[lug] semi OT: Magnetic Stripe / Credit Card readers

[Ken MacFerrin]

John Dollison wrote:
> 
> I have no experience with them, but this MIT article addresses both 
> Linux and USB issues:
> http://web.mit.edu/ecommerce/www/magstripe.html
> 
> It may also help to review these articles on Linux and POS 
> (Point-of-Sale, not piece-of-shi*):
> http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2005-10,RNWE:en&q=linux+pos 
> 
> 
> There are literally hundreds of POS companies out there selling these 
> things.  This company's website has lots of readers, and their FAQ's 
> page has a lot of tech tips:
> http://www.idtechproducts.com/products/magnetic_stripe_card_readers.aspx
> 
> Here are some other possibilities:
> http://www.ebarcode.com/new/main/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=22 
> (Some of their models have a PDF file that explains the technical 
> details for each reader.)
> http://store.yahoo.com/geminicomputersinc/crcaswmtr1.html
> -- 
> John D
> Westminster, CO

The problem isn't finding hardware, it's finding hardware that's freely 
supported under Linux.  Most of the solutions out there today require a 
fairly pricey commercial package (on either Win or Linux) to configure 
and/or read from the device.  The first MIT article you listed looks 
promising though..
-Ken