CueCat Hacking
I bought 3 nice, new, and almost shiny CueCats in a package deal from eBay.
As far as a tutorial for hacking CueCats, here goes.
Disclaimer: This hack is for the 2-screw, PS-2 CueCats. Don’t try this if your CueCat has 4 screws, or if it is USB. (Google is your friend). This tutorial is provided with no guarantee of accuracy or completeness, and I am not responsible for any damages this may cause.
- Open up the CueCat by removing the 2 screws on the bottom and gently removing the top. [CueCat Opened Up]
- Remove the cable gently [CueCat, Cable Removed]
- Remove the two pins as directed in this picture by applying heat from a soldering iron and bending the pins upwards.
- Check your work to make sure there is no left-over solder or any pins touching one-another.
- Reassemble the CueCat.
For more information, look on Google or read “Hardware Hacking: Having Fun While Voiding Your Warranty“.
3 thoughts on “CueCat Hacking”
Can you email me the pictures of the pins you cut or fix the links.
Does it remove the unique serial # being sent? [not to worry since the company is dead]
In its original state, the Cuecat would encode the barcode and the unique serial number of the Cuecat into an unintelligible string of characters. If I recall correctly, it removes the Cuecat’s ability to read its own serial number. This makes it output only the barcode.