Hi there. I recently got my hands on the reader currently sold at SparkFun Electronics. (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8633). The data sheet calls it an Apollo AP-MSR200 Series, Specification 1.0 and it has a serial/RS232 connection. I am currently using this reader on a laptop with a USB adapter, and I also have access to a desktop with a serial port.
I can access card info in ASCII/Hex format but I can't seem to read raw bitstream info. The information I want to check out is not in any standard format, so I need to look at the bitstream in order to figure it out. It seems that the reader is processing the info before I get my hands on it. Is there a way I can somehow convert this information back into regular binary bitstream data? Please excuse me if this is a simple matter, I am new to this! Thanks!
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What happens when you try to read a card that you suspect uses a non-standard encoding? Do you get any data over the serial port? Or does the status LED just flash red and no data is sent?
Depending on your answers to the above questions, it may be possible to get raw data from the device, but I'm not holding my breath. You may want to investigate a different hardware solution such as the following, which will give you the raw bits:
If you don't have a gameport or parallel port and you'd prefer not to do any soldering but would still like the raw bits, then aren't really any options for you currently (assuming we can't get your current reader to send raw bits). You may want to wait a few months for a device I'm developing that will read raw bits and send them over USB.
Let me know if you have any questions.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hi there. I recently got my hands on the reader currently sold at SparkFun Electronics. (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8633). The data sheet calls it an Apollo AP-MSR200 Series, Specification 1.0 and it has a serial/RS232 connection. I am currently using this reader on a laptop with a USB adapter, and I also have access to a desktop with a serial port.
I can access card info in ASCII/Hex format but I can't seem to read raw bitstream info. The information I want to check out is not in any standard format, so I need to look at the bitstream in order to figure it out. It seems that the reader is processing the info before I get my hands on it. Is there a way I can somehow convert this information back into regular binary bitstream data? Please excuse me if this is a simple matter, I am new to this! Thanks!
What happens when you try to read a card that you suspect uses a non-standard encoding? Do you get any data over the serial port? Or does the status LED just flash red and no data is sent?
Depending on your answers to the above questions, it may be possible to get raw data from the device, but I'm not holding my breath. You may want to investigate a different hardware solution such as the following, which will give you the raw bits:
http://ossguy.com/ss_usb/ - a USB adapter
http://stripesnoop.sourceforge.net/hardware/hardware.html - gameport and parallel port adapters
If you don't have a gameport or parallel port and you'd prefer not to do any soldering but would still like the raw bits, then aren't really any options for you currently (assuming we can't get your current reader to send raw bits). You may want to wait a few months for a device I'm developing that will read raw bits and send them over USB.
Let me know if you have any questions.