Can anyone make a recomendation for a board that would be able to just output a unique serial number repeatedly over a uart when it is powered up, and a company that would sell me these, with barcodes on the packaging, in quantities of 6,000 a year or so? (Any idea on the price would also be welcome)

If you just want to buy a ready made product, you might check out some of the dongles that some software companys use to protect the licensing of their products. I have seen parrallel port and USB dongles, and I presume someone makes a simple RS232 one as well. I also imagine these devices can be had with a unique number already assigned.

that would defy the purpose of havin a forum, would it not?

Then would you post your solution? I too have incorporated a DS2411 into a design, but would be interested in seeing how others have implemented the interface software.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
//  FUNCTION U1 GetUnique(void)
//
//  get unique 64 bit byte number to GCXserBuf
//  GUCmomma not neded, inserted for debuggng
//  when product release combine read and wrire lines
//
// return true if number fetched
U1 GetUnique(void)
{
U1 GUCBea;
U1 GUCBret;
U8 GUCCtemp;
U8 GUCmomma;///////////
  
  GUCBea = SBG_IE_EA;
  GUCBret = Reset1W();
  if (GUCBret == FALSE)
  {
    return (GUCBret);
  }
  WriteRrom() ; // select read ROM  (read serial number mode)
  // read 8 bytes (CRC 6 bytes family code) (read in reverse, no matter)
  for ( GUCCtemp = 7 ; GUCCtemp!= 0xff ; GUCCtemp-- )
  {
    GUCmomma = Read1W(); // read a byte from the ID chip
    GCXserBuf[GUCCtemp] = GUCmomma;
//    GX_str_sgty.SGTYser[GUCCtemp] = GUCmomma;
  }
  SBG_IE_EA = GUCBea;
}

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
//  FUNCTION void WriteRrom(void)
//
//  transmit read serial number mode
//
void WriteRrom(void)
{
U8 RROCbits;
U8 RROCdata;
  Delay10u ( 50 ); // Tw1l
  RROCdata = 0x33;
  for ( RROCbits = 8; RROCbits !=0 ; RROCbits--)
  {
    SBG_P3_1W = 0;
    if (RROCdata & 1)
    {
      Delay10u ( 1 ); // Tw1l
      SBG_P3_1W = 1;
      Delay10u ( 7 ); // Tslot - Tw1l
    }
    else
    {
      Delay10u ( 6 ); // Tw0l
      SBG_P3_1W = 1;
      Delay10u ( 1 ); // Trec
    }
  RROCdata >>= 1;
  } 
}
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
//  FUNCTION void U8 Read1W(void)
//
//  read a byte from ID chip
//
U8 Read1W(void)
{
U8 R1WCtemp; 
U8 R1WCret;
U1 R1WBtemp;
U1 R1WBmomma1;
U1 R1WBmomma2;
U1 R1WBmomma3;
U1 R1WBmomma4;
U1 R1WBmomma5;
U1 R1WBmomma6;
  for (  R1WCtemp = 8; R1WCtemp!= 0; R1WCtemp--)
  {
    R1WCret >>= 1;
    SBG_P3_1W = 0;
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Trl
    SBG_P3_1W = 1;
    R1WBmomma1 = SBG_P3_1W;
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Tmsr
    R1WBtemp = SBG_P3_1W;
    
    
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Tmsr
    R1WBmomma2 = SBG_P3_1W;
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Tmsr
    R1WBmomma3 = SBG_P3_1W;
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Tmsr
    R1WBmomma4 = SBG_P3_1W;
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Tmsr
    R1WBmomma5 = SBG_P3_1W;
    
    R1WBmomma6 = R1WBmomma1 & R1WBtemp & R1WBmomma2 & R1WBmomma3  & R1WBmomma5 & R1WBmomma5;
    
    if (!R1WBmomma6)
    {
    Delay10u ( 1 ); // Trl // bekpt
    }
    
    
    
    Delay10u ( 6 ); // Tslot - Trl - Tmsr
    if (R1WBtemp)
    {
      R1WCret |= 0x80;
    }
    Delay10u ( 12 ); // 
  }
  return (R1WCret);
}

From Maxim,
"AN162: Interfacing the DS18X20/DS1822 1-Wire Temperature Sensor in a Microcontroller Environment"
- including DS5000 (8051 compatible) 'C' code
http://pdfserv.maxim-ic.com/en/an/app162.pdf

"1-Wire Public Domain Kit"
http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/software/1wire/wirekit.cfm
"Assembly language routines that represent low-level 1-Wire bus protocol algorithms such as reset/presence detect, byte I/O, and bit I/O. The routines are available for the following types of microcontrollers: 6303, 8051, 808X, ATMEL (ATmega103), and PIC (16C54, 12C508A)."

Tsuneo

PS.
HatakeKakashi - scarecrow in a field !?