IDTECH MINIMAG User manual

MINIMAG

Magnetic Stripe Reader

Keyboard Wedge

User’s Manual

Agency Approved

Speciﬁcations for subpart B of part 15 of FCC rule for a Class A com-

puting device.

Limited Warranty

ID TECH warrants to the original purchaser for a period of 12 months

from the date of invoice that this product is in good working order

and free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use

and service. ID TECH’s obligation under this warranty is limited

to, at its option, replacing, repairing, or giving credit for any product

which has, within the warranty period, been returned to the factory

of origin, transportation charges and insurance prepaid, and which

is, after examination, disclosed to ID TECH’s satisfaction to be thus

defective. The expense of removal and reinstallation of any item

or items of equipment is not included in this warranty. No person,

ﬁrm, or corporation is authorized to assume for ID TECH any other

liabilities in connection with the sales of any product. In no event

shall ID TECH be liable for any special, incidental or consequential

damages to Purchaser or any third party caused by any defective

item of equipment, whether that defect is warranted against or not.

Purchaser’s sole and exclusive remedy for defective equipment,

which does not conform to the requirements of sales, is to have such

equipment replaced or repaired by ID TECH. For limited warranty

service during the warranty period, please contact ID TECH to obtain

a Return Material Authorization (RMA) number & instructions for

returning the product.

THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES

OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR

PURPOSE. THERE ARE NO OTHER WARRANTIES OR

GUARANTEES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, OTHER THAN THOSE

HEREIN STATED. THIS PRODUCT IS SOLD AS IS. IN NO

EVENT SHALL ID TECH BE LIABLE FOR CLAIMS BASED

UPON BREACH OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF

NEGLIGENCE OF ANY OTHER DAMAGES WHETHER DIRECT,

IMMEDIATE, FORESEEABLE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL

OR FOR ANY EXPENSE INCURRED BY REASON OF THE USE

OR MISUSE, SALE OR FABRICATIONS OF PRODUCTS WHICH

DO NOT CONFORM TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF

THE CONTRACT.

information contained herein is provided to the user as a convenience.

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, ID TECH is

not responsible for damages that might occur because of errors or

omissions, including any loss of proﬁt or other commercial damage.

The speciﬁcations described herein were current at the time of

publication, but are subject to change at any time without prior notice.

ID TECH is a registered trademark of International Technologies &

Systems Corporation. MiniMag and Value through Innovation are

trademarks of International Technologies & Systems Corporation.

Table of Contents

Section 1. Introduction

Description 1

Section 2. Installation

Host Connections 2

Section 3. Conﬁguration

Default Settings 3

Conﬁguration Setup Steps 4

General Selections 5

Change to Default Settings 6

Review Settings 6

Message Formatting Selections 8

Magnetic Track Selections 9

Section 4. Data Editing

Functions 12

Fields 13

Formulas 14

Setup Commands 15

Search Command 16

Send Command 19

Section 5. Operation

Operating Procedure 21

Section 6. Troubleshooting

General Procedures 22

Keyboard Interface Problems 23

Appendix A. Default Settings

Default Settings Table 24

Appendix B. Function Codes

Function Codes Table 25

Appendix C. Non-Printable ASCII Characters

ASCII Characters Table 26

Appendix D. Magnetic Stripe Standard Data Formats

ISO Credit Card 27

California Driver’s License 28

AAMVA Driver’s License 29

Appendix E. USB/Keyboard Interface

Installation 31

Operation 32

Section 1

INTRODUCTION

Description

The MiniMag™ compact magnetic stripe reader can read 1, 2, or 3

tracks of magnetic stripe information. In addition, it has full data edit-

ing capabilities.

When connected to the host computer as a keyboard wedge, the Min-

iMag is completely compatible with the host’s software. The decoded

data appears to the host as if it were entered manually by the operator

through the keyboard.

This unit is fully programmable through the keyboard. The data can be

formatted with preamble/postamble and terminator characters to match

the format expected by the host.

Power, when the reader is conﬁgured as a keyboard wedge, is obtained

from the host. The MiniMag is fully compatible with ID TECH’s

VersaMag II magnetic stripe reader.

Section 2

INSTALLATION

Host Connections

The MiniMag reader is connected between the keyboard input port of the

host computer and the keyboard itself using a “Y” adapter cable.

The “Y” cable has a 5-pin DIN male connector on one end, and a 6-pin

mini-DIN female on the other.

The supplied adapter cable has a 5-pin DIN female connector on one end,

and a 6-pin mini-DIN male connector on the other end. The adapter cable

is used in all installations on one end of the “Y” cable or the other. This

converts the available cable ends for use on either PS/2-style 6-pin mini-

DIN keyboards, or AT-style 5-pin DIN keyboards.

To connect the reader to the host, turn the power off and disconnect the

keyboard from the computer. Insert the male end of the “Y” cable into the

keyboard port. Then connect the keyboard to the female end of the “Y”

connector. This “wedges” the reader between the host and the keyboard.

