I'm considering purchasing a new USB flatbed scanner for my parents whose laptop is running Ubuntu (10.04 LTS - Lucid Lynx).
Doing a quick search around I found this thread over in the forums: Lightweight Scanner and it seems:
- Generally I should check the SANE project to see if a specific scanner will work under Linux.
- EPSON distributes its own Linux drivers by Avasys
- HP seems to have good Linux support: hplip is already installed with Ubuntu (although for me here it seems that the version with Ubuntu 10.04 isn't the newest one and could need some fiddling when I buy a new HP printer)
What other factors need I take into account when buying a scanner for Ubuntu? Anything specific to some applications (GIMP, etc.)? Will the now-typical scanner buttons to directly scan a PDF document work on some printers and not on others? Etc.