Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Inventory Tracking Using Handhelds?

Posted by Cliff on from the keeping-on-top-of-it-all dept.

DJ Decepticon asks: "I've recently been given the task to determine the feasibility of tracking several hundred workstations spread out across North America using a handheld device. Requirements include having a barcode and GPS reading and inputing that information into a spreadsheet. Would a handheld device such as Palm or Handspring be able to take on such a task?" Aparently there are PalmPilot's with integrated barcode readers at Symbol.Com, however I don't know about ones that also include GPS. If anyone has used these units before, how difficult would it be to add GPS functionality? Are there other solutions?

19 comments

  1. iPAQ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there are GPS units available for the compaq iPAQ, not sure where from though - google search....

  2. did it w/o GPS by bearbones · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've worked and programmed the symbol ones, to do this very thing (w/o the GPS). They work great. You should be able to do it with a GPS that attaches to the serial port with no problem.

  3. GPS and stuff is fine. by Zurk · · Score: 1

    get a standalone GPS unit (a magellan(sp?)) works great with the palmpilot. also try and get a standalone scanner. if your parts break in the field its easier to replace standalone components than a palmpilot.
    they (scanner + GPS) work over the serial port and use fairly simple 7 bit data transfer over well documented protocols so you should be ok.

  4. Why GPS? by duffbeer703 · · Score: 2

    Generally, computers are not located in the middle of the woods.

    The barcode functionality should be fine for actual identification of the asset. Use good old fashioned address/room no. to locate the computer. If you don't want your people to have to manually enter data, use pull down menus or 4 digit alphanumeric codes for sites.

    Remember that GPS requires a line of sight to 3 or more satellites and is accurate to 30m. I don't know about your sites, but my computer room is in the windowless 2nd floor of a 20-story building, where gps won't work. Also, a 30m margin of error could place my desk somewhere in the middle of the street.

    --
    Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
    1. Re:Why GPS? by man_ls · · Score: 2

      C-in-C Navstar (Forgive me the murder of the title), a colonel in the Air Force at Chyanne Mountain (NORAD headquarters, fyi) told me himself that that *was* true, but after the gulf war, the civilian accuracy limitaions were removed, and it is somewhere around 5 meters now, as opposed to a football field's length.

      No, you can't get a tour. Trust me.

    2. Re:Why GPS? by man_ls · · Score: 2

      Also, you only need LoS to two GPS satellites to get a LAT-LON reading. The third satellite gives you the third dimension (altitude) In the gulf, soldiers didn't have enough satellites to do 3 dimensions, but they were fine with the two dimensions of accuracy they had I doubt knowing how high the computer is off the desk is that big of a deal, so even if a satellite is blocked by something, two more will still give you a (slightly less accurate) reading.

    3. Re:Why GPS? by duffbeer703 · · Score: 2

      Knowing how high the computer is would be a very big deal.

      Say the first floor of your building houses the HR and accounting staff; third floor houses call center agents. What group does a particular desktop belong to without height information?

      I'll restate my original point; GPS is a total waste of time, unless you are inventorying pipeline equipment or something that is fixed and in a remote location.

      What good does knowing where a PC is within 5 meters do? Offices reshuffle all the time and pc's change hands as new computers are ordered. All you need to know for a physical inventory is that the machine is present and what group (IT, development, accounting, etc) it belongs to.

      I work in the enterprise systems management group for several large state agencies. We use Tivoli Inventory and a couple of asset management tools to inventory and keep track of over 65,000 pc's scattered throughout the state. As our network maps have evolved and become more details, we have been able to locate pc's down to the exact switch/hub port that it is connected to. If the pc is hooked to an unmanaged hub, we have scripts that talk to active directory and figure out who normally logs into the computer.

      The scripts needed to accomplish this took two people about two weeks to implement. The result is inventory info that can be updated nearly in real-time, down to whatever level of detail you need.

      Compare the cost of that to outfitting IT people with barcode reader equipped handhelds running all over the place scanning stuff.

      --
      Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
    4. Re:Why GPS? by ka9dgx · · Score: 2
      Actually, that's wrong. Since a GPS reciever can only tell the DIFFERENCE between the timings of incoming signals, you need at least 3 (if they happen to be far enough apart) to do 2 dimensional placement, and 4 if you want altitude. My good old Garmin 12 seems to think it's accurate to about 30 feet, but only works outdoors, and takes a long time to start up.

      I second the notion that a simple barcode based tracking system is best here. While it's possible to spoof it, usually this isn't a concern. I was the programming staff for Management Support Systems, which marketed such a system using NORAND handhelds back in the 1990s... and am considering bringing the code back out of the closet, and putting a nice GUI in front of it for Windows.

