Symbol VRC 6940 Quick Reference Manual

VRC 6940Terminal

VRC 6940 Terminal

© 2001-2003 SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. All rights reserved.
Symbol reserves the right to make changes to any product to improve reliability,

function, or design.
Symbol does not assume any product liability arising out of, or in connection with, the

application or use of any product, circuit, or application described herein.
No license is granted, either expressly or by implication, estoppel, or otherwise under

any patent right or patent, covering or relating to any combination, system,
apparatus, machine, material, method, or process in which Symbol products might
be used. An implied license exists only for equipment, circuits, and subsystems
contained in Symbol products.

Symbol and the Symbol logo are registered trademarks of Symbol Technologies, Inc.
Other product names mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.

Symbol Technologies, Inc.
One Symbol Plaza
Holtsville, N.Y. 11742-1300

http://www.symbol.com

Patents

This product is covered by one or more of the following U.S. and foreign Patents:
U.S. Patent No. 4,593,186; 4,603,262; 4,607,156; 4,652,750; 4,673,805; 4,736,095;
4,758,717; 4,760,248; 4,806,742; 4,816,660; 4,845,350; 4,896,026; 4,897,532; 4,923,281;
4,933,538; 4,992,717; 5,015,833; 5,017,765; 5,021,641; 5,029,183; 5,047,617; 5,103,461;
5,113,445; 5,130,520; 5,140,144; 5,142,550; 5,149,950; 5,157,687; 5,168,148; 5,168,149;
5,180,904; 5,216,232; 5,229,591; 5,230,088; 5,235,167; 5,243,655; 5,247,162; 5,250,791;
5,250,792; 5,260,553; 5,262,627; 5,262,628; 5,266,787; 5,278,398; 5,280,162; 5,280,163;
5,280,164; 5,280,498; 5,304,786; 5,304,788; 5,306,900; 5,324,924; 5,337,361; 5,367,151;
5,373,148; 5,378,882; 5,396,053; 5,396,055; 5,399,846; 5,408,081; 5,410,139; 5,410,140;
5,412,198; 5,418,812; 5,420,411; 5,436,440; 5,444,231; 5,449,891; 5,449,893; 5,468,949;
5,471,042; 5,478,998; 5,479,000; 5,479,002; 5,479,441; 5,504,322; 5,519,577; 5,528,621;
5,532,469; 5,543,610; 5,545,889; 5,552,592; 5,557,093; 5,578,810; 5,581,070; 5,589,679;
5,589,680; 5,608,202; 5,612,531; 5,619,028; 5,627,359; 5,637,852; 5,664,229; 5,668,803;
5,675,139; 5,693,929; 5,698,835; 5,705,800; 5,714,746; 5,723,851; 5,734,152; 5,734,153;
5,742,043; 5,745,794; 5,754,587; 5,762,516; 5,763,863; 5,767,500; 5,789,728; 5,789,731;
5,808,287; 5,811,785; 5,811,787; 5,815,811; 5,821,519; 5,821,520; 5,823,812; 5,828,050;
5,848,064; 5,850,078; 5,861,615; 5,874,720; 5,875,415; 5,900,617; 5,902,989; 5,907,146;
5,912,450; 5,914,478; 5,917,173; 5,920,059; 5,923,025; 5,929,420; 5,945,658; 5,945,659;
5,946,194; 5,959,285; 6,002,918; 6,021,947; 6,029,894; 6,031,830; 6,036,098; 6,047,892;
6,050,491; 6,053,413; 6,056,200; 6,065,678; 6,067,297; 6,082,621; 6,084,528; 6,088,482;
6,092,725; 6,101,483; 6,102,293; 6,104,620; 6,114,712; 6,115,678; 6,119,944; 6,123,265;
6,131,814; 6,138,180; 6,142,379; 6,172,478; 6,176,428; 6,178,426; 6,186,400; 6,188,681;
6,209,788; 6,209,789; 6,216,951; 6,220,514; 6,243,447; 6,244,513; 6,247,647; 6,308,061;
6,250,551; 6,295,031; 6,308,061; 6,308,892; 6,321,990; 6,328,213; 6,330,244; 6,336,587;
6,340,114; 6,340,115; 6,340,119; 6,348,773; 6,380,949; 6,394,355; D305,885; D341,584;
D344,501; D359,483; D362,453; D363,700; D363,918; D370,478; D383,124; D391,250;
D405,077; D406,581; D414,171; D414,172; D418,500; D419,548; D423,468; D424,035;
D430,158; D430,159; D431,562; D436,104.
Invention No. 55,358; 62,539; 69,060; 69,187, NI-068564 (Taiwan); No. 1,601,796; 1,907,875;
1,955,269 (Japan); European Patent 367,299; 414,281; 367,300; 367,298; UK 2,072,832; France
81/03938; Italy 1,138,713
rev. 06/02

Quick Reference

Introduction

The VRC 6940 is a rugged computer terminal that can be installed
in a vehicle or mounted on a wall or workbench. It allows you to
gather information quickly, easily and accurately using the
keyboard or an attached scanner. The VRC 6940 transfers the
information to a base station Access Point (AP) through a Symbol
Spectrum24
information to a host computer for processing.

VRC 6940 terminals can run a variety of software applications. For
help in using an application at your facility, refer to the application
documentation or ask your System Administrator.

