libdmtx: 0.7.4 Released

Mike Laughton — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:11:53 -0000

The libdmtx project has released version 0.7.4, introducing significant structural changes designed to make libdmtx useful for a wider audience.

Some of the changes include:

* The core library (not including command line utilities or wrappers) is now distributed under a permissive BSD license. This detail is important for people developing on certain closed platforms.

* Revision control has been transitioned from SVN to Git, and is now broken up into libdmtx, dmtx-utils, and dmtx-wrappers. Code in the latter two repositories is still distributed under the LGPLv2.

* The new encoding logic is better organized than the old version, and it fixes some corner case bugs that would have been difficult to address previously.

* Professional support is now available for organizations that want assistance, pre-built binaries, or priority response to problems. See www.dragonflylogic.com for details.

Please visit any of the following links to find additional details, downloads, and updated software documentation:

Project website: http://www.libdmtx.org
SourceForge page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/libdmtx
Latest release: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=153603
Ohloh page: http://www.ohloh.net/p/libdmtx
Documentation wiki: http://libdmtx.wikidot.com
Professional support: http://dragonflylogic.com

libdmtx: 0.7.2 Released

Mike Laughton — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:01:00 -0000

The libdmtx project has released version 0.7.2, which is a bug fix release with a handful of new features but no major changes to the core library since 0.7.0.

In addition to bug fixes, the most significant improvements include:

* Fast quad fill for dmtxDecodeMatrixRegion() (thanks Mackenzie!)
* Decoding support for "05 Macro" and "06 Macro" (thanks Marlon!)
* New wrapper for the Vala language (thanks Evan!)
* Wrapper integration in build system (thanks Evan!)
* Several improvements to Python wrapper (thanks Simon!)

Please visit any of the following links to find additional details, downloads, and updated software documentation:

libdmtx: 0.7.0 Released

Mike Laughton — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:41:47 -0000

The libdmtx project has released version 0.7.0, featuring an updated API, new features, and multiple new language options. libdmtx is an open source library for reading and writing Data Matrix (a.k.a. DataMatrix) 2D barcodes. It can be called from a variety of languages on several different platforms, and also provides fully featured command line utilities.

New features in 0.7 include:

* A Java wrapper! (thanks Pete and Dikran!)
* A C#/.NET wrapper! (thanks Vali and Joe!)
* A set of Visual Studio 9.0 files! (thanks Cameron!)
* New no-copy pixel communication
* Improved support for Text/C40 reading (thanks Robin!)
* Changed from GraphicsMagick to ImageMagick dependency
* dmtxwrite support for major image formats, including SVG
* Several bug and compiler warning fixes
* Cocoa wrapper works again (thanks Romain!)
* More cross platform improvements

Many individuals made this release possible with their generous contributions -- THANKS!

Please visit any of the following links to find additional details, downloads, and updated software documentation:

Project home page: http://libdmtx.org
Latest release: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=153603
Documentation wiki: http://libdmtx.wiki.sourceforge.net

libdmtx: 0.6.0 Released

Mike Laughton — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:54:01 -0000

After months of adding features, fixing bugs, tuning performance, and writing documentation, libdmtx version 0.6.0 is now released into the wild. libdmtx is an open source library for reading and writing Data Matrix (a.k.a. DataMatrix) 2D barcodes. It can be called from a variety of languages on several different platforms, and also provides fully featured command line utilities.

Contributions for this release came from all over, and libdmtx now runs on its largest combination of platforms and languages ever. Significant updates in this release include:

* dmtxread now scans major image formats [Olivier]
* New encoding/decoding Ruby wrapper [Romain]
* Enhancements to region detection logic
* Reduced memory footprint
* Will scan multiple barcodes per image
* Various platform-specific improvements

Work will now begin on an improved "no copy" method of passing pixel data between libdmtx and the calling program. After that, focus will switch to adding any remaining functionality from the ISO spec, refactoring the encoding logic, and cleaning up how multiple barcode data is handled. At that point libdmtx will be feature complete; although polishing, enhancing, and perfecting will continue.

Please visit any of the following links to find additional details, downloads, and updated software documentation:

Project home page: http://libdmtx.org
Latest release: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=153603
Documentation wiki: http://libdmtx.wiki.sourceforge.net

libdmtx: 0.5.2 Released

Mike Laughton — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:08:57 -0000

The libdmtx project has released version 0.5.2, a recommended upgrade that provides dramatically improved performance over previous versions. libdmtx is an open source library for reading and writing Data Matrix (a.k.a. DataMatrix) 2D barcodes. It can be called from a variety of languages on several different platforms, and also provides fully featured command line utilities.

A minor release in name only, libdmtx 0.5.2 delivers several performance enhancements, bug fixes, and general improvements over previous versions. We still have a few enhancements that haven't made it in yet, which is why this is a minor release, but most users will already see big performance gains by ugrading to 0.5.2. In extreme cases it's not unusual to see a 500x (or better) speedup over 0.5.1 runtimes when proper tuning parameters are used.

