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Affordable Mag-Stripe Card Readers for Linux?

Posted by timothy on from the things-that-sound-simple-but-aren't dept.

Skip Franklin asks: "I'm looking for a mag-stripe card reader to use with a Linux kiosk. I've searched all over the web, but I'm not finding much in the way of hardware vendors that say they support Linux. There's tons of stuff on smartcards, but I just want a simple (read: cheap) mag-stripe reader. Anyone using one of these (preferrably USB interface, serial if necessary)?" Anyone who's had better luck than Skip at finding such a beast?

22 comments

  1. Keyboard Wedges by citmanual · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would poke around for small business going under. One firm I worked for used to install Point Of Sale (POS) systems for just such places. They come with a keyboard wedge that plugs into the keyboard connector. You can get barcode scanners that do just the same thing.

    It strikes me that they cost about $75/per when we were buying them. But, those wedges also cost about $50. Not too mention they need a dedicated PC for each one.

    1. Re:Keyboard Wedges by vax · · Score: 1

      i would check Ebay, ive seen them on there for around 15 or less with a serial interface (com i belive)
      sorry i couldnt be more helpful
      VAX

  2. MagTek by eric2hill · · Score: 5, Informative

    MagTek readers are very common in our industry. They have stand-alone readers availible in USB, RS232, keyboard wedge, and TTL configurations. You can also pick up insert kiosk-style readers for use in your own custom designed enclosures. The small form factor keyboard wedges are around $70 from many dealers. I've installed more of those than I can count. Search Google for the part number you're looking for and you'll probably get pages of matches.

    If you're looking for more configurability, have a look at IDT-Net's readers. They are available in the stand-alone and kiosk-styles like MagTek, but they have models that can be programmed to pre-pend, post-pend, and modify swiped data before transmittal. That feature is REALLY nice when you're trying to decode some custom membership card that's got it's own wierd track II format. The Omni readers are in the $180 range.

    --
    LOAD "SIG",8,1
    LOADING...
    READY.
    RUN
  3. Easy by Oily+Tuna · · Score: 1

    ebay.
    There's plenty that plug into a PS2 keyboard socket so they're O/S independent.

    --
    Mmmmmmm ... sushi.
  4. What about writers? by crow · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    What about writers? It should be easy enough to copy the magnetic strip from one card to another. I've always thought it would be fun to use an old (expired) credit card intead of the ones that they issued us. (It would also be nice to have a backup.)

    1. Re:What about writers? by karnal · · Score: 1

      Next thing you know, everyone will be trying to use the "faked" credit cards, and then merchants won't accept them.

      The first thought to my mind was "Yea, you just want a backup..." :)

      --
      Karnal
    2. Re:What about writers? by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 4, Interesting
      You could really play some mind games. Copy the mag stripe info from your new Visa to your expired Texaco card, then wipe the Visa card blank. Thief steals your wallet, tosses the expired Texaco card and tries to use the Visa. :-)

      --
      If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    3. Re:What about writers? by affegott · · Score: 1

      I like it. :-)

      Too bad some stores actaully look at the card. :-(

    4. Re:What about writers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A couple months ago when I was in Seattle, I heard on the news about a Fake CC ring bust. There were like 35 gas stations involved. They mounted the CC swipe under a camera, and then passed the swipe cable thru to a laptop which copied the CC#. They then matched the timestamp of the swipe to the time stamp of when people would enter thier PINs (when using a debit card). They took the number, and burned it to a blank card. Then went to the ATM, and with drew all thier money. They said they got like 13 million dollars or something over several months. The news agency showed howed it worked, they even burned the CC# to a hotel key card and popped it in an ATM and it worked with no problems. Scary.

  5. OS independence... use a keyboard wedge by ka9dgx · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Back when I did barcode stuff for a living (1987-1994), we got a Symbol Technologies wedge, which intercepted the keyboard, trasmitted function keys (of your selection) before and after the data. Surely you could just intercept F3 (or whatever) in your application, and have at it.

    --Mike--

  6. Smart Card readers are cheaper. by ivan256 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If cheap is your main requirement, you'll likely be better off with smart cards. Mag stripe readers have a mechanical component (to determine what speed you're running the card through at) Where a passive smart card reader is basically a cable with a fancy socket.You can get fully capable smart card readers for under $30. I found this link on google in seconds: http://www.danaco.net. They even have unassembled readers that you can put together yourself to save extra bucks.

    1. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by PhuCknuT · · Score: 1

      The reader for a smartcard might be cheaper, but my guess is that the cards themselves cost more than simle magnetic cards. And in the long run, that's where the cost will really be.

    2. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by stienman · · Score: 2

      Mag readers generally do NOT have a component to determine the speed - the data on the stripe is self clocking.

      -Adam

    3. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by ivan256 · · Score: 3, Informative

      You'd be surprised. If all you want is data storage the cards are very inexpensive.

      A quick check on google shows that mag strips cards average around $0.30 each in quantities of 100. Smartcards that hold 1k of data are the same price.

    4. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by PhuCknuT · · Score: 1

      Well then I guess I guessed wrong!

    5. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by fwc · · Score: 2
      Plus, most intellegent readers can read the data when swiped in either direction. Sometimes you'll get set of data which is either mangled enough or just a "difficult" pattern to read forwards - if you have a good reader, you can swipe the card in the opposite direction of "normal" motion and a lot of times you can get a good read off of a card which is almost impossible to read the other way.

      My understanding of the encoding is that it is a LOT like barcodes - in fact I've dealt with a percon barcode reader in the past which you could just replace the barcode wand with a mag stripe reader and read magstripes. They also had a barcode reader which worked like a magstripe "slot" reader. Imagine the mess if you had to "clock" a barcode with a mechanical roller or similar. Goodbye automatic package handling.

    6. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by cloudmaster · · Score: 2

      If you're going with smart cards, why not go a step further and use ibuttons (http://www.ibutton.com/)? They're fairly cheap (64K button for $1.44 each in 100 lots) and can do way more (there are counter buttons for a similar price, for example). There are readers for under $10. I'm personally looking at replacing all of my key locks with ibutton-powered locks. That'll be cool.

    7. Re:Smart Card readers are cheaper. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please mod this parent up to 3, Mildly Amusing but then down to -2, Kinda Foolish for a total of +1, Whatever.

  7. Build it yourself... by CoolVibe · · Score: 3, Informative
    Well, they're not swipe-cards, but probably even more useful. I am talking about smart-cards.

    Check here for schematics and other info about smartcards.

    There's also source code available to drive the damn machine you can build with the info on the site. AFAIK tested on Linux and FreeBSD and it worked.

  8. Correct me if I am wrong, but.... by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 2

    Aren't most of these devices (the ones that you hook into your computer) just standard RS-232/Parallel Port or Keyboard port devices ala Cue Cat? The device handles decoding the stripe and feeds the number down to the computer. I'd say MOST of these would be supported. It would just be a matter of writing the program to pass it to a credit verification program.
    Should work with Linux or anything you use I'd imagine.

    --

    Gorkman

  9. Keyboard pass-through Mag Stripe Reader. by checkyoulater · · Score: 1

    I was just playing with one of these things literally minutes ago.

    Got it from ID Innovations Inc. Cost around 50 bucks Canadian from a catalog. Simply connects to the keyboard port and passes the decoded information as keystrokes. No drivers required. All you'd need to do is design your application to recognize specific text strings.

    Tried all sorts of cards too. Drivers licence, credit card, health card, etc. All of them worked.

    Amazing how much info can be stored in one of those mag stripes.

    --
    Is that a real poncho? I mean, is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?