Cuecat Scanner And Oz On Sl5500

[sibble-comp-oesf]

Anyone have any info on getting a serial or ps/2 (with serial converter) cuecat barcode scanner working with an SL-5500 running OZ3.5.3?

I see the modified usb one works fine with the SL6000 as per this thread

https://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...10140&hl=cuecat

[lardman]

What happens when you plug it in and look at the data coming from it?

Does it just output serial data once it's scanned something? If so it should be pretty simple to do, try opening the port using minicom and see what happens.


Si

[sibble-comp-oesf]

What happens when you plug it in and look at the data coming from it?

Does it just output serial data once it's scanned something? If so it should be pretty simple to do, try opening the port using minicom and see what happens.


Si
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Hmm, absolutely nothing :-(

But that could be for a number of reasons. Wrong baud rate, necessity to use a straight thru vs. cross over cable etc.  Possibly the scanner requires some kind of translator to go from keyboard port mode to serial mode.

[pelrun]

The 'cat is powered off the serial port, and not all serial cables have that pin connected. I do know the serialio cable I've got came in 'powered' and 'unpowered' versions (I can't recall which mine is...) so you may find that's your problem.

[sibble-comp-oesf]

The 'cat is powered off the serial port, and not all serial cables have that pin connected. I do know the serialio cable I've got came in 'powered' and 'unpowered' versions (I can't recall which mine is...) so you may find that's your problem.
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No actually it's not, it's powered off the keyboard line. I have a modified ps/2 cable that plugs into my PSP Brick to power it. Same as I do with my serial gps unit.

The problem is that it doesn't output serial data. One can build a serial pod, but whether it will work with the Z's serial port is another matter, specifically to do with the pod outputting TTL which is outside the rs232 spec.

[pelrun]

Right, I'm back up to speed now, mostly.

What cable are you connecting the 'cat to the Z with? Since you say you have a 5500, I'm guessing you're using the standard sync cable. Because the sync cable is wired to present the Z as a peripheral (since you'd usually be connecting to a PC) you would need a null-modem in-between to swap the TX and RX lines.

(And remember that the 5500 has TTL serial lines itself  )

[sibble-comp-oesf]

Right, I'm back up to speed now, mostly.

What cable are you connecting the 'cat to the Z with? Since you say you have a 5500, I'm guessing you're using the standard sync cable. Because the sync cable is wired to present the Z as a peripheral (since you'd usually be connecting to a PC) you would need a null-modem in-between to swap the TX and RX lines.

(And remember that the 5500 has TTL serial lines itself  )
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I am using the following....

Serial IO zthin cable, connected to a ps/2 to serial adaptor, then to a male to male ps/2 extender which plugs into the female end of the cuecat, the male ps/2 adaptor on the cuecat is plugged into my custom ps/2 to battery cable.

When I build the serial pod, I'll give it a try and see what happens and report back.

[lardman]

Sounds like you will need a null-modem cable with that lot.


Si

[pelrun]

connected to a ps/2 to serial adaptor
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Uh-oh. As far as I can tell these things are passive devices intended for use with ps/2 mice that already have serial data on a couple of spare pins (i.e. have been designed to support the adapter.) They almost certainly aren't going to work with a 'cat, so in fact you've just got a couple of disconnected wires attached to your Z  

You'll need to build that serial pod, it seems...

[lardman]

Good point, it might be worth checking the wiring - I've got a GPS which uses a ps2 connector to handle the serial data & power - it's a simple case of looking at the wiring diagram and taking the feed from the various ps2 pins into the correct pins of the serial connector & power connector.

That said, is this thing designed to plug into a ps2 port on a normal PC? In that case it must be wired up fairly normally (or use a driver).


Si