Name that Ware September 2006

The ware for September, 2006 is shown below:

Click on the image for a much larger version. This blog posting is again late (and I was doing so well for the past couple of months). I’ve been out of town for most of September, however, and pretty much away from email access–I finally got a chance to take a vacation (fluffy has a blog about it; follow the Adventure-o-rama and Monguyver links) after the big Chumby launch. I’m back in the fold again, but I probably have a lot more travel coming up as we have a lot of bizdev work to do now, and that means meetings all over the world. It’s exciting though–definitely a different experience from my previous occupations.

I thought this ware was particularly interesting because it’s not just electronic. There is an important piece that is mechanical as well, which I am showing in detail below.

Have I gotten back to all the winners who claimed prizes on the last round? Since I ran off on vacation there’s a chance I might have missed your email. Do drop me a line if you haven’t gotten your prizes yet!

I also think I’m going to try more “microposting” on the blog for the next month, to see how it flows. I’ve traditionally tried to stick with larger, weightier posts, but this month I will mix it up a bit and create a little more content that is still technical, but meant to be more informational or interactive. If this format doesn’t appeal to you, let me know!

22 Responses to “Name that Ware September 2006”

  1. Karl says:

    I’m going to guess that it’s something like a 964a144d084631a457cfe70dc4a0c8f9 or a 834a0e662804df013d84acc076ec4a45.

  2. Justin says:

    A Laser Light (show) generator.

    The window, parabolic mirror, movable mirror and laser are big clues. Or I’m oversimplifying this one.

  3. Robert Walsh says:

    Is it a barcode scanner?

  4. R says:

    The mirrror and laser thing also makes me think of some spectrometers

  5. Julian Calaby says:

    It’s not an ordinary barcode scanner.

    The last one I saw that contained that much circuitry had a gas-tube laser in it.

    What do we know:
    1. PSC barcode scanner – separate module – PSC is fairly common, so I’m googling for that.
    2. Several layers of PC boards – not sure what this means, but this screams out that it is a complicated device in a small enclosure.
    3. Microphone (?) or small speaker and several LEDs at the opposite end of the enclosure to the scanner.
    4. Lots of labeled chips – either the applications for this are varied enough that a lot of chips need to be flashed differently for each one, or they went through a lot of revisions.
    5. Removable PC board with what appears to be RAM of some sort on it. However the labels imply that it might be flash.
    6. Angled board (bottom left) with several toshiba LCD display drivers on it – maybe a fairly large LCD display is on the other side.
    7. Hole in the bottom of the top piece, with a PCB inside – possibly to some form of handle / trigger thing, maybe even to something else entirely.
    8. Zilog Z85C30 communications controller – I have no idea what this chip does – in layman’s terms.
    9. A transparent ribbon cable snaking under the bottom right board, possibly to some form of keypad.

    Ok.

    Overall description of the device:
    Top half:
    This is the bottom piece of this device, and contains a barcode scanner, angled down slightly reading barcodes out of a small but wide window.

    Top half:
    This is the top of the device, we have:
    – a LCD display of some type
    – LEDs on the back for more immediate status notifications
    – Small speaker for that barcode scanner beep.

    The arrangement of the right side boards inside this reminds me very strongly of a small handheld barcode scanner / computer which I disassembled. Especially:
    – the interconnect between the two boards at the top right
    – the close packing of the surface mounted chips, along with several through-hole components.
    – The colour of the PCBs.
    – What appears to be very close vertical packing of different PCBs.

    I’d guess that this device is a fairly newly purchased version of an older design – the two sets of mounting holes for the barcode scanner imply that there was at least one other option at some stage. Also, the flash / RAM chips on a PCB with pins to go into an IC socket imply that the part they designed the board for is either no longer available or the applications this device is for have outgrown the original part.

    I would also expect this device to be fairly common for similar reasons to the above argument.

    The placement of the ribbon cable on the display board (having it flow over the board, rather than being a short one to the closest side of the board) implies that the LCD board is an off-the-shelf model of some type.

    I’m guessing that this is something like a Symbol MC3000 with the handle attached.

    However the specimen we are provided is from the mid-90s, has the handle built in, and is fairly simple, in both programming and operation.

    Sadly I have no idea what it is exactly, or even where to look for that, so the analysis is all I can give on this.

    Thanks,

    Julian Calaby

  6. Karl says:

    Since Julian’s analysis was pretty similar to mine, I’ll reveal my answers:

    $ echo -n “UPS delivery scanner” | md5sum
    964a144d084631a457cfe70dc4a0c8f9 –
    $ echo -n “portable inventory scanner” | md5sum
    834a0e662804df013d84acc076ec4a45 –

    The top of the picture (or the bottom of the device) is pretty clearly a laser barcode scanner. The LCD controller chips on a PCB board mounted at an angle, and translucent ribbon connector imply some sort of handheld computer. UPS uses devices like these all the time to track deliveries, and they’re used by grocery stores everywhere to keep track of inventory levels (although newer models often have wireless connectivity).

