Mohtalim

We own a Canon LIDE scanner. I use it on my Linux machine with the Gimp. Amber would also like to use it on her Windows laptop. Anyone used any free/freeware software to do some scanning and simple graphics work (rotate & crop, primarily)?

Windows scanning is all done through a generic interface (TWAIN I think). No matter what program you use, you'll get the same device specific dialog box. All the program sees is the final image you accept.

Windows 2000 includes a program called Imaging (Programs->Accessories->Imaging). My copy of XP Pro doesn't show it, but I may have uninstalled it manually in a fit of obsessive tweaking. It's got options for acquiring an image (Windows-speak for scanning), rotating, and cropping. It can work with most of the usual formats, unlike Paint.

The LiDE Windows software (available from deep within the bowels of Canon's website) lets you press a button on the scanner and launch Canon's special scanning stuff. I've never used it, though. Perhaps the Windows version of the Gimp would do you well?

Yeah, we experimented with the Canon software which I located the CD for.

In the end, though, the best bet was a little program called Microsoft Office Document something or other. Scans in stuff, OCRs it to have the correct orientation, but stores as image to get the detail. Also keeps multiple pages of a single article in the same file. Handy, that.

It turns out the Canon LiDE software will let you scan multipage PDFs by checking an obscure option deep in the bowels of the configuration menu. It can't do multipage tiffs as far as I can tell. We wound up using the Canon software for the MacBook since Microsoft Document and Fax Viewer don't work on no OS X.