      --Mike--

  5. this is what i need! by Beowulf_Boy · · Score: 1

    I am the co-director of my school tech dept.
    We have to log all of our computer fixes that we do throughout the day.
    I need something in which I can type the problem, the fix, and the date. Anyone know of such a beast?

    1. Re:this is what i need! by Phoukka · · Score: 1

      Try a spreadsheet. Or build a simple database.

      Seriously, if you have to type in the problem and the fix, it isn't going to kill you to type in an asset code or something. As a hint, if you're not using Dells (with their nifty little ID tags), and you want to avoid the pain of having to type in the full serial number each time, put together a table in your database where you have all the serial numbers of your items (type once), then link it to a short asset number. Get a label maker, put label on item. When item comes through your door, type in the asset number, and be done with it.

      The pain and hassle of acquiring (relatively) expensive barcode readers and coding up the necessary software more than likely outweighs the pain and hassle of having to type in a serial number once and an asset number multiple times -- ESPECIALLY if you have to type anyway. The only time that barcoding is really worth it is if it can save you LARGE amounts of typing time. Normally, it can't. You will have to think long and hard about the ability of barcoding to automate work processes.

      An example of the above is inventory: you can scan in the barcode of the item you are checking in, scan in the code of the shelf, scan in the bin/box/whatever, and your app will track where you put something. Great, right? Another real world example: a nurse scans the barcode of the patient's wristband, scans the barcode of the drug she has, and the app checks to see that the drug is indeed the one prescribed for this patient, and throws a warning if it isn't or if the dosage is incorrect. If it *is* the correct prescription and patient, the nurse dispenses the drug, then scans her *own* barcode, and the hospital information system records that the drug was dispensed by the nurse to the patient. The first application might be relatively easy to code; the second one is not.

      The real question you should be asking yourself is whether you can automate your process so that you can achieve the same level of functionality without typing. When it comes to describing problems and resolutions, I don't think you can. Maybe you can create a list of barcodes for your common problems, and a list of codes for your normal resolutions, and automate that way -- but remember to make sure that the exceptions (when they inevitably happen) are not so hard to use that it's not more work than it is worth.

  6. barcode reader by agdv · · Score: 1

    Just get one with integrated GPS (if you REALLY need it, which as other users point out you may not) and get yourself a free CueCat from RadioShack (or order it free, and free s/h, from IBM). It's too slow to practically scan barcodes very often, but for a computer here and one there, it shouldn't matter too much if it takes a couple of seconds to scan it. I suppose most handhelds with GPS would have a USB port for it. You can either decode the *ahem* encryption *chuckle* or cut out a pin in one of its chips to have it output the unencrypted barcode. Not too much trouble if it's meant to be a one-device-only setup.

  7. Tracking Homosexual Geeks by The+WIPO+Troll · · Score: -1

    THE OFFICIAL TACO-SNOTTING FAQ
    By The WIPO Troll

    What is "Taco-snotting?"

    "Taco-snotting" is a term used by one Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, owner of the popular technology website Slashdot, to refer to the practice of sucking off a homosexual man (or unwilling heterosexual; CmdrTaco doesn't care, and is rumored to actually prefer rape) and blowing the semen back out his nose onto his partner's (or victim's) face or body. Usually a long, bubbly stream of milky-white semen is left on CmdrTaco's face, dribbling out of his nose, down his cheek: hence the term, "Taco-snotting."

    Good Lord. Why have I been receiving emails from CmdrTaco asking me if he can Taco-snot me?

    I'm guessing you've received an email similar to the following:
    From: malda@slashdot.org
    To: wipotroll@hotmail.com
    Subject: Hey, baby - jion me in a taco-snott! :)

    Hey, baby!

    Ever done a taco-snotting with anothar fellow geek? Its more fun then trolling Slashdot, trust me! all that talk you troll with about homasexual incest and stuff got me all horny and hot for you! Is it serius? Please tell me that itt is! If you want to get with me and my Slashdot bois, drop me an emale!

    ps- Please replie to me at horny_rob_6969@hotmail.com. I'd rather the guys at VA Linux are not seen this. :) :)

    --
    CmdrTaco (malda@slashdot.org)
    You most likely forgot to uncheck the "Willing to Taco-snot" checkbox in your account preferences. Whenever CmdrTaco gets bored (and who wouldn't, running a site like Slashdot all day), he roams through the Slashdot database, penis in hand, looking for people who might enjoy being Taco-snotted. How he determines this is anyone's guess; but if you have a homosexual-sounding nickname, you're in trouble. So this time, he found you. Lucky you.
    CmdrTaco has probably already got the hots for your wad, and he's probably already been lurking outside your bathroom window for weeks with a camera, some tissues and lube. There's no escaping a geek in heat, so it's probably too late for you, but you can possibly rectify this situation. To remove yourself from CmdrTaco's sights, log into your Slashdot account, go to your user page, click on Messages, and uncheck the box next to "Willing to Taco-snot." Maybe he'll ignore you. Probably not.

