{"slug": "sane", "name": "SANE", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 3.704, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-11-30", "latest": "2026-06-13", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "brew.sh", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "http://www.sane-project.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["SANE"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 776303840, "item_id": 48518990, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518990", "by": "hakfoo", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a Canon LIDE 100 that Just Worked with SANE", "excerpt": "On the one hand, it's nice that Epson provided a Linux package. On the other, it's a pain in the arse that it's specific to a handful of distributions. I had a V33, and I use Void. At one point I was able to get it shimmed together, there was a wrapper package for the vendor-specific modules, but eventually it stopped working, so I went to the Goodwill and came home with a Canon LIDE 100 that Just Worked with SANE. I", "context": "Void Linux user", "use_case": "scanning on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using the Epson Perfection V39 II Scanner on Ubuntu"}, {"id": 771550080, "item_id": 48221880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48221880", "by": "hommelix", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Sane works out of the box on Linux", "excerpt": "Sane works out of the box on Linux (at least in my limited experience). There are front ends for Windows and MacOS [1]. No need for a browser in the loop. The browser is becoming more and more Emacs... An operating system that happens to be a browser. [1] http://sane-project.org/sane-frontends.html", "context": "", "use_case": "Scanner access on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP"}, {"id": 771527088, "item_id": 48220443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48220443", "by": "winkelmann", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SANE runs natively and works great", "excerpt": "FYI, if the goal is just to use something like an old Canon LiDE scanner (pretty common/cheap devices with no more driver support) on macOS: SANE runs natively and works great: https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sane-backends (comes with `scanimage` CLI tool).", "context": "", "use_case": "Scanner drivers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP"}, {"id": 737571169, "item_id": 46098198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46098198", "by": "don-code", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CUPS and SANE both support it out of the box", "excerpt": "I likewise have a circa 1997 LaserJet that I refuse to give up. Both the printer and scanner still function flawlessly, every time I need them to - something that few printers today seem capable of. I switched to 64-bit Windows in 2006. The printer supports PCL drivers, but there are no 64-bit drivers for the scanner. Luckily, I was able to keep it going by running 32-bit Windows in a VM, and passing the parallel por", "context": "", "use_case": "scanner support", "switched_from": "", "story": "Atlas Shrugged (2024)"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "hakfoo", "context": "Void Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518990", "date": "2026-06-13"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["scanning on linux", "scanner access on linux", "scanner drivers on macos", "scanner support"], "compared": [{"slug": "cups", "name": "CUPS", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 771474689, "item_id": 48217168, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48217168", "by": "ValdikSS", "date": "2026-05-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "as a CUPS/SANE/printer/scanner drivers contributor", "excerpt": "It's a great concept, but you haven't open-sourced the previous code, as the license requires, and you're yet again apologizing in this project as well, without any code. Pretty sure you have my code in both projects. I contribute first and foremost to make printers and scanners to work reliably, but also keeping in mind the idea that I could at least try to apply legal actions for companies which violate the license", "context": "contributor to CUPS and SANE", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP"}, {"id": 745269777, "item_id": 46579361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579361", "by": "ValdikSS", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Spent about 2 years improving printing and scanning stack of Linux: CUPS, SANE, AirSane", "excerpt": "Spent about 2 years improving printing and scanning stack of Linux: CUPS, SANE, AirSane, as well as some legacy drivers, and also x86 proprietary driver emulation on ARM with Box86. Even that \"modern\" printing stack in Linux is 20+ years old, there's still such an unbelievable amount of basic bugs and low-hanging-fruit optimizations, that it's kinda sad. Not to mention that it still maintains ALL its legacy compatibi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (January 2026)"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48177467", "title": "Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48488463", "title": "Using the Epson Perfection V39 II Scanner on Ubuntu", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47677885", "title": "Rescuing old printers with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577242", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (January 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46097609", "title": "Atlas Shrugged (2024)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"compare": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 776303840, "item_id": 48518990, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518990", "by": "hakfoo", "date": "2026-06-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a Canon LIDE 100 that Just Worked with SANE", "excerpt": "On the one hand, it's nice that Epson provided a Linux package. On the other, it's a pain in the arse that it's specific to a handful of distributions. I had a V33, and I use Void. At one point I was able to get it shimmed together, there was a wrapper package for the vendor-specific modules, but eventually it stopped working, so I went to the Goodwill and came home with a Canon LIDE 100 that Just Worked with SANE. I", "context": "Void Linux user", "use_case": "scanning on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using the Epson Perfection V39 II Scanner on Ubuntu"}, {"id": 771550080, "item_id": 48221880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48221880", "by": "hommelix", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Sane works out of the box on Linux", "excerpt": "Sane works out of the box on Linux (at least in my limited experience). There are front ends for Windows and MacOS [1]. No need for a browser in the loop. The browser is becoming more and more Emacs... An operating system that happens to be a browser. [1] http://sane-project.org/sane-frontends.html", "context": "", "use_case": "Scanner access on Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP"}, {"id": 771527088, "item_id": 48220443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48220443", "by": "winkelmann", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "SANE runs natively and works great", "excerpt": "FYI, if the goal is just to use something like an old Canon LiDE scanner (pretty common/cheap devices with no more driver support) on macOS: SANE runs natively and works great: https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/sane-backends (comes with `scanimage` CLI tool).", "context": "", "use_case": "Scanner drivers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP"}, {"id": 762904609, "item_id": 47681538, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47681538", "by": "simoncion", "date": "2026-04-07", "stance": "compare", "quote": "use the network sharing features of SANE and CUPS", "excerpt": "Oh neat. v86 is mentioned in the FOSDEM 2025 slides [0] for another wasm port of QEMU. Interesting that what appears to be v86's inability to run x86 executables didn't fuck you. I wonder why the decision wasn't made to use the network sharing features of SANE and CUPS, instead of requiring one to use Chrome due to the WebUSB dependency. Seems to me that you'd have a way more general solution if you could usefully de", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rescuing old printers with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP"}, {"id": 737571169, "item_id": 46098198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46098198", "by": "don-code", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CUPS and SANE both support it out of the box", "excerpt": "I likewise have a circa 1997 LaserJet that I refuse to give up. Both the printer and scanner still function flawlessly, every time I need them to - something that few printers today seem capable of. I switched to 64-bit Windows in 2006. The printer supports PCL drivers, but there are no 64-bit drivers for the scanner. Luckily, I was able to keep it going by running 32-bit Windows in a VM, and passing the parallel por", "context": "", "use_case": "scanner support", "switched_from": "", "story": "Atlas Shrugged (2024)"}]}