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Can You Access Your Own Cash Register Data?

Posted by kdawson on from the don't-bogart-them-totals dept.

jeronimo989 writes "A customer of mine has a small shop and asked me to look for an electronic cash register. One of the requirements is to retrieve the sales data from the cash register in some accessible format so he can import it in the software of his choice (which happens to be OpenOffice), either by downloading the data on a Flash card, connecting a laptop via USB, or even via a direct modem connection. As far as the cash register itself is concerned, he doesn't need anything too fancy; any 'entry level' machine for small businesses is probably OK (as long as it keeps an electronic journal, of course). Which options do we have? Are there cash register manufacturers out there that allow accessing the sales data directly in an open format? Does anyone here have experience with setting up a link between a cash register and PC, preferably using free/open source solutions?"

15 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Put it on the Internet by PartPricer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please tell him to make it accessible via the Internet and to not encrypt his credit card data. It would make life so much easier for my Russian friends.

    Ever heard of PCI-DSS?

  2. Re:Lame by alzoron · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hell, he coulda have searched Slashdot alone:

    http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/24/2012230
    http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/13/0116212
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/04/12/166251

  3. Re:Lame by wfWebber · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, the software you found is a real POS alright. Seems Google still does an intelligent search match :)

    --
    Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway. -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
  4. FYI by WK2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just so everyone knows:

    POS = Point of Sale
    POS = Piece of Shit

    For the most part, the POS's in this thread are the first choice.

    --
    Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
    1. Re:FYI by dwater · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just so everyone knows:

      POS = Point of Sale
      POS = Piece of Shit

      For the most part, the POS's in this thread are the first choice. The actual posts in this thread, on the other hand....
      --
      Max.
    2. Re:FYI by 87C751 · · Score: 5, Funny

      POS = Point of Sale
      POS = Piece of Shit

      For the most part, the POS's in this thread are the first choice.
      Not after that second assignment.
      --
      Mail? Put "slashdot" in the subject to pass the spam filters.
  5. Re:Lame by ATMD · · Score: 3, Funny

    And I (native to England) would half expect to see a lot of Microsoft-funded pages when Googling for "linux pos".

    --
    Nobody else has this sig.
  6. Re:Quickbooks Terminal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since before the US completly fucked their dollar. I think they're in competition with Zimbabwe.

  7. Re:Lame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is when the "b" is a typo.

  8. Re:Lame by Bastard+of+Subhumani · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everytime someone posts some question on slashdot there is inevitably some idiot who will answer to "goolge it"
    Indeed, anyone who can't spell 'google' is a total fucking imbecile.
    --
    Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
  9. Re:Lame by SlashWombat · · Score: 2, Funny

    TLA's are just a PITA!

  10. Re:Maybe Stoq? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mod this down. Async is a competitor of mine.

  11. Re:Sharp by supersnail · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mod parent down!!
    He answered the OPs question.
    He answered it sensibly.
    He did not recommend any Freeware, Payware or Painware.
    He did not even critique the operating system used.

    We cannot condone such postings. What if everybody came to expect Slashdot posting to be relevent, even credible.

    --
    Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
  12. Re:It really doesn't work this way... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 3, Funny
    I once had a short term contract with a place that made the things that will remain nameless.

    I'll bet sales would increase if they named them.

  13. Re:LameNot /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    next time I will pick a more enigmatic job title for my BizCard

    My personal favorite is "Grand Master and High Lord of the Infinite Unknown". If anyone challenges me on it, I ask them to prove that I'm not in charge of something they're unaware of ;)