xsane(1)

xsane -- scans an image

Synopsis

xsane [--display d] [--no-xshm] [--[no-]show-events] [--sync] [--debug-level n] [devicename]

Description

xsane provides a graphical user interface to control an image acquisition device such as a flatbed scanner or a camera. It allows previewing, copying, faxing and scanning individual images and can be invoked either directly from the command-line or through the GIMP image manipulation program. In the former case, xsane acts as a stand-alone program that saves acquired images in a suitable PNM format (PBM for black and white images, PGM for grayscale images, and PPM for color images) or converts the image to JPEG, PNG, PS or TIFF. In the latter case, the images are directly passed to the GIMP for further processing.

xsane accesses image acquisition devices through the SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) interface. The list of available devices depends on installed hardware and configuration. When invoked without an explicit devicename argument, xsane presents a dialog listing all known and available devices. To access an available device that is not known to the system, the devicename must be specified explicitly.

See the xsane online help for explanations of the options available.

Running xsane under the GIMP

To start xsane as a GIMP plugin, you have to set a symbolic link from the xsane binary to the GIMP plug-ins directory. For example, if xsane is located in /usr/local/bin and you use gimp-1.0.x, enter:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp/plug-ins/

if you use gimp-1.1.x, enter:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp-1.1/plug-ins/

After creating this symbolic link, xsane will be queried by gimp the next time it is invoked. From then on, you can start xsane from the GIMP via Xtns Xsane Device dialog...

Xtns Xsane Device dialog... contains short-cuts to the SANE devices that were available at the time xsane was queried.

The GIMP caches these short-cuts in ~/.gimp/pluginrc. When the list of available devices changes (for example, a new scanner is installed or the device of the scanner has changed), you need to rebuild the cache. To do this, either touch(1) the xsane binary:

touch /usr/local/bin/xsane

or delete the plugin cache:

rm ~/.gimp/pluginrc

Either way, invoking the GIMP afterwards will cause pluginrc to be rebuilt.

Options

--display: selects the X11 display used to present the graphical user-interface.
--no-xshm: requests not to use shared memory images. Shared memory images usually enhance performance but cause problems with some X11 servers. Unless your X11 server dies when running this program, there is no need or advantage to specify this flag.
--show-events: requests the display of X11 events. This is for debugging only. --no-show-events turns off the display of X11 events.
--sync: requests a synchronous connection with the X11 server. This is for debugging purposes only.

Notices

If xsane is started as a GIMP plugin it always sends the scanned image to the GIMP.

Copy or fax mode can not be selected when xsane runs as GIMP plugin.

Files

$HOME/.sane/xsane/xsane.rc: This files holds the user preferences. This file should not be manipulated directly. You should customize the program through the Preferences dialog.
$HOME/.sane/xsane/devicename.rc: For each device, there is one rc file that holds the saved settings for that particular device. This file should not be manipulated directly. You should use the xsane interface to select appropriate values and then save the device settings using the Preferences Save Device Settings menu.
$HOME/.sane/preview-devicename.ppm: After acquiring a preview, xsane normally saves the preview image in this device-specific file. The next time the program is started up, the program can present the old preview image. This feature can be turned off through the Preferences Preview Options... dialog.
/usr/local/share/sane-style.rc: This system-wide file controls the aspects of the user-interface such as colors and fonts. It is a GTK style file and provides fine control over the visual aspects of the user-interface.
$HOME/.sane/sane-style.rc: This file serves the same purpose as the system-wide style file. If present,it takes precedence over the system wide style file.

References

sane-abaton(5), sane-agfafocus(5), sane-apple(5), saned(1), sane-dc25(5), sane-dll(5), sane-dmc(5), sane-epson(5), sane-hp(5), sane-microtek(5), sane-microtek2(5), sane-mustek(5), sane-net(5), sane-pnm(5), sane-pint(5), sane-umax(5) scanimage(1), xscanimage(1)