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Major Retailer Chooses Linux for its Tills
An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is running an article on how Matalan has installed several thousand point of sale terminals running Linux rather than Windows. The reason? Reduced cost of ownership. It was a big consultancy that did the work, Capgemini, and IBM on the kit side. Sounds like some people can get Linux to work in an 'enterprise environment' after all."
I work as a cashier at a grocery store, and they run MS XP Embedded. We have at least 1 till crash at least once a day. Causing major headaches, I wish we had them running on Linux...
There are many PCs that are able to have their bios's accessed thru a lan when the machines are booting up or on standby or whatnot.
Some models of Intel motherboards are able to do this. I am sure that there are others.
Matalan stock goes up 1.75 points.
There are two other major chains I know of using Linux in their POS - burlington coat factory (I think most people knew about that) and Valvoline oil change places. I noticed the Valvoline place I went to last year using some console app, but was just booting up and he logged in to a RedHat 6.2 system. I'm sure there are others - I don't often bother to look, but it's nice to see all the same. Who knows of others openly using Linux as POS?
creation science book
As I post this from an installation of Suse 10 RC1, I know that GNU/Linux is an operating system that can be used in place of Windows or Mac OS X. It does something better. It does somethings worse.
Articles like this might be important to show some people, but I feel like the Slashdot crowd should be beyond this. Slashdot readers should know that GNU/Linux is a great operating system. They should also know that it isn't the be all and end all of software (I'm DEFINITELY not saying that Windows is).
For me, this article says stupid things like "abstraction is bad". Abstraction is good most of the time, but it criticizes Windows for it. Really, it should have said that Windows doesn't offer you an alternative to their abstraction and we wanted to hack some code that would communicate right with the BIOS and Linux allowed us to do that because with free software the attitude isn't 'my way or the highway'. I really wish that the article talked about how, because GNU/Linux is a loose association of tools rather than a monolithic package, one can pick and choose which tools to include for an application like a cash register without all the crap you don't need. That's especially important for the embedded space (and something that isn't important for most/all desktop users) and something that GNU/Linux allows that Windows doesn't. That's something to point out.
I work for an electronics company in the UK called Maplin.
They allready use Fedora for all their equipment.
Thunderbird for e-mail and firefox for web browser.
Our company has also switched to Linux on both servers and desktops recently. We are already saving thousands of dollars and it was probably the best decision the board has ever made. Instead of constant virus and service call hell we went to virtually zero problems and everyone loves it.
We run DOS.
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
I worked at a fast food place and the terminals used some sort of embedded OS. I was able to ascertain much about the machines other than they had 100MHz embedded processors, used a 10/100 LAN to access the main computer (POS Dell PII running NT 3.51 that ALWAYS crashed) and the monitors in the back and serial ports to talk to the cash drawer and receipt printer. We had the terminals go down exactly once, and that was when the menu was being updated and it borked. I don't think it was Linux or UNIX as these registers were made in about 1995 and they talk to a Windows machine of about the same vintage. My bet is some custom, proprietary embedded OS. But I know our university bookstore uses Windows NT4 on most of the registers and XP on the rest. The Lowe's store in my town uses a KDE-based Linux distribution. I saw their monitor when they showed me they were out of the part I needed- sure 'nuff it was KDE 3.0 or 3.1 or something like that. I mentioned that they had a Linux computer and the guy bent down and looked at the front of the case and said, "Nope, I think it's an IBM..."
Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
Home hardware stores have used a linux-based POS and inventory control system for at least the last 2 years- and I believe for much longer (2 years ago was the first time I noted the terminals were running Linux, but it looked like they had been that way for a while) If you want to talk about a really LARGE company using Linux for server systems- RadioShack has used SCO Linux (yes, I know, I know) for at minimum the last decade, in all of their 5200+ company owned stores. UNFORTUNATELY they've just started phasing their POS server and inventory system to a program running on Windows Server, so they can reduce backroom equipment from 2 computers to 1, and further automation between website and POS system. Id've rather stuck to the dual-computer system, because now when the webserver goes down, I get to write hand tickets.
even better:
/dev/printer
echo ^g >
most of your cash drawers are connected to receipt printers that when they get the bell command, send the signal to kick open the till.
They're a large clothing discount chain here in the UK. See here for more info.
Seriously.. this is just a copy and paste job from the article... take a look at this guy's profile (and name for that matter) to see a list of the quality stuff he's written on slashdot.
However, He did change "In contrast, " to "though", but I don't think that constitutes a new and insightful thought.
Quoth the article:
Both Windows and Linux met the security requirements set by Matalan, but Linux was preferred by the retailer as it was less of a target for malicious code, according to Menzel. The evaluation began at the end of 2003 when the Blaster worm was wreaking havoc in companies. In contrast, there have been no serious outbreaks of Linux viruses in the wild, which gave the open source operating system a definite advantage in the eyes of Matalan executives, Menzel said.
She loves me: 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0 She loves me not: 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688BF
Or, with something like a Remote Supervisor Adapter, you can control a server (or POS terminal) remotely, even when it is powered off. Now, this is designed for servers, and is probably *not* what they have in a cash register, but it would fit the bill, as well.
