March 2007 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Seeking help with a USB barcode scanner

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI everybody, Does anybody in the group have any experience using a USB barcode scanner with Linux? Its tough to google for "barcode scanner" since each term brings up its own set of things which aren't what I seek. In particular, I have been loaned a USB barcode scanner which is made by PSC, Inc. with model number QS2500. When I plug it into my laptop, the USB vendor and device IDs are 04B4:0101. I looked this up on the Linux USB devices website and it has multiple references (mostly to USB keyboards). I think this device is being handled as a USB HID device, but I'm not certain. I'm wondering if Linux has any software that would read the value from a barcode scanner and do something with it. If I knew which device file was used, maybe I could "cat <devfile>" and see some output when I scanned a barcode. Note that there are several examples of software for printing barcodes, but that's not what I need (at least not yet). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group (http://www.wlug.org) Chelmsford Linux Meetup Group (http://linux.meetup.com/393) Amateur Radio: KB1OIQ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with SUSE - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGDcRgHl0iXDssISsRAjF2AJ98hr6d4i2EMSQ5AvAWiiyfPLHdWACeLSm+ uCN6IcuTTYvDZbz44z+t4I4= =gdbi -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

March 31, 2007

Re: [Wlug] DSL testing

by Keith Wright

> From: "Brian J. Conway" <bconway(a)alum.wpi.edu> > > Either way, I imagine a truck roll will still be your > best course of action. > Truck roll? Is that a typo? Is it like a ship biscuit? Or is it like a tractor pull? Or more like rolling your car over? -- Keith

March 30, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Upcoming meeting topic(s)

by Keith Wright

> From: Chuck Anderson <cra(a)WPI.EDU> > > On Wed, Mar 28, 2007 at 10:03:39PM -0500, Terry S wrote: > > > > I'm curious to understand, will these be publicly viewable > > pictures, or *only* viewable to those who have your key? > > Generally, you want your public key to be widely distributed. > Keeping the public key secret doesn't improve security. He's not worried about security, he just doesn't want his mother to see those pictures of him mooning the camera. I suppose we can trust the cameraman to use the pictures only as you ask. I was thinking of putting some low-res, but recognizable faces on the WLUG web site, to help us (i.e. me) to remember names. The key signing just made me think of it, but had nothing really to do with the plan. I am not sure why anyone would object to that unless it has something to do with the witness protection program, or running from the law. But I have neither camera nor write access to the web site, so it is not for me to say. -- Keith

March 30, 2007

Re: [Wlug] DSL testing

by Chuck Anderson

On Thu, Mar 29, 2007 at 01:57:42AM -0400, Keith Wright wrote: > > You won't be able to see real time Layer 2 stats of > > your circuit, as this information is accessed from > > the DSLAM in the Central Office. > > But I know I have heard some of you talking about > statistics gathering programs for network performance. > Does anyone know of a program that might help to > see how well a DSL line is working, or other > diagnostic tools for this? The only devices that would have access to the statistics he is talking about are your DSL modem and the DSLAM. If your modem doesn't provide the statistics, then there is no way to get them directly unless you had a hardware DSL analyzer to hook up to the line.

March 29, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Upcoming meeting topic(s)

by Chuck Anderson

On Wed, Mar 28, 2007 at 10:03:39PM -0500, Terry S wrote: > I have a new digital camera I haven't even used yet. I'd be more than > happy to bring my camera. > > I'm curious to understand, will these be publicly viewable pictures, or > *only* viewable to those who have your key? Generally, you want your public key to be widely distributed. Keeping the public key secret doesn't improve security.

