MagTek 21080201 3-Track Magnetic Stripe Wedge Reader MSR ID Card PS/2

MagTek 21080201 3-Track Magnetic Stripe Wedge Reader MSR ID Card PS/2

The MagTek 21080201 is a 3-track magnetic stripe card reader that connects to a host computer via a PS/2 keyboard wedge interface. It reads all three standard ISO magnetic stripe tracks, making it compatible with credit and debit cards, driver licenses, and most other standard mag-stripe ID and access cards. The reader passes card data through the keyboard port so no separate driver or software installation is typically required — it appears to the host as keyboard input.

Specifications & What's Included

• Model / MPN: MagTek 21080201
• Type: 3-Track Magnetic Stripe Wedge Reader (MSR)
• Interface: PS/2 keyboard wedge
• Cable connectors: 5-pin DIN male (keyboard port in) and 6-pin mini-DIN female (pass-through to keyboard)
• Tracks supported: Tracks 1, 2, and 3
• Compatible cards: Credit/debit cards, driver licenses, employee ID cards, access cards
• Status indicator: Green/Red LED
• Rated card swipe durability: up to 1,000,000 passes with ISO-conforming cards
• Form factor: Compact desktop slot reader
• Color: Beige
• Includes: Reader unit with attached PS/2 wedge cable

Applications

The MagTek 21080201 is a keyboard wedge magnetic stripe reader designed for point-of-sale, access control, and ID verification applications. Keyboard wedge MSR readers like this one were widely deployed throughout the 1990s and 2000s in retail checkout lanes, hotel front desks, library systems, and employee time-and-attendance stations — anywhere card data needed to be captured without modifying existing software, since the wedge simply injects data as keystrokes. The 3-track capability makes it suitable for reading not only standard payment cards (which primarily use tracks 1 and 2) but also driver licenses and government-issued ID cards that encode data on track 3. Today these readers are still used in legacy point-of-sale environments, kiosk systems, and anywhere a PS/2 interface is still in place. The PS/2 wedge form factor — using a Y-cable that sits between the keyboard and the computer — was the dominant integration method before USB MSR readers became standard, and this unit is representative of that generation of card-reading hardware.