BARCD1.THD --- Copyright 1987 by Phil Wheeler An original compilation of Compuserve Model 100 Forum messages for use by Forum members only. The convenience of use and availability of the barcode "wand" for the 100/102/200 has resulted in many of us buying one [something ELSE I never use!]. Although the promise of the wand has never been fully realized, it does have application. These messages discuss a bug fix in the Tandy software for the Model 100/102, software availability for the 200, printing barcodes, and a potential software development project. **Updated with Bill's "Final Word" -- 8/3/87** Message range: 153318 to 153991 Dates: 7/25/87 to 8/3/87 Sb: #Barcode problem... Fm: Seth Miller 70340,256 To: ALL Is anyone aware of a bug in the B3OF9.CO program included with the Model 100 barcode wand? When I decode 3 OF 9 barcodes, any "." characters come out as a "!" character. I have tried 3 different versions of barcode generating software and the problem persists, so it must be the B3OF9.CO decoder program that is interpreting the "." as a "!". Any info on this problem would be graetly appreciated..... -- Seth Miller 70340,256 Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Seth Miller 70340,256 I don't have any access to barcode stuff other than the test samples in the manual, so can't confirm your problem. But if you say it's happening, I'd say that was probably a bug. You can add a statement in your BASIC program that gets the data, to change any "!" into a ".". That may be the best approach, if you know you'll not be running across any "!" marks in the data. Otherwise... An example line might be: nnn FOR A = 1 TO LEN(A$) : IF MID$(A$,A,1)="!" THEN MID$(A$,A,1)="." : NEXT Fm: Bill Templeton 75655,1056 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 In the early version of the '3OF9.CO' program supplied with the Tandy Bar Code Wand, there was a bug... and you had to POKE a number into one address to correct the problem... do believe this POKE can be found somewhere in the DL's here, but have no idea where it is... If you can't find it... let me know and I will search my files and pass this POKE on to you! Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Bill Templeton 75655,1056 I don't recall such a poke being documented. As you know, there is very little barcode information available. However, I will take a look. Thanks for remembering... you must actually USE the barcode reader. (grin) Fm: Bill Templeton 75655,1056 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 Here's what my notes say about fixing the bug in the early version of Tandy's 'B3OF9.CO' BCR program that came on tape with the wand... CLEAR110,61788 CLOADM"B3OF9.CO" ?PEEK(62608) This should be 46 (in the early version it was 33). If not 46 then... POKE62608,46 SAVEM"B3OF9",61788,62611,61824 If you need to save to tape, then... CSAVEM"B3OF9",61788,62611,61824 I still have a copy of Bill Walters reply on this SIG dated 26-Feb-84: "Bill, Yes, there is an error with the decoding, believe that it decodes a period (46) as an exclamation point (33), or something like that. I'm on vacation this week and don't have the info here at home. Call your local store or Computer Customer Services, as a 'patch' has been issued in a 'merchandising update' memo that comes out every two weeks." I also remember that I called the above Tandy locations and they didn't know anything about the 'B3OF9.CO' patch... but someone on this SIG did and gave me the above patch... Hope this helps... Bill ps: We have several members who use a Tandy wand to read BCR listings in PCM Magazine. Tandy has just reduced the price of their BCR from $99 to $39, so interest is picking up on how to print programs in 'Tandycode' to exchange at our meetings. My TCODE file in DL13 will hopefully tell folks how to do it... Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Bill Templeton 75655,1056 Guess who's message is gonna be imortalized as a barcode tip file??? (grin!) Thanks for looking this up, Bill... While I have a barcode wand, etc., it's apparently a later version which does not show the bug. Appreciate your followup on this one. Fm: Bill Templeton 75655,1056 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 If others are interested in printing Tandycode, I strongly suggest they use a 24-pin dot matrix printer like Tandy's DMP-2100 series or a Toshiba P320 series or an NEC P-6, as the results are consistently readable... only the Toshiba series requires my Tandycode patch in DL13 (TCODE in DL13)... I have printed many of the programs (.BA and .CO) on Club 100 in Tandycode, using my Toshiba P-321, and these printouts are easier to read than even the latest Bar Code listings in PCM Magazine, providing I use a slightly used cartridge ribbon... a new ribbon lays down too much ink, even on paper with 25% cotton fibre... but an