Some one suggested this to me off the list... unfortunately it does not work on NT flavors. It requires no hardware and its free. =] . I fired it up and set it to "attach" to COM1. I plugged in the barcode reader and then opened the software that sends the "init" to the device. Theres a nice play button on the software and it begins sniffing the data on the port. In data is highlighted in red and out data in blue with a hex and ascii dump of both directions. This did the job nicely ... I was able to snag the data very easily. I was able drop it into a small c program which will be used to avoid using a proprietary software to turn this device on. This would definately be useful for sniffing sessions in other scenarios. http://www.rtcomm.com/comlab32.html -KF yatima wrote: >I am not altogether familiar with your predicament. But with a bit of >elbow grease/common sence I am sure you can whip up a simple hardware >splitter. then you can watch the datastream from both machine to device >without conflicts/etc. I imagine the only difficult part (if not >documented with the device) will be determining comm parameters (baud >rate, etc). Another issue is getting the pinouts right (if the cable is >fixed on the device it might cross (or not) pins within the cable that >convert it from null to otherwise. You can trial/error this, or use a >serial LED device (device with bi-color leds for each pin). Using the >device you can test your splitter by putting it between the device and the >computer (as normally connected) noting the led states. Using the LED >states as a reference build a splitter to replicate the pin >configuration. If the device isnt entirely proprietary, you shouldnt have >any problems intializing by replicating the init sequences, however the >possibility does exist that drivers/etc for the software has an abstract >layer above the commport connection where the >device itself may handshake with the machine. For ps/2 AT >barcode/magstripe/etc devices this wouldnt be an issue, but with a serial >device this is a possibility, and as such should be a consideration. >Just an idea from a ranting neophy >I am not an electrical engineer, nor do I have similar inclinations, >Infact, I am made entirely of cheese. > >On Fri, 26 Jul 2002, KF wrote: > >>I have an application that I need to steal data from. This application >>is initalizing a bar code reader and I would like to see the escape >>sequences that are used to initialize this particular device. There are >>bajillions of DOS apps that claim to spy on a com port but I have had no >>luck with them. Every app I try to use results in a com port in use >>error when I fire up the app I want to sniff. Does anyone have any >>applications to try? I need one that will allow me to monitor a comport >>passively in win2k or XP and it must at the same time allow another >>application to query or connect to the com port. I need to be able to >>see the data being passed back and forth between the application and the >>device. >>-KF >> > >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Jul 26 2002 - 16:20:00 PDT