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
KVM over IP (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=kvm+over+ip& btnG=Google+Search) allows you to remotely access that machine, even if the machine itself isn't connected to a network. The KVM device instead is connected to the network. You can do pretty much anything you could do if you were right in front of the machine, other than physically swap media or hit the reset button. I wouldn't mind getting something like this for my home network, but I think the prices are a bit expensive for my budget right now.
Hope be with ye,
Cyan
It was also a popular OS for vertial applications such as bank terminals. NationsBank grew from a tiny bank to the 6th largest bank (before they were bought by Bank of America) on a plan of aggressive acquisition. A large part of this strategy was their computer infrastructure. It was heavily based on OS/2: Each branch had a single centrally-administered OS/2 Workspace on Demand server. All computers in a branch would actually boot from the server (LTSP-style), with all of its applications ready to go. If the bank wanted to update their software, they could push these changes from a central point to each branch overnight (or over time), and schedule the switchover. The next day, everyone came in and was completely updated.
You can do the same with Linux (I already mentioned LTSP, but this was almost 10 years ago.
Like they say, what's old is new again.
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
Interesting you should mention Lowes. I was there today (which isn't really uncommon), but just as the cashier is finishing ringing things up, she looks at me and says "I hit total and the register rebooted". NCR equipment, user logon is X. I didn't pay attention to see if it was running Linux or just a thin client connected to a unix server.
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Harry Truman
I'm guessing that you are in a different country than they are. (I'll refrain from speculating on which country you live in)
Company info from the first page foound by Googling "Matalan".
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"I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
Okay, maybe I'm a technological ignoramus, but when the guy in the article talks about IBM being able "to connect onto the till remotely and go onto the BIOS" I am a bit puzzled.
No magic behind the scenes. At work we have standard serial console servers that connect to com1. In the BIOS we set console redirection to the serial port. Enable that in Linux and viola, you can access the system from BIOS to the login prompt.
Is this possible with a normal PC motherboard? Or are they using some different type of system which provides hooks for the OS to do this?
I think this is done on most server targetted boards and a few home boards. There are also third party ways to do it on boards that do not natively support it such as with the PC Weasel:
http://www.realweasel.com/
Can I get an eye poke?
Dog House Forum
4690 is Digital Research FlexOS with IBM's name on it; IBM didn't even bother to grep the help files for DR references or change "dredix" to "ibmedit" or something. I'm really not sure why they went with FlexOS either, but I'm sure they had their reasons.
The registers CAN run Windows or OS/2 but 500MHz Celerons (or lower) tend to die. So, like you said, it tFTP boots a basic OS which includes a funny little Java Virtual Machine and some TCP/IP utilities (I think you can telnet into them, but I haven't tried). The JVM will load whatever frontend the vendor soaked you for (usually some kind of Java/XML type deal that pulls stuff from the database back on the store controller). We use a really god-aweful Swing app for display. The registers usually have uptimes in the 3 month range unless something bad happens on the store controller (like IBM Deskstar hard drives).
Most of Lowe's non-register computers run Linux and Mozilla. They can also run the terminal program that the tills use. Lowe's only use Windows for kitchen design software and training software.
May want to check out BananaPOS. It's the only Open Source POS system I found after a lot of searching that would be worth using. The feature list looks very nice. Version 2 is just right around the bend but the beta versions are available already.
As a manager in a retail enviroment I can tell you that having the latest and greatest is not the best for retailing. I would love for usability studies to be done on POS systems. The biggest problem that I see with a POS system is the administration of that system. For a mid-size company, it takes three people nearly 15 hours a week to make sure that the system works, and that the information is accurate. As far as the cashiers are concerned (and I cashier from time to time), the eye candy and all the other stuff is just fluff. All a cashier needs is stability and the information quickly. If a DOS 4.1 machine can provide that stability, while providing the information then there is no need to upgrade or worry. The system we use has its quarks, but frankly, the customer never knows because the cashiers have a level of usability that enables them to preform their job efficently and accurately. In fact, we have looked at upgrading and/or switching to another POS, but frankly, while it might give management more information, we view the potential upgrade as a risk to disrupting customer relations. So I guess the point of this, if your local auto parts store has a system that works, why bother to upgrade if it provides the functionality that the customer demands and the cashiers expect. If I had to upgrade the software and hardware on the POS machines ever two to three years, it would have major implications on the customers. Heck, our POS systems are merely Windows 95 machines. And I don't see an upgrade any time soon. The computers we are using to administer the system are pretty slick, but if that rarely affects the customer. Now in an enviroment where the computer systems are defined by when the location is built, then I can see this being a big issue. If you build XXX stores a year, then this becomes a major issue. But that means that the POS and the operating system that you choose has to scale.
The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
No, I own the software I run.
That does not mean I own the copyright to the software.
You're conflating two entirely different things. Go back to your analogy with the book.
I have boxes and boxes of books. I own every single book.
I don't own any copyrights in most of them, but I still own the books.
Just like I own the software on my computer.
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