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Wait, are barcode scanners lasers? I've always thought of them as red lamps because their cone spreads out so widely quickly.
by kqr 2y ago
Wait, are barcode scanners lasers? I've always thought of them as red lamps because their cone spreads out so widely quickly.
- rtkwe 2y agoIt's a scanning dot moving fast enough to appear as a cone.
- hinkley 2y agoThe stationary ones used to have a spinning mirror with a laser pointed at it. You used to be able to look in the machine and see it. Dunno how they do it now for the handheld scanners. Smaller mirror or some other trick like piezo?
- rtkwe 2y agoHand scanners for a while have been able to use just LEDs to illuminate the barcode it turns out. Way cheaper than having so many moving parts like the older laser based scanners.
- calfuris 2y agoSome of them are, some of them aren't. There are obviously laser based ones that are easily recognizable as they produce a pattern of lines instead of a relatively evenly lit field. It's surprisingly difficult to find a picture of that, but I found a video that shows it well[1]. The ones that produce even illumination are probably LED based. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIn00-qW5WI&t=1m34s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIn00-qW5WI&t=1m34s