GS4500 scanner driver
=====================

This is a device driver that supports the Genius GS4500 handheld scanner
(and probably also the GS4000 and GS4500A). It operates as a loadable
kernel module.

Version 1.5 is intended for Linux 1.3.x kernel. (I have tested 1.3.45
and up). If you are still using 1.2.x kernel (which you should until
1.4.x is out, unless you are a kernel hacker) stay with version 1.4.
There is no significant difference in functionality.

You have to create /dev/gs4500 with a matching major device number
("mknod /dev/gs4500 c 16 0") and create a link to /dev/scanner
("ln -s /dev/gs4500 /dev/scanner").

Supported Scanner:
- Genius GeniScan GS4500
? Genius GeniScan GS4000 (DOS drivers for the GS4000 work
  with my GS4500 so I'd assume this driver works with a
  GS4000)
? Genius GeniScan GS4500A (again, just a guess)


Features:
 *      - added automatic detection what io adresses and
 *        dma channel is set on the interface board
 *      - fixed a bug with dma channel selection
 *      - scanner dosn't flash when driver loads
 *      - changed device major to 26 like the other handheld
 *        scanner drivers use (avoids conflict with ibcs and
 *        sound driver)
 *      - added fsync to file_operations table (= NULL)
 *      - adapted scandemo from logitech driver for gs4500
 *      - added the option to create a loadable kernel module
 *      - changed buffer allocation to make
 *        loadable module work
 *      - changed ioctls to be compatible with M105, AC4096 and
 *        Logitech driver
 *      - small changes here and there...
 *

Included you find testscan.c by Richard Lyons which I have modified for
the new ioctls. Use it as "testscan | tee tmp.pnm | xloadimage stdin".
(xloadimage starts a lot faster than xv!)

Also included is gifscan where I added the P command so you can
save images als PBM bitmaps. (Saving as GIF is too slow to be usable
on my machine.) There is probably a newer version of gifscan out, so
you might want to check your nearest ftp site. In theory all handheld
scanner drivers have a compatible interface, so you should have no
problem using the scanning software from other distributions.

We still need a good scanner application. While more and more drivers
get available, they are not of much use until end-user applications do
use them. X applications would be nice, but with this polling (!) driver,
speed is critical (at least on a slow machine like I have).

Let me know if you have problems with the driver. I'll try to fix them.
Please let me also know what exact scanner type you used it with
successfully (other than GeniScan GS4500).


Author:
Jan Willamowius
jan@janhh.shnet.org

