Hi Sandy,
You can use any bar code scanner you want on Digit-Eyes that works as a
Human Interface Device (HID). This means it emulates what a human would
do on a keyboard.
We support both the tethered ones that hook to your PC/Laptop using a cable
and the mobile ones like the KDC300 that connect to your phone using
BlueTooth.
You will probably not be able to adapt a USB scanner to hook to your
iPhone. The USB scanners require a powered USB connection ("PUSB") and
the iPhone does not support powered USB connections. The reason is that
the iPhone is a low-power device and the USB scanner would drain the
battery. If the USB-connected scanner has its own battery system, it
might be possible, but based on a quick read of the specifications, it does
not look to me like the Metrologic does. I'm not aware of any USB laser
scanner that does not use a powered connection. Here is more information
about powered USB for anyone who is interested:
http://www.poweredusb.org/whatispusb.html
This does not mean that you cannot use Digit-Eyes with a powered USB
device, but it does mean that you will need to run the USB scanner
connected to your desktop or laptop, just like you are running BC Scan. At
NFB, we had some people who tested the BC Scan database side by side with
Digit-Eyes and found that there really is a serious difference in the
database (27 million codes on D-E compared to whatever is on BC Scan).
There is no charge for using Digit-Eyes this way, so you might want to try
it and see if you like the results better.
If you want to connect to the phone, you will need a scanner that has its
own batteries and that uses Bluetooth to connect. The one we liked best
was the Koamtac KDC300. This is not your only option, but of the two we
evaluated, it was easiest to use for people without vision because it is
omnidirectional and the other one we evaluated only scanned in a single
direction.
There are instructions on how to hook up the various scanners on the
Digit-Eyes website:
http://www.digit-eyes.com/laser/
We currently have a Koamtac 200i scanner in-house that we are evaluating
and we'll be publishing a review on it shortly. It fits into a neat glove,
so it can leave that hand effectively free. I've been very impressed with
the Koamtac products, which seem to be very well-engineered. If the
KDC200i works as well as the 300, it could be a nice option for people who
can't or don't want to use visible light scanning.
We'll be publishing the review on our website and if people are interested,
I'll note it here when it is up.
If you don't have a printer, you can get us to print you audio labels on
paper
http://pages.digit-eyes.com/cgi-bin/item.fcgi?itemKey=1922500808&store=%2Fstores%2Fdigiteyes
And if you want labels you can wash or run through the dishwasher, we have
those, too.
http://pages.digit-eyes.com/cgi-bin/item.fcgi?itemKey=1922500809&store=%2Fstores%2Fdigiteyes
Cordially,
Nancy Miracle
On Thursday, July 5, 2012 11:02:06 PM UTC-5, Tom Lange wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I'd like to know if you can use Digit-Eyes with an external bar code
> scanner. I recently bought the QuantumT MS3580 USB bar code scanner for
> around $160 and am currently using it with my BrailleNote Apex BT32 and a
> service called BC Scan, which can be found at
>
> www.bcscan.com
>
> The scanner, BrailleNote Apex and the BC Scan service work great for
> scanning bar codes, but you have to have a live Internet connection going
> to use this service. That may not be practical in a grocery store setting,
> for example, where I may not have access to Wi-Fi.
>
> So, I'd like to get a USB adaptor to hook this scanner up to my iPhone and
> try it out with Digit-Eyes or other bar code scanning apps and my iPhone 4
> and maybe even try BC scan over 3G using Safari. .
>
> Just to clarify a bit, even though I mentioned the QuantumT, the actual
> manufacturer of the MS3580 scanner may be either Honeywell or Metrologic.
>
> Any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Tom
>
>
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