invoice/inventory s/w for linux?

[marcb at islc.net (Martin Mail)]

Most BarCode scanners attach to keyboard and the program could care less as
they see the input as console.

As for printing barcodes thats a little different. First you have to decide
which mod you want to use i.e. il 3 of 5, 5 of 9....... most folks like ABC
(Advanced BarCode) since it has provisions for a-z and 0-9 and A-Z and
special charters.
If you want I will send you the code and you can look and see if this is
what you want. As far as  I.L. 3 of 5  goes it is mainly used in the
barcodes the Post Office uses as it only supports 0-9
the algo goes like this

Please allow me to explain what 3 of 5 means.
If you look at a envelope with a postal bar code on it you will notice that
it is composed of Long and Short lines.
The First Line is long. This is the start bit.
The last Line is Long . This is the stop bit.
All that falls between are groups of 5 bars. 3 of the 5 bars will be
significant. to will not be
so
Position
0    Start  Bit Long


1    short
2    short
3    Long
4    short
5    Long

This is the number 2

So the three bars 1 2 4 are significant.

So 3 of 5.... Got it?



Let's use my Zipcode for an example.

29902

The first bit is the on bit.
the next 5 is the number 2
the next 5 is the number 9
the next 5 is the number 9
the next 5 is the number 0
the next 5 is the number 2
the next 5 is the check sum
the next bit is the stop bit

Now we have to get the check sum.

So it goes something like this

Start bit
2 + 9 + 9 + 0 + 2 = 22

OK now we take the next highest multipule of 10 ( over 22) which is 30
and subtract 22 from it.

30 - 22 = 8

So 8 is your check sum


The next bit is the off bit.

All barcode I.L. work in the same way. only using thick thin impedence
bars.And white reflective space.

It is really straight forward to print BarCodes it does however take a
little time to design the algo. I have have written a couple of articles on
this subject. the last was in the RBASE Journal in 1985. I am sure you can
find something more up-to-date than this, but if you cannot please let me
know and I will se if I can dig it out. If you choose to print your on
barcode may I suggest the HP laser jet series of printer as they gave me 100
percent read rates for the post office job and provided the test bed for the
zip plus 4 project.

Best Wishes Martin







-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Luoma <luoma at capybara.connact.com>
To: discuss at tarnhelm.blu.org <discuss at tarnhelm.blu.org>
Cc: luoma at capybara.connact.com <luoma at capybara.connact.com>
Date: Tuesday, January 05, 1999 12:23 PM
Subject: invoice/inventory s/w for linux?


>
>One of the recent _Linux Journal_ had several articles
>on business software, though as one article mentions:
> "... applications in this field have been few and
>  far between." (J. Schaaf, pg 14, LJ Supp., Jan. 1999)
>
>Has anyone on this list worked on software to do
>invoicing, inventory (w/barcode scanners), payroll
>and the like?
>
>Commercial packages are fine (this task being one
>no sane person would do for free).
>
>--
>Robert Luoma    <luoma at capybara.connact.com>
>***
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