Thoughts -> Re: classiccmp server

From: blstuart_at_bellsouth.net <(blstuart_at_bellsouth.net)>
Date: Tue Oct 5 20:28:56 2004

In message <200410051751.SAA02663_at_citadel.metropolis.local>, Stan Barr writes:
>Ron Hudson <ron.hudson_at_sbcglobal.net>
>> I once was wondering if a backup software could be written that writes
>> to laser printer.
>>
>> Backups would be read in with a scanner..
>>
>I remember reading about a system like that, wrote data as a pattern of
>dots on a laser printer and read using a primitive scanner (it was a
>while ago and definitely on-topic). Developed by someone in Germany
>I think. A query in various newsgroups a while back turned up no info.

You folks are bad for the sanity. You've gotten me thinking
about implementing a PDF417[1] reader. I've done some barcode
decoding stuff at work, but I've managed to avoid doing any
2-D stuff. Now I may not be able to resist.

[1] For those who may not be familiar with it, PDF417 is a standard
2-D barcode. It's something like a bunch of really short (vertically)
1-D barcodes stacked on top of each other. It's not the densest
thing in the world, but you could get a lot more on a piece of
paper than printing text to OCR later. Most FedEx Ground labels
have examples of this code. (UPS labels have a different 2-D
code called Maxicode.)

Brian L. Stuart
Received on Tue Oct 05 2004 - 20:28:56 BST