HP Scanner Software | VueScan Scanner Software

History of HP Scanners

HP has been in the scanner business longer than any other vendor, starting with their ScanJet scanners in 1988. These were SCSI scanners that were well regarded that used the SCL (Scanner Control Language) protocol.

HP later started to include USB scanners in their printers, and produced a large number of stand-alone scanners as well. Some of the product names were Scanjet, Officejet, Deskjet, Envy, Laserjet, Pagewide, Photosmart, psc and Smart Tank. More than 400 models of scanners have been sold by HP since 1988.

Types of HP Scanners

Except for a few SCSI Scanjet scanners, most HP scanners are USB scanners. Some HP scanners also have WiFi or ethernet interfaces.

The original HP Scanjet scanners used SCSI, which uses a complicated interface card and a thick, bulky cable.

Most HP scanners after 1999 were USB 2.0 scanners. The first generation of these USB scanners used the SCL command set, which was compatible with the SCSI Scanjet scanners and was well documented.

Starting around 2012, HP started releasing scanners that used the “Low End Data Model” (LEDM) for the command set. It was the progenitor of the eSCL command set that many modern scanners use.

Before 2011, HP released Laserjet scanners that used the “Page Manipulation Language” (PML) command set. Unfortunately, VueScan doesn’t support PML scanners natively, but does support them if you install a WIA scanner driver for them from www.hp.com.

Around 2011, HP started releasing Laserjet scanners that used the SOAP command set, which is also quite similar to eSCL. However, it’s completely undocumented, so we had to reverse-engineer the protocol to support these Laserjet scanners.

In 2014, the eSCL protocol (also called AirPrint/Scan) evolved from the LEDM protocol, and most HP scanners released since 2015 use the eSCL command language.

At the same time HP was making their own scanners, they started reselling scanners from other manufacturers. The Scanjet 5300, Scanjet 7400, Scanjet 8200 and Scanjet 8300 were all made by AVision and sold under the HP brand, and use the AVision command set. Four other notable scanners were made by HP using the Genesys Logic GL843 chip, the Scanjet 4850, Scanjet 4890, Scanjet G4010 and Scanjet G4050. These are flatbed scanners with a transparency adapter in the lid for scanning film, and are still excellent film scanners to this day.

Market for HP Scanners

HP sold a large number of scanners, and because they often aren’t supported on modern operating systems, you can often buy them for a low price on ebay.

VueScan supports HP scanners that support the SCL, LEDM, SOAP and eSCL command sets, as well as those that use the Genesys Logic GL843 chipset. All are supported on Windows, macOS and Linux without needing any HP drivers.

The HP scanners that use the Genesys Logic chipsets work very well with VueScan, better and faster than the software that originally came with these scanners.

This is because we’ve worked very hard to optimize the use of the Genesys Logic chipsets with VueScan.

Why should I use an HP scanner in 2023?

VueScan works extremely well with these scanners, and they just don’t wear out. There’s an active market for used HP scanners on eBay, and they’re often sold for really low prices because drivers aren’t available for some operating systems.