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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prime" data-source="post: 935" data-attributes="member: 18">1.1- Fixed bug that caused program to crash on startup if computer does not have a COM1 port.  Now checks all 4 ports at startup to see if they exist.  If program is run for the first time or an invalid port is chosen in setup, program automatically chooses lowest valid port.  Progam also now checks for MSR206 at startup.- Automatically checks MSR206 model number and grays out track numbers that aren't supported.  You can still write in the unsupported tracks' textboxes but when writing to a card, text for those tracks will not be sent to the MSR206 (MSR206 gives an error when you try to write data to an unsupported track).- Added a few states and fixed a few state abbreviations that were wrong.  (When I first entered the states I had to enter the state abbreviations from memory and guessed wrong on a few.)- Fixed formatting error on track 2 when generating license/ID tracks.  AAMVA document incorrectly stated that when an expiration code is used (77, 88, or 99) it should replace the expiration month.  The correct format puts the expiration code in place of the birth month and the birth month in place of the expiration month.1.0- First ReleaseSetting It Up_____________Before you can use the program you need to make sure it knows what com port your MSR206 is connected to.  If the program doesn't find your MSR206 on startup click on the "Settings" tab.  Under "Com Port" there is a dropdown box with COM1 through COM16.  Choose the port your MSR206 is connected to and then press the "Set Port" button to open that port.  The program will then send a command to see if your MSR206 is on that port.  If you chose the right port and everything is connected properly the status bar at the bottom of the window will say "MSR206 FOUND ON COM?" where "?" is the number of your com port.If you choose a port number that doesn't exist on your computer it will say, "INVALID COM PORT".  If the port exists but the MSR206 can't be found you will get the message, "NO RESPONSE ON COM?".  Make sure all your cable connections are secure and try testing other com ports."Actions" Tab_____________Now that the program can communicate with your MSR206 you're ready to start using it.* Status BarThe status bar is located at the bottom of the window and will give you messages about the functions you use.  Its color will give you an idea of the nature of the message.  A green bar is for normal messages like indicating when a function completed successfully or displaying information that you requested.  A yellow bar means that you started a read, write, or erase function and it's waiting for you to either swipe a card through or abort.  A red bar generally indicates an error, like a read error or invalid card swipe.  The exception to this color scheme is the LED test under "Settings" which uses the color of the bar to represent the colors of the LED lights on the MSR206.* CoercivityCoercivity means the ease with which something can be changed.  There are two types of magstripe: high coercivity and low coercivity.  Lo-co stripes are sometimes brown in color and can be altered with a relatively weak magnet.  These stripes are very susceptible to being erased by magnets or even by being placed against the magstripe of another card.  Hi-co stripes are much more difficult to erase but also require a much stronger magnet to write to.  Before writing to a card make sure you know what type of magstripe it has.  If the coercivity is set wrong you will get a write error.  If you don't know what type of magstripe it is, try both settings; one of them should work.  Use the "LoCo" and "HiCo" buttons to set the coercivity of the MSR206.  Use the "Check" button to see which setting it's currently on.  The coercivity setting does not matter when reading a magstripe, only when writing to it.* Track SettingsThis box displays the current settings for each track as three groups of four characters each.  The characters, in order, represent the character set (4-bit or 6-bit), parity type (Odd, Even, or None), start sentinel and end sentinel.  If the current settings match a known format (ISO, AAMVA, or OLD CA) the format name will be displayed on the next line.* Read CardPress this button and you will be asked to swipe a card through.  If you decide not to read a card you can press the "Abort" button.  Remember that when you read a card it will replace all the data currently in the textboxes, so make sure first that you don't need the current data.  When you read a card it will display the data on all three tracks in the three track textboxes.  But if there are any errors in a track it will not be displayed, so the track data is also shown unparsed in the ASCII box and a raw dump of the data stream received from the MSR206 is displayed in HEX format.  Also, any tracks that have errors are automatically sent to the "Reconstruct" tab which should allow you to recover at least most of the data.  If your track settings don't match the format of the track you're trying to read you will get an error, even if there's nothing wrong with the track.  The track must be read with the exact same settings it was written with.  So make sure your track settings are correct.</blockquote>

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