It wasn’t too long ago that setting up printing on FreeBSD turned out to be surprisingly straightforward. Building on that positive experience, the recent need to digitize some puzzles led us to dust off an old Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 USB scanner. The expectation was that getting it to function on FreeBSD might be a complex undertaking. However, the reality was quite the opposite – it proved to be remarkably simple and user-friendly.
Before diving into the setup, let’s take a quick look at the specifications of the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25. This compact and efficient scanner utilizes a CIS (Contact Image Sensor) with an LED (LIDE) light source, offering a resolution of 1200 x 2400 DPI. It supports 48-bit input and 24-bit output scanning gradation and accommodates documents up to A4 size (216 x 297mm). Scanning speeds are respectable for its class, with 16.0 msec/line at 600dpi (color) and 32.0 msec/line at 1200dpi (color), and faster speeds for grayscale. Notably, its specifications mention support for Windows 98, hinting at its age, but also suggesting broad compatibility. Power consumption is also quite low, at 2.5W during operation and 1.4W in standby.
Getting Started with Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 on FreeBSD
Connecting the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 to a FreeBSD system is as simple as plugging it in via USB. To confirm that the system recognizes the device, you can check the dmesg(8) output. After attaching the scanner, the output should display a message similar to the one below, indicating that the scanner has been detected on a USB port.
<strong>FreeBSD
# <span>dmesg</span></strong> (...) ugen2.3: at usbus2With the hardware connected, the next step is to install the necessary software. FreeBSD makes scanner support straightforward thanks to the graphics/sane-backends package. This package provides the backend drivers required for most scanners to communicate with your system. For a user-friendly graphical interface, graphics/simple-scan is also recommended. Installation of both can be done with a single command using the pkg package manager.
<strong>FreeBSD
# <span>pkg install graphics/sane-backends graphics/simple-scan </span></strong>Once the installation is complete, you can verify if the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 is correctly recognized by the system using the scanimage(1) utility, which is part of the graphics/sane-backends package. The command scanimage -L lists the detected scanner devices. If your CanoScan LiDE 25 is properly set up, it should appear in the list, similar to the example below. This confirms that the scanner is recognized and ready for use on your FreeBSD system without needing any complex configurations or additional services like avahi.
<strong>FreeBSD % <span>pkg which -o $( which scanimage )</span></strong> /usr/local/bin/scanimage was installed by package graphics/sane-backends <strong>FreeBSD % <span>scanimage -L</span></strong> device `plustek:libusb:002:003' is a Canon CanoScan LiDE25 flatbed scannerScanning Documents with Simple Scan and CanoScan LiDE 25
For everyday scanning tasks, simple-scan(1) provides an intuitive and easy-to-use graphical interface. Upon launching Simple Scan, it automatically detects connected scanners. In the case of the Canon CanoScan LiDE 25, it should be recognized within moments, making it ready for scanning.
Initiating a scan is as simple as clicking the “Scan” button within the Simple Scan interface. After a brief scanning process, the digitized document or image will be displayed within the application.
For users who require more advanced image editing capabilities, integrating with tools like GIMP is seamless. In this instance, to enhance the scanned puzzle images, adjustments were made in GIMP, specifically reducing the Brightness to -10 and increasing the Contrast to +50 to achieve a more visually appealing result. Additionally, converting the image to Greyscale and using the Crop tool can further refine the scanned output to meet specific needs.
Broadening Scanner Compatibility on FreeBSD
The Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 is just one of many scanners that are known to work flawlessly with FreeBSD. Users have reported success with a range of Canon CanoScan LiDE models, including the LiDE 210, LiDE 220, and LiDE 300, as well as more advanced models like the Canon imageFORMULA DR-9080C and Canon PIXMA MP240. Scanners from other manufacturers, such as the Epson Perfection 1650, HP OfficeJet 6950, HP DeskJet F2480, and HP DeskJet Ink Advantage 4535, are also confirmed to be compatible.
For some newer network-based scanners, such as the Epson EcoTank ET-3830, users have found that enabling and running the avahi and dbus services, along with installing the graphics/sane-airscan package, is necessary for proper functionality.
Conclusion
Setting up the Canon Canoscan Lide 25 Scan Tool on FreeBSD is an unexpectedly easy process, highlighting the operating system’s excellent hardware compatibility and the effectiveness of the SANE backends project. This experience, along with the reported compatibility of numerous other scanner models, underscores FreeBSD’s versatility as a desktop operating system, even for users with older hardware.
If you have experience getting other scanner models to work on FreeBSD, please share your experiences in the comments below! Your contributions can help expand the community’s knowledge base and assist other users in finding compatible devices.
