What's the best Epson scanner software for Mint?

I’ve got an Epson Stylus SX435W all in one. It’s working with Image Scan! for Linux 2.30.4, but is not being detected by Epson Scan 2. I’ve checked everything I can find, it just looks like my scanner is too old for the software.

Simple Scan seems to be too simple, but I don’t want to have to launch something like GIMP and manually tweak everything.

I ideally want something with a built in colour enhancement tool like the Epson Windows software, and something that will remember the directory and name of the scan e.g. if I set it to ~/Pictures/Scans/Scan001.jpg, the next scan will automatically be ~/Pictures/Scans/Scan002.jpg etc. Descreening and Backlight Correction are both tools that I use fairly regularly too, as I mostly scan old photos. There’s a screenshot of the Windows Epson software on this page if it helps:

https://files.support.epson.com/htmldocs/wfp4520/wfp4520ug/source/scanners/source/scanning_software/tasks/starting_scan_icon.html

Does anyone know of anything that might be a good alternative please?

EDIT: I’m just trying out XSane now. XSane and Image Scan! both give a slight colour cast, purple on this particular photo, but XSane seems to have more control over the settings.

I’m currently avoiding VueScan due to the price. While it does look like it’s great software, I can’t currently justify paying £50 when I’ve already got working software under Windows.

knobbysideup,

Mint has simplescan. Did you try that?

Tippon,

Thanks for the suggestion, but it’s no good for what I need. While it looks great for scanning documents, I need something that can just scan a selected area for a photo, instead of the whole scanner bed, and something that can do some basic colour corrections and automatic naming.

XSane looks to be the best so far, but I can’t quite get the colour correction right.

kn33,

On Windows, I like NAPS2. I haven’t tried it on Linux, though

Tippon,

It does look good, but unfortunately, it doesn’t have any of the image correction options that I need. I mostly scan old photos, and a lot of them have that reddish / orange colour cast. I can fix them in a photo editor, but obviously that takes more time than if I can fix them in the scanner software.

It’s a great recommendation for normal scanning though, thanks :)

marv99, (edited )

If you are unhappy with suggested XSane, but only want an OSS solution, I do not know a good alternative.

Possible non-OSS solutionAlthough I am an open source enthusiast, there are few application where I use commercial, even non-OSS solutions on Linux. One of this exceptions is for scanning. Background: I “administrate” some legacy Epson scanners used with my family’s Linux boxes and got them all to run with a software called VueScan, with the following restrictions: - Perfection 3490 worked out of the box, no drivers required - Perfection 3170 requires Epson drivers (iscan_2.10.0-2_i386.deb, iscan-plugin-gt-9400_1.0.0-2_i386.deb), but only runs on 32bit Linux - Perfection V30 requires Epson drivers (scan-gt-f720-bundle-2.30.4.x64.deb.tar.gz) and simply works on 64bit Debian # As you see, it might be a bit of luck, if a device works out of the box or not. Unfortunately your Epson Stylus SX435W seems not to be listed under the supported Epson devices (click red button “All drivers” to see all supported Epson scanners). If you happen to find no solution, I suggest to use the trial version of VueScan and check if your Epson simply runs or not. EDIT: sorry, I forgot to mention. that the VueScan GUI has plenty of those processing options you are searching for.

Tippon,

Thanks for the detailed reply :)

It does support the SX435W, but they’ve listed it without the Stylus part of the name:

https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/epson_stylus_sx430.html#technical-information

I’ve got no objection to using non OSS software, especially if it helps me to switch to Linux full time, but I can’t justify paying for an alternative while I’m still dual booting. Apologies, I should have made that clearer.

Thanks again for your help :)

aksdb,

I swear by VueScan. You can check the support status for your scanner on their site.

Tippon,

Thanks for replying :)

I’ve had a look, and they do support my printer, but I can’t justify spending £50 on it while I’ve got working software under Windows. Sorry, I should have clarified that in my post

aksdb,

I also use VueScan on Windows. It’s generally a good scan software (with OCR, artifact removal, etc). The price is fair; license is multi platform and not time bound either. I bought it 10 years ago and still get updates.

VHS,
@VHS@hexbear.net avatar

I use XSane for scanning photos and I get good results. It has plenty of options and auto-names files like you said. I’m not sure what Descreening and Backlight Correction are for, though.

Tippon,

Thanks for replying :)

It looks like it does pretty much everything I need, but I’m having some trouble getting the colours correct. I’m getting a slight purple tinge on the sample photo I’m using. It might just be that I need to learn how to do it through XSane, so I’m having a play with the settings.

Descreening helps to get rid of the old newspaper effect that newspapers and some old documents had. It’s not usually needed for photos, but I’ve got some clippings from newspapers, and some very old documents with the effect.

Backlight Correction basically just brings up the brightness in a photo, but rather than just cranking up the exposure or brightness, it seems to do the equivalent of bringing the detail from shadows in Photoshop. It’s not great, but now and then it does a good enough job that I don’t have to open a photo editor.

VHS,
@VHS@hexbear.net avatar

but rather than just cranking up the exposure or brightness, it seems to do the equivalent of bringing the detail from shadows in Photoshop.

Maybe the levels slider? If you place the black point pointer further to the left shoulder of the curve, the shadows won’t be as dark.

Tippon,

I’ve tried that, but it adjusts the whole image rather than focusing on the shadows. It might just be something I’m getting wrong, but in the Epson scan software, it seems to only affect the shadows and dark areas. More often than not though, it affects the whole photo and screws it up, but when it does get it right, it’s great.

Because it screws it up so often, I can live without it, but I’m still struggling with the colour cast.

cmnybo,

Have you tried XSane? It will do batch scans. For more advanced image correction, you will probably have to use GIMP or ImageMagick though.

Tippon,

Thanks, I’m trying it now :)

It’s very close to what I need, but I can’t quite get the colours right. I’m trying to figure out whether that’s down to the software, or whether I just need a bit more practice. I’m poking around the settings to see what happens :D

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