    I can't stop receiving these emails from CmdrTaco!?

    Probably not. If you indulge him in a Taco-snot or two, he might leave you alone. You might also want to look into mail filtering, restraining orders, or purchasing a heavy, blunt object capable of warding off rampaging homosexual geeks in heat. Trust me, when they charge... oh, the humanity. If he gets you, and you let him Taco-snot you, he might end up tying you up in his basement to use you as his sex slave for the rest of your life (or until he accidentally drowns you in spunk in a vile practice known as a "circle-snot").

    What is a "Circle-snot"?

    A "circle-snot" is a Taco-snotting circle-jerk, another practice common among homosexual geeks. This is when CmdrTaco, CowboiKneel, and Homos get together and Taco-snot each other repeatedly with their gooey, hot, and sticky cum -- spooging their dicks all over each other's faces and pasty-white bodies until they're all covered head to toe with man juice. Roblowme usually provides plenty of extra lubricant; he owns a limo service and has ample supplies of motor oil and axle grease.
    To complete this perverted orgy, fellow geeks Michael, Timothy, and Jamie often join in, dressed in black Gestapo uniforms, jack boots, and leather gloves. The whole group then proceeds to snot each other's spunk and whip each other's pudgy asses with riding crops and chains until their pasty-white geek bodies are sweaty and exhausted from all the passionate, homosexual revelry.

    Eww. Have you ever been Taco-Snotted?

    Unfortunately, yes. I first met CmdrTaco at an Open Source Convention. He invited me back to his room for a game of Quake, but when I got to there, he jumped me and tied me to his bed, stripping me. After taking his "Commander" out of his pants and made me suck him, he performed his vile Taco-snotting ritual on me three times over the next two hours, bringing me to orgasm, then snotting my own jizz back onto my face, in my mouth, then again on my belly.
    CmdrTaco invited several of his Open Source (or rather, "Open Sauce" -- man sauce) Convention buddies over to continue the snotfest. Linux Torvalds raped my ass with his "monolithic kernel," and Anal Cox used his "network stack" in a multitude of unspeakable ways on and in every orifice in my body.
    How did I finally escape? After about 16 hours of countless homosexual atrocities perpetrated against my helpless body, they all finally went to sleep, sweat-soaked and exhausted. I was left there, covered in geek jizz-snot, chained to the bed, with fat, pasty white fags lying around and on top of me. Fortunately the spooge coating my entire body worked wonderfully as a lubricant; I was able to squirm my way out of the handcuffs and slip out the back door. I'm just glad I survived the ordeal. These geeks had a lot of built-up spunk in their wads -- I could've easily been drowned!

    That's horrible. Does Jon Katz get involved in this? I thought he was a paedophile, not a homosexual.

    Actually, Jon Katz is a homosexual paedophile. He's also a coprophiliac, and, many suspect, a zoophile. Jon Katz is somewhat of a loner and doesn't involve himself in circle-snots. Mr. Katz usually engages in a game called "Katz juicy-douching" with his harem of little-boy slaves: a vile practice which involves administering an enema to himself of the little boy's urine (forced out of them with a pair of pliers), spooging the vile muck from his ass back into the enema bag, then squirting and slathering the goo all over himself, and the little boy's chained-up and naked bodies. Unwilling boys are further tortured with the pliers until they comply and allow Mr. Katz to juicy-douche them for the rest of their lives.
    As I already said, Mr. Katz is also a zoophile. As if the sexual escapades with the helpless little boys aren't enough, Jon usually enjoys his juicy-douches best when his penis is firmly planted in a female goat's anus. He is also rumoured to get off on watching his little boys eat the goat's small, bean-like turds.

    ...Are you getting hard writing this?

    Why, yes. :) Join me in a WIPO-snot? I promise I won't try and rape you or kidnap you and make you my sex slave or anything. I'm not like CmdrTaco or Mr. Katz; I only enjoy snotting on willing partners.

    What's that screaming I hear coming from your basement?

    Oh, that's just my little sister; I got her chained up down there. In fact, I just finished snotting all over her body. You should see her squirm when I spooge on her belly, lick it up, and snot it all over her face! She's such a feisty little 14 year-old bitch. Of course she's my sex slave, she's my sister. What else would she be good for? So, join me in a WIPO-snot?

    No, thanks. I'm already CmdrTaco's boi toi.

