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Author Topic: The Cat  (Read 3594 times)

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Offline SCTony

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  • Posts: 90
The Cat
« on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 14:04:59 »
Anyone recognize this?
I thought maybe it was an OCR scanner of some sort. It turns out to be a barcode scanner that was given away by RadioShack[FAIL] in the 90's . You would scan in a barcode and be automatically taken to whichever website was encoded in that barcode. It seems there were privacy issues with its use. Cost me a dollar to satisfy my curiosity.
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Offline Rajagra

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The Cat
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 14:11:34 »
Follow this!
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Offline InSanCen

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The Cat
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 14:12:21 »
Quote from: SCTony;115331
Anyone recognize this?
I thought maybe it was an OCR scanner of some sort. It turns out to be a barcode scanner that was given away by RadioShack[FAIL] in the 90's . You would scan in a barcode and be automatically taken to whichever website was encoded in that barcode. It seems there were privacy issues with its use. Cost me a dollar to satisfy my curiosity.


At first glance I thought You had a USB connected Ann Summers special.
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Offline SCTony

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The Cat
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 14:36:31 »
Lol thanks for the link.
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IBM PC-AT Model F ;  Model M-
    1391401 Aug 89, 92G7453 Nov 95, 42H1292 Jul 97
Compaq KB-9963 (rubber dome);
Cherry MX-SPOS:typing:

Offline JBert

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The Cat
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 15:43:25 »
Heh, reminds me of Joel Spolsky's essay on these things, it was appropriately titled Wasting Money on Cats.
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Offline wellington1869

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The Cat
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 16:01:43 »
hey i know the cue cat! I once looked for a solution to organizing my massive collection of books by entering their title/author info by scanning their bar codes. Some programs out there do this - like delicious library for macs and there's a pc equivalent whose name i forget, media-something.  At the time I considered buying a cue cat!  

its actually pretty neat, you just scan the barcode on your book and all the info about it is retrieved from library of congress or amazon. Even an image of the front cover. :)
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Offline timw4mail

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The Cat
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 16:02:54 »
Quote from: wellington1869;115357
hey i know the cue cat! I once looked for a solution to organizing my massive collection of books by entering their title/author info by scanning their bar codes. Some programs out there do this - like delicious library for macs and there's a pc equivalent whose name i forget, media-something.  At the time I considered buying a cue cat!  

its actually pretty neat, you just scan the barcode on your book and all the info about it is retrieved from library of congress or amazon. Even an image of the front cover. :)

Wow, the Cue Cat actually had practical uses?
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Tactile Apple AEKII (Cream damped ALPS), Filco FKBN91M/JB (Japanese Tenkeyless), Cherry G84-5200, Cherry G84-4100LPAUS, Datalux Spacesaver(Cherry ML), Redragon Devarajas K556 RGB, Newmen GM711, Poker II (Cherry MX Clear), Logitech G910 Orion Spark, Logitech K840
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Offline rdjack21

  • Posts: 896
The Cat
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 22:34:23 »
I have couple of those laying around somewhere. Never really had the time to play with them back when I got them from raidoshak. If I remember correctly they are a keyboard wedge scanner. I may have to find where I put them.
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Not so great boards Rare Spring over dome OKI, Sun rack keyboard
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Keyboards I still want to get - Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro 2 the White version, Realforce 23U number pad in black and maybe white, μTRON ergo board with Topre switches.
Previously owned - [size=0]SiiG MiniTouch (White Alps), Scorpius M10 (Blue Cherry), IBM Model M13[/size]

Offline Hofy

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The Cat
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 06 September 2009, 23:52:02 »
You beat me to it, Ray.  LOL
I still have a few Cue Cats, new in the bag.
Someday I will get around to doing something useful with them.
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Offline timw4mail

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The Cat
« Reply #9 on: Mon, 07 September 2009, 09:06:34 »
Apparently, you can get Cue Cats for $8.88 Buy it now...and they're USB
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Buckling Springs IBM Model F AT, New Model F 77, Unicomp New Model M
Clicky iOne Scorpius M10, OCN-branded Ducky DK-9008-C, Blackmore Nocturna, Redragon Kumara K552-1, Qtronix Scorpius Keypad, Chicony KB-5181(Monterey)
Tactile Apple AEKII (Cream damped ALPS), Filco FKBN91M/JB (Japanese Tenkeyless), Cherry G84-5200, Cherry G84-4100LPAUS, Datalux Spacesaver(Cherry ML), Redragon Devarajas K556 RGB, Newmen GM711, Poker II (Cherry MX Clear), Logitech G910 Orion Spark, Logitech K840
Linear Lenovo Y (Gateron Red), Aluminum kiosk keyboard (Cherry MX Black)

