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I'm in Q4OS 4 and have a Brother MFCJ5720DW printer/scanner that works quite well.
On MX Linux, the simple-scanner application is installed and works great with the scanner, allowing things like cropping and many other built-in features.
The scanner application that is installed on Q4OS is skanlite, and it is not satisfactory. First, it can't be found in the system menu! I CAN fire it up via the command line, but the poor thing is waay limited compared to simple-scanner.
So I installed simple-scanner via apt. It shows up as a Graphics application and fires up nicely. It finds my scanner, and it works, BUT...there is a problem with its sub-menus. When I click its "hamburger" menu to set the preferences, the preferences window opens with no windowing "decorations" or controls. So once it's up, it can't be closed! I have to killall simple-scanner from a terminal to close both windows.
So my question is, (1) is there a way to fix the sub-menu windows of simple-scanner, and if not, (2) is there a good graphical scanner app that can be recommended?
EDIT: SOLUTION SUMMARY ON PAGE/POST #24. BUT ALSO SEE PAGES 26 AND 27!
Last edited by Durhammer (2025-06-09 22:56)
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I havent tried it but have you looked at Kooka, which is available in KDE and I believe is available with TDE.
Theres also Xsane you might take a look at.
Last edited by crosscourt (2025-06-08 20:00)
Q4OS KDE 5.xx Lenovo M73 Thinkcentre Tiny/Dell Inspiron 3670
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We will take a look on simple-scanner and the issue you describe. Meanwhile you could try kooka-trinity app.
Why do you mean you are on Q4OS 4 as your sources.list shows Bookworm repositories what is Q4OS-5 Aquarius ?
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Ah, thanks @q4osteam -- I never did use that command to see what version I was running.
$ get-q4os-version
5.8.1-n1
Duh. Yes, please look at the simple-scanner windowing issue. I have tried kooka -- not bad, lots of options, not quite as simple as simple-scanner, xsane -- crazy complicated window/session setup, way too confusing, and naps2 -- very nice, all inclusive graphical window, far more complicated than simple-scanner, but works well. I also value compactness in an app, and simple-scan still comes out on top (or bottom, as RAM usage goes):
simple-scan -- 30.8 MB
xsane -- 38.6 MB (when it comes up with all its weird windows! Right now, it's only taking 29.2 MB but there's no GUI window!)
skanlite -- 70.9 MB (that much, and not as much functionality!)
naps2 -- 96.5 MB (with waaay more stuff than I really need, but nice!)
kooka -- ooops, uninstalled it before checking memory usage. Might hafta try it again just for that.
Okay, kooka started off ~32 MB and balooned to ~51 MB but that was after a scan. It was removed because its operational controls are way less workable than naps2 or simple-scan. Couldn't figure out how to crop, rotate, etc., anywhere as easily as either of those.
Last edited by Durhammer (2025-06-08 20:49)
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Please specify your Q4OS version and desktop environment.
I have just installed the simple-scan package to try it. Is it the "simple-scanner" you are talking about?
I opened the Preferences dialog from the hamburger menu and it has its windows decorations (at least the title bar).
It is the version 3.38.1 in Q4OS 4 with Plasma.
If you have altered your desktop theme, try to use another one with default settings.
Q4OS machine: Samsung R519 - Pentium T4200 2.0 GHz - 4 GB RAM - 500 GB SSD
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Hi @hchiper, it's Q4OS 5.8.1-n1 running TDE with "Windows 10-ish" looks. Yes, simple-scan is the app. It probably does work quite well under KDE, whether Plasma or plain X11, but I am not a fan of KDE (even if TDE is a really older KDE). I am not keen on fiddling with the desktop theme/appearance.
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Never been a real fan of KDE but I'm impressed how this 32 bit is working so far. I just have to adjust it so all my power tools are accessible (ran as root terminal, Thunar, mousepad)
sane has always been the staple for scanning its what libreoffices and xsane uses but you have to install the sane/xsane first then libreoffice.
Last edited by Oconcal (2025-06-08 22:52)
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Simple scanner uses sane as does kooka. What didnt you like about KDE @Oconcal outside of the larger resource usage?
@durhammer the vanilla desktop theme/appearance would probably suit you and its easy to change, thats the strength of KDE, customization.
I will say that the Q4OS variants(XPQ4) using Win10 theme are pretty nice.
Last edited by crosscourt (2025-06-08 23:04)
Q4OS KDE 5.xx Lenovo M73 Thinkcentre Tiny/Dell Inspiron 3670
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Simple scanner uses sane as does kooka. What didnt you like about KDE @Oconcal outside of the larger resource usage?
.
I have to say its better than the version twelve years ago. The only thing I never like was its menu editor. The gnome type like what is in Raspbain would list the gui apps and its a simple click to add those items. Certain video cards had composting issues with video overlay, but I think that was Nvidia drivers since that issue was there when I booted the mac pro 1,1 with the stock Nvidia card. Because it froze the desktop when I clicked the network icon to get details. Since I had an Asus GT710 laying around I swapped it in and works like expected.
The only other thing I never liked was file structure of the xml,qml and jason files that are used to render the desktop icons and menu items. Keyboard shortcuts were the other things I always had to build up and certain items were locked out of execute as root like the dolphin. But I prefer Thunar so I install that. I like that I didn't have to install synaptic like I have to do on Ubuntu distros.
