I got this thing, and have it working, sorta. 
It does a nice job in 8 bit color, but both xscanimage and gimp (same
thing, right?) give me the choice of 14 bit also. Then I get an error
message saying it can't do 16-bit color, and it chokes everything. To
restore any functionality, I have to rmmod the scanner module, unplug the
scanner, then set it up again. 

Isn't this thing supposed to do a zillion (ok, 42) bits? How do I get
xscanimage to allow *anything* more than 8?  

Thanks,

Andy

> I was doing some more checking and from what I can see, the Epson Perfection
> 1240U is probably the best for the price.  4 to 5 seconds to scan a 4x5
> photo at 600dpi.
> 
> http://www.epinions.com has a couple of reviews on it, and one even mentions
> that it works with Linux.  http://www.pricescan.com has a listing for $163
> too.
> 
> Jay