USB Scanner On Virtual Serial Port Makes my Head Hurt!

[Guest]

Hello All,

For reasons I have no control over I have been asked to use a barcode
scanner that runs over a USB to 232 custom converter board on my XPe Device.
The scanner works marginally on my desktop PC so I suspect I should be able
to get the same marginal performance on my XPe device. I'm having a tough
time with the componetizing of the drivers though and was wondering if anyone
out there might have some insight.

The deal is this device has 2 drivers, one that identifies itself as a
MULITI-PORT com device, then a second that identifies itself as a USB SERIAL
PORT. The instructions for installing the driver on a standard desktop are
very specific that you need to install the driver BEFORE connecting the
device.

However, I can't really do that in my XPe scenario. The devices are in the
field and there is no physical access to unplug the scanner. The machines
are being upgraded from XP Pro to XPe via a boot from a USB stick that
formats the internal flash and then copies over the new XPe image. FBA runs
on the device, then it connects to the server and updates our applications.

I was successful in pulling the INF files from the MSI installer for the
barcode and importing them into the XPe database for my image. All the files
seem to end up on the target after FBA runs, and, both the MULTI-PORT and USB
SERIAL PORT show up in device manager. However the USB SERIAL PORT shows an
exclamation point by it with a message that no driver is installed for this
device. More importantly, my application can't talk to the barcode scanner.

The only way I can get it to work is to uninstall the driver via the MSI on
the device, unplug the scanner, reboot the XPE device, then run the MSI
installer on the cart and finally plug the scanner back in. I can manage
taking a single unit apart to accomplish this in my lab, but no way I can do
it to 300 devices installed at a customer site.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on and how / if it is possible to
get XPe and its FBA to deal with drivers that are supposed to be installed
prior to connecting the hardware?

Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help.

Bill

 

[code39man]

Are you saying the scanner is USB or the scanner is RS232? Which brand/
model is the scanner? Can't guarantee i can help you but i'll see what
if i can help.

Ces

 

[Guest]

The scanner is a Symbol SE955 OEM engine. This has a TTL 232 style ribbon
header. It is connected to the main board via a USB cable. Sitting between
the scanner and the cable is some sort of 232 to USB converter by a company
called Cygnetron. They provide the driver that runs on the main board. The
whole solution seem extremely convuluted, and even on my laptop there is
sometimes trouble with the converter board driver failing to correctly set
the hardware handshake lines. However, the whole deal, end-to-end, was
recommended by Symbol / Motorola so I am stuck with it according to my
customer. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears.

 

[Sean Liming \(MVP\)]

There are some issue with RS-232 to USB adapter not working correctly. I
know that your systems in the field might not be setup this way, but does
your system have a dedicated RS-232 port and can the scanner connect to it?

--
Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit

 

[Guest]

Sadly I don't have a real 232 port. Maybe I just need to go back to the
hardware guys and try and really hit them up for getting a real USB/HID type
scanner.

 

[Sean Liming \(MVP\)]

Symbol does have USB/HID scanners - this are much more available. Instead of
XP Embedded, there is WEPOS and POS for .NET. Have you considered using
these instead?

--
Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit

 

[Guest]

Thanks Sean. I did look at WEPOS briefly. I just did not see the advantage
over XPE without POS .NET compatible hardware. If I can talk the hw group
into considering another scanning solution, it might be worth looking at
WEPOS again.