Scanning And Printing
Scanning Software
We used an HP Photosmart C4280 all-in-one printer/scanner/copier to test the scanning capabilities of the scanning software.
XSane Image Scanner (v. 0.997)
XSane is a GUI front-end for SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy). XSane is the system default for many popular Linux distributions, and comes pre-installed on openSUSE. Our test scanner was easily detected by this application; both scanning and previewing worked.
There are a ton of options in XSane, including image enhancement, batch scanning, cropping, padding, and more. Unfortunately, XSane suffers from window management issues. This app uses up to six windows to show all of the options, and even more for multiple projects.
Simple Scan (v. 2.32.0)
This suitably-named application is the perfect no-nonsense scanning utility. Simple Scan is the default scanning application for Ubuntu and Fedora, recently replacing the much more complex XSane. The interface is minimalistic and clean. The main toolbar houses buttons for a New document, Scan, Save, Stop, Rotate left, Rotate right, and Crop--everything you need to scan documents or pictures, and nothing more.
Preferences hold separate resolution settings for image and text scans. Our test scanner had no problem under Simple Scan. This is a straightforward, lightweight, and easy-to-use application--the perfect default scanning app.
Skanlite (v. 4.5.1)
Skanlite is the default scanning utility in KDE, and many distributions that use it, such as openSUSE. Zoom and pre-scan cropping are essentially the only features beyond scanning available in this application. There are adjustable settings for the quality of the scan, as well as the compression level of the output image file.
Skanlite detected our test scanner without any problems. Overall, Skanlite is a decent default scanning utility.
gscan2pdf (v. 0.9.31)
This simple utility scans images and outputs directly to PDF files. Rotate, undo, and zoom are accessible via the main toolbar. The test scanner was detected and scanning completed without any errors.
This niche application works exactly as advertised, scanning to the PDF format.
Image Printing Software
PhotoPrint (v. 0.4.1 )
PhotoPrint is an application aimed at printing photographs. This app can crop, scale, tile, add borders, and apply basic effects to image files for printing. PhotoPrint is definitely intended for a niche audience, and most image editors can already do everything found in this application.
Creating a carousel image for compact discs is perhaps the most unique feature of PhotoPrint.
PosteRazor (v. 1.5.1)
PosteRazor creates printable posters from image files. This app employs an easy-to-use wizard that guides the user through five steps to create a printable image.
Step one: choose an image file. Step two: choose a paper format. Step three: choose which edges and how much space to overlap onto the next page. Step four: finalize poster size and image alignment. Step five: save as PDF. PosteRazor is perhaps the most foolproof method for creating a custom poster.