  7. DrClaw says:

    Looks like an electret mic down the bottom right hand side of the pic?

    With that and the laser arrangement in the upper section, I’d suggest some kind of beat-triggered laser light show generator. Or similar device relying on an audio input.

    Well that’s my $0.02 anyways :)

  8. Julian Calaby says:

    As I said before, the part with the laser is marked PSC – they make barcode scanners.

    It’s not a laser light show.

    And a laser light show wouldn’t have leds on the back, a LCD screen, and a keypad unless it was pretty sophisticated. It would definitely not have a handle and trigger arangement either.

  9. GumbyDamnit says:

    Come on Julian… let everybody have their guess :)

  10. Julian Calaby says:

    GumbyDamnit,

    I’m not trying to prevent everyone from having their guesses, I’m just pointing out to DrClaw that the laser part he thinks is some form of light show is stamped PSC – who make barcode scanners – hence he is *probably* wrong.

    To be quite honest, I’ve never seen inside any sort of scanner of this type, and the closest I’ve ever gotten is the handheld unit I mentioned in my first post. I could be completely wrong (it’s happened before) and this could be some form of laser light show with a fancy LCD display to select what it shows. The part which I think is a handle could simply be a board placed in a funny position. It is possible that DrClaw is correct – however, in my humble opinion, he is wrong.

    This was not meant as some form of attack on him, though my wording could have been a little calmer.

    Thanks,

    Julian Calaby

  11. Looks to me like a handheld barcood scanner. That small window fits the description (look carefully at the left of the image :) ), plus that “handle” could easily fit into an extended handle.

    That’s my guess.

  12. Imran Bashir says:

    first of all I am just a newbie so dont laugh If something is ridculously wrong because of my less experience …
    it is what I think IMHO is a barcode scanner, and probably some of those fixed mount type usually seen at ePOS terminals.
    and also it seems like that its a 1-D barcode scanner
    PSC makes barcode readers , it looks like an older version of 1-D barcode readers.

    Top Part
    a. Mechanical Part A mirror and laser
    b. Z85c30 – Communication controller provides serial interface to the PC/ Host device
    c. AM28?256 … I think its an EEPROM (Which is upgradable via the serial interface provided)
    d. and just a guess .. If its a barcode scanner , is there a need of movable mirror ??? It looks like a movable mirror ..

    Lower Part
    a. Toshiba T6A40 LCD Controller / Row driver /controller
    b . Toshiba T6A39 LCD controller / Column Drivers / Controller
    c. SRM226???? SRAM (googled for it ) SRAM CMOS 64K bit
    d. Microchip IC (I think its a microcontroller dedicated for LCD DATa I/O operations …
    e. Tiny speaker for indication of read / error etc
    f. LEDs for indication of read / power / error and blinking probably during flash upgrades (just a thought)
    g. (a card with 2 ICs on it) seems like a memory add-on card
    h. Kern 2.1 suggests its the kernel version of the SW in the micro controller ?

    but still I am confused havent seen a barcode scanner with LCD on it and so much flash ICs and uC … may be its not a barcode scanner but PSC makes barcode scanners and the mechanical assembly of mirror and laser suggests its a barcode scanner. May be its old thats the reason it has so many ICs and uCs ..
    thanks
    Imran Bashir

  13. Imran Bashir says:

    Oh Sorry , I was wrong I think it is really a barcode scanner … barcode scanner does have a movable mirror !! :$

  14. moof says:

    the HD64180 is a Z80-like embedded controller. What’s weirdest about the whole thing, though, is the 34-pin connector – used mostly by SCSI or floppy drives. It’s definitely from around 1992 (as given by the chip date codes.)

    I’ll go out on a limb and say that, specifically, it’s a 6b5155d923d85571b19fa1032eda41f0 as seen on f4ae1f482dc959886d71d1526545c273

  15. moof says:

    Actually, I left off the prefix: a5ed6aafd58e2150a2c296ddc48e548e would be more accurate.

  16. Don says:

    Wow.. is it a Credit Card Machine ?

  17. Kriss says:

    I do apologize for this very late post. I only came across bunnie’s website again after a long lapse of time…

    It looks like a PSC Inc. barcode laser scanning unit. Since it has some serious Toshiba LCD controllers, my best guess is some derivative of the PSC Falcon barcode reader series.

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  19. laser scanner…

    Hi. Very nice blog. I\’ve been reading your other entries all day long..lol….

  20. julie says:

    julian,
    If your dads name is raymond then we’re related – he’s my first cousin?
    julie

  21. sofiaa says:

    […]I’m surprised your cost per board is that low, given what I see double-sided copper clad going for around here. As far
    as ‘Plus, what sounds better: “I made this” or “I bought this”?’, my primary enjoyment is in the design and CAD work, and the
    finished product. The time consuming tedious parts (purchasing components, making PCBs, and to some extent, assembling them),
    just don’t do much for me. After all, when you say “I made this”, did that include fabbing your own ICs dies and packaging
    them? :)[…]

  22. Is it a scanner barcode?