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CueCat vs the USB Keyboard

·191 words·1 min
Darren Pruitt
Author
Darren Pruitt

Ages ago I picked up one of the RadioShacks CueCats but I never used it.  Up until today it sat in a box of computer junk having survived several purges.  You know Purges:  You have so much junk you have to get ride of the old.

I never got ride of the CueCat because barcode scanners are not cheap, which I do not understand.

Any way, I came across Scott Hanselman’s article on a .Net app for the CueCat, Coding4Fun Hardware Boneyard - Using the CueCat with .NET, and decided to break out the old dusty cat and give it a spin.

The code was no problem, getting my machine to read the CueCat was.  See, I have a Logitech wireless keyborard and mouse so Windows XPdid not load the PS/2 drivers.  I wound up having to dig up an old PS/2 keyboard (from the same junk box, you should always have PS/2 keyboard and mouse handy!) plugged it in, rebooted and vola, it worked.

Now I am off to inventory my CD collection.  And my books.  Maybe the comic books.  If I do the pantry my wife my smack me….