Hi, Folks!
I'm looking at using an Arduino board (along with whatever other bits & pieces I'll need) to implement an industrial application that I'm working on.... It will include a barcode scanner, a 2-line LCD display, and an FTP client (or some alternative method of transferring files)....
Questions are:
Is a serial barcode scannner (RS-232) fairly straightforward to connect to the Arduino, and read from?
Same question for a 2-line LCD display, but in the other direction!... no idea how that connects....
Are there existing FTP client routines/libraries for the Arduino board, or is this something I'll have to write myself, or take another approach entirely?
Thanks for any light you folks can shed on this (admittedly embryonic) project!
Googling for "Arduino FTP library" turns up a considerable number of hits. Given that LCD displays and barcode readers are also common, I suspect that Google might be your friend there, too.
Thanks, PeterH! I'd searched for Arduino FTP client, without much luck, but I'll try again, with "Library" instead...
Other concern is packaging & powering this set-up so that it's wearable, like a wristwatch, and doesn't look too "garage-y"... But first, we make it work!
If you want it wearable, you could start with a small board thats easy to add on to:
Here are some '328P boards I offer, $2.50 for a bare board mailed to you.
As far as the bar code scanner, you will need to understand, firstly serial communications quite well, and secondly, the way that your bar code scanner is implementing its protocol over serial.
I would suggest having some form of way to test serial communications and get your bar code scanner to display correct codes on a computer with a terminal program at least.
EssexInc:
Other concern is packaging & powering this set-up so that it's wearable, like a wristwatch, and doesn't look too "garage-y"... But first, we make it work!
I remember seeing a similar question asked in the past and somebody posted a link to a company that sold various enclosures that looked far smarter than the usual 'project box', including one that looked like a wristwatch and one that was designed to be strapped to a forearm. I didn't keep the link, but perhaps if you search the forum you will be able to track it down.
Thank you VERY much, PeterH! It's looking like this may be feasible, and probably a good bit smaller/lighter than the commercially-available options.... I'll keep digging for the enclosure post....