March 29, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Upcoming meeting topic(s)

by AlReinhart

You might find the following entertaining if not interesting as some background information for a privacy/identity management meeting. http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/ Keith Wright wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > >>From: Andy Stewart <andystewart(a)comcast.net> >> >>We appear to have a choice of meeting topics for April: >> >>1) PGP Key signing party > > > In addition to a mere key signing, it would > be nice if someone who knows could talk about > how PGP or GPG works, how to use them and > how they relate to rfc-2440, and whether > they interoperate. > > Also, maybe somebody with a digital camera > could take pictures of WLUG leaders and > followers, and put them on the web site, > together with public key identifiers. > Despite being told several times over the > past few years, I don't remember most > people's names, but I might be able to > if I had a chance to practice at home > with my web browser. > > It is only somewhat useful to have a > record in your keyring that says you were > once convinced that the name goes with the > key, if you have totally forgotten what > person goes with the name. > > -- Keith > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: Keith Wright 8822AF38 http://pgp.mit.edu > > iD8DBQFGCdp44xVZAIgirzgRAhCWAJ4+SEw8sYTVefgL/s1gU3CgibrcUwCdFm5y > yRPNmXt27bQgJUC/OD/gpec= > =uN1o > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > -- ---------------------------------- Al Reinhart Phone: (508) 869-6417 DisCom Systems eMail: Reinhart(a)DisCom.com www.DisCom.com

March 29, 2007

Re: [Wlug] DSL testing

by Brian J. Conway

On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:57:42 -0400 (EDT) Keith Wright <kwright(a)keithdiane.us> wrote: > But I know I have heard some of you talking about > statistics gathering programs for network performance. > Does anyone know of a program that might help to > see how well a DSL line is working, or other > diagnostic tools for this? It's possible some of that information is available on the internal interface via SNMP, but I haven't frequently seen that on consumer-grade devices. I haven't used DSL in a long while, but I know that that vast majority of cable modems have a status web page on the internal interface at http://192.168.100.1 that gives you upstream and downstream power levels, downstream SNR, frequencies used, and occasionally provisioned rates. (On most well-configured firewalls, that also means remembering to allow 192.168.100.1:80 in on the external interface, heh.) If you hunt around for your DSL modem model in your search engine of choice, there may be something similar. Either way, I imagine a truck roll will still be your best course of action. Brian J. Conway

March 29, 2007

Re: [Wlug] DSL testing

by Karl Hiramoto

Keith Wright wrote: > You won't be able to see real time Layer 2 stats of >> your circuit, as this information is accessed from >> the DSLAM in the Central Office. >> > > But I know I have heard some of you talking about > statistics gathering programs for network performance. > Does anyone know of a program that might help to > see how well a DSL line is working, or other > diagnostic tools for this? > This depends on your DSL modem. Some will display the Signal/Noise ratio on a web page interface, or SNMP port. You may be able to buy a different DSL interface that has these features.

March 29, 2007

Re: [Wlug] DSL testing

by Richard Klein

Keith Wright wrote: > > But I know I have heard some of you talking about > statistics gathering programs for network performance. > Does anyone know of a program that might help to > see how well a DSL line is working, or other > diagnostic tools for this? I don't know the answers, but you might find some useful tools at http://dslreports.com/ . And if you don't get any useful answers here, you might have better luck in their forums. -- Rich

March 29, 2007

DSL testing

by Keith Wright

After several years of near flawless working, I am starting to have trouble with my DSL connection. A few times per year the modem would lock-up. It was rare enough that I did not worry much, I figured it was due to lightening or cosmic rays. In any case, it was rare enough that I could think of no way to debug it, and there seemed to be no real reason to, the power went out more often than the DSL. Lately it has been happening several times a day, I just got done with a burst of about ten consecutive lock-ups. I will be browsing the web, or something and it will just quit working. Ping of the ISP's nearest computer (by IP addr) does not work. I go to the modem, pull out the power plug, wait a few seconds, plug it in, wait for it to boot up, and it works again until the next time. I complained to the ISP (Speakeasy) and the nice guy there said: > I had a look at your circuit and see a sync at 1536 > kbps Downstream / 384 kbps Upstream with decibel > margins of 2.0 dB Downstream / 17.0 dB Upstream. The > downstream decibel margins are very low and as a > result, your line is incrementing heavy errors. I asked if I could see these numbers myself, so that I could try some re-wiring to see if it made the problem better (or worse). He said: > You won't be able to see real time Layer 2 stats of > your circuit, as this information is accessed from > the DSLAM in the Central Office. But I know I have heard some of you talking about statistics gathering programs for network performance. Does anyone know of a program that might help to see how well a DSL line is working, or other diagnostic tools for this? -- Keith

March 29, 2007