Linux Mint Scanner Story

Quick story: I use Linux Mint (Microsoft, eat my arse). A long time ago, I bought a scanner/printer machine. When I downloaded Linux Mint, I didn't realise the trouble I would go through with the scanner. When I used the printer, it worked just fine, but for whatever reason, the scanner absolutely refused to work with Linux Mint's built in-scanner app. I attempted to download the Linux drivers from the manufacturer, but that didn't work since my version of Linux Mint is incompatible with the drivers. After a while of angrily downloading and redownloading drivers and DuckDuckGo'ing (Eat my arse too, Google) for a solution, I just left the issue and figured I'd solve it when I actually do need the scanner.

About a month later, it occurred to me that I never bothered checking the Software Manager (for anyone who doesn't know, it's basically one big place to download software). I searched for "scanner", and I actually found something! I first downloaded what looked like an updated version of my built-in scanner application, and it still didn't work. Then I downloaded this other app called VueScan, and finally, my scanner would work! I was expecting it to fail so much that when it actually recognised my scanner I was surprised.

Moral of the story: Always check if the software manager has something you need.