olasov@heathcliff (Benjamin Olasov) (03/13/89)
Hello, I'm looking for some information on bar-coding, and I'd welcome just about any kind of reasonably current information on it, from hearsay to first hand experience to manufacturer's promos. I'm especially interested in any bar-coding hookups to the AutoCad package, but, as I said, all info is welcome. If there's an indication of interest, I'll summarize responses. Many thanks, Ben
jcbst3@cisunx.UUCP (James C. Benz) (03/13/89)
In article <6218@columbia.edu> olasov@heathcliff.UUCP (Benjamin Olasov) writes: > >Hello, > > >I'm looking for some information on bar-coding, and I'd welcome just about >any kind of reasonably current information on it, from hearsay to first hand >experience to manufacturer's promos. We have an extensive bar-code application here to manage our film library and our pool of AV equipment offered for rent. I set the system up using what are known as wedges to do the actual bar-coding. The wedge sits on the terminal line (RS232) between the terminal and the computer. The terminal acts just as it does normally, but whenever a bar code is read with the wand, the computer sees the code just as though it was typed at the terminal. The codes we use are code 3 of 9, and are pre-printed on sticky labels from a supply house. The readers we use were manufactured by a company called Caere in Los Gatos, CA, phone (408) 395-7000. The readers themselves cose about $600 per unit, for a wand type scanner. I believe they also have counter type scanners. The scanner is configurable for several types of bar-codes, including UPC, using dip-switches. It can also be configured to stand alone, without a terminal. The advantage to using a terminal wedge are that if the scanner won't read a code, or you are sitting at a terminal without a scanner attached, you can manually enter the code from the keyboard. Also, computer ports are not tied to a scanner, but can be used for other applications that do not require a scanner as well. The software we use is Informix, with a lot of C. Since the codes come in exactly as if they were entered from the keyboard, Informix has no trouble accepting coded info in any of its modes (Perform, etc). We don't use any printer software to print codes, since pre-printed labels are about a penny each, and since the only software I've seen to print codes prints them about 8 inches long and 1.5 inches high, too big to stick on a microphone or cable tag, and the only advantage I can see to printing your own codes is that you can include some intelligible info in the code itself, but when you consider that the code can be linked to any kind of data within the computer, just the fact that a unique code exists for an item is enough for the computer to call up the complete data set for that item - the idea of a bar code is for the machine to read it, not the user. In addition, the bar code wands are set to read a specific code density (number of chars/inch of code) and since so many of our items require small code stickers, it is not practical to mix large codes printed in-house with pre-printed sticker codes which have a very high density. Our code stickers are about 1.5 inches long and 3/8 inch high. Reliability of code reading depends on whether you use a counter type scanner or a wand type, with counter type having fewer mis-reads (not error reads - checksums stop these - a misread is when the code is passed over the scanner and nothing happens.) and wand type being very dependent on the experience of the person using the wand. Wand scanners read best when held at specific angles and take some practice to get the right angle and scan speed programmed into the user's hand circuitry :-} Any questions : jcbst3@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu -- Jim Benz jcbst3@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu If a modem University of Pittsburgh answers, UCIR (412) 648-5930 hang up!