Magnetic Card Readers For Linux?

Squeezer asks: "I'm working at a state library which has a new building under construction. The staff wants the building to run Linux for everything due to its stability. Our plans include a magnetic card similar to a credit card that has a magnetic strip. When a patron swipes their card, depending on their location, it will either let them: enter the library, print out a catalog on a book, let them print out an article, allow them to make a copy, and so on. I have been doing research but I am unable to find any magnetic card readers that support Linux. Any Slashdot readers have any advice or recommendations for such devices?"

why not smart cards?

[ConsumedByTV]

It seems that smart cards would be a better choice then magnetic strips. What is the basis for the choice that has made you choose mag stripes? It seems to me that smart cards not only look cooler, are a tad bit harder to hack.


Fight censors!

keyboard wedges

[Zerth]

At my college, our print servers use magreaders that are just simple keyboard wedge(a la cuecat). Unfortunately, they aren't branded or anything, but a quick google and tadah [magtek.com]. PS/2 wedges. No drivers required:}

Welch Allyn.

[rasjani]

We are using Welch Allyn decoders. You can attach magnetic card reader or barcode reader to this decoder and it is attached to keyboard so it works on any platform. Not really sure if this kind of thing should work for you, if you want to have one at the door or somewhere that grants you access the fact that it attaches itself between keyboard and the computer. Other than that, they work really fine. I think we have been using Welch Allyn's hardware for allmost decade now without any kind of major problems. These beasts work in way that they first send a prefix character to notify the underlying program that data is incoming from reader not the keyboard (this can be disable ofcourse), then the actual data let it be barcode or magnetic card stripe and then suffix to let program know that transmission is over. The actual program doesnt have any special requirements because it still sees incoming sequence as human punched it except ofcourse, it should change to appropriate field (in our case) when it sees the prefix char in keyboard buffer so that rest of the buffer is entered into correct place.
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Magnetic Card Readers for Linux

[ingmar]

I was looking into the exact same issue a while ago. (Turned out we really didn't need Linux support in the end, but I did some research.) Somebody told me that the German company ZeitControl [zeitcontrol.de] (=Timecontrol) provides Linux drivers for at least some of their cards. (They have magnetic ones as well as cards with embedded microchips, like modern ATM cards).

You might also want to look at this page [lionking.org]. If there is a smart card command line utility for Linux, chances are there must be some supported readers. Good luck!

Why we are are using magnetic vs smart cards

[Squeezer]

Thanks for the responses. For those wondering. We are using magnetic cards because they are about $.50 a piece to make, verses a smart card that is about $5 to make. We do not charge our patrons any dues or fees, and we don't have any late fees because we are a library that deals in historical records, so none of our materials are in circulation. All of the items you checkout can not leave the library.

Mag stripes and barcoding

[DRACO-]

I havent seen any libraries use mag stripes before, but I have seen them make use of bar coded cards for the patrons and also have the books bar coded. Both devices are designed in the same manner of keyboard wedges, I think there might also be a few serial systems and pc card (for handhelds).

If anything, I would go with barcodes on the books and barcode on the patron's card. You can get magstripe card readers that also read barcodes on cards. But I would think barcode scanners would be the way to go, you can always find one quicker than a magstripe/barcode card reader if one fails (and they dont have as high failure rate where magstripes do). Barcode readers also make checking in/out books faster than the old paper, signature, rubber stamp style. Also during the twice a year inventory check, barcodes on the books make finding missing books quicker (a week compared to several weeks)

But if you are looking for either one check out www.barcode.com [barcode.com] they have a catalog they can send out to you.

I recommend calling a speciallist to show you their gear, ask them durability and speed questions about the hardware and software and the database. Then after they leave take those answers and come up with your own system, you can probably cut hundreds of dollars off of their system running linux, with cheap barcode readers you can get anywhere (even in old computer hardware stores). Some extras to think about, an thermal transfer printer (because old thermal tape always fades away after 3 months, but thermal transfer stays), a datalogger (for those inventory days and mass book check in, dataloggers get you away from the pc, but captures the data you scan, then you sync it to the computer like a palm pilot).

Another neato gadget, a palm pilot with a barcode scanner on it (interesting but doesnt have good application here).

Email me for more info just take out the comment \*dontspam*\. Im just scratching the surface of my memory on these things (Im posting from work and ended up talking to a vistor half way thru my posting)

Keyboard

[Russ Nelson]

The magstripe readers I've seen are either integrated, or else hook inline to the keyboard. So no Linux support is necessary. That's why you haven't been able to find any.
-russ

Actually...

[cr0sh]

A Palm Pilot or similar device (ie, portable handheld scanning wedges) do have a good use, during the inventory checking - you can just scan the books as you walk down the aisles (as long as the barcode is on the spine). Such a device would become a portable data logging system for the inventory tracking.

May be a bit expensive, though...

Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!

Just a normal serial device

[bluestar]

All of the (three or four) mag stripe readers/encoders I've worked with are normal serial (RS-232) devices. Just open /dev/ttyS0 and go..

Re:Welch Allyn.

[NonSequor]

I say that we stop worrying about the damn whales and start feeding them to the hungry. That way we've ignored one problem and solved another leaving only one problem left.

"Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto"
(I am a man: nothing human is alien to me)