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scanadf(1) scanadf(1)
NAME
scanadf - acquire multiple images from a scanner equipped with an ADF
SYNOPSIS
scanadf [-d|--device-name dev] [-h|--help] [-L|--list-devices]
[-v|--verbose] [-V|--version] [-o|--output-file name] [-S|--scan-
script name] [-s|--start-count num] [-e|--end-count num] [-r|--raw]
[device-specific-options]
DESCRIPTION
scanadf is a command-line interface to control image acquisition
devices which are capable of returning a series of images (e.g. a
scanner with an automatic document feeder (ADF)). The device is con-
trolled via command-line options. After command-line processing,
scanadf normally proceeds to acquire a series of images until the
device returns the SANE_STATUS_NO_DOCS status code.
The images are written to output files, specified by the --output-file
option. These files are typically written in one of the PNM (portable
aNyMaP) formats (PBM for black-and-white images, PGM for grayscale
images, and PPM for color images). Several optional frame formats
(SANE_FRAME_JPEG, SANE_FRAME_G31D, SANE_FRAME_G32D, SANE_FRAME_G42D,
and SANE_FRAME_TEXT) are supported. In each case, the data is written
out to the output file as-is without a header. Unrecognized frame
formats are handled in the same way, although a warning message is
printed in verbose mode.
Typically, the optional frame formats are used in conjunction with a
scan script (specified by the --scanscript option) which is invoked
for each acquired image. The script is provided with a series of
environment variables which describe the parameters and format of the
image file.
scanadf accesses image acquisition devices through the SANE (Scanner
Access Now Easy) interface and can thus support any device for which
there exists a SANE backend (try "apropos sane-" to get a list of
available backends).
OPTIONS
The -d or --device-name options must be followed by a SANE device-
name. A (partial) list of available devices can be obtained with the
--list-devices option (see below). If no device-name is specified
explicitly, scanadf will attempt to open the first available device.
The -h or --help options request help information. The information is
printed on standard output and in this case, no attempt will be made
to acquire an image.
The -L or --list-devices option requests a (partial) list of devices
that are available. The list is not complete since some devices may
be available, but are not listed in any of the configuration files
(which are typically stored in directory /etc/sane.d). This is par-
ticularly the case when accessing scanners through the network. If a
device is not listed in a configuration file, the only way to access
it is by its full device name. You may need to consult your system
administrator to find out the names of such devices.
The -v or --verbose options increase the verbosity of the operation of
scanadf. The option may be specified repeatedly, each time increasing
the verbosity level.
The -V or --version option requests that scanadf print the program and
package name, as well as the version number of the SANE distribution
that it came with.
The -o or --output-file option specifies a format string used to gen-
erate the name of file to write the image data to. You can use %d
replacement in the output file name; this will be replaced with the
current page number. The default format string is image-%04d.
The -S or --scan-script option specifies the name of script to run
after each scanned image is acquired. The script receives the name of
the image output file as its first and only command line argument.
Additionally the scan script can reference the following environment
variables to get information about the parameters of the image.
SCAN_RES - the image resolution (in DPI)
SCAN_WIDTH - the image width (in pixels)
SCAN_HEIGHT - the image height (in pixels)
SCAN_DEPTH - the image bit-depth (in bits)
SCAN_FORMAT - a string representing the image format (e.g.
gray, g42d, text, etc)
SCAN_FORMAT_ID - the numeric image format identifier
The -s or --start-count option specifies the page number of first
scanned image.
The -e or --end-count option specifies the last page number to scan.
Using this option, you can request a specific number of pages to be
scanned, rather than scanning until there are no more images avail-
able.
The -r or --raw option specifies that the raw image data be written to
the output file as-is without interpretation. This disables the writ-
ing of the PNM header for basic frame types. This feature is usually
used in conjunction with the --scan-script option where the scan
script uses the environment variables to understand the format and
parameters of the image and converts the file to a more useful format.
NOTE: With support for the optional frame types and the default han-
dling of unrecognized frametypes, this option becomes less and less
useful.
As you might imagine, much of the power of scanadf comes from the fact
that it can control any SANE backend. Thus, the exact set of command-
line options depends on the capabilities of the selected device. To
see the options for a device named dev, invoke scanadf via a command-
line of the form:
scanadf --help --device dev
The documentation for the device-specific options printed by --help is
explained in the manual page for scanimage.
FILES
/etc/sane.d
This directory holds various configuration files. For details,
please refer to the manual pages listed below.
SEE ALSO
scanimage(1), xscanimage(1), sane(7)
AUTHOR
scanadf is an adaptation by Tom Martone of scanimage by David Mos-
berger, Andreas Beck, and Gordon Matzigkeit following closely the fea-
tures of bnhscan by Sean Reifschneider of tummy.com, ltd.
BUGS
Please send reports to sane-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org.
This program relies on the backend to return the SANE_STATUS_NO_DOCS
status code when the automatic document feeder is out of paper. Use
of this program with backends that do not support ADFs (e.g. flatbed
scanners) will likely result in repeated scans of the same document.
In this case, it is essential to use the start-count and end-count to
control the number of images acquired.
Only a subset of the SANE backends support feeders and return
SANE_STATUS_NO_DOCS appropriately. Backends which are known to work
at this time are:
sane-bh - Bell+Howell Copiscan II series scanners.
sane-hp - Hewlett Packard scanners. A patch to the sane-hp
backend is necessary. The --scantype=ADF option must be speci-
fied (earlier versions of the backend used the --scan-from-adf
option, instead).
sane-umax - UMAX scanners. Support exists in build 12 and
later. The --source="Automatic Document Feeder" option must be
specified.
15 Sep 1999 scanadf(1)
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