• The Scan Settings button is the one you'll probably find to be the most useful.

Setup

Destination

• If you're only going to scan one thing, press Manual entry and enter your e-mail address.

• If you're scanning many items, or you think you might use the scanner again reasonably soon, press Prg. Dest to add a new entry in the Address Book.
  • In the E-mail tab, enter your e-mail address.
  • In the Name tab, type your initials or your last name. This is what will be visible in the Address Book button.
  • The Folder tab is useful if you want to scan to an SMB server. Contact WilliamSeligman if you want to set that up.
  • Ignore the Fax tab. The machine is not hooked up to a phone line.

• If you've created an Address Book button, then just press the button with your name.

Settings

• The Scan Settings button is the one you'll problem find to be the most useful.
  • Use the Scan Type tab to select between black-and-white or color scanning.
  • Use the Scan Size tab if your original doesn't match a standard paper size. If you try to scan something of a non-standard size, you'll get an error message; you'll have to go to this tab and select one of the sizes.

• There is a mildly-confusing button with two halves: 1-sided and Original feed type. Press this button if you have two-sided originals.

• Press Send File Type/Name if you wish to get a PDF file instead of a TIFF. Setting the File Name is probably not worth it; it's easier to rename the file after you receive it on your computer.

• At the bottom of screen are Text and Subject buttons. These affect the e-mail message you get when you scan the document; this is useful if you're scanning several items and you want to avoid mixing them up. If you press Subject, you'll probably want to then press the Text Entry tab near the bottom of the screen; otherwise you'll only be able to select from different message labels.

Wrap-up

Nevis Scanning

These are a basic set of instructions for using the HP3570c scanner in room 119.

Here are your options:

Your own computer

Bring in your own Windows or Mac laptop. Install the HP3570c drivers. Unplug the USB cable from the back of the scanning computer cordwainer.nevis.columbia.edu and plug it into your laptop. When you're done, please remember to plug the scanner back into the computer again.

If you have a Linux laptop with Fedora Core 6 or higher, the necessary software and drivers are probably already installed (you need the sane-backends package, version 1.0.18 or greater). If your laptop has an earlier version of Linux, installing the HP3570c drivers is a non-trivial task. It's probably simpler to just use cordwainer.nevis.columbia.edu.

Use cordwainer.nevis.columbia.edu directly

Important: This not fast software. Be patient. Don't panic.

Login using the console with your Linux cluster account and password.

You have three choices of program to use:

kooka

You can type this command directly in a terminal window, or you can find it under the "Applications" menu, under the "Graphics" sub-menu.

xsane

You have to type this command directly into a terminal window. This is my favorite, but it's a little more intimidating to use.

scanimage

This is a command-line program. A typical invocation might be be:

scanimage | pnmtops | ps2pdf - output.pdf

Use scanimage --help or type man scanimage for more information.

Working with PNM files

All three of the above programs tend to produce output in PNM format. You might want to read about the netpbm programs to convert these files; man -k pnm will show you a list of useful programs.

Troubleshooting

If you get an error message instead of a scan, try unplugging the USB cable, wait 30 seconds, then plug it in again. If you get an error message after a scan, typically you can ignore it.

One more time: be patient. Scans take a long time on this box.

Notes

The scanner system is managed under the same policy as the Nevis student boxes.

Why does the scanner box have the name cordwainer.nevis.columbia.edu? Cordwainer Smith was a science-fiction author whose most famous work is "Scanners Live in Vain".