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Linux on a Used Cash Register: Reloaded
plimsoll writes "Hot on the heels of the original cash register running Linux, dumpster-diver Aaron Benoy has implemented his own GNU/Linux POS project with a twist: Ruins in ASCII, a late IBM 4694 removed from its case and reloaded with Linux to become a self-described 'video sculpture' showcasing 'an infinite loop of 180 distinct 7-second long video clips of various abandoned, ruined or otherwise vacant buildings and infrastructure' on its 9-inch paper white phosphor terminal display. Southern geeks can see it unveiled tonight at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival."
I know nerds (I use the term with reverence) don't always think that much of art, but something to remember is that our original conception of 'art' was a purely useful thing.
There was a time Westerners saw art really as a Machia, something you made and / or engaged in. Science and art were really the same endeavor for people like the Greeks. No division in our mental lives.
For some reason, just the description of this project makes me happy.
M
GNU/Linux POS project
POS is such a great acronym : when the equipment is new, it means Point-Of-Sale, and when it's old and obsolete, it doesn't need to change acronym.
Kind of like "PC", come to think of it...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Are people buying copies of the operating system it runs.
$0.00
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--Your bonus card has saved you $0.00 this year. Thank you for shopping at Linux Mart--
The sad thing about this article is that we still don't have a decent, non-specific, OSS point-of-sale package for *nix. I've seen cheezy GTK-based "cash register" apps but nothing that can compete (or even compare) to Windows-based products.
This is unfortunate. My father's company runs FreeBSD and OpenBSD on all of its servers but I still have to support over 35 Windows 2000 desktops here at our stores because there is no *nix alternative. Retail is the perfect place for Linux and the BSDs. Retail people need simple, easy-to-use interfaces and they do not want to deal with the problems associated with administering Microsoft OSes (worms, spyware, etc). I would love nothing more than to replace every single Windows desktop in this company with a X11-capable thin client.
Thoughts?
In that case, they should have somehow involved the vi editor.
From the article:
"hardware so old it is incapable of displaying anything but text"
Speaking as someone who writes software for these boat anchors, I would like to point out that they have VGA monitors and can display 640x480 graphics in black and white with the standard 9" monitor or, with the optional 9" color monitor, 16 colors. My company, which does custom retail software, has several customers running these units. Most still on DOS, but a few on Windows NT.
Unknown host pong.
How about Menuet running on an ATM?
here in NYC, a lot of things run windows. When you go to penn station, the NJ Transit ticket machines are running NT 4. I've seen errors on them in the past, they software that's actually driving the display's UI and all that is just a visual basic application. Sometimes they crap out or bluescreen. not very often, though. I've only seen it happen 4 or 5 times in the past couple years. It's really neat to watch them reboot the system. You can see it pinging all its ticket servers and stuff. I assume they have the servers' firewall configured in such a way as to only allow incoming traffic from known IPs, either that, or their attached to a private network. either one wouldn't surprise me.
Even the Amtrak ticket machines run on computers. When you see the tech guy open the machine's case, there's a little beige tower inside with a keyboard and mouse.
lately, everything seems to be running windows. Frequently, in times square, the huge animated billboards will be bluescreened. It's pretty funny. You'd think that software for made for doing this stuff wouldn't crap out. You'd hope that no one installs quake on these machines or any other non-related software, but I guess people do.
I guess putting quake on the adserver box is to a windows geek what putting linux on a toaster is to a real geek.
...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...