Suse 11.2 - scanner needs root priviliges

English Hardware
1

I’m running Suse 11.2 with KDE 4.3.1

I’m trying to install my Epson SX400 printer/scanner.I installed the printer drivers and everything works fine. I installed the scanner driver, but I can only run the scanner as root. I have added myself to the lp group, which didn’t make any difference. The message I get is this:

gila@cellar:~> iscan
libusb couldn’t open USB device /dev/bus/usb/001/003: Permission denied.
libusb requires write access to USB device nodes.
libusb couldn’t open USB device /dev/bus/usb/001/003: Permission denied.
libusb requires write access to USB device nodes.

Here the output from lsusb

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04b8:084a Seiko Epson Corp.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

I can also access any card I put into the printers card reader without logging in.

I’m grateful for any ideas.

2

… seems to me … this is one of the endearing (and persistent) quirks of Suse: … that never seems to change

I only once got it to work on a KDE install of 11.0 (to access it as user);

the workaround I resorted to was:

lsusb
note the numbers (eg 001 003)

then

su
to assume root powers

chmod a+rw /dev/bus/usb/001/003

obviously change numbers to reflect where the scanner is reported;

xsane should start now …

I tried to sort it: never could succeed

on our mint install, it just gives us access as user, no worries;

you have to do the above each time you want to use the scanner

3

This is really weird, because I never had this issue with previous Suse Versions. Also, at the week-end I installed Suse 11.2 on a different HD to see if various drivers work, and again, no problem with the scanner. I’m using the same install disk, same scanner, same driver and same kernel version. Since my system is pretty new and empty I might have ago at re-installing it.

Edit:
Even stranger is the fact,that this morning it’s working fine, without needing root privileges. But I suppose that’s why I like Suse :slight_smile:

4

I had a case with openSUSE versions BEFORE 11.2 that I always had to add regular users to group “lp” in order to get our Epson scanner to function. 11.2 was the first openSUSE release where the Epson scanner was automatically configured (after installing the correct rpms) and I did NOT have to mess with permissions.

… makes me think of the acronymn: YMMV