although this wasn't really very hard (I have hotplug running, which does a few things, all of which I'm not completely understanding yet), I did learn a few things in the process, and I want to make sure this is in the LQ forums so neither I (in case I forget it) or anyone else doesn't have to hunt very hard for a solution

nearly everything I did is listed here:
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/piper...er/005496.html

1. I got the module happening with modprobe (and hotplug):
put this in /etc/modules.conf -
then I loaded the module
in /etc/hotplug/usb.handmap I made a copy of a line and put the following in the first 4 columns
plugging the scanner in gave me
/dev/usb/scanner0

2. I had a look in USB Viewer, it shows the Canoscan. if things don't happen right, it was showing in red.

3. as root, update I updated
/etc/sane.d/plustek.conf
with
[usb] 0x04a9 0x2206
option lampOff 0
option warmup 180
option lOffOnEnd 0
device /dev/usb/scanner0

note: have a read through the comments in this file - you might want different options

4. then check that sane can find it:
[caysho@Petrata caysho]$ sane-find-scanner

found USB scanner (vendor=0x04a9, product=0x2206) at /dev/usb/scanner0
found USB scanner (vendor=0x04a9, product=0x2206) at libusb:001:002


At this point I tried running XSane, but it didn't find any devices.
some more searching and I found this
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=dl...nitz.de&rnum=8

so I added plustek to dll.conf (as root), and it works, running Mandrake 9.0.

hotplug appears to do some stuff, except remove the module when I unplug the scanner.
this is something that I have to do manually atm.

Great little howto this is to get my same scanner working under Slackware 9.1.

Just a few things to mention though, apparently under Slackware you shouldn't have to edit the dll.conf file as it already has plustek listed and one other thing to mention is for regular users to launch and use xsane, you'll want to change the permission settings on the device like this:

chmod 666 /dev/usb/scanner*

This way when launching xsane, you won't recieve the error message of 'no devices found'

Cheers.

Caysho - your Success Story on the Canonscan 650U seems to be ideal for our LinuxAnswers section.

Would you be willing to submit it? It would be of help to the site and to the rest of our membership if you would do so (it would also put your instructions in a prominent place for anyone searching for it ).

If you are willing to do so, read this link on submitting an Answer beforehand.

Thanks.

ok. I may not have the time in the immediate future, but hopefully over the next few weeks I can do it.
imo this would be distro specific, as hotplug is in use and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with them all.
would you agree ?

AFAIK, hotplug is in a number of distros and as you saw from Trickykid's response it also works under Slackware (with a minor change). Once an LA has been created, it opens up a discussion thread in the Forum where experiences and questions can be posted.

You could post your LA as per your first post and put in a note to incorporate Trickykid's response and say that it has been tested and works under Slack and Debian.

ok, I've submitted a post for the LinuxAnswers section, a better formatted version of this post.

Caysho - thanks for doing this

Great walkthrough - but I still have one problem left.

I can only call xsane as root - otherwise I get a message that no scanner could be found.

What am I doing wrong ?

Sounds like a permissions problem, but I don't know where xsane looks for scanners.
Did you read trickykid's addition to the post ?