For the longest time I’ve used Kodak i900 scanner — works well with a Xsane driver… recently had to upgrade my machine, and didn’t find my notes on how to get the i900 driver working. Also the i900 was a bit finicky starting up — you’d have to flip it open/close a number of times to get it re-registered with the computer. So back to research mode.
As I was looking around, I found Epson ES-400 II that seemed nicer, faster, more versatile. Ordered it, and oh my goodness, no specific Xsane drivers, but it came with Epsonscanner2 application (containing the driver).
My search is finally over, the Epson ES-400 II is definitely the winner. JPGs, PNGs, PDFs, color/grayscale, one or two sides, automatically detect if two sided is needed. Resolutions from 75 to 1200 DPI. ADF takes up to 40 sheets at a time, and feeds everything perfectly (and fast! — just remember to give the scanner a USB3 connection). Some day I might try the “networking feature” (the epsonscanner2 allows you to define an IP address on your network), and thus you might be able to set up networked scanner.
I love the fact that you can just drop a bunch of pages in and have the whole set scanned at once. It even launches a Dolphin instance to where your JPG/PNG/PDF is created, making it even nicer/faster to use.
The Epson ES-400 II is a bit bulkier than the i900, but with ease of use, I gladly give up the desk space.
If the scanned photograps seem too dark (a problem with my wife’s childhood photos), just crank the Gamma correction higher (NOTE: not the brightness, just the gamma). and prolem is solved. You rarely need this change, but sometimes it does magic.
The only thing I miss of the i900 is scanning thicker items, like creadit cards, driver licences, etc. The Epson only likes thinner items.
The driver/software installed without any trouble on my Ubuntu 24.04.5.