Libra - organize your stuff, beautifully.

Q. I can't get the webcam scanning to work. Is this a hoax?

A. The webcam scanning module currently works on manual/auto-focus webcams, but not a fixed focus one. The problem with fixed focus webcam is that the barcode is really blur when it is close to the webcam, and the scanning algorithm isn't able to parse that. We're doing some experiments on our end to try to workaround this.

Q. Oh great, I have a fixed focus webcam. What can I do?

Most cheapo webcams in the market have manual focus, and these will work great with Libra. In fact, we purposely test the web scanning module with the cheapest webcams we can buy, so as to ensure that it works well with widely available stuff. The quality on cheap webcams isn't great, but is sufficient for scanning purposes.

Alternatively, you can get CueCat scanners from eBay or LibraryThing as well. These are cheap (about US$10-US$15) barcode scanners that were given out free during the dotcom boom. Libra works with both the hacked and non-hacked versions of CueCat scanners.

Q. I have a manual/auto focus webcam. How can I improve the scanning effectiveness?

Have good lighting. The scanning works by detecting contrasting barcode lines. As such, if your room is brightly lighted, it will be easier to detect the barcode. You will need to adjust the webcam focus to a short distance, and bring the barcode close to the webcam so that it fills up about 75% of the webcam window.