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Whatever happened to "barcoded" programs

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by harolddewayne 1 view

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Anybody know whatever happened to the old idea of printing "barcode" type information (e.g. binary information for programs) on paper, then using that to be scanned into another computer later to transfer the program? A _truly_ reproducible technology (you could copy the "program" on a photocopier for "backup" purposes).

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by mc_user

But it is used for ID badges mostly.

It used to be called Softstrip but is now owned by DataStrip Inc.
What happened to it was high speed (1200 baud and faster) modems. This was back in the days of copying code from a magazine by retyping it from the article and then compiling it yourself. Someone thought it would be a good idea to compile the code and print it in the magazine as a barcode. Then with the "softsctip" scanner you could load the code directly into your PC. not many magazines bought into the idea and it floundered.

While you could print a program on common photocopy paper, it can't hold much. About 150 to 1000 bytes per square inch. Large programs would take huge volumes of paper to print out. And then you would have to keep all those papers in order when rescanning them.

As modem speeds increased it was easier for the magazine companies to set up bulletin boards for the users to download the desired code from.

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