Card Readers that work with Papercut

[fiza]

We have photocopiers with embedded card readers but I want to use a release station for a printer in a part of the school that has no copier.

We have Omnikey 5422CL card readers that we use with our Cashless Catering System. We have 1K MiFare Cards that work with the canteen system (Biostore) and the Canon Copiers.

I know the Omnikey will read the cards but it reads them in HexiDecimal. Papercut displays a Decimal number so I wanted to know if I can program the spare OmniKey Card Reader to read in Decimal for Papercut to recognise the number?

 

Is it possible?

[Rob_D]

Have you tried using the "Card/ Identity Numbers" option rather than the "Card ID PIN" in Papercut, these fields accept alphanumeric codes.

[fiza]

Have you tried using the "Card/ Identity Numbers" option rather than the "Card ID PIN" in Papercut, these fields accept alphanumeric codes.

 

That's what we use. Currently the number that the copiers recognise is in the Primary Card field in Papercut. I thought as we were using the same cards that the Omnikey would pick up the number and papercut would match it to the existing number in the Primary Card field.

 

In the papercut logs its not even registering a swipe.

On the Release Station after enabling Cards in the config file we get the below screen. The top input box appears after enabling Cards.

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by fiza

[fiza]

I should say I know the Card Reader works as I have tested it using the HID Workbench app.

[bald_pig]

What config options do you have for the readers? Sounds like you just need to change the output from hex to decimal?

[fiza]

Reading further into the Papercut manual it would seem I need a Keyboard Emulating Card Reader. I cannot find any info on whether the Omnikey 5422 is a keyboard emulating reader. Papercut do say that if it is a keyboard emulating card reader then just opening Notepad and swiping the card will show up the numbers in Notepad. If it doesn't it isn't keyboard emulating.

 

What is a “keyboard emulating” USB card reader?

A keyboard emulating USB card reader is a card reader that acts just like a keyboard by “typing” the card number each time a card is swiped. Keyboard emulation can be easily tested. To do this, plug in the card reader, open a text editor application (like Notepad or Word) and then swipe the card. If the card number appears in the text editor as if it was typed, this card reader is said to be “keyboard emulating”.

Keyboard emulation depends on driver support, although the majority of card readers available support the USB HID specification and do not require any additional drivers or software to enable keyboard emulation (the drivers are typically bundled with the operating system).

Some card readers require specific drivers to enable keyboard emulation.

A small number or card readers do not support keyboard emulation at all (software wanting to support these card readers must build-in support for their specific driver). Where possible PaperCut’s embedded solutions aim to support a wide array of readers. Internally PaperCut’s embedded software includes a number of ‘drivers’ and will auto-detect as appropriate.

[fiza]

What config options do you have for the readers? Sounds like you just need to change the output from hex to decimal?

 

Tried that in the config file.

[Boredguy]

Yes I had similar fun looking for a reader for our release stations, in the end got a Paxton 214-326 Desktop Reader and Keyboard.

 

Hope you find a way to get the 5422 to work for you, otherwise you might need another reader =/

[bald_pig]

Reading further into the Papercut manual it would seem I need a Keyboard Emulating Card Reader. I cannot find any info on whether the Omnikey 5422 is a keyboard emulating reader. Papercut do say that if it is a keyboard emulating card reader then just opening Notepad and swiping the card will show up the numbers in Notepad. If it doesn't it isn't keyboard emulating.

 

 

As far as I can see, it isn't keyboard emulating. I guess you've checked to see if it will dump output in notepad?

[psydii]

You can use the logging on the papercut server to see what (if any) number the card reader is sending back into papercut. If it is reporting a number, but it doesn't match how other readers send it, you can set up a custom converted for the device to get it into the format stored in the papercut database.

[fiza]

As far as I can see, it isn't keyboard emulating. I guess you've checked to see if it will dump output in notepad?

Yeh, it doesnt!

[fiza]

You can use the logging on the papercut server to see what (if any) number the card reader is sending back into papercut. If it is reporting a number, but it doesn't match how other readers send it, you can set up a custom converted for the device to get it into the format stored in the papercut database.

 

I was monitoring the logs as I was testing and nothing was registering.

[fiza]

Confirmed by manufacturer that it is not keyboard emulating. Have to buy another model for that.

[copiercowboy]

Check under device settings in papercut>Advanced Config> card-decoder-force-mode> Try setting to RAW_HEX. We have this set on our Konica Minolta's so the reader converts to hex. Not sure what you are using as your release station, but if it's not under devices may have to manually set you force mode in the config.properties file.

[bald_pig]

Check under device settings in papercut>Advanced Config> card-decoder-force-mode> Try setting to RAW_HEX. We have this set on our Konica Minolta's so the reader converts to hex. Not sure what you are using as your release station, but if it's not under devices may have to manually set you force mode in the config.properties file.

 

Isn't going to make a difference when the reader doesn't output to the device...

[Kelly_B_123]

Most readers are open to any cards but Paxton close theirs down so you have to use there. Alternatives for the future would be worth looking at Inventry to open up your offerings

[altecsole]

Yes I had similar fun looking for a reader for our release stations, in the end got a Paxton 214-326 Desktop Reader and Keyboard.

 

Can you confirm that you can use this reader to output the card number to Notepad (or Excel)? Our Paxton 514-326 doesn't do this and I've been looking for a reader that does. Many thanks.

[Boredguy]

the 514-326 is not a keyboard emulating device, so it only works with the Paxton Net2 software.

The 214-326 Desktop Reader and Keyboard (which looks virtually identical) does output the RFID tag value to notepad etc as we have 3 of them hooked up to Raspberry Pi's for our release stations on our copiers

[altecsole]

the 514-326 is not a keyboard emulating device, so it only works with the Paxton Net2 software.

The 214-326 Desktop Reader and Keyboard (which looks virtually identical) does output the RFID tag value to notepad etc as we have 3 of them hooked up to Raspberry Pi's for our release stations on our copiers

 

Perfect, thank you.

[MatthewL]

These card readers are quite common with MFD's or slightly different model as some manufactures they don't work with. My go to reader is the RFideas one, the specific model is RDR-80581AKU, you can programme up to 4 types of card technology into it, different profiles and different copiers give different numbers with PaperCut so what I used to do was use the learn card function on the software and match them up that way. I installed hundreds of them to integrate with all sorts of cards but never had the same number as for example what Paxton produces. Any questions shout up.

[MatthewL]

A good link for purchasing RFideas ones.