Hardware - Support > Printing and Scanning

[SOLVED] Give An Old Scanner New Life with Linux Lite

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Jerry:
Nice one N4RPS, thanks for sharing :)

Coastie:
:) Thanks for the tip. I'll go shopping at my local Goodwill thrift store.

N4RPS:
Hello, All!

Most all of you know about those USB document scanners that you see in thrift stores for chump change. I've seen a lot of these go for less than $5. Some of them are quite compact - and, 'back in the day', were quite costly. Perhaps some of you wonder, "What is up with all these scanners lying around?".

You're literally tripping over them because when Windows Vista came around, Microsoft radically changed the Windows kernel. Scanner manufacturers did not want to rewrite their software to accommodate the new kernel. instead, they forced everyone who uses a scanner regularly to go out and buy a new one - one that DID support Vista and beyond. Fortunately (after all, they DO contain mercury), instead of just sending them to landfills, people donated them to be resold in charity thrift stores for a tax write-off.

Linux Lite includes scanner utilities that will detect and support most of these devices. You need only plug them in, start up one of these programs, and your old XP scanner is once again usable.

Having left XP years ago myself, I have an old, very compact Canon scanner that's been just lying around here for quite a while now. On a whim, I decided to pull it out to see if LL supported it. Sure enough, the scanner works like a charm!

Just though I'd share this with the community...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

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