Whether you’re moving to a paperless lifestyle, need to scan a document to back it up or email it, want to scan an old photo, or whatever reason you have for making the physical electronic, a scanner comes in handy. In fact, a scanner is essential. But the catch is that most scanner makers don’t have Linux versions of the software that they bundle with their devices. For the most part, that doesn’t matter. Why? Because there are good scanning applications available for the Linux desktop. They work with a variety of scanners, and do a good job.