Revive my +20 years old Umax SCSI Scanner

 Starting Position

Umax Astra 1200S device with power and SCSI cable but no controller card.

Backside of the Scanner

Situation with newer Windows OS

There is no driver available for Windows 7 or newer Operating Systems except the proprietary solution VueScan. The next problem is that newer Motherboards have no native PCI slots anymore, but this is mandatory due the fact that there is no SCSI-2 controller card on the market for PCIe (this is not surprising because SCSI-2 was released in 1989).

I came to the conclusion that the easiest way to resolve the hardware issues is to use an old PC with PCI slots and installed Linux with SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) for the Software/Driver part.

So which controller card is suitable? 

E.g. the Adaptec AVA-2902E/I SCSI Controller Card (PCI) with DB25 (25 pins) connection. Available on Ebay for approx. 25€ (other PCI SCSI-2 controller cards for PCI should also work).

Adaptec AVA-2902E/I SCSI PCI controller 

Linux (Debian)

Setup e.g. Debian 11 on the PC and don't forget to fulfill these requirements:

• install a SCSI-2 controller card in the PCI slot (with DB25 connector)
• install SANE (Drivers)
• apt-get install libsane
• Scanner Software: e.g. XSane, Gimp
• create or edit /boot/loader.conf
• add these lines to load the SCSI adapter (for Adaptec controllers)
  ahc_load="YES"
  ahc_eisa_load="YES"
  ahc_isa_load="YES"
  ahc_pci_load="YES"
• Reboot

Detect the Scanner

Execute sane-find-scanner in a bash and you should get something similar to:

 

sane-find-scanner will now attempt to detect your scanner. If the

  # result is different from what you expected, first make sure your

  # scanner is powered up and properly connected to your computer.

found SCSI scanner "UMAX Astra 1200S V2.9" at /dev/sg1

  # Your SCSI scanner was detected. It may or may not be supported by SANE. Try

  # scanimage -L and read the backend's manpage.

could not fetch string descriptor: Pipe error

could not fetch string descriptor: Pipe error

  # No USB scanners found. If you expected something different, make sure that

  # you have loaded a kernel driver for your USB host controller and have setup

  # the USB system correctly. See man sane-usb for details.

  # Not checking for parallel port scanners.

  # Most Scanners connected to the parallel port or other proprietary ports

  # can't be detected by this program.

Testscan