Raspberry PI and USB network scanner #piday #raspberrypi @Raspberry_Pi
Setup an old scanner and a Raspberry Pi to create a handy scan-to-network box, from Eduardo Luís:
I came across this idea because There is a problem in the company that I work for. There is a remote office that has only a few people working a few hours a day. For these people computers are still a “complicated” object. We have internet and a VPN there. We also have e-mail and a server for remote backups. However something was missing. We need an easy way to transfer paper documents to our headquarters instantly.
To Buy a network scanner was too expensive; to buy a simple scanner and attach it to a computer was not a solution either, because there are 3 computers to 3 people. Despite that, it will not be would be an easy task to use this software due to people lack of knowledge.
The solution: an old scanner and a Raspberry Pi.
I assume that you may have some network background for setting up an email server and Bind so you can configure your operating system to send email to any email account.
In this solution I used Raspbian for the OS, Sendmail, Bind, Python, Bash, Sane, Imagemagick and Mutt. I’ll skip the Sendmail and Bind details.
The idea is: attach an old USB scanner (must be compatible with Sane) to the Raspberry Pi, push a button to initiate the scanning process and a script is launched so the scanned image would be automatically sent to a predefined email address.
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I was discussing the use of a NFC tag with some friends the other day. This would be a great example. The tag could be programmed to link to a website or email and swiping would send your email address to the scanner and the scanner would then send the document back to you (rather than a default email address)
I was discussing the use of a NFC tag with some friends the other day. This would be a great example. The tag could be programmed to link to a website or email and swiping would send your email address to the scanner and the scanner would then send the document back to you (rather than a default email address)