value adding feature, is also there and may prove interesting. Strangely, there's some video capture as well, and I hope that it doesn't get the EU coming after me to collect retrospective camcorder duty. In any case, it's not a feature that I really need, with the Live View functions on the equivalent Olympus offerings falling into the same category. It'll be interesting to see how the K10D performs, given that it's a change from the Canon/Nikon hegemony that seems to dominate digital photography these days.
Update: I have since perused the current issue of Amateur Photographer and seen that Paint Shop Pro suffered from performance issues on computers that worked fine with Photoshop. Otherwise, it compared well with Adobe's offerings, even if the interface wasn't seen to be as slick. Epson's V350 was well received, though it was apparent that spending more got you a better scanner; that's always the way with these things.
Trouble with my Canon CanoScan 5000F
26th June 2007Having had my Canon CanoScan 5000F scanner for nearly four years now, it has performed faultlessly until yesterday. However, it has now developed a fault that may hasten its replacement, and I have to say that my eye is on Epson's Perfection V350 Photo. Looking on the web, I did find scanners hidden away and that the selection available wasn't what I might have expected it to be. Maybe, the digital photography revolution has made the humble scanner a less essential item. And the fault? Scan results are featuring an unacceptably strong magenta cast. In fact, the first scans result in nothing except pitch black, though allowing things to stay on for a while does improve things. That suggests a hardware fault to me. I have raised the issue with Canon and will await their reply, even though it is stopping me from adding any new photos to my online photo gallery. If Canon comes back to me with the "uneconomical to repair" response, I will be ready to go out and buy the Epson. Time will tell with this one...
Update 1: A spot of further exploration has left me wondering if it is the lamp that's on the way out. If that's replaceable at a reasonable price, then the CanoScan might live on after a spot of repair.
Update 2: Canon's advice included reinstalling the scanner driver and, surprisingly given the symptoms, that seems to have helped. While I'll continue to keep an eye on things, it looks like I'll be hanging onto my money for now.