[Sussex] Scanner in Debian?

[Gavin Stevens]

Hi all,
A load of stuff appeared at work yesterday during a clear out, with the 
instruction to help ourselves because at 5 pm anything left was heading for 
the skip.

I picked up an Epson scanner, which looks pretty much unused, even has the 
Window$ floppies with it. All it needs is a mains lead & parallel cable....

So, while it is sitting on top of the wardrobe & I am still feeling most 
pleased at getting something for nothing, now is a good time to ask about 
scanners in Linux & Debian in particular.

Is there any big problem with scanners in Linux? Or will it purr into life 
quite easily?

Is there anything I need installed in the way of software (I already have 
GIMP)?

The scanner will have to share the parallel port with my HP LaserJet 4000N. 
To this end, I have a data switch lying around somewhere, which makes sure 
that the scanner wouldn't respond to a print command for example.

I hope it is possible to get the scanner working, but no great loss if not - 
 I can always put it onto my partner's Win98 machine (although you know 
that I would be more than happy to avoid anything that might make Win98 
look even slightly good & useful).

Any help much appreciated.

Gavin.