Hi glorious folks,
Opened the Manjaro menu today and typed ‘QR’ in the hope of being able to harness the front camera to read a URL/text and to my surprise I didn’t see anything appear.
A FOSS QR Code reader exists, but I’m wondering if this is something that others might like in Manjaro, as a default application in the more full-featured ISOs?
I don’t think it would be good as a default app, as it only works on computers with a camera.
Thanks Tomek. Surprised there’s no app in the extra or community repos but this could be the one for me 
Makes sense. I assumed most laptops today ship with a camera? PC obviously no, but I was wondering today whether every 2nd FOSS PC user has a webcam for Jitsiing or whatnot. Maybe not.
Could be something for future study/understanding.
EDIT: Supposedly the main issue would be that drivers for the camera would need to be included which might bother some of folk, too. Maybe a choice during the install process? Similar to the choice for LibreOffice or whatnot.
What are you hoping to achieve?
QR codes are meant as means of not having to type the address so I can’t really se the usage for a laptop or a workstation.
On pinephone there is a use case the qtqr package can be installed
Package qtqr in Manjaro community repository can decode QR codes from image file or from webcam
but I do not have a webcam confirm that function works
I don’t have much need to decode QR codes so usually use online service ZXing Decoder Online rather than installing an extra package
Thanks both of you,
Judging by the 124 views versus the 3 likes I’m going to assume that at this stage there’s no appetite for QR code reading and possibly, even the technology for reading QR codes is, can we say, “held at arm’s length” at the present time.
Maybe that’ll change.
To answer your question …
I just like it as a basic copy/paste between computers. It also complains if you give it non-ascii characters, a sort-of feature in some respects. 
QR codes are certainly useful - no doubt about that.
In my primary project for at client we use QR codes on lists generated to create easy access to various documentation on chemical products such as usage instructions and risk assessment.
The QR codes - when scanned - provides the requested document generated on demand from a database directly to the end-user’s phone or tablet.
If I understand you correct you seek some similar functionality - perhaps the link is used to save the file to the device scanning the link?
There is a couple of python packages available
$ pamac search --no-aur qrcode
python-qrcode 7.3.1-1 community
Python library to generate QR codes
python-pyqrcode 1.2.1-5 community
QR code generator written purely in Python with SVG, EPS, PNG and terminal output
Install the python-qrcode package, then - in terminal - run
qr https://forum.manjaro.org/t/qr-code-reader/108166/8
and scan the result with your phone or supply a destination
qr https://forum.manjaro.org/t/qr-code-reader/108166/8 --output=qr-manjaro.png || firefox qr-manjaro.png
Nice example! It looks like a good QR code generator. Does it handle different error correction levels? ie. the more error correction the larger an icon you can place over the top of a QR Code.
Keep in mind it was a QR Code Reader (and admittedly generator) that was of interest in my OP also.
There is no need for qr reader on a desktop nor a laptop - so a feature request for such thing makes no sense.
A generator on the other hand has more use - but as demonstrated - such thng already exist.
If you want to know more - read the docs.
It can be useful to check a code with one’s webcam.
Or from one’s image files.
To generate QR & barcodes : zint
Just be careful on which standard.
ok nice ty
How do you get it working? Qt complains about gnome platform wayland, and overriding it you can see about 1/4 of the application screen.
You are wrong here, as some applications only provide you export features using QR codes. So if you want to export something from your phone, you are out of luck unless you can show it to your desktop webcam
Samples, please
From what i remember google authenticator on iphone did not provide other export features than displaying a qr code. The other option was to jailbreak the phone, copy the sqlite database and open it to get access to the keys.
That seems to be an edge case.
The fact that you had to dig your mind and the fact that having the sqlite db on the computer defers the idea of two-factor authentication
An having a qr code reader by default would bloat the system - at least in my opinion
Indeed, i think this functionality should be integrated into one universal camera/webcam/QR/barcode etc. app like mobile phones do.
My point was that indeed sometimes QR codes are useful for desktop computers.
Another example is how many products nowadays come with a QR code sticker to access some feature like website or manual etc. For instance a mAh tester i bought was delivered completely without any specs, only a QR code glued on the hub of the cooling fan for accessing manual.
Yesterday I stumbled upon several desktop app capable of reading qr codes using your webcam
qreator in the repo
sudo pacman -Syu qreator
cobang in AUR
Build from AUR ( PKGBUILD by @Yochanan )
pamac build cobang
This is for (q/c)reating qr codes.
For cobang, I have 2 webcams connected to my system, however, it shows 8 and crashes when I select another one; and it didn’t recognize anything I’ve shown it.
Isn’t this a low-hanging fruit? This couldn’t be that hard to have a working program.