older ribbon works every time on paper with some cotton fibre in it... Glad to be of help... Bill Sb: #bar code software Fm: Joshua Notowitz 72217,541 To: All A couple of days ago I bought a Radio Shack bar code wand, labeled for use with the Model 100, since it was on sale for $39.95 (marked down from $99.95) and I might be able to use it at work. Even though I have a Model 200, I figured that I could use it, since most Radio Shack peripherals work without too much trouble on both machines. However, when I got home and tried it out, I found that half the routines on the accompanying tape are in machine code. The specific machine code routines deal with decoding UPC-A, Plessey, and 3-of-9 bar codes as they are being read in or printed out by the Basic programs that are also on the tape. Are there any bar code routines available for use with the Model 200 (in particular for 3-of-9 coding)? Does Tandy have a different model of wand for working with the 200? Does anyone know of any fixes that Tandy provides for fools such as I? I would not mind trying to set up my own machine code routine to translate the codes, if I got an explanation of how that works. However I am not a hardware wizard and would prefer to buy equipment rather than scrounge out old fountain pens and Christmas lights to build my own bar code reader. I am going back tomorrow to the RS Computer Center from which I bought this to discuss it with the salespeople. I haven't got much expectation of help from that quarter, since I get the impression that most RS sales staff know little about laptop computers and their users. Any help from anyone on this matter is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Joshua Notowitz 72217,541 There is indeed software to use the bar code reader wand on the Tandy 200, and it's available right back at the store where you bought the wand. They probably don't have it in stock, since it's a special order item. (The wand package does say "For Model 100" rather prominently on the front of the book) Ask your store manager to order part #700-3407 for you. It's priced at $5.00 and should take a week to ten days to get from the warehouse. The cassette includes the software for B30F9 and PLESY. If you need UPC, then you also need the software package "Bar Code Drivers/Tandy 200" Catalog # 26-3896, which gives you UPC long and short standards; EAN long and short which are European UPC codes; and 2OF5, another standard. Fm: Joshua Notowitz 72217,541 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 Thanks very much!! Though it says "for Model 100," I figured that it would save me the trouble of constructing my own hardware. And with the resources of this SIG, I believed substitute software could be found. Saving about 50% in cost and more in terms of my time was also a consideration. Sb: PCM barcode format Fm: Martin Zimmerman 72757,3076 To: Bill Templeton I'm not fully sure of how many of you out there ever buy PCM magazine. I got frustrated with thier barcode decoder program so I sat down for about 5 hours on night, figured it out, and wrote my own. I now know the format that PCM uses to barcode a program. With a little work, I should be able to create a program to convert a program stored as a .DO file into a .DO file ready for Tandy's barcode printer program (the one that does 3of9) I will try to get my notes together and make a data file out of PCM's format so that perhaps someone (like you Bill) could write the program. I might not have the time right away, so if there is much interest then at least the info for someone else would be there. What do you think Bill? Fm: Bill Templeton 75655,1056 To: Martin Zimmerman 72757,3076 Several members of our group have all the issues of the PCM magazines that contained the Bar Code program listings. In the April, '85 issue, Danny Humphries, then the technical editor of PCM, told us all about the advantages of 'Tandycode' and said they were going to begin printing their BCR listings in this code to eliminate the conversion from .DO to .BA and .CO type files. But Danny left PCM before his plan could be implemented, so our group started playing around with Tandycode to see what dot-matrix printers would give us the best results. We quickly determined that the 24-pin matrix printers gave us the results we were looking for (see my TCODE in DL13). Your frustration with PCM's barcode decoder program (Humphries wrote several versions) were experienced by our group also, until we rewrote 3 versions (BAREAD 1.0, BAREAD 1.1 and BAREAD 2.4) which would correctly decode all the programs listed in PCM. In my opinion, Tandycode is the way to go, because you can easily print all three type files (.DO/.BA/.CO) in Bar Code format, and if done according to the guidelines in DL13's TCODE, they are easily readable with a Tandy Digital Wand (26-1183 or -1183A).