About This Guide

This manual describes how to use a VRC 6940 terminal that has
been installed in a vehicle or mounted on a wall or workbench.
Specific topics include:

• Parts of a VRC 6940 Terminal on page 2

• Basic Operation on page 3

• Modifier Keys: SHIFT, FUNC and CTRL on page 4

• Resetting the Terminal on page 4

• Entering Data on page 5

• Charging the Internal Battery on page 6

• Moving to a Different Power Source on page 6

• Troubleshooting on page 7

• Installing a VRC 6940 Terminal on page 8.

This guide does not describe how to download or install
applications, and it does not provide instructions for using specific
applications. For more technical information on the VRC 6940
terminal, see the VRC 6940 Product Reference Guide (Symbol
part number 72-37641-XX).

®

radio network. Then the AP transmits that

1

VRC 6940 Terminal

Parts of a VRC 6940 Terminal

Front View

Antenna Connector

Display

BACK ON/OFF CTRL

SHIFT FUNC

0

-

Keyboard

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5
ABCDEFG 78
HIJKLMN 45
OPQRSTU 12
VWXYZ

Mounting

Bracket

Back View

Scanner RS-232 Power
Connector Connector Connector

Standard Accessories

The VRC 6940 comes with these items:

• Attached vehicle-mount bracket

• Bracket knobs (2)

• External DC power cable.

Bracket Knob

9

CLEAR

6

ENTER

3

.

Antenna Connector

2

Quick Reference

Optional Accessories

You can order these optional accessories from Symbol:

• Scanner cable

• RS-232 cable

• Primary antenna

• Vehicle-mounted antenna

• Spectrum24 PCMCIA radio card

• AC universal power supply

•AC

cable.

Basic Operation

Turning the Terminal On

1. Press the ON/OFF
key located at the
top right corner of
the alpha section of
the keyboard.

2. If the terminal has
been configured for
your facility, it dis­plays a login screen or main application screen.

3. Follow the instructions for your facility’s applications.

Suspending or Turning Off the Terminal

To suspend the terminal, press the ON/OFF key. The screen goes
dark, and the terminal appears to be off. However when you press
the ON/OFF key again, the terminal resumes your previous
session.

Forcing the Terminal into Suspend

If the terminal does not go into suspend when you press the ON/
OFF key, you can force it into suspend. To do this, press and hold
the ON/OFF key for 15 seconds, or until the display goes dark.

ON/OFF key

SHIFT key FUNC key

CTRL key

3

VRC 6940 Terminal

Turning the Terminal Off

In normal operation, you will not turn the terminal off: you will place
it into suspend. The terminal only turns off if you have:

• disconnected the power cable, AND

• allowed the internal battery to run down.

For more information, see Charging the Internal Battery on page 6.

Modifier Keys: SHIFT, FUNC and CTRL

SHIFT, FUNC, and CTRL are modifier keys that you can use to
generate a special character or function (see Basic Operation on

page 3). For example, you might press FUNC, J to brighten the

display. To do this you would:

1. Press and release the FUNC key.

2. Press and release the J.

3. The display brightens, and the keyboard returns to normal
functioning.

Adjusting Brightness

Task Key Sequence Comment

Brighten the dis­play.

Darken the display. FUNC, I

Toggle keyboard
backlight on or off.

FUNC, J Repeat the key sequence to

FUNC, K Not all terminals include a key-

reach the desired brightness
level. There are seven bright­ness levels.

board backlight option.

Resetting the Terminal

You may need to reset a terminal that has stopped responding to
keystrokes or to the ON/OFF key, or if it has been forced into
suspend. To reset a terminal:

1. Press and hold both the SHIFT key and the L key.

2. Press and release the ON/OFF key.

3. Release the SHIFT and L keys.

4

Quick Reference

The terminal restarts and you can log in to an application. If you
have problems opening an application after resetting the terminal,
contact your System Administrator.

Note: If you reset a terminal, you may lose any unsaved data.

Entering Data

You can enter data into
a VRC 6940 terminal by
using the keyboard or
an attached scanner

Tips for Using the Keyboard

• Press only one key at a time. Pressing two or more keys at

the same time can cause an error.

• Press the keys in correct sequence. When key sequences

are listed for an application, press the keys one at a time in
the order they are listed.

• Auto-repeat feature. Some applications use the auto-re-

peat feature of the keyboard. If they do, when you press and
hold a key, the key will repeat until you release it.

• Application functions. The keyboard may have different

functions depending on the application you are using. Refer
to your application documentation for more information.

Attaching a Scanner

1. Press the ON/OFF key to suspend the terminal.

2. Fit the scanner cable into the Scanner Connector on the rear
of the terminal.

.

5

VRC 6940 Terminal

Back of terminal

Scanner
Connector

3. Press the ON/OFF key to power the terminal on.

4. For information on using the scanner, consult the documen­tation that came with the scanner.

Charging the Internal Battery

The VRC 6940 has an internal battery that provides power and
saves your session if there is a temporary fluctuation,
disconnection, or interruption in the unit’s main power supply. The
internal battery recharges itself from the terminal’s main power
supply. You cannot use it to operate the unit. For more information,
see Installation and the Internal Battery on page 17.

Moving to a Different Power Source

To move a VRC 6940 terminal from one location to another:

1. Save all data you are working with, and close all applications.

2. Press the ON/OFF key to suspend the terminal.

3. Make sure a power source is ready in the new location.

4. Unplug the external power cable from the Power Connector
on the back of the terminal.

5. Remove the terminal from its current mounting.

6. Move the terminal to the new location and mount it.

7. Plug the external power cable into the Power Connector.

For more information on installation and power, see page 8.

Note: If you unplug the power cable, and the internal battery

is not charged, the terminal may shut off.

6