Manually-entered data from the keyboard passes through the unit to the

host, leaving the keyboard fully functional at all times.

Magnetic data “swiped” into the unit is transmitted to the host keyboard

port, where it appears to the host as coming directly from the keyboard.

This makes the reader, as a data source, completely transparent to the

host’s application software. In other words, if it is expecting data from the

keyboard, that same data can be entered via the MiniMag and make no

difference to the host.

Since the host computer’s application software is expecting data to be

input in a particular order and format, the reader’s output can be conﬁg-

ured to simulate the keyboard-entered data stream by adding terminating

characters and special preamble and/or postamble character strings to

scanned data.

Section 3

CONFIGURATION

The MiniMag reader must be appropriately conﬁgured to your appli-

cation. Conﬁguration settings enable the reader to work with the host

system. These settings are programmed into the reader through the

keyboard. Once programmed, these conﬁguration settings are stored

in the reader’s non-volatile memory (so they are not affected by the

cycling of power).

Default Settings

The MiniMag reader is shipped from the factory with the default

settings already programmed. In the following sections, the default

settings are shown in boldface. For a table of default settings, see

Appendix A. In order to modify these settings, the host computer and

keyboard must be IBM PC/AT compatible.

If you have a different keyboard, you must use an AT-compatible

keyboard to ﬁrst change the conﬁguration settings, and changing the

default terminal type last. After changing terminal type, you must then

connect the reader to the appropriate computer. (Most keyboards on

PCs with 5 pin DIN and 6 pin MiniDIN connectors are AT compat-

ible.)

To enter the setup mode and change the conﬁguration via keystroke

entry, speciﬁc syntax is used. Each setup command starts with /e/d/fx

where “x” is a different lower case character for each command. The

e,d,and f characters must also be lower case. This initial character

string is followed by a space and some option selection characters for

some commands. Selections for each group take effect when you press

enter.

If you unplug the MiniMag while you are in the middle of a command

and have not pressed enter, your custom conﬁguration for that com-

mand will not be saved. If, however, you press ENTER after a

correct command, but before unplugging the reader, your selections

for that command will remain programmed until you change them or

reset all commands to default.

When entering keyboard commands, type no more than two characters

per second. When entering numbers, use the number keys above the

alpha keys, not the number pad to the right of the alpha keys. After

entering each group, wait one second before moving to the next group.

All commands are case sensitive, so use lower case for all commands.

One beep indicates an accepted command, and two beeps indicate an

incorrect command. If you make a mistake in entering a command,

you must re-enter the entire command. Do not use backspace and

retype the character.

Configuration Setup Steps

1. On an AT-compatible computer, enter any edit mode. (When run-

ning Windows, the Notepad accessory will work ﬁne.)

2. Enter your commands as needed. Refer to the selections available to

you on the following pages. In each instance, you will enter GROUP

SETUP MODE by typing /e/d/fx, followed by the variable syntax.

(The “x” will be different every time, depending on the group setting

you wish to make.)

3. Enter a SPACE <space>.

4. Enter the code for the selection you have made.

5. When ﬁnished, exit the group’s setup mode by entering <ENTER>

(the ENTER key).

EXAMPLE:

To set the beep volume to HIGH, enter:

/e/d/fa<space>b2<ENTER>

General Selections

This group of conﬁguration settings deﬁne the basic operating param-

eters of the scanner.

Syntax: /e/d/fa<space>b1b2b3<ENTER> where...

Terminal Type Selections

The MiniMag can be programmed to interface to a number of different

terminal types. The terminal types supported are:

b1=0 for PC-AT

b1=1 for PS/2 Models 25 and 30

b1=2 for PS/2 Model 50

b1=3 for PS/2 Model 70

b1=4 for Macintosh

Beep Volume

The beep volume can be adjusted to two different levels, or turned off

entirely.

b2=0 for beep volume off

b2=1 for beep volume low

b2=2 for beep volume high

Intercharacter Delay

This is the time period the reader will wait before sending the next

successive character. Certain terminals and computers require an inter-

character delay to simulate their keyboard’s intercharacter delay.

b3=0 for 2 ms intercharacter delay

b3=1 for 5 ms intercharacter delay

b3=2 for 10 ms intercharacter delay

b3=3 for 20 ms intercharacter delay

b3=4 for 25 ms intercharacter delay

b3=5 for 50 ms intercharacter delay

EXAMPLE

To set the terminal type to PC-AT, the beep to high, and the interchar-

acter delay to 5 milliseconds, enter:

/e/d/fa<space>021<ENTER>

Note: Two beeps will be heard if entered numbers are outside the al-

lowable range.

Change To Default Settings

This command, /e/d/fn, returns all settings for all groups to their de-

fault values. Data Editing will be turned off, and the formulas will be

retained.

Syntax: /e/d/fn<ENTER>

Review Settings

This command, /e/d/fo, activates the review settings command. This

will send the resident settings for the general group to the host com-

puter, allowing you to review them. The ﬁrmware version number is

also shown.

Syntax: /e/d/fo<ENTER>

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IDTECH MINIMAG User manual

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