I recently purchased a barcode scanner Compact Flash card for my Dell
Axim X50V. It is a Socket 5E CFSC
(http://www.socketcom.com/product/IS5024-608.asp) . I am running
mobile 2003 SE (I need the Wifi sync, so I rolled back from mobile
2005). The installation is very simple and it was up and running
within minutes it arrived. It inserted into the CF slot and you would
have to select an activation button for it to work. You open your
data entry program, I am using an Excel spreadsheet, you point to the
cell and press the scan button. The CFSC card then generates a red
color line to aim onto the barcode. Within seconds, the barcode is
entered into your spreadsheet. It worked very well on the stickers
that I would like to use on (see previous posts). However, it does
NOT work on curved/reflective surface. I tried to scan a soda can or
a can of SPAM, it simply wont work. Well, that does not bother me
that much (?). On a flat surface under ambien light conditions, it
has not failed even once. I am amazed how simple and accurate the
CFSC works. However, there is a prohibitory factor, at least for me,
the CFSC sticks out on my PPC, and I cannot put my PPC in the shirt
pocket anymore. So, I have to remove and insert the CFSC every time
upon use, and this resulted in more than 20 insertion in a day, plus
carrying the box that contains the card. I am now looking for a
special PPC jacket that would allow the CFSC inserted and be protected
and still able to go into my shirt pocket. I definitely recommend
this card if one can overcome the physical drawback as mentioned
above. BTW, I got mine from Newegg and is $210. I would be glad to
answer any questions.

Thanks for everybody's help in locating this CFSC, it is a nice
product.

bunanson

suggest removing it when not in use for more than a few minutes... also
be deliberate and not rough when inserting.

I've had one case where I left a ppc on a low table with a cf card in
place and it was knocked off so it hit the floor card first which
separated the cf slot from the motherboard... effectively, the end of
the ppc.

Shirt pockets are also damage inducers... my brother had the opportunity
to switch from palm to ppc when he leaned over the rail of a church
steeple he was working on with his palm stored there ;-)

Lotta case options... my first stop would be to a discount store camera
area so you can test with and without the card in place.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

Thanks for sharing! Can you say something about battery consumption? We're
looking to put in place a wireless Pocket PC solution with barcode scanning
and I'm afraid that the scanning adapter is going to drain the battery even
faster.
Thanks!
/m

On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:31:56 -0500, "M" <spam@aol.com> wrote:

>Thanks for sharing! Can you say something about battery consumption? We're
>looking to put in place a wireless Pocket PC solution with barcode scanning
>and I'm afraid that the scanning adapter is going to drain the battery even
>faster.
>Thanks!
>/m
>
I am afraid I dont have a good answer. I scan less than 20 a day, and
I do not notice any difference in battery consumption with the
scanner.
Hope this helps,

Bunanson

If you are doing something other than just casual scanning, i.e. a real
business requirement, I would look into the dedicated units from Socket or
others. Much more expensive but designed for the task.

--
Sven
MVP - Mobile Devices
"M" <spam@aol.com> wrote in message
news:eHXNdsgBHHA.3540@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Thanks for sharing! Can you say something about battery consumption? We're
> looking to put in place a wireless Pocket PC solution with barcode
> scanning and I'm afraid that the scanning adapter is going to drain the
> battery even faster.
> Thanks!
> /m
>
>

On Sun, 12 Nov 2006 13:05:39 -0700, "Sven" <sejohannsen********.com>
wrote:

>If you are doing something other than just casual scanning, i.e. a real
>business requirement, I would look into the dedicated units from Socket or
>others. Much more expensive but designed for the task.
I agree. A PPC with built-in scanner would not have the problem of
having a scanner card sticking out of your CF slot. However, the $ is
much higher, we are talking over $1600 a piece. It works fine for me
with the present setup except have to look for a better protective
case.

bunanson

>> dedicated units <<

Long ago, there were some small units about the size of two stacked
pcmcia cards, which were self contained scanners with storage memory...
you would scan bars away from your desk and then dump to the pc via
cradle which I have thought would be ideal for a number of needs, but
have not been able to find them since.

These could be coupled with a preprinted card or, we laminated them to
the back of warehouse clipboards, which allowed the user to scan rather
than input regular info... i.e. scan the item, then scan a general
descriptor or job reference.

With a bc san time reference, it would also be possible to scan, then
make a timestamped entry on the ppc and merge them later, something that
could also be combined with a gps track dump and/or digital images.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]

On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 01:41:29 GMT, bunanson(nospam)******.com wrote:

>I recently purchased a barcode scanner Compact Flash card for my Dell
>Axim X50V. It is a Socket 5E CFSC
>(http://www.socketcom.com/product/IS5024-608.asp) . I am running

clip

>CFSC works. However, there is a prohibitory factor, at least for me,
>the CFSC sticks out on my PPC, and I cannot put my PPC in the shirt
>pocket anymore. So, I have to remove and insert the CFSC every time
>upon use, and this resulted in more than 20 insertion in a day, plus
>carrying the box that contains the card. I am now looking for a
>special PPC jacket that would allow the CFSC inserted and be protected
>and still able to go into my shirt pocket. I definitely recommend
>this card if one can overcome the physical drawback as mentioned
>above. BTW, I got mine from Newegg and is $210. I would be glad to
>answer any questions.

Socket has two scanners that use bluetooth
(http://www.socketcom.com/product/bar.asp). I also used google
(http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en) to look up
barcode bluetooth
and got at least one interesting lead:
http://www.posguys.com/barcode-scanner_3/?src=google


>
>
>bunanson

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com

Just another thought. Never tried one but have been seeing them for a while.
http://www.flicscanner.com/
Just grabbed a sample out of there compatibility stuff
http://www.buyflic.com/index.cfm?pa=...l&productID=36
But it seems it would work with about any WM device that has BT, and
potentially any BT equipped laptop or desktop too.


--
Sven
MVP - Mobile Devices

I bought one for scanning computer inventory. It worked pretty well, but
did not scan all 1-D bar codes, usually the older ones. Occasionally it
would drop connections to my PPC. Perhaps the newer software addresses
these problems. Despite all that I find it very useful.

Jim

Sven wrote:
> Just another thought. Never tried one but have been seeing them for a while.
> http://www.flicscanner.com/
> Just grabbed a sample out of there compatibility stuff
> http://www.buyflic.com/index.cfm?pa=...l&productID=36
> But it seems it would work with about any WM device that has BT, and
> potentially any BT equipped laptop or desktop too.
>
>