From: Victor Rehorst (victor_at_newtontalk.net)
Date: Thu Apr 28 2005 - 06:46:26 PDT
Sonny Hung wrote:
> Just been looking through NTLK and came up to a posting that some one
> asked about converting the CueCat to work with the Newton.
>
> Now a link was given for the mod but I wanted to know if I am able to
> get a Pen Bar Code Scanner that has a RS232 connector can I get it to
> work with the Newton?
>
> Any insight would be appreciated.
Well... the thing is that most barcode scanners sold are made to work with a
wide variety of systems. There are lots of older register and POS (that's
Point Of Sale, not the other thing) systems out there that want their data in
funky formats. Ergo, when you buy a typical barcode scanner, you also need
the appropriate "wedge" for it. The wedge is a box that you plug both the
scanner and the register into, and it can be configured or supports the
protocol for your register. Then, typically, the register handles the
decoding of the barcode data into a number, etc.
This of course just drives up the price for hobbyists. I haven't seen too
many all-in-one scanners and decoders. The one exception of course is the
InPath MW-400, darling of the Newton enthusiast:
http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/index.php/MobileWand
I've never seen a unit like this one ever again. The only thing that comes
close is the :Cue:Cat, which only comes in PS/2 keyboard and USB flavours.
Basicially you'd need to build your own :Cue:Cat "wedge" to translate from
PS/2 to RS-232. Ack.
The long and short of it is that RS-232 is not a typical protocol used for
barcode scanning applications, so finding a scanner that supports it natively
is tough.
-- Victor Rehorst - victor_at_newtontalk.net - chuma_at_chuma.org NewtonTalk list administrator - http://www.newtontalk.net Will the last person to leave the platform please turn off the backlight? -- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Apr 28 2005 - 16:30:01 PDT