Configuring Scanners for Linux

After you have installed the hardware, you will need to identify the name of the scanner device driver and set permissions for the scanner.

Identifying the Name of the Scanner Device Driver

You must identify the name of the SCSI device that is working with your scanner so that you can configure Harmony to communicate with it.

Device drivers all have names starting with /dev/sg. If your scanner is the only generic SCSI device connected to your system, it is likely that the name of its driver is
/dev/sga.

If you are uncertain about the device name, you can use the findscanner utility provided with Harmony. Use the findscanner utility to probe your SCSI bus for devices. It will tell you the name of the device being used by scanners attached to your system.

The device name of your scanner will change if you add, remove or swap other generic SCSI devices.

How to use the findscanner utility to identify your scanner

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Start the findscanner utility. While in the bin folder of your Harmony installation, type the following in a terminal or command prompt:

./findscanner

The findscanner utility is installed in /usr/localToonBoomAnimation/harmony_10/ln86_64/bin/

If there are scanners connected to your computer and they are properly installed, the findscanner utility will return information like the following:

/dev/sga type=6: Scanner device RICOH IS450 Vers:1R04
/dev/sgb type=6: Scanner device FUJITSU fi-4750Cdm Vers:0G00

If findscanner cannot find SCSI scanners attached to your computer, it will return a statement like this:

No scsi devices attached

If you get this message, it may indicate that your system could not initialize your SCSI adapter at boot time.

How to make sure your SCSI devices are initialized correctly when you boot Linux

Go to the /boot directory and rename the initrd-[version].img file, where [version] represents the version of your kernel. You can run the uname -r command to find out the version of your kernel.

cd /boot

mv initrd-2.4.18-3.img noscsi-initrd-2.4.18-3.img

Type the following command:

/sbin/mkinitrd initrd-2.4.18-3.img 2.4.18-3

This command recreates a new "init ramdisk" image that will load your SCSI driver when your system starts.

Reboot your system.

Setting Permissions for the Scanner

If you want multiple user accounts to be able to access your scanner, you must modify the permissions on the device driver.

How to change the permissions on the scanner

On a command line, type the following:

chmod 666 /dev/sga

/dev/sga must represent the device driver of your scanner.

How to set the permissions on the scanner each time you boot

Open /etc/rc.d/rc.local in a text editor.

Add the following line:

chmod 666 /dev/sga

Save and close the file.

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