Scanning Station Overview

The CDSS document scanning station is a 2018 Mac Mini running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, connected to a Canon imageFORMULA DR-G2110 production scanner via USB 3.0. Macs on the same network can also scan directly via AirSane.

Location & Access

The scanning station is located in TODO: room/building. (Currently Michae’s office, but will move to a more normal location once the Gateway finally opens.)

Username: oski
Password: Posted near the computer

This is a shared local account. Do not store sensitive files on this machine — save scans to your own device, or upload to Gradescope, and clean up ~/scans when you’re done.

Using the Scanner

Jump to the Exam Scanning README for detailed instructions on using the scan-exams command, filename conventions, batch numbering, and semester detection.

`scan-exams` (recommended for exams)

Open a terminal and type:

scan-exams

This walks you through scanning a batch of exams: course number, exam type, expected copies, and pages per exam. It scans duplex at 200 DPI grayscale, compresses the output, and saves a single PDF to ~/scans/.

Common options:

Flag	Description
`-o`	Open the PDF automatically after scanning
`-r`	Reuse course/exam metadata from the last scan
`-q`	Quiet mode — no prompts, just scan and save
`-h`	Show help

Examples:

scan-exams -o           # scan and open the PDF when done
scan-exams -r -o        # another batch of the same exam
scan-exams -h           # full usage info

For details on filenames, batch numbering, and semester detection, see the Exam Scanning README.

NAPS2 (GUI scanning)

NAPS2 is a graphical scanning app linked on the desktop. You can also launch it from a terminal:

naps2

Select SANE Driver, choose the Canon DR-G2110, and save directly to PDF.

`scanimage` (advanced CLI)

For more control over scan settings:

scanimage -L                    # list scanners
scanimage -A                    # show all scanner options
scanimage --format=tiff --resolution 200 --mode Gray --source="Duplex" --batch=scan_%04d.tiff
img2pdf scan_*.tiff -o output.pdf

Network scanning from a Mac

The scanner is published on the local network via AirSane. On any Mac on the same network: (This is currently the internal EECS network, and may not be accessible from campus Wi-Fi.)

Open Image Capture (or Preview → File → Import from Scanner)
The Canon DR-G2110 should appear in the sidebar
Select scan settings and scan — files go directly to your Mac

AirSane also provides a web interface at http://TODO-HOSTNAME:8090/.

After scanning

Scanned files may contain sensitive data (exams, student work, etc.).

Copy your PDFs from ~/scans/ to your own device.
Delete your files from ~/scans/ when you’re done. This is a shared machine.
The workstation does not share files over the network — only the scanner device is exposed via AirSane.

Equipment

Scanner: Canon imageFORMULA DR-G2110 (USB 3.0)
Computer: 2018 Mac Mini, Intel, 64 GB RAM, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Network scanning: AirSane (eSCL/AirScan protocol, auto-discovered by macOS)

Setup & Maintenance

The setup scripts and scanning tools are maintained in the berkeley-cdss/docs repository:

scanning-scripts/ — setup scripts, scan-exams tool, and documentation

To re-run the workstation setup from scratch:

git clone https://github.com/berkeley-cdss/docs.git
cd docs/course-logistics/scanning
bash setup.sh        # scanner driver, NAPS2, AirSane, scan-exams command
bash setup_apps.sh   # general dev tools and apps

Setup installs scripts and docs to ~/scanner/ and adds scan-exams to ~/.bashrc.

Installed files

Location	Contents
`~/scanner/scan-exams.sh`	The `scan-exams` function (sourced by `.bashrc`)
`~/scanner/README.md`	This documentation
`~/scans/`	Default scan output directory
`~/.scan-exams-last`	Saved metadata for `scan-exams -r`

Troubleshooting

Scanner not detected

lsusb | grep -i canon           # check USB connection
scanimage -L                    # check SANE detection
dpkg -l | grep canon            # check driver installation

Scan source options

The scanner uses --source="Duplex" for double-sided and --source="Simplex" for single-sided. Check available options:

scanimage -A | grep -i source

Scanning pauses or is slow

Confirm USB 3.0 connection (not USB 2.0)
Check disk write speed — scan output should go to an SSD/NVMe
Lower resolution (200 DPI is usually sufficient for exams)
Use grayscale instead of color

AirSane not visible on Mac

Ensure both machines are on the same network/subnet
Check AirSane is running: sudo systemctl status airsaned
Check Avahi is running: sudo systemctl status avahi-daemon
Try the web interface: http://TODO-HOSTNAME.local:8090/

Managing services

sudo systemctl status airsaned      # AirSane status
sudo systemctl restart airsaned     # restart AirSane
sudo journalctl -u airsaned -f      # AirSane logs

Exam Scanning