Travis from POSGuys.com.
Today we are going over kind of an old school product.
We're going over serial barcode scanners.
I have Honeywell Orbit here with a serial interface and covering how does this work
with Windows.
Because most computers now don't have serial ports anymore unless you have a point of sale
specific computer, like an all in one computer.
Those have built in serial ports, generally.
What you will need for using something like a tablet or a regular desktop is a USB to
serial adapter.
They look something like this.
There are extensions available for them as well, if it's hard to get to the back of your
computer then you can kind of run a cable.
Generally, these are just plug and play.
When you plug them into your computer, Windows detects it as a USB device and it installs
automatically.
If it doesn't then there are normally drivers available for the different types of USB to
serial converters.
Part two is that you have to check the device manager to find out what port was created.
So, if you go to start menu, and this works for Windows 7, 8, and 10, and then you go
to control panel, just type in control panel, and then you are looking for device manager.
Once that is open, you look in the port section.
Under ports (COM and LPT), it will map to serial port and there is USB serial port.
So, if your point of sale software or your inventory software is compatible with the
serial scanner, then in the software itself, there will be a setting where it will ask,
what is the com port for your serial scanner.
You will select the number, and then normally the software is set up that whenever any data
comes in on that com port, then it will send it to your point of sale software.
So, this is great when you don't have focus.
So you can use on screen, touchscreen buttons the cursor might not be in the scan barcode
box, but if you scan a barcode it still enters the data into the system, so that is really
useful.
If your software doesn't do that, and it just has an input box and it doesn't work with
serial scanners, then you will need a middleware software.
So, I am running a piece of middleware software here called, "Datasnip".
It's free.
I just downloaded it off the internet.
There are a bunch of these.
There are dozens of them.
They are all pretty lightweight pieces of software.
And so, in it, there will be a basic setup here.
You pick your com port from the list, there will be a bunch of com ports, you will have
to know which one it is.
I'm on com3.
And then it will be your default settings for the speed of that port.
9600N81 are the general settings that are used with everything, so if you set up the
scanner to default then you will be using 9600N81.
So, use that.
The other thing is, that in order to get it to do an automatic carriage return, you will
have to do this translate button here.
So, I have that checked.
Sometimes, depending on your scanner, if you try to send the carriage return automatically
afterwards, it won't translate correctly and the data will transfer but it won't hit return.
So, that might be a necessary step.
So, when the scanner is plugged in, I will plug it back in now.
And I will hit, "Start redirection".
And then it should work just like a regular USB scanner.
So, if I scan, it shoud go where the cursor is.
And then you see the carriage return appearing automatically.
So, that's basically how you can use an old serial scanner with a newer system that might
not have a serial port.
Adapters are fairly cheap.
They are under $20 for them.
So, if you have an older scanner you might not necessarily need a new scanner, you can
just get an adapter and use it.
For more information on serial barcode scanners, or to purchase, please visit us at POSGuys.com.
Thanks