4 replies to this topic

[Immortal_Corruptor]

I've resently "stumbled" apon one of the hand held price readers. Running on windows CE, it looks very promising.. But, the battery is dead.. And I have no clue how to charge it/where to get a charger, or replacement battery. And, just to top it off.. I need an ID and password. Which sucks alot, is there any way I can get past this? like formating it? and if I did, would I lose all the Walmart stuff? I was playing with it for a wile, but then the battery died.. and I turned it back on, and it prompted me for a password Is there anything I can do with this? or am I scrwed?

Heres some pictures I took of it incase no one knows what I'm talking about, Sorry about the size/Shitty picture taking skills.


Front, screen and key pad.



Side view.. pretty.



Dead battery I don't know how to charge, fosiced so you can actually read it!



How the battery pops out.




There you go! If anyone has any info about it, it would be awsome.. I already read the little paragraph about it in retail hacks, so no need to forword me there. I'd just to like to know as much about it as possible.. and how to charge the battery, that would be nice.. haha. But yeah, if anyone has any info it would be awsome. Thanks.

[Linux]

Try googling that battery infromation, or google around for "batteryworld" or some battery vendor which usually have fields where you can query about whether they carry the battery or not.

See if you can find additional markings on the unit itself, and post/google those.

If you want to buy a new battery:

go here

Or if you want to pick up a battery charger on ebay,
go here

Since it runs Windows CE, this MAY be of interest to you:

Windows CE Kernel Source

Have fun, try to post unit serials, etc if you can.

Edited by Linux, 06 December 2006 - 11:41 PM.

[kenetik]

You can join Symbol's "Developer Network" for free, just register. Then you have access to ROM images,
SDKs, docs, etc. I use to repair these things to component level, so if you need any info let me know. We never had schematics so we had to reverse engineer parts of the unit quite often.
If i remeber correctly the mc9000 are rfid enabled [read/write].. or it may be an option. Also the scanner is
an imager (ccd), so it does 1 and 2D barcodes.. It can even take video.


Dimensions: 9.2 in. L x 3.6 in. W x 7.6 in. H
Weight: 26 oz. (includes battery, scanner and radio)
Keyboard: Keyboard: 28-, 43- and 53- key
Terminal emulation (5250, 3270, VT)
Display:
Embedded CE models:
Windows Mobile models:
3.8 in. 1/4 VGA Mono or Color
3.8 in. 1/4 VGA Mono or Color
Power: Removable, rechargeable 7.2 volt 2200 mAh Li Ion battery pack (2200mAh, 7.2V)

CPU: XScale PXA255 processor at 400 MHz
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Embedded CE. NET or Windows Mobile 2003
Memory (RAM/ROM): Embedded CE: 64/64 MB
Windows Mobile: 64/64 MB
Application Development: SDK available through Symbol Developer Zone Web site
Data Capture Options: 1D scan engine
Omni-directional 1D and 2D imaging engine

WLAN: Symbol Spectrum24, 802.11b, 802.11
Output Power: 100 mW U.S. and international
Data Rate: 802.11b: 11 MB per second
802.11: 2 MB per second
Antenna: Internal
Frequency Range: Country-dependent; typically 2.4 to 2.5 GHz
Bluetooth Support: Optional

Cradles: Cradles: Single-slot and 4-slot cradles available
Printers: Supports extensive line of Symbol-approved printers, cables and accessories
Charger: 4-Slot universal battery charger
Other Accessories: Cable adapter module; snap-on magnetic stripe reader and modem; full set of holsters


And the cool thing about these guns are the user-changable keypads.. Which fail often btw!

There different versions of the mc9000g, mc9000-K, mc9000-S, mc9000w.. different versions have different
hardware options.

If you are unable to download the sdk, or are unable (or dont want to) join the symbol network I think i could host whatever you need on a seperate server..

Anyway, if I were you its probably more valuable if you just sell it. :-)

Have Fun!

Edited by kenetik, 07 December 2006 - 11:01 AM.

[Immortal_Corruptor]

Is there any way I could just format it? and then just start over.. maybe not even use it as what its ment to used as? Anything? I mean these things are like over 1000 dollars.. Or so it says where I've checked. There must be something else I can do with it.

[kenetik]

Its basically a PDA w/ scanning capabilities.. When you reload the OS.. its not the same OS you would get w/ a new dell pda. Symbol modifies the windows (CE.NET normally) OS and adds inventory control software, and "testing" software. But I mean, if you can get a cradle, Just throw a clean OS from symbol on it.
From a exploration point of view, the data IN the scanner might be very interesting. I'm sure i dont have to go into detail, but the information in that gun opens up all kinds of possibilities for network exploration.

But besides that, If you just like the hardware, keep the Symbol OS.. you can get mag card readers/rfid, scan barcodes, ccd imager etc *and* have all the functionality as a normal PDA. I mean how many people can get a
gun style holster for their pda :-)

As for loading an OS, you have to go into IPL mode.. But first try cold-booting the gun. Once the gun is cold booted, all registry mods will be loaded at initial boot.
Most of the times there are registry mods which load at cold boot time that can be used to lock the gun/load drivers etc etc. The cool thing about symbol wince os varients are the registry mods they allow.. its pretty interesting to play with, Shoot I wish my pda was capable of it.. :-)

If you can get a cradle, I can give you some direction as to bypassing password/bootup registry files..
I think IRC would possibly be a better place for me to give direction of exact mods and troubleshooting.
It may take me a few days, I'd have to find all my notes.
Unless you, or anyone would be interested in a small t-file of symbol info. Whatever helps you.. Let me know.


--EDIT--
Just found some manuals :-)

Edited by kenetik, 07 December 2006 - 03:43 PM.