HackadayRetail Fail: The :CueCat Disaster
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/25/retail-fail-the-cuecat-disaster/
Retail Fail: The :CueCat Disaster https://hackaday.com/2026/03/25/retail-fail-the-cuecat-disaster/
#HackadayColumns #History #Retrocomputing #Barcode #Cuecat #Radioshack #Scanner
#HackadayColumns #History #Retrocomputing #Barcode #Cuecat #Radioshack #Scanner
Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲I bought a CueCat from LibraryThing when they first got them. It was so useful to me when cataloging my book and graphic novels library.
Their holiday store has them on sale for $5 for the holidays.
Now you can use a mobile phone, but back then it wasn't an option.
But you get a neat little plastic cat sculpture with a USB tail and flashing red mouth with a CueCat.
Useful for Bookwyrm.
https://www.librarything.com/more/store
#CueCat #LibraryThing #catalog #cataloging #Library #Libraries #z_lib #Bookwyrm
RicardusRemember the CueCat? Here's an unopened PS2 version. When these things came out I went to every Radio Shack in the area to get one. Things didn't work out for them the way they wanted them to.
tim
Krishean Draconis
anyway, here's some code
const seq='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789+-',
decode_tr=seq.split('').reduce((a,b,c)=>{a[b]=String.fromCharCode(c+32);return a;},{}),
encode_tr=seq.split('').reduce((a,b,c)=>{a[String.fromCharCode(c+32)]=b;return a;},{}),
decode=input=>{
input=input.split('').map(a=>(a in decode_tr)?decode_tr[a]:a).join('');
input=binascii.a2b_uu(String.fromCharCode(32+input.length*3/4)+input);
return input.split('').map(a=>String.fromCharCode(a.charCodeAt()^67)).join('');
},
encode=input=>{
input=input.split('').map(a=>String.fromCharCode(a.charCodeAt()^67)).join('');
input=binascii.b2a_uu(input).slice(1,-1);
return input.split('').map(a=>(a in encode_tr)?encode_tr[a]:a).join('');
};
my cuecat javascript can both decode and encode now
not sure if encoding will be useful for anything though, but it does allow me to check if things are decoded successfully i guess
Brent SleeperAttn: #SFBA fans of #retrocomputing and technological oddities. I am cleaning out my storage room in a perhaps futile attempt to un-hoard.
An early-aughts #eBay misunderstanding of lot scale means I have dozens of boxes of unused DSHD 3.5″ floppies and storage cases therewith. Plus random early USB and FireWire devices (#CueCat! Original #iSight camera! Mystery items!), #TiVo box, big roll of 10bT cable, who knows what else.
Free to good home if you can pick them up in #ColeValley #SanFrancisco this week.
スパックマン クリスIf anyone still has a working #CueCat laying around, this might be a use for it!