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Hi, I need a portable barcode scann

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Hello all,

I needed to do some research on wireless Microsoft based barcode scanners, and found this thread!

Can anyone with a Symbol PPT 2700 tell me if it can be upgraded to communicate over regular 802.11b? And if so, what's the ballpark cost for such an upgrade?

I'm getting mixed messssages browsing the Symbol site, plus an ebay'er on wether or not these upgrades are possible/available...

Also, does anyone know of other similar products? Say, a barcode add-on to a regular PDA? Or another integrated unit from another company? The latest Symbols look really nice, but a little pricey.

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Check out my irrelevant personal website:
 
There are several models of that scanner
2700 is the series 2700 2700-2D 2733 2734

From what I understand from Symbol they connot be upgraded.
I would check Ebay for a model that is.
Most of them are brand new in the box.

Here are two pages on Symbols WEB site

also I would contact Symbol directly. If anyone knows they do.
1-800-659-2240


DougP, MCP
 
Hi Ive been following this thread and wondered if our company may help. We supply many barcode scanners including handheld portable which weve recently included with our own software for security guard tracking.

please check the site at
Our technical sales will answer any questions you may have.

Morloc
 
Doug,
I use Satellite Forms extensively, and it is a very versatile program generator. You can have lookup fields and drop-down boxes. You can use VB-based code to do most of the things you might want to do, and you can link in extensions developed in C/C++ to do almost anything else. There are a few limitations, but it is a good program.

As far as exchanging data with Access, this is very easy, and Pumatech (the makers of Satellite Forms) even have sample code for your database on their website. I use file transfers and a series of queries to update the data in my databases. I strongly recommend downloading their demo.

The one down side is that they seem to be lacking in technical support. There is a forum on another website (I don't have the address right now) where SatForms developers help each other (similar to Tek-Tips). I have found this to be far more useful and responsive than their tech support.
 
KornGeek,
I get Sticker shock when I see the cost though.
Is there a cheaper way to go with their products?
Discounts or ????

DougP, MCP
 
Sorry, but I don't know of any cheaper way. They do offer upgrade pricing to users of previous versions.
 
We use the symbol PPT2846 on our systems through a standard access point.
 
Bospruell,
What kind of software are you using on the 2800 itself?

DougP, MCP
 
The software we use is a custom software written by Ameranth to interface with our software and it runs on top of pocket pc. We are now experimenting with terminal services which will take them out of the loop and allow us to run our software on the symbol with it being based on the server. Which may be what twoeyes may or may not be looking for. I do not know alot about using terminal services on this handheld yet, so you may need to follow that up possibly on the win2000 server forum. (not sure).

To answer your question my software is called 21st Century
Restaurant developed by Ameranth so we can run a touch screen software for POS solutions on them. Example, We have a restaurant on the river and a server can carry these down to the docks, where there isn't a register, and ring in customers orders more quickly and the great part is they talk to standard access points to get to the network.

Another thought, which again will require custom software, is the ApexIII scanner(wireless). We put those in our retail stores for receiving inventory, price changes, and a variety of other things. They also make the ApexII that you do your scanning first and then upload the data through a serial port.

Unfortunately, I am not a programmer, and software manufacturers develop their own interfaces for these devices.
 
DougP

1. Can you have a loopup table as one of the fields.
So a user could pick from multiple opions.
Like Location would have a drop down box that they could pick Front, Back, East, etc. etc. ??

Answer: yes........ The application I have in production presently uses an Operator table, a Business Location Table, a Sub-location table, an Inventory table.

The user has to select his/her operator id from a table, has to select the business location that they are in after which the application shows them a list of sub-locations that are in that business location which they can either select manually or scan a label that has the encoded sub-location in it (i verify the sub location is correct for that business loc). All the location related information is maintained in an access2000 application which allows the users to set up business locations(could be stores etc but in our case are Farm and Store locations) and sub-locations within the business loc's. The locations all have a location "ID" and location Name (so the users don't get confused).

After the user selects a valid sub-location, they have to tell the system what sort of count they are doing. In our case, they either do a "partial" count of a sub-location or do "adjustments". For a Partial count, they have to count all "like" items in the location, for adjustments, they can add receipts/delete items, enter dead / damaged product, upgrade / downgrade (we grow plants so some die, are ready for sale or need more time to root in fill out or be upgraded to a larger container etc etc) etc etc.

For a physical count or cycle count, the user establishes the location(S) they want cycle counted or physical counted in the access application, the satellite forms application on the handheld knows what locs are scheduled for cycle or phy counting and the code behaves accordingly when the date the count type is reached.

2. You are using Access to send data to it right?
How does this work, you dock it, and the Palm desktop software uploads a file ???
Or??

Yes, plop the unit in the docking station, fire up the access application, tell the access app what you want to do (upload/download etc etc), hit the hot sync button on the handheld and viola, the access app tells the handheld what tables it wants uploaded (or, alternatively, what tables to download (all depends on what the user tells the access application to do). Also, i have a symbol cradle with the built in modem so the users can dial up the pc with the access application on it and hotsync from remote locations. (we are using the spt1700 batch version but i intend to try out a 1740 wireless version soon just for fun).

in any event, satellite forms is all tied in with access directly, i even show the user the results of the hotsync uploads and give them the option to accept or reject the data...... a preview of sorts....


DougP, MCP

 
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