Using a Linea Pro as a keyboard wedge

The first barcode scanner I owned was a CueCat, modified not to require the proprietary software they shipped with. You plugged it into your computer, it presented as a keyboard, and whatever you scanned with it would be typed into whatever application had focus at the time. I don’t know why that mode of operation is called a keyboard “wedge”, but that’s what I know it as.

So we’ve got these expensive iPod barcode sleds, and it seems we ought to be able to use them in the same way you could use that CueCat. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Download two apps from the App Store

• ScanBoard, by Infinite Peripherals
• Unified Remote, by Unified Intents

These are both free, although Unified Remote offers in-app purchases. We’ll be using its free mode, though. Install both of these on your iDevice with a Linea Pro barcode sled.

Step 2: Install the Unified Remote server on your computer

Download the software from https://www.unifiedremote.com/download and install it on the computer you want the barcode reader to send scans to. I am super pleased to see that the software is available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Raspberry Pi, all the platforms that I can think I might want to use it on.

Step 3: Turn on minimal security for the server

This step is optional, but you should do it anyway. Once the Unified Remote software is installed and running on your computer, find its configuration interface. On a Mac, this is an icon in the menu bar, like so:

Open the Manager, which should launch a web browser and connect to a dashboard showing you the status of the server. Click on “Settings” in the menu on the left, and then “Security” in the tab menu at the top. Enable encryption, and set a password. You can either set a password for all users, or use individual names and password. These names and passwords will only apply to the connection between the app and your computer; you’re not doing anything that affects local computer or domain accounts. I chose to set one master password, but there might be reasons to do it the other way.

Step 4: Configure the ScanBoard app

ScanBoard is a virtual keyboard for your iDevice, like the default English keyboard, the emoji keyboard, Swype, or others. It provides an on-screen keyboard much like the default one, but it also passes scans and swipes from the Linea Pro on as if you’d typed them on screen. We need to make sure it’s enabled, first.

Go to the device’s Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then Keyboards. It’s already set up on my device, and I don’t remember if I had to add it as a new keyboard or if it already showed up in the list of enabled keyboards. If it’s not showing up under English and Emoji, tap “Add New Keyboard”, find it in the list, and add it. Once it’s in the same list as English and Emoji, tap on its name and make sure “Allow Full Access” is enabled.

Step 5: Configure the Unified Remote app

The first time you launch Unified Remote, it will remind you to install the server, then scan for a running server. Our wifi put the iPod on a different subnet than the desktop, so it isn’t able to automatically detect the server running on my iMac. So I tap the “I’ll add a server later” button to continue, then tap on “Finish”:

Tap on the three horizontal bars in the upper left to get to the menu, then tap on “Servers”, and “Add a server manually”:

Enter a name to remember which computer you’re connecting to, the IP address or host name of that computer, and the username and/or password you set in step 3:

Tap “Done”, then tap on the menu icon in the upper left and tap “Remotes”. Hide everything except “Basic Input” by swiping left on it and tapping “Hide”. (You can’t hide the “More Features” in-app purchase interface.)

Tap the “Basic Input” remote to launch a basic keyboard and mouse controller for your computer. If you swipe your finger over the middle area, your mouse cursor should move on your computer. Next, tap on the keyboard icon in the lower left:

If you see the default Apple keyboard, tap the globe icon until you get the ScanBoard keyboard. If the button to the left of the space button is not lit up green, then ScanBoard isn’t connected to your Linea Pro. That could be because the Linea Pro has gone to sleep. Try pressing the “scan” hardware button on the right side of the sled until it beeps to wake the sled up. If the button doesn’t light up shortly after that, try tapping it.

Once everything is connected, open a new text document on your computer and scan a barcode with the Linea Pro. Whatever you scanned should show up in the document. You can now use the barcode reader in wedge mode — wherever the cursor is, when you scan a barcode, that code will be inserted at the cursor. If you tap the swoopy icon button you can change preferences about how you scan, including whether you want to automatically have it send an “enter” keypress after it scans a code.

NB: I haven’t been testing this for very long, and the first time I tried it, I came back the next morning to find that the battery in the Linea Pro and iPod were completely dead. It could just be that I hadn’t charged them enough, or it could be that something about Unified Remote or ScanBoard keeps the battery discharging unless you quit them when you’re finished. Further testing is required, and I’ll report back what I find out.