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First hit on 'linux point of sale software' search.

I used to work for a company some 10 years ago that made POSes (POS: Point Of Sale), or rather the software for them. The basic system is simply a PC with some specialized externals: electric cash drawer, bar code scanner etc, and the SW takes care of all the usual things, like reading input from the scanner, looking up items in the database, calculating discounts, handling electronic payments, communicating with the backend system etc.

Try to search for 'linux point of sale' - I immediately found http://www.viewtouch.com/poshome.html. I don't know whether they are any good, but there you are. I expect that this system lets you access everything you need - otherwise, what is the point of having a till/cash register?

Hi, I found your viewtouch app interesting, just a note about the demo page ( http://www.viewtouch.com/demo.html ). You can replace the Cygwin installation (which seems to be *very* overkill for what you want) for a simple Xming + putty install.

BTW I tried to run your demo and I kept getting connection timed out (maybe because I am in the UK).

Cheers.

I was able to do something useful with the crusoe chip, running this portable wireless X terminal. http://www.viewtouch.com/mobile.html The problems were that Hitachi sold these in small quantities at three times the price it sold them in larger quantities and that Hitachi stopped manufacturing these without any notice.

These devices can and do work. What's needed are hardware designers and manufacturers who are absolutely convinced that mobile devices are NOT going away, that they need to be able to be as useful as versatile terminals not just when they're being used for phone calls but also when users are interacting with software apps. ThinLinx is one such company.

Once Again, I have 20 years of PRIOR ART on a patent application. Go to Google, select ViewTouch, select Search Images. Enjoy. And somebody please submit this evidence to whomever is contesting this patent application.

PS: Here's one example
http://www.viewtouch.com/vtscrn3.png

Make that http://www.viewtouch.com/wireless.html

ViewTouch is doing it too. They're hoping that an X server for the DS arrives so that they have other handheld terminals than this one based on the Hitachi tablet...
http://www.viewtouch.com/wireless

Building A UNIX Of The Future

SCO and IBM entered into a strategic business agreement in October of `98 to aggressively accelerate growth of UNIX enterprise servers. They are delivering a single UNIX product line for IA-32 systems and future IA-64 systems; the result, due in early Q2, 2000, is a single product line on IA-32, IA-64 and IBM PowerPC, ranging from entry-level servers to very large enterprise environments.

monterey cliff notes stuff basically

For home users Linux really doesn't belong YET
My household happily uses a Mandrake 9.1 laptop and a Mandrake 9.1 desktop, both connected to the outside world through an ipcop firewall.
No windows partitions on any of the three boxen.
KDE, Mozilla, OpenOffice, xmms and bibletime are the only apps we regularly use.

most business do need special software, and they are almost always created to run on Windows

Depends on the business. Many businesses have apps that are custom made for them - this could easily be done on any platform. Many are now using web based apps - any platform. Some employees have a windows workstation on their desk or counter that is mostly running some text-based terminal app - eg 3270. 3270 clients exist for linux.

Ask any local Restaurant you go to.

There are linux-based restaurant POS systems out there.

I don't know what PSpice and Xilinx are. If they're windows-only apps that you need, for which no suitable linux alternative exists, then you are quite right in saying that linux is not ready for you. Just don't extend that to everyone else.

Or check out these very small Linux Point of Sale X terminals that use VIA motherboards.

Here's another vertical market app that you could add to the list applications of what this device could easily handle when used as a touchscreen X terminal, Point of Sale

No, I don't work for AMD and no, nobody else is having any trouble with the idea of business synergies that benefit customers. You are, indeed, having no success in attempting to get your mind around the idea that a wireless touchscreen POS service delivered over the Internet that is available now that could put AMD in a position of actually offering something useful to all these restaurants. At least you have the delusion that your mind can somehow grasp reality in a way that nobody else is even intelligent enough to appreciate. It ain't much, but at least it's yours.

Linux has been used on cash registers in the past. If I recall correctly, The Home Depot, uses Linux in its system. However, I wouldn't want to go with what they use because it doesn't have a lot of functionality. I tried to get a subtotal printed on my receipt and it couldn't do it.

Links:

• Linux on a cash register.
• - Get the hardware and do it yourself.
• View Touch Systems
• - They seem to run Linux.
• Squirrel Systems
• - They seem to run Linux.

There are a few alternatives (having just opened a retail business, I've looked). We couldn't find a commercial Linux solution for our business that could handle what we needed our POS system to do, but for that matter the solutions that did exist on the Windows side were very expensive per site, and for us not cost-effective. So like many companies, we had to get a custom-made POS system up & running. Unfortunately, the programmers I knew were only comfortable with Windows systems - and therefore that's what we went with. I'm sure this situation has happened for many businesses: despite us being aware of the cost benefits of non-Windows systems (and quite frankly, most busness decision makers are not) and actively looking for an OSS solution, we had to roll our own on Windows.

Some of the best *nix POS solutions out there:

Viewtouch, the original makers or touchscreens, with FreeBSD/Linux systems

IBM, with some Linux-based solutions (mostly for medium to larger businesses), but recently successful

Quasar POS from Linux Canada - a great, professional & full-featured POS solution with integrated accounting (based on the OS Firebird db). Growing fast.

MacPOS with so many solutions on the Mac platform to choose from (and many being migrated to MacOS X) it's almost as bewidering as looking for a Windows solution.

We would have gone with a MacOSX or Linux solution if we had only found a programmer that was comfortable working with them. Long-term, either would have been cost-effective.

Stay FAR away from ViewTouch. This guy is a scam artist. None of the pictures on his website are of real products. One of them at least is even stolen from an article ZDNet ran a few months back about a TransMeta tablet. It is most definatly NOT GPL, either.

The overall low quality of VT products is exactly why JWZ was forced to come up with his own system for the DNA Lounge. When I was evaluating POS systems for a local night club, I communicated briefly with Jamie. Neither of us had any success getting VT to work at all, even after I had access to the source code.

Sadly, that nightclub ended up going with an NT-based solution becaus the Linux POS market was so barren. Ah well, hopefully LinuxPOS is mature enough to save the rest of you from that plight. I'm just glad my current employer doesn't deal with cash.

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You should probably take a look at http://www.viewtouch.com/, which is a linux based pos GUI menu system. Granted its GUI, but it might be a good start to work on implementing a text based front end for their stuff. I haven't looked at it enough to give you a much better review than that, but I'm laying odds it'd help you achieve your goals or at least provide a good starting point. The code is GPLed, last I checked, and you can download it to check it out.

• Integris (POS works with many kinds of hardware)
• Proven Accounting (it says "Call for information" about Point of Sale)
• ViewTouch POS

Ehr had too much coffee? Broke up with your boyfriend? Anyhow...the link you mention doesn't show very much, but the system looks cool. I the time it takes to port an application to another platform has more to do with the quality (platform-indepentency) of the code than the weirdness of the operating system.