MOD-RFID125 as USB HID keyboard with Mac OSX??

Wireless & IoT
1

The description of the MOD-RFID125 states that no drivers are necessary because all major OSs recognize USB HID keyboards. Well, Mac OSX 10.4.10 recognizes that there is a USB HID keyboard connected, but it asks me to press the key to the right of the left shift key so it knows which keyboard it is?!? How do I get past that screen and get OSX to work with the MOD-RFID125?

Also, the green LED is solid, yet when I pass both of my HID cards (from work) by the device, it doesn’t register a read. Is this because the cards don’t work with 125khz readers or because the Mac hasn’t recognized which keyboard the device is? If the former, how do I find out what freq the cards are?

Thanks in advance

2

If you’re not seeing the LED turn red when you pass your cards near it, I suspect that the cards you’re using are not the correct frequency and/or encoding. Unless you have manufacturer and part number information, I don’t see how you’re going to determine the technology used for the cards you’re trying. Your best bet is to simple get some access cards that you know are compatible.

In OSX you can just close the the USB keyboard helper and not worry about it. The USB HID device will still work.

Some clarification: a USB HID device means “USB Human Interface Device” like a keyboard or mouse. RFID cards that have the label HID on them are simply the logo for the company [HID Global. So the fact that the RFID reader functions as a USB HID device doesn’t have anything to do with products from HID Global.](http://www.hidglobal.com/)

3

Thanks for your reply. I knew the differences between both uses of HID in my situation, thanks. I never thought there was supposed to be a connection between the USB HID moniker and the HID company’s cards. :wink:

The OSX window specifically say’s the external keyboard won’t be available until that key is pressed (maybe just a 10.4.10 thing?). I have another USB keyboard I gutted and turned into an arcade panel (buttons, joystick etc.). Same thing. OSX tells me to hit a specific key and won’t pay any attention to the keyboard until I do. I plugged in another keyboard of the same model and hit the key for that situation and now the arcade panel works. Since I can’t find my 125Khz tags I had put in SOME box months ago :roll: , I can’t verify skipping that window works for this device or not.

I found out about 10 minutes ago that my two cards from work have a tiny “HID iClass” logo stamped on the back. Upon looking up the HID brand of cards, that logo means they are 13.56Mhz and not 125khz. Now, if I can just find the 13.56Mhz version of the MOD-RFID125 USB reader, which is MOD-RFID1356. I sent an email to trossen support and hope to hear back soon!!

4

Hi,

I too bought the 125khz and plugged it into my Mac book.

To answer your questions:

  1. open a notepad/ document/ blank file (this is where the reads will go)

  2. Plug the unit in.

  3. close the keyboard identifier window when it pops up. (just the courner red X button)

  4. swipe test card over the reader.

  5. see a Hex number (f80058be0d) pop up in the notepad/ document/ blank file, just as if you’d typed it in via a “keyboard”

To answer your other question, yeah, there is not a lot that the reader can actually read! About the only RFID tag i got the unit to read was the 125kHz card one that i bought with the MOD-RFID125 unit (you did buy a card with the unit, to test the check unit with, right? :slight_smile: )

I tried the MOD-RFID125 reader with, my Passport (aussie one with a chip), my work pass, my old work pass, random DVD’s that still have store RFID’s pasted into them. I haven’t tried with the type the book store uses… but I’m not optimistic.

I also didn’t have any luck identifying where the MOD-RFID125 showed up in /dev/? If anyone knows I’m looking for where a usb device similar to that would pop up. So i’ve no idea if the device can be used to write tags successfully.

After googling, i came to the conclusion that most of the tags in use seem to be 13mHz ones as this seems to be the dominant type. This could explain why the 13mHz reader/writers cost near a grand whilst the MOD-RFID125 is pretty cheap. Sadly for me, I don’t really need to make any thing with this unit, so it’ll probably show up on EBay soon.

If anyone knows where a cheap 13mHz reader can be found…!

-A