Comments on: Inexpensive Mac barcode scanner.

Question: Inexpensive Mac barcode scanner.

jchinique — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:42:31 -0800

Looking for a barcode scanner (>$100; usb, wireless or firewire) to import books into delicious library on mac 10.3.9. Must be plug and play (no cuecat).

By: NotMyselfRightNow

NotMyselfRightNow — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:52:41 -0800

Just an FYI: The last time I used a Cuecat on a Windows machine, I believe it was plug and play...

By: DandyRandy

DandyRandy — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:00:46 -0800

Have you tried using a plain ole webcam? I use my outboard iSight - and DL works fine with that - any webcam that works on the Mac will do the trick.

By: hsoltz

hsoltz — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:04:07 -0800

I have never used their products, but this company makes barcode scanners and they seem to have a wide range of products.

By: luriete

luriete — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:24:36 -0800

isight works well - and cuecat is plug and play on my 12" powerbook.

By: MtDewd

MtDewd — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:44:56 -0800

eBay has some.
This one is usb, plug and play, and reads EAN13. (not sure if mac- compatible)

By: jchinique

jchinique — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:48:52 -0800

Sorry, missed the clarification: do not have isight; they've been discontinued new and seem to be reselling pretty high. Also, I've heard cuecat needs to be modified to work with delicious library. I don't know if the resolution on a less expensive cam will pick up the barcode. D.L. sells their own scanner (flic brand, if i'm not mistaken) or recommends isight.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:52:28 -0800

USB Cuecats can be modded to be plug-and-play, and the ones for sale often have been. (They're modded to act like a generic USB HID, and are as OS-agnostic as a USB keyboard.)

By: yggdrasil

yggdrasil — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:04:35 -0800

Cuecat is plug and play if you get a modded version. I think I paid 8 bucks (incl. shipping) for my modded one off ebay a while back. There's about 40 listings right now.

I used it without any problems in cataloging my 1700+ books, cds, and dvds in MediaMan (which is apparently eerily similar to DL - a merely coincidental similarity, I'm sure *cough*)

If you can't find a modded cuecat on ebay, or don't trust it, librarything sells 'em for $15.01 with shipping. Incidentally, librarything is a great online alternative for cataloging books (it doesn't support music or movies [yet]).

Make sure you get a cat with USB (the really really old ones are PS2 and might not be plug and play), and make sure it's modded or hacked or modified. If it's not, the output won't just be the bar code, it will also include the unique id string that the cuecats were designed to "share" with retailers. You can either use a driver to strip that crap out, or you can mod the cat yourself. I don't recall the exact procedure, but the mod is pretty simple. I think it involves snipping a wire or maybe some ultra-light soldering. Google has a plethora of walk-throughs.

Though honestly, just get a modded cat and save yourself that hassle. Take the money you saved on a "real" scanner and invest in more books.

By: Medieval Maven

Medieval Maven — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:30:01 -0800

I was thinking of asking something like this, so thanks for saving me the trouble!

By: dmd

dmd — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:52:47 -0800

When I cataloged my library I just took a video camera and held books in front of it one by one, then fed the resulting recording to Delicious Library. Worked like a charm.

By: prophetsearcher

prophetsearcher — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:55:52 -0800

ooh! i've been thinking about getting DL, and also would need a way to scan the codes. Thanks for posting this!

I'm curious how people with DL enjoy the system. Is it worth the trouble? Is it just over-anal? also, what's the deal with DL being developed for Leopard that I keep hearing about? Is that a problem?

Is there anyway a webcam could handle this for the mac? I've been looking for a mac-capable webcam anyway, though they seem impossible to find, so this would be a possible 2-for-1 solution.

Sorry to threadjack, but it looks like you're satisfied with the 'best answer' you got above. Thanks!

By: mphuie

mphuie — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:22:54 -0800

I know your pricing was probably a typo, but I'll recommend something that costs >$100 anyays.

I've had great success with this barcode gun. Its around $135, and if you have a lot of stuff to scan in, it is worth the investment. The cuecat is slow, very finicky and unless you want something cheap/useful/fun for the first 10 minutes, I wouldn't recommend it.

http://www.posguys.com/barcode-scanner_3/POS-X-Xi3000_716/

By: jamaro

jamaro — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:13:14 -0800

If you can't find a modded cuecat on ebay, or don't trust it, librarything sells 'em for $15.01 with shipping.

Just as a followup, I ordered a CueCat from LibraryThing last week after I read this post. The 'cat arrived today and it is most definitely not modified. Perhaps they used to sell modded CueCats but no longer.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:50:06 -0800

The LibraryThing page says "LibraryThing reads data from unmodified [emphasis added] CueCats like these."

And modding a Cuecat doesn't mean just one thing. There's "declawing" it to not include its serial number in its output. Making it a generic USB HID device is a whole different thing.

By: jamaro

jamaro — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:32:23 -0800

Followup to my followup: I modded my CueCat last night, turns out it is a trivial procedure involving loosening two screws and snipping the leg of a chip. It took 5 minutes, a Phillips head, a magnifying glass, and a pair of cuticle scissors. Directions with pictures here, via a very helpful LibraryThing board poster.

Making it a generic USB HID device is a whole different thing.

Not sure what you mean here; before and after the above-mentioned mod, my computer recognized the CueCat as a USB text input device requiring no additional drivers and its output was/is writing behind the cursor of any text editor.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:31:59 -0800

strike my last comment for the record. I'd been under the mistaken notien that the USB cuecats were the results of modding ps/2 ones.