Scanners and Calibration
So a few weeks ago we bought a new Epson Perfection 1670 scanner. After much comparing the PC Pro reviews with Dabs prices and the Sane supported scanners list, this was the only good scanner which is sub-£100 and supported in Linux.
The scanner software in Windows is, well, pretty average. After a bit of configuring it works well enough, but the interface is skinned and a little Byzantine in places. However, Epson are good enough to provide a set of ICC files which are used by the scanning software automatically, and I had already installed an ICC profile from my monitor from Iiyama, so the scans are pretty well calibrated out of the box.
Not as much luck in Linux. After adding the scanner to /etc/hotplug/usb/libsane.usermap, and adding myself to the scanner group, I can access the scanner without being root. I've built the SANE front-ends from CVS as the current release is still GTK+ 1.2, and it works well enough, although the scanned images are incredibly dark. A little gimping solves this, but of course I'd like not to do this.
So, anyone managed to correctly colour-calibrate a SANE/X/GIMP/CUPS toolchain? I have ICC profiles for the scanner and my monitor, and am willing to work in sRGB, so in theory this shouldn't be too hard. My limited digging to X tells me that Xcms was invented before ICC was conceived, so can I convert between the formats? Is Xcms actually useful? Help!
We're Off To See Parkie
On the 4th of March we're off to see Parkinson being filmed. This should be really cool, but sadly we don't know when the show will be shown so have no idea who will be see being interviewed. Finger's crossed it's Kylie and Johnny Depp...