Offline rdjack21

  • Posts: 896
The Cat
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 07 September 2009, 17:25:35 »
You mean people are paying $8-$9 bucks for those things. Man I got mine for free. If I was going to pay money for a scanner I would get a good one. You can get Symbol bar code scanners on ebay for $10 bucks and they are a much better scanner.
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Keyboards
Topre Capacitive: Realforce 87U, Realforce 86U, HHKB Pro 2, Topre MD01B0, Topre HE0100, Sun Short Type, OEM NEO CS (x2), NISSHO Electronics KB106DE
Buckling Spring: IBM Model M Space Saver (1291472), Unicomp Customizer x 2
Cherry Brown: Filco FKBN87M/EB, Compaq MX11800
Black Alps: ABS M1
Not so great boards Rare Spring over dome OKI, Sun rack keyboard
Trackballs - Trackman Wheel (3), Trackman marble (2)
Keyboards I still want to get - Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro 2 the White version, Realforce 23U number pad in black and maybe white, μTRON ergo board with Topre switches.
Previously owned - [size=0]SiiG MiniTouch (White Alps), Scorpius M10 (Blue Cherry), IBM Model M13[/size]

Offline timw4mail

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The Cat
« Reply #11 on: Mon, 07 September 2009, 18:51:19 »
Quote from: rdjack21;115593
You mean people are paying $8-$9 bucks for those things. Man I got mine for free. If I was going to pay money for a scanner I would get a good one. You can get Symbol bar code scanners on ebay for $10 bucks and they are a much better scanner.

But they aren't amusingly in the shape of a cat.
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Buckling Springs IBM Model F AT, New Model F 77, Unicomp New Model M
Clicky iOne Scorpius M10, OCN-branded Ducky DK-9008-C, Blackmore Nocturna, Redragon Kumara K552-1, Qtronix Scorpius Keypad, Chicony KB-5181(Monterey)
Tactile Apple AEKII (Cream damped ALPS), Filco FKBN91M/JB (Japanese Tenkeyless), Cherry G84-5200, Cherry G84-4100LPAUS, Datalux Spacesaver(Cherry ML), Redragon Devarajas K556 RGB, Newmen GM711, Poker II (Cherry MX Clear), Logitech G910 Orion Spark, Logitech K840
Linear Lenovo Y (Gateron Red), Aluminum kiosk keyboard (Cherry MX Black)

Offline SCTony

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  • Posts: 90
The Cat
« Reply #12 on: Mon, 07 September 2009, 19:56:04 »
lol steampunk is cool
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IBM PC-AT Model F ;  Model M-
    1391401 Aug 89, 92G7453 Nov 95, 42H1292 Jul 97
Compaq KB-9963 (rubber dome);
Cherry MX-SPOS:typing:

Offline talis

  • Posts: 195
The Cat
« Reply #13 on: Tue, 08 September 2009, 11:01:20 »
The funny thing is the concept was way ahead of its time.  There's a movement now to encode information in QR codes in different places (billboards, packages, magazines) that can be decoded to web links using camera equipped cellphones.

Just another instance of the concept being ahead of the technology.
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Offline timw4mail

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The Cat
« Reply #14 on: Thu, 17 September 2009, 12:53:54 »
I just got my CueCat today...and I can now enter websites my barcode :D

Apparently the one I got doesn't have the serial number or encryption, so it would seem a lot safer than the older ones. And it's USB...

It's not the best barcode scanner, I'm sure, but what other barcode scanner can you get for less than $10 shipped?
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Buckling Springs IBM Model F AT, New Model F 77, Unicomp New Model M
Clicky iOne Scorpius M10, OCN-branded Ducky DK-9008-C, Blackmore Nocturna, Redragon Kumara K552-1, Qtronix Scorpius Keypad, Chicony KB-5181(Monterey)
Tactile Apple AEKII (Cream damped ALPS), Filco FKBN91M/JB (Japanese Tenkeyless), Cherry G84-5200, Cherry G84-4100LPAUS, Datalux Spacesaver(Cherry ML), Redragon Devarajas K556 RGB, Newmen GM711, Poker II (Cherry MX Clear), Logitech G910 Orion Spark, Logitech K840
Linear Lenovo Y (Gateron Red), Aluminum kiosk keyboard (Cherry MX Black)
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