I bought the [2D barcode scanner hoping to be able to read a Colorado driver’s license, but it doesn’t seem to work. Specifically, I can get it to read the PDF417 format using an online PDF417 barcode generator, but I can’t get it to read the PDF417 code on the back of my driver’s license at all. The reader seems to have trouble with the denser format. Taking the same data and creating a 2x larger barcode seems to allow the reader to scan it albeit with some difficulty.
I am sorry to hear that the SparkX bar-code scanner is not scanning your PDF417 bar-code on your drivers licence. It seems like the device can read the code, however, having to blow the code up defeats the purpose I am sure. Have you tried other PDF417 bar-codes to see if it will read others? Personally, I know my driver’s licence is a bit ruffed up and would probably be hard to scan as far as I can tell.
Googling “pdf417 barcode scanner UART” or similar produces products, however, I am not sure how reliable they are.
I hope this helps. Let us know if we can do anything else.
TS-John:
Have you tried other PDF417 bar-codes to see if it will read others?
I’d try another CO DL and see whether it performs any better to rule out/confirm a corrupt barcode. Alternatively, you can try it with an Android barcode scanner app.
A few weeks ago, I was travelling through an airport with a few others. As we gathered after the security checkpoint tying shoes and buckling belts, one of our companions was taking far too long to show up. Turns out, his boarding pass printed on a hotel printer had some sort of defect that rendered it unreadable and he had trouble getting an emailed barcode. So, he had to go back to the kiosk to print a new pass.