    ________________________________________

    $Id: tacosnotting.html,v 1.6 2001/11/15 02:51:52 wipo Exp $
    --

    J. Wipo Troll, Esq.
    Crapflooder Associates
    Slashdot.org

  8. Why GPS for asset tracking? by pads-mh · · Score: 1

    You're going to do the asset tracking in the middle of a field, with a clear view of the horizon, right? Most users have a pretty good idea where they are currently located on the planet, and can manage to key the details in. Are you really sure you need GPS? PS. You may want to look at Psion's ruggedised handhelds which include integral bar code readers and are readily programmable using a VB style clone. See http://www.psionteklogix.com/main/workaboutmx_wand .htm P.

  9. I've been looking at these for ages... by goodEvans · · Score: 1

    We bought 5 Symbol SPT 1500's about 2 years ago at UKP350 each. They were the fragilest little things you ever saw. All 5 are now sitting on my desk, with absolutely no hope of getting them running. Moral? You at least need the more sturdy SPT1700 (UKP600+) There is even the CDPD enabled 1733 and GSM based 1734 for wireless WAN applications

    As for getting GPS working with them, they are fully functional palm pilots, so any GPS software available for them will work. Palms aren't big on expansion slots, so they will have to plug into the cradle port.

    Symbol do have a PocketPC based unit, the SPT2700 (UKP1200+). These have the same options (802.11(& .11b), CDPD, GSM) however they unfortunately run PocketPC ;-)

    Recently I have found This, the Psion Teklogix 7510. It is a full PC with a 586 133MHz chip and a hard drive. It has built in scanner and RF options, and 2 internal / 1 external PCMCIA slots. With a 6" screen, it is a perfect little box. You can run whatever operating system you like, and write whatever code you like for them. They are ruggedised and waterproof, and are built for use on forklifts etc, so they should take a bashing and keep working.

    The only problem? At $4300 a piece with barcode and 802.11b, they ain't cheap...

  10. barcode scanner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I picked up a ccd scanner for about $120 from Custom Sensors Inc. 315-252-3741. Get one with a db9 serial output. You have to use a null modem adapter and a male to male adapter to go into the regular serial cable you can get for the palm (another $20). The scanner outputs normal ascii at 9600 baud but can be programmed to do other speeds as well. It reads most barcodes (I got a free 3of9 font on the web & printed my own barcode labels for inventory). A big caveat is that you have to power the scanner with 5v at about 50 - 100 MA depending on whether it's idle or reading a code - this means a power pack of some sort. I'm looking at 4 AA's lashed somehow to either the scanner or the back of the pilot. I wrote a java program (in Waba) to read the serial codes from the scanner and store them until they are read back by a pc. That part was written in VB (for windows obviously) just because it was easier for a quick hack for "proof of concept". Having a separate scanner keeps some flexiblity at the expense of having to swap cables if you really need a GPS unit. It also lets you use cheaper Palms (mine is a IIIxe w/8mb). If you go this route note that most newer palms use a USB interface & may or may not have a serial capability. This project is on a back burner for now, but seemed to be a reasonable solution for our simple needs.

    HTH

    morris
    morrisb@avpresentations.com

  11. GPS for Asset tracking of Computers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Waste of time.
    You want the location of the computers, use some mapping software (like Mappoint). It will convert an address and doesn't require an investment in new hardware. GPS isn't accurate enough to track computers in a building (as yet). It doesn't work in buildings very well. (the new GPS/ E-911 functions in new cellphones might work good enough but they arn't accurate enough either.)
    But, if you really need to do it by a bar code reader and a GPS unit that connect serially and log the data to a palm, or PocketPC. (better yet, the Linux one from Sharp...)
    If your looking to represent the location of the computers geographically check out mappoint. (or any other similar product).

  12. Am I missing something? by ScuzzMonkey · · Score: 1

    Or just making a bad assumption that these workstations that you are tracking are probably all networked?

    And if that's the case, why don't you just have them all track themselves? They can run the same sort of tracking programs as the handheld, right? The only thing you miss on is the GPS requirement, and I question the utility of that anyway. I've always had workstations I've been responsible for inventory themselves; saves a lot of trouble. :)

    --
    No relation to Happy Monkey
  13. drop the palm pilot and get a data collector by DRACO- · · Score: 1

    What the hell do you need a palm pilot? Just get a data collector with keyboard interface and small screen. Enter your location, then enter floor, enter wing, enter room, (enter part of room if needed) Scan computer, scan pre printed list of usual jobs, or punch in. Continue work thru day..

    Return to CENTRAL and download data from data collector.

    You could speed things up if the location has a barcode, the floor listings on the elevators have a barcode and the rooms have barcodes... but we dont live in that kind of world :P

    DRACO-

    --
    Consider yourself blessed if you are sneezed on by a dragon and only get wet, it could have been a fireball.
  14. Handheld and Inventory by lazyw · · Score: 1

    I was at a conference last week where the example given was a hand held helping in the inventory of the refrigerator, from the car telephone...it was an interesting concept...so I see yours as totally "doable".