Talk:KarTrak
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Readers?[edit]
The article describes the code and the rolling stock side of the system, but what about the readers? Where were they placed, how did they look? How did they work? B/W cameras with color filters, color cameras, photocells with color filters? What kind of systems were attached to the readers? Was there a central entity for number assignment or was this handled by each RR company separately? What was the system-level goal of the whole system? Was it to know where rolling stock was located, was it for facilitating maintenance and lifecycle management? --Himbeerkuchen (talk) 10:51, 29 April 2020 (UTC)
- I've tried to address some of your questions that I recall specific details for. There is only so much that anyone cares about 50 year discarded electronics so I hope I haven't given too much detail. Although the system had technical short comings I believe the demise was somewhat prompted by management and politics. Not everyone wants to know where a rail car is; the people paying rent on it for example. — Preceding unsigned comment added by K3SFD (talk • contribs) 14:18, 31 January 2021 (UTC)
Disagreement between picture and code diagram Suggestion[edit]
The picture at the top of the article of an actual KarTrak plate seems to disagree with the diagram further down which outlines the various bars allowed. For example, the STOP codes are inverted, and the first digit is an 8 which according to the text doesn't make sense. Clearly there is a lot of information missing here, someone should get that guy who knows a lot about barcodes [1] to check this page out. /-\urelius ♠ |)ecimus What'sup, dog? 14:14, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
- The diagram further down, an explanation of how the individual bars were designed is wrong. The correct stop code has the red on top. The other bars match the era samples I have. I worked on these systems and labels and bars that were incorrectly made were a problem, especially the calculation of the check digit. The label on the actual car is correct. I believe a equipment code 8 is appropriate for a caboose. — Preceding unsigned comment added by K3SFD (talk • contribs) 15:17, 31 January 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks for your great and valueable contribution. I counter checked with photographs to see what is needed to fix that - and i hopefully have now done it the way it always should have been. No idea what the template for that bar diagrams came from as i am not the original creator. But as of now i feel like /start+stop having blue pointing to the left and to the center of the list/ should be the most clear description to fiddle out if any imagery is a "good" example or a broken one. Lets say, i have even seen a historic marketing sheet on the internet that looked incorrect. --Alexander.stohr (talk) 21:25, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
Video documentary[edit]
Find some references there including patents views and also supposed to be true historic data sets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K8UpMNYIPo
This still might be interesting or helpful to include in the article:
--Alexander.stohr (talk) 20:12, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
David Collins holding a ~10min speech at a TEDx event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trtuf_iX1lM --Alexander.stohr (talk) 23:27, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
Barcode article on Wikipedia[edit]
The Barcode article had those extra(?) line and reference: "Light reflected off the colored stripes was read by photomultiplier vacuum tubes.[1]" It might be useful for the article. --Alexander.stohr (talk) 21:13, 26 February 2023 (UTC) Alexander.stohr (talk) 21:13, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
References
- ^ Dunn, Peter (20 October 2015). "David Collins, SM '59: Making his mark on the world with bar codes". technologyreview.com. MIT. Retrieved 2 December 2019.