2d ago

The Forgotten Realm of 1990s PC Barcode Scanning Kits | LGR

BARCODES! No one cares about 'em. Yet they were once exciting, cutting edge tech. Heck, old computer magazines often had entire sections dedicated to UPC scanning and software. So I finally got a PC barcode reader kit from 1994 and used it with some POS applications! And Duke 3D.

4 comments

Yes, all the computer-paper interfaces are cool IMHO. That DataMatrix and QR are mainstream now I mostly like too.
What I don't like is the wide reliance upon open Internet connectivity, and even worse, upon services in it.
Once upon a time I got a CueCat to catalogue my book collection on a (probably now defunct) Web2.0 service. This was before smartphones and apps, and before I had even a laptop. At the time it felt retro-cool and really did help me speed things up in that task. At the time, I had to box up most of my books and CDs for storage, but I wanted an easy way to know in which box each thing was. I think I even had plans to use it with my CD collection next, but building the backend for turning barcodes back into a reference to a playable directory of ripped files turned out to be too much trouble. Could still be doable if you could query a Jellyfin or Plex database based on UPC codes. Now we all just yell into the void and hope the nearest "AI" hears us.
- I got multiple CueCats from RadioShack for free. You can modify them to output without encryption or use python code to output to usable output. I have a couple ones that have been converted and have USB plug too.
- I also have a CueCat! I ordered it back in the 90s when it was still being advertised!