On Fri, 11 Jun 2021 12:55:10 -0700 Keith Lofstrom <[email protected]> dijo:
>I hope to purchase a handheld, USB-connected bar code >reader that works well with Ubuntu LTS on a laptop, >resulting in a list of bar codes in some appropriate >format (Openoffice spreadsheet?). > >Suggestions for device and open-source software? >I'll pay extra for ease of use and reduced hassle. This information is probably going the opposite direction than what you are looking for. As an erstwhile book publisher I have used Scribus to lay out book covers, which require a barcode with the EAN number underneath. You get the EAN number in the US from Bowker, for which they charge, and the publisher has to start by getting an account at Bowker. (In most countries you get the EAN number for free from a government agency.) Once I have a new book to the point where I needed to design the cover I contact Bowker to get the EAN number. Then I plug the EAN number into a Scribus widget that produces the barcode as an .svg file, which I then position on the cover - typically on the lower right corner of the back of the cover. Note that some genres also require a UPC barcode and number, which is typically placed on the inside of the front cover. Books that require the UPC code are the type commonly sold in supermarkets and other stores whose cash registers can't understand an EAN barcode. Note also that worldwide the EAN barcode was expanded from ten numbers to 13, about 15 years ago, as I recall. Many books floating around the world still have ten-digit barcodes, and they still work. But note also that each book and each variation of it (e.g., second edition, paperback issue, etc.) require a new, unique EAN code. When I use the barcode reader n my phone to scan an EAN barcode the phone pops up the information as text. I don't know if that can be saved to the phone - phones are not my strong suit. Scribus is scriptable, and there may exist a script to create a mail merge, although I have little ken of how it might work. Of course, to bring in data from a database one immediately thinks of LibreOffice, but I don't know if it can create a barcode. But having said that, if I need to create a document with a lot of graphics in it in LO, I'd sooner be strung up overnight by my thumbs. I'd much rather create the text in Writer, import it into Scribus, and then place the graphics. And some people here might suggest the TeX family, which may be even easier.
