[Info-vax] Hand scanners and VMS.

[Duane Krahn]

On Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 5:35:20 PM UTC-5, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:

> It seems as the market thinks that, if you have a hand scanner, 
> you also absolutely have an PC to connect it to. 
> 
> Now, I'm sure that it will work by having the RS232 optional 
> cable from Honeywell, but that is not as easy to find as the 
> standard USB cable. 
> 

Yes, it is likely 99% of the USB scanners are connected to PCs.  Yet, many automation applications still need plain RS232/Serial output when talking to non-PC systems, like VMS, PDP-11s, PLCs,  etc.

Investigate the configuration documentation for your scanner.  With a USB cable attached, the default operation is USB HID Keyboard Wedge mode, emulating typed user input at a PC keyboard.  Check to see if an alternate USB configuration mode exists for the scanner, which emulates a COM/Serial port over USB.

Some Zebra scanners have such a mode:  https://supportcommunity.zebra.com/s/article/Emulating-a-COM-Serial-Port-Over-USB-using-CDC-driver

Next, will the Lantronix SGX 5150 unit "see" the scanner's emulated COM/Serial on port the USB connection, and then can you map to a logical TCP/LAT network connection?  Ask Lantronix support.  Some IoT units only use the USB connection for configuration console & maintenance purposes.

Duane