For users of pydmtx (the libdmtx Python wrapper), Jonathan Lung has also written a new decode2() function which is showing 15x faster decode times than the original pydmtx decode function. Other notable changes in 0.5.2 include:

Performance Improvements
* New dynamic image shrinking feature (pixel skipping)
* New squareness deviation feature
* Simplified Hough transform for locating first edge
* Several other internal performance enhancements

General Improvements
* Encoding support for 144x144 barcodes (largest possible)
* Changed internal pixel storage to use top-left origin
* Various improvements when building for OS X and FreeBSD
* Added new experimental PHP wrapper code (Thanks Christian!)
* Several bugs fixed (see ChangeLog)

Please visit any of the following links to find additional details, downloads, and updated software documentation:

Project home page: http://libdmtx.org
Latest release: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=153603
Documentation wiki: http://libdmtx.wiki.sourceforge.net

libdmtx: 0.5.1 Released

Mike Laughton — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:17:59 -0000

libdmtx is open source software for reading and writing Data Matrix barcodes. At its core libdmtx is a shared library, allowing C/C++ programs to use its capabilities without restrictions or overhead. It also has fully featured command line utilities.

The libdmtx project has released version 0.5.1, a recommended upgrade to fix known issues in 0.5.0. libdmtx is an open source package for reading and writing Data Matrix barcodes on Linux, OS X, Windows, and several mobile devices. At its core libdmtx is a shared library, allowing C/C++ programs to use its capabilities without restrictions or overhead.

The libdmtx 0.5.1 release provides important bug fixes and functionality improvements, mainly for the benefit of users who don't use the latest code from Subversion. The changes in 0.5.1 are incremental by nature and stem from a few factors:

* An incomplete libfec integration from version 0.5.0
* Feature importance identified by real-world users
* Increasing use of libdmtx on non-Linux platforms

This release also lays some important groundwork for the next major version, which will focus primarily on improving runtime performance.

Please visit any of the following links to find additional details, downloads, and updated software documentation:

Project home page: http://libdmtx.org
Latest release: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=153603
Documentation wiki: http://libdmtx.wiki.sourceforge.net

Et tu, Cognex?

Mike Laughton — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:42:10 -0000

Seriously, Cognex? The ink isn't even dry on the Acacia ruling and Cognex has sued MvTec Software GmbH and Fuji America Corp. for allegedly infringing on several of their patents:

http://www.cognex.com/CognexInfo/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?id=3044

Now, I don't know any details on this case so I'm not passing judgment here, but it certainly doesn't look good. The fact that they are suing a software company speaks volumes, and should be alarming to anyone who fears the abuse of software patents.

The way I see it, there are 3 simple ways a company can react to this situation:

Possibility 1: Someone used your source code without permission.
Valid Response: Pursue copyright infringement. This is justified.

Possibility 2: Someone arrived at the same solution to a problem.
Valid Response: Do nothing. Your solution was obvious.

Possibility 3: Someone stole your novel idea.
Valid Response: Now, and only now, pursue patent infringement.

However, please note that if the party you are suing did not have access to your designs and source code, they did not steal anything.

I'm not saying it's impossible to have an ethical software patent. I'm just saying I don't think it has ever happened before. Simply put, you cannot ethically use patents to prevent others from using obvious solutions just because you filed a patent claim. Patents exist to promote innovation, not to stifle it.

Does anyone know any details about this case? I would love to know more. Specifically, do these patents relate to barcode technologies?

I sincerely hope that Cognex is justified in their actions. They performed a global community service with their action against Acacia's patent abuse, and it would feel like nothing less than betrayal if they follow the victory with patent abuse of their own.

libdmtx Documentation wiki now available

Mike Laughton — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:24:54 -0000

A libdmtx documentation wiki is now available at:

http://libdmtx.wiki.sourceforge.net/

(You can also get there by using the "Wiki" tab on the SourceForge project page.)

Anyone and everyone should feel free to contribute, edit, and otherwise maintain these pages to their heart's content. libdmtx now runs on far more platforms than the authors have access to, so any documentation the community can provide will be immediately helpful.

libdmtx-0.5.0 Released

Mike Laughton — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:06:24 -0000

Version 0.5.0 of the libdmtx Data Matrix barcode reading/writing software was released on April 13, 2008, and is a significant release for a few major reasons:

1) All of the known instabilities from 0.4.0 have been fixed
2) Significantly faster scans (with more room for improvement)
3) Two words: ERROR CORRECTION

This version introduces full Reed Solomon error correction provided by libfec, and should make libdmtx instantly attractive to a wider audience that has been holding out for this feature. There are still tons of new features in the works, but the updates described above were just too significant not to be available in the stable version.

Happy scanning!

libdmtx-0.4.0 Released

Mike Laughton — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:18:30 -0000

Version 0.4.0 of libdmtx was released on December 7, 2007. It was a long wait for this one, but hopefully we can fall into a more regular release cycle now.

If people uncover any show-stopping bugs due of the under-tested nature of this release we might need another incremental release before focusing on new features. Otherwise I plan to upload the code to a Subversion repository at SourceForge in the coming days.

Recent posts to news

libdmtx: 0.7.4 Released

libdmtx: 0.7.2 Released

libdmtx: 0.7.0 Released

libdmtx: 0.6.0 Released

libdmtx: 0.5.2 Released

libdmtx: 0.5.1 Released

Et tu, Cognex?

libdmtx Documentation wiki now available

libdmtx-0.5.0 Released

libdmtx-0.4.0 Released