EPSON Linux driver for scanners/printers/all-in-ones

First, two thumbs up to EPSON's efforts on supporting Linux on their printers, scanners and all-in-ones.

I got a free EPSON Perfection 4490 Photo scanner. I will use it as an example to show you how to install EPSON driver to make it work.

1. Go to EPSON Download Center at http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/search/01/search/?OSC=LX

2. Search your product model, e.g., ``Perfection 4490''. Make sure to select the OS as Linux.

3. For my scanner, there are two results, one called "iscan plugin package" and the other called "core package and data package". Click the Download button on the right to download the correct file for all of them. You should be able to recognize the right file for your system from file names.

One thing you need to pay attention is that if you use Ubuntu Linux, please download the iscan package that contains ltdl7 in file name. The one that does not have ltdl7 in file name does not work for me.

4. Install files and reboot your computer after that.

5. Use EPSON's Image Scan! for Linux to acquire images. It has high functionality. If you do want open source alternatives, try xsan and Simple scan. Please do not open two programs accessing the scanner at the same time.

A set of good examples of VTK data format

http://www.visitusers.org/index.php?title=ASCII_VTK_Files

Python command in a Python program including filenames

I wrote a super complex two lines of code a while ago.

PyCmd = "\"import vtk; vtk.fundi2VTK(\'" + SurfaceFile + "\',\'" + FundiFile + "\');  \""
os.system("python -c " + PyCmd + '> '+ FundiFile  +'.inflated.vtk')

Be careful. Don't drive yourself nuts by so many pairs of quotation marks.

"Can the U.S. export freedom?"

I saw this article on Feb. 11's USA Today. I was transferring at Tokyo for my flight from Minneapolis to Shanghai. All newspapers offered in the airport were in Japanese. Thanks to Delta Air Lines who offered some English newspaper on their inter-Asian flight, I finally got to know what's going on in the world. It was a really interesting article.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-02-10-column10_ST_N.htm