Windows – Barcode scanner work in browser

Two things you could try:

xinput list

This will give you a list of all input devices that are recognized by Xorg and allows you to enable or disable devices as well as test them (replace ${DEVICEID} with what is displayed by xinput list):

xinput set-int-prop ${DEVICEID} 'Device Enabled' 32 1
xinput test ${DEVICEID}

Second thing you could try would be the more low-level evtest tool (replace /dev/input/eventX with the proper device file):

evtest /dev/input/eventX

It should print events to the screen when it gets data. evtest is part of the joystick package in Ubuntu.

Neither of these will make your Barcode scanner work, but they will allow you to figure out where the problem is. If evtest works, but xinput doesn't, then you have to tweak your Xorg.conf and manually add it as extra keyboard, if neither works then its a Kernel driver problem.

The only descriptive information Google can find on the Scanlogic LS1000 is at an Indonesian website and they don't have any support pages for the product (only the usual marketing specification). The lack of support information doesn't give me much confidence in the product.

I don't know whether Ubuntu 10.10 supports the hot-plugging of keyboards so I would try powering the computer off and on again with the scanner connected.

It may be that the scanner doesn't implement the USB HID standards sufficiently fully for Ubuntu but does it well enough for Windows to recognise it. I am just speculating. In this case I would try a different USB barcode scanner - preferably one from a well-known manufacturer. This might help identify if the problem is with the PC, Ubuntu or the SL1000.

The output from dmesg | grep usb should be useful, it looks like it might have detected the USB scanner as a keyboard device on usb-0000:00:1d.0-2/input1. To be sure I'd disconnect it, reboot and compare the output of dmesg | grep usb with and without the scanner connected.

In theory I'd expect messages to be logged whenever you connect or disconnect a USB device - but I haven't tested this.

The Opticon OPI2002 USB version supports either Human Interface Device (HID) or Virtual Com Port (VCP) profiles. To be recognised as a keyboard, it would have to be switched to HID mode. As with many scanners you configure it by scanning special bar-codes from a "menubook" supplement to the user guide. I would start by scanning the "reset to factory default" barcode. On page U6 is a barcode for "USB-HID" - scan that. Make sure power is connected and that you can see the red beam when you pull the trigger.