Looking for advice/resources on building Point Of Sale system

[mallik]

Hi, I have somebody that wants to setup a POS system from scratch. He wants to get individual parts and put the system together, as well as developing the software to use on this system. I'm trying to help him out, so has anybody done this before? Can anybody provide information on where to start, or point me to a website or forum that can help me out?

 

[mallik]

anyone?

 

[Apathetic]

If by POS you mean "Point of Sale" you have a LOT of work to do. All the companies which sell you POS machines (e.g. electronic cash registers) want to sell you a whole system with electronic scanners and hooks into a backend database so your inventory is automatically updated.

Things you'll need:
bar code scanner
cash register
database server which holds inventory and PLUs (price lookups)

Actually, you'll want DUAL database servers in case one fails. You'll also need to make sure both servers are kept EXACTLY in sync with each other.

You also need the low-level technical specs for each piece of equipment to resolve little things like determining HOW a scanner talks to the database server to lookup the price of that can of tomatos you just scanned and how it sends the price to the cash register.

Dave

 

[EagleKeeper]

Bar Code Scanners & label makers/printers can be purchsed at any office supply store/CrapUSA.

Cash registers that can interface with a communication port you will have to research.

Low end computer with removable media and preferably dual drives.

If they want touch screen interfacing add $200-$500.

S/W for database and interfacing with peripherals. You can develop the S/W but will need the H/W interface specifications and protocols.

Entry screens, database interfacing, logging, printing and other fuctions will be needed.

Not a simple project if you want all the bells & whistles.

 

[mallik]

Thanks for the info. It does seem like a lot of work, but it's not just me who's going to be doing it. I think I have an idea now of the hardware requirements, but what about the software end? Would PHP/SQL be the way to go for this? I don't really know much about this stuff, but my friend knows quite a bit. Are there any websites or forums that deal with this?