Please my team and i wish to do a magnetic stripe card reader. The project is to do magnetic ID card for school student that will uniquely identify them. Did some researchs but still haven't understood the concepts behind it.

 

Your question does not have any details. Are you asking about buying a card reader and writing a program to interpret the data, or building a card reader from scratch, or what?

ak

 

there are several sites showing this project using Arduino. There are also several threads on methods at the arduino forums, and a library of software code is available. For student level understanding the Arduino platform would be best. Search Bing or Google using 'magnetic card reader using Arduino' as the search term.

 

Please my team and i wish to do a magnetic stripe card reader. The project is to do magnetic ID card for school student that will uniquely identify them. Did some researchs but still haven't understood the concepts behind it.

What kind of school is this?

What you want to build, can easily become a credit card skimmer...

I'm out!

 

the knowledge and techniques are already easily found by snyone worldwide. Hell; not even our political leaders are safe anymore. The chinese hsve been running amok in our government employee record data base for more than a year. Security and anonimty are a joke and nobody is safe from identity theft these days. Let the kids learn. At least they will know how it was done when it is done to them
I have remained unmolested simply by being a poor slob with a bad credit rating and nothing in the bank worth stealing. Nobody wants to be me.

 

Please this card will only contain informations usefull to the school. That's the matricule of the student and the name of the student and admins will know exactly what to do. It's is not much different from what is running just that instead of running up and down with a pile of files to identify ourselves we could just have a card that will have our matricule and they will identify us. Plus i am in a country very extremly closed to technology. They will not even care to understand what is going on, all they know to do is to use. Please i am begging you guys

 

What kind of school is this?

What you want to build, can easily become a credit card skimmer...

I'm out!

It is a private school so what will be done will not be out of the borders and it will not be much like the credit card

 

Your question does not have any details. Are you asking about buying a card reader and writing a program to interpret the data, or building a card reader from scratch, or what?

ak

Both but i will like to build a card reader an build the software myself. And buy a card writer.

 

Please my team and i wish to do a magnetic stripe card reader. The project is to do magnetic ID card for school student that will uniquely identify them. Did some researchs but still haven't understood the concepts behind it.

AFAIK: magnetic stripe cards are being slowly phased out.

Nowadays chipped smart cards are sinking in price to about the same level.

Elektor magazine was fairly active on the topic of smart cards as far back as the 90s, but I don't recall seeing much on it recently.

One problem is Elektor has pulled out of news stand distribution in the UK, I didn't want to take out a subscription, so I wait until the new year and catch up when they release the whole year DVD.

 

Your question does not have any details. Are you asking about buying a card reader and writing a program to interpret the data, or building a card reader from scratch, or what?

ak

Both but i will like to build a card reader an build the software myself

AFAIK: magnetic stripe cards are being slowly phased out.

Nowadays chipped smart cards are sinking in price to about the same level.

Elektor magazine was fairly active on the topic of smart cards as far back as the 90s, but I don't recall seeing much on it recently.

One problem is Elektor has pulled out of news stand distribution in the UK, I didn't want to take out a subscription, so I wait until the new year and catch up when they release the whole year DVD.

I love this Idea. Tell more or give links.

 

Both but i will like to build a card reader an build the software myself


I love this Idea. Tell more or give links.

That's pretty much all I know, it was something to read at the time but I didn't get into it hands on.

There are archives of various magazines on the web if you know where to look, including Elektor - but don't tell them I told you that.

The Elektor home page is easy to find, and I'm pretty sure they have an archive of past articles - I know that what they do keep on the server can be downloaded as PDFs for a small payment.

 

Both but i will like to build a card reader an build the software myself

Some of the older very basic ones used a read head virtually identical to a cassette player/recorder head, in a pinch you could experiment with one of these, all you need is to interface the output to a suitable IC and serialize it, this is all that was used originally.
Max.

 

Some of the older very basic ones used a read head virtually identical to a cassette player/recorder head, in a pinch you could experiment with one of these, all you need is to interface the output to a suitable IC and serialize it, this is all that was used originally.
Max.

There's usually a tape guide "fence" spot welded to the side of a cassette head - they don't always pry off without wrecking the whole thing.

Magnetic stripe cards are on their way out, I remember a few years ago I wanted some PIC16F84 - they were twice the price of current parts because they were no longer in production and supplies were drying up. Magnetic cards will probably go the same way before they disappear altogether.

A magnetic card is basically like a 5 1/4" floppy - but without the protective jacket.

 

There's usually a tape guide "fence" spot welded to the side of a cassette head - they don't always pry off without wrecking the whole thing.

.

A Dremel with a cut-off disc will do it!
Max.

 

A Dremel with a cut-off disc will do it!
Max.

A couple of decades ago I could just go to the local computer scrap breaker and have my choice of any number of stripe readers.

Now if I picked the right scrap yard and dug deep enough in the most neglected rusty corner - there's the faint possibility I might eventually find one.

I guess now they're so scarce - it might be worth that much trouble to build one.

If you're that desperate to resurrect ancient technology.

 

I guess now they're so scarce - it might be worth that much trouble to build one.

If you're that desperate to resurrect ancient technology.

There may be a few reasons for the OP wanting to wind his own, academic purposes, financial, plus he mentions he is in a country that has a dearth of latest technology!
Max.

 

There may be a few reasons for the OP wanting to wind his own, academic purposes, financial, plus he mentions he is in a country that has a dearth of latest technology!
Max.

Market forces are tending to push prices up for magnetic strip and down for chip.

Must be a really disadvantaged country - we're being swamped by immigrants from little known former eastern block countries - many of whom are attaching fake fronts to cash point machines and skimming everyone's cards. A camera in the top records the PIN being entered, and the fake mechanism takes the card and doesn't give it back.

 

Market forces are tending to push prices up for magnetic strip and down for chip.

Must be a really disadvantaged country - we're being swamped by immigrants from little known former eastern block countries - many of whom are attaching fake fronts to cash point machines and skimming everyone's cards. A camera in the top records the PIN being entered, and the fake mechanism takes the card and doesn't give it back.

I die your idea of making chips, just because i like to know what is new and seek deep. If stripes are not affordable, then i will afford chips but as maxheadroom said. In my country just a little even know that magnetic card uses magnetic stripes. Don't worry about my country.

If you could at least send me a link, or explain the technology behind chips so that i could even know so that i may work over. But i also buy your idea because of the cost.

 

There are quite a few utube videos and articles on making one with a $5 head reader and arduino etc.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-your-Arduino-into-a-Magnetic-Card-Reader/
Max.

 

There are quite a few utube videos and articles on making one with a $5 head reader and arduino etc.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-your-Arduino-into-a-Magnetic-Card-Reader/
Max.

Really grateful