[Koha] Help- 3M RFID and Koha

[MJ Ray]

Mark Osborne <mosborne at ashs.school.nz>
> The problem is that the 3M technician installing the system says that the
> RFID reader needs Windows XP middleware (called 'Pad Staff Workstation Model
> 895') to go between the RFID reader and the catalogue. We are an open source
> school and run Linux on the desktop so we don't want to have to use XP just
> to run our security system. This is strange given the RFID reader has a USB
> interface- I would have thought it would put the text string directly into
> the browser like our barcode reader used to do.

software.coop had something similar at one site, but the desktop
machines are MacOS X not Linux, sadly.  We've had some problems with
MacOS X eccentricities (watch http://identi.ca/mjray for occasional
outbursts of frustration about them!), but I think the RFID pads work
most of the time and the solution that has evolved is pretty portable.
It might even run on Windows with less than a dozen lines changed!

[...]
> Does anyone have experience with 3M RFID systems and Koha? Is there a way to
> run Linux, Koha and 3M security whilst keeping one's sanity?

Our approach is a small modification to Koha (called RFIDenabled)
where the Koha server contacts the librarian's browser's machine when
it needs a barcode and accesses some middleware to control the pad.
The middleware is pretty stable and written in perl, but it's not fast
yet (1.6sec per read) because I had to slow it down a bit to reduce
tag read failures (which appear random, but seem proportional to pad
activity rate).

I think it works with TRF7960 (definitely) and MicroRWD (probably but
less tested) pads connected to serial ports or most USBs.  If someone
is willing to send me a USB pad and pay for the time, I think I can
probably port it.  After all, I'd not hacked RFID until foolishly
saying I could see how to make pads work on MacOS ;-)

On the Macs, the middleware is started by launchd, but I think it's
started by udev on Linux.

I'm happy to post the latest version up, but it is still very much a
DIY kit rather than a finished product until I'm sure about the tag
format.  So far, the access gates are happy, but there is some
lingering incompatibility with a self-issue machine that I want to
iron out before really releasing this to Koha world.  We're getting
little cooperation from 3M-compatible RFID system suppliers, so I'm
not 100% sure whether it's us or the self-issue machine that isn't
following the ISO standard for RFID tags.  We're new to RFID and I
think the equipment suppliers are simply packaging bought-in
circuitboards into slick cases and selling them, so I wouldn't like to
bet on whose work is slightly wrong!

Hope that informs,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef)  Webmaster and LMS developer at     | software
www.software.coop http://mjr.towers.org.uk        |  .... co
IMO only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html |  .... op