Free Handheld Barcode Scanner
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Posts: 46,084
The Scoop strait from the http://www.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/ mouth
I recently heard about a free bar code scanner available at Radio
Shack (tm). Not one to pass up free hardware, I went and grabbed one
to play with. Not one to jump right in, I checked around on the
Internet to see what could be done with my free barcode scanner - and
lo and behold, it turns out that not only was there a linux driver,
but that the author had been sent a cease and desist order!
It seems that the manufacturer of these freebie scanners didn't like
the idea of people developing decoding software that didn't provide
them with lucrative marketing info. (Lets not even mention the serial
number that is sent everytime you scan something with this reader...)
Now, not one to give up, I kept doing research on the subject until I
found a curious note from a guy named Jeff Dobkin. It seems he poked
around on his scanner, with board revision FM+H Ver 0.3 and found
that adding a jumper caused it to output plain ASCII - and just the
data, not the serial number or type. Wow! I thought, but I have a
newer rev board - the TM+H Rev 3. Would it work? Only one way to find
out - fire up the old soldering iron.
The upside is that since it can be reasonably asserted that you own
the hardware outright, this modification is perfectly legal. You
don't need any additional software, either the original or recently
released drivers, to get useful output. It outputs plain text. This
means that you can use it in DOS apps, where the clever hacks don't
seem to work so well. Since you are messing with your own stuff, you
can do what you like to it, even solder wires onto the PCB! The
downside, if you want to call it that, is that the reader will no
longer work with the supplied software package. (boohoo... [noparse];)[/noparse]
I recently heard about a free bar code scanner available at Radio
Shack (tm). Not one to pass up free hardware, I went and grabbed one
to play with. Not one to jump right in, I checked around on the
Internet to see what could be done with my free barcode scanner - and
lo and behold, it turns out that not only was there a linux driver,
but that the author had been sent a cease and desist order!
It seems that the manufacturer of these freebie scanners didn't like
the idea of people developing decoding software that didn't provide
them with lucrative marketing info. (Lets not even mention the serial
number that is sent everytime you scan something with this reader...)
Now, not one to give up, I kept doing research on the subject until I
found a curious note from a guy named Jeff Dobkin. It seems he poked
around on his scanner, with board revision FM+H Ver 0.3 and found
that adding a jumper caused it to output plain ASCII - and just the
data, not the serial number or type. Wow! I thought, but I have a
newer rev board - the TM+H Rev 3. Would it work? Only one way to find
out - fire up the old soldering iron.
The upside is that since it can be reasonably asserted that you own
the hardware outright, this modification is perfectly legal. You
don't need any additional software, either the original or recently
released drivers, to get useful output. It outputs plain text. This
means that you can use it in DOS apps, where the clever hacks don't
seem to work so well. Since you are messing with your own stuff, you
can do what you like to it, even solder wires onto the PCB! The
downside, if you want to call it that, is that the reader will no
longer work with the supplied software package. (boohoo... [noparse];)[/noparse]
Comments
I'm tempted to ask you to explain this so that even a 5-year old would
understand, but I will abstain from this.
I would like to know specifically what change you made to the hardware
as well as how data was able to be outputted to the computer after you
hacked the hardware of this device.
Also, the given URL (as far as I can tell) does not yield advice on
this hack.
Thank you,
Fractal
--- tunatunup2000@y... wrote:
> The Scoop strait from the http://www.flyingbuttmonkeys.com/ mouth
>
> I recently heard about a free bar code scanner available at Radio
> Shack (tm). Not one to pass up free hardware, I went and grabbed one
> to play with. Not one to jump right in, I checked around on the
> Internet to see what could be done with my free barcode scanner - and
>
> lo and behold, it turns out that not only was there a linux driver,
> but that the author had been sent a cease and desist order!
>
> It seems that the manufacturer of these freebie scanners didn't like
> the idea of people developing decoding software that didn't provide
> them with lucrative marketing info. (Lets not even mention the serial
>
> number that is sent everytime you scan something with this reader...)
>
> Now, not one to give up, I kept doing research on the subject until I
>
> found a curious note from a guy named Jeff Dobkin. It seems he poked
> around on his scanner, with board revision FM+H Ver 0.3 and found
> that adding a jumper caused it to output plain ASCII - and just the
> data, not the serial number or type. Wow! I thought, but I have a
> newer rev board - the TM+H Rev 3. Would it work? Only one way to find
>
> out - fire up the old soldering iron.
>
> The upside is that since it can be reasonably asserted that you own
> the hardware outright, this modification is perfectly legal. You
> don't need any additional software, either the original or recently
> released drivers, to get useful output. It outputs plain text. This
> means that you can use it in DOS apps, where the clever hacks don't
> seem to work so well. Since you are messing with your own stuff, you
> can do what you like to it, even solder wires onto the PCB! The
> downside, if you want to call it that, is that the reader will no
> longer work with the supplied software package. (boohoo... [noparse];)[/noparse]
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Looks like a fun hack, but I must ask: what are y'all useing the scanners for
exactly? I can't think of anything I would use it for. I guess what Im asking
for is some justification to get off my behind and go to ratshack to pick one
up. ideas ..ideas???
-Ryan
> How to enable your 'Cat's plaintext scanning mode and/or disable the
> serial number.
>
> http://www.net-noise.com/jshenry/cuecat_mods/cuecat_mods.html
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
serial number.
http://www.net-noise.com/jshenry/cuecat_mods/cuecat_mods.html
your spaghetti hoops etc. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Original Message
From: rpogge@3... [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=KrxMqGiU09SKepti8NAeMq6k6JOAEgWn2ELLWADakXX5PcERep-NtO2ShWgMplLPx9xRtoeaLnU]rpogge@3...[/url
Sent: 05 April 2001 19:10
To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Re: Free Handheld Barcode Scanner
Havent been paying attention to this thread, read this out of curiousity.
Looks like a fun hack, but I must ask: what are y'all useing the scanners
for
exactly? I can't think of anything I would use it for. I guess what Im
asking
for is some justification to get off my behind and go to ratshack to pick
one
up. ideas ..ideas???
-Ryan
> How to enable your 'Cat's plaintext scanning mode and/or disable the
> serial number.
>
> http://www.net-noise.com/jshenry/cuecat_mods/cuecat_mods.html
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This is nice, but what do you do with it? How do you use this hacked object?
How much more hardware do I need beyond the cat and some wires and resistors?
Thanks,
Fractal
--- tunatunup2000@y... wrote:
>
> How to enable your 'Cat's plaintext scanning mode and/or disable the
> serial number.
>
> http://www.net-noise.com/jshenry/cuecat_mods/cuecat_mods.html
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/