Building Points Of Sale for a shop.

[Juniper]

Hello ATOTers,

I have this shop who asked me to build some computers to act as point of sales and also write the inventory software. I need advice on the specs of the computer.

As for the inventory software, anyone seen some free stuff online? Any suggestions and advice are welcome. Thanks.

 

[BlueApple]

Originally posted by: Juniper
Hello ATOTers,

I have this shop who asked me to build some computers to act as point of sales and also write the inventory software. I need advice on the specs of the computer.

As for the inventory software, anyone seen some free stuff online? Any suggestions and advice are welcome. Thanks.

I wouldn't skimp out on the software. You can get 200Mhz Pentiums with 32MB of ram, but get some good software (this WILL cost you $$$)

 

[hoihtah]

if you go with something like 200mhz machines...
you'll be stuck with either writing one yourself...
or dos based ones. (which isn't a bad idea...)

what kinda pos system are you trying to build?
are you going to develop the software?

i've done one for a laundrymat before.

for a cheap bar code scanner...
try modding cue cat from ibm.

 

[Juniper]

hoihtah, yes I was planning to code a webased application program for the system, running on intranet.

In the current state, the shop is not self service, and inventory takes place fort nightly.
They are now trying to make a self service section, and for that, they will need a full fledge computerized inventory system. For now Im more concerned with the points of sale, because it seems to be something more specialized. Ive surfed around looking at professional points of sale. Most of them are using Celeron 533Mhz.

 

[amnesiac]

My old work place uses Positouch
Most likely way out of your price range (at least for the setup we had) but they might have something more affordable for your needs.
Otherwise you can probably just give them a look-see to get some ideas.

 

[Juniper]

Thx amnesiac 2.0

 

[StattlichPassat]

My computer company was going into a joint venture with another one out of CA last fall to produce P.O.S. machines for a third party who wrote software for pizza joints. Anyway, it fell through, but the advice I can give you is to go simple, but stable. In the planning and brainstorming stages, I was going to be producing something like this...

AMD Duron 700MHz CPU
MSI K7T-Turbo KT133A ATX motherboard
Thermaltake VolcanoII HSF
Crucial 128MB PC133
MSI TNT2 32MB AGP or GeForce 256 32MB AGP graphics
On-board audio
Linksys LNE100TX+ 10/100 Ethernet
Western Digital 20GB 7200rpm hdd
Sony 1.44MB floppy
Sony 52x CD-ROM
Inwin mid-tower case (black or beige)
Logitech Deluxe Access 104 keyboard
Microsoft Intellimouse optical
Windows 2000 Professional SP3 (stripped of unneeded options)

Very cheap and stable boxes that will do the job and then some, for ~$500 out the door at NewEgg.com - check it out.

 

[Juniper]

NightFlyerGTI, your specs are very helpful thx