Last edited by Oconcal (2025-06-08 23:30)
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Youre gonna like KDE 6 even more as Ive been playing with it on KDE Neon. Right click for console is back among other nice changes.
That was definitely the Nvidia drivers causing that issue. I use GT740s in some systems to avoid issues.
Im not wild about the menu editor but its so much better than the old days. It serves my needs given KDE has so many other good features.
Q4OS KDE 5.xx Lenovo M73 Thinkcentre Tiny/Dell Inspiron 3670
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Youre gonna like KDE 6 even more as Ive been playing with it on KDE Neon. Right click for console is back among other nice changes.
That was definitely the Nvidia drivers causing that issue. I use GT740s in some systems to avoid issues.
Im not wild about the menu editor but its so much better than the old days. It serves my needs given KDE has so many other good features.
Well once I fix my Intel net driver issue (its only linking at 100Mb instead of 1Gb ) I'll look into making a better menu editor for us. Even though I will have to create a worksheet of all those current system objects needed to make it more like gnome, because KDE doesn't document them well.
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Hi @hchiper, it's Q4OS 5.8.1-n1 running TDE with "Windows 10-ish" looks.
I can't give much advise on TDE because I'm using Plasma, but the first thing I would try is to test the behaviour of simple-scan using the original TDE theme, instead of the "Windows 10-ish" look.
Edit:
I don't know if it matters, but I see on https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/simple-scan that "Document Scanner is a document scanning application for GNOME". Could there be a compatibility problem with TDE?
Last edited by hchiper (2025-06-09 09:14)
Q4OS machine: Samsung R519 - Pentium T4200 2.0 GHz - 4 GB RAM - 500 GB SSD
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This issue is easy to reproduce in TDE using any theme.
The problem is that simple-scan is a gnome application and so it installs libadwaita - but no supporting theme. Consequently there are no window controls.
Runnin in live only I tried this just by installing arc-theme and then changing the gtk-theme in tde GTK-3.0 settings.ini to arc.
Logout and back in and simple-scan now has working window controls.
This may have an impact on other apps - but at least points to the source of the issue.
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@bin, @hchiper, Thanks for the valuable info
Last edited by q4osteam (2025-06-09 09:38)
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We can confirm the issue, simple-scan preferences window doesn't show window controls in TDE. We will investigate further and post back.
The preferences window can be closed, if you right click on the slim top bar and select close. Yes, it's a workaround, so we will focus on to fix this properly.
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We can also confirm the workaround suggested by @bin https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.ph … 047#p30047 works fine.
- Install arc-theme package
- Edit $HOME/.configtde/gtk-3.0/settings.ini and replace "gtk-theme-name=Q4OS02" with "gtk-theme-name=Arc"
We conclude it's Q4OS bug as it comes from Q4OS Gtk3 theme. It's added to our bug list and addressed to solve asap.
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Just a quick note - if you are using the standard out-of-the-box TDE window decorations - ICEWM Brize - then the gtk theme breeze-gtk-theme integrates quite well - just set the gtk-theme-name in settings.ini to Breeze.
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Thanks, @bin, @hchiper, and @q4osteam! I changed the theme from Q4OSWIN10 to Arc and yes, simple-scan's settings window decorations (which really is only the red X) again appears and all is well. I'll also try Breeze -- not thrilled with the looks of Arc (maybe there's a darker one?).
You guys (and/or gals) are great! Thanks!
EDIT: Yeah, I think I like Breeze just a little better, and yeah, it also fixes the window decorations issue. Thanks again!
Last edited by Durhammer (2025-06-09 15:05)
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Mega-SIGH.... So I tried fiddling with the theme to see if I could get a little better look, and set it to "Redmond", which (1) instigated a sensors (?) crash, which has been uploaded, and (2), royally screwed up my panel customizations. Now I have to try to figure out how to customize the #$%^ panel to suit my wants and needs again. Ugh.
Is there a way to get back to the Q4OSWIN10 theme overall but then with the gtk 3.0 theme of Arc or Breeze or whatever else is good?
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Is there a way to get back to the Q4OSWIN10 theme overall
How did you get this theme before ? You can use Lookswitcher to switch between Q4OS themes, but no Q4OSWIN10 is included.
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Geez, I thought you folks would know! It's online somewhere. Guess I'll have to go back to work and find it! It's actually quite nice.
The devs seem to have put a good chunk of work into making Q4OS comfortable for Windows users (I'm thinking of things like the installer windows for Software Centre, which have a Windows installer-esque look). This theme just makes it more so.
If/when I find it again, I'll post it here.
EDIT: Aha! -- (1) On this forum, and (2) XPQ4 on SourceForge.
Last edited by Durhammer (2025-06-09 15:59)
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So you should switch to the "Q4OSWIN10" the same way as before and then set the Gtk3 Breeze theme, that should work.
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Yes, @q4osteam, that sort of got me back to where I was. Hope I can figure out or remember the other tweaks. Is there a list of suitable Gtk3.0 themes so that I might find one that looks and works maybe any better than Breeze (I've currently got Q4OS_Default set...it's "ok" but....)?
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Solution summary.
Simple-scan still the best (for me) scanner app.
Windows decorations for simple-scan were returned by editing ~/.configtde/gtk-3.0/settings.ini with gtk-theme-name=Breeze or other suitable theme (had been Q4OSWIN10).
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Is there a list of suitable Gtk3.0 themes ...
Unfortunately the best method we know is to use websearch.
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