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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?"

3 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Lame by EdIII · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This IS slashdot. It doesn't hurt to RTFA either (when they're there) but there's still a large number of readers here that don't want to risk it .


    LOL. Just what it is the risk again?

    My guess is that the submitter wants to short circuit the process of working his/her way through them, and tap into the collective knowledge of /.ers

    Exactly. This is ./ but it also like a tech forum too. The signal to noise ratio might be a little different, but there are some pretty informative posts from time to time.
  2. Re:A suggestion by EdIII · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Are you FUCKING NUTS!?

    All it takes is one sociopathic asshole, or even one unwitting accomplice to install a trojan/malware/virus/worm into the cash register.

    I know some people are thinking, "wow. they might be able to steal money by funneling it somewhere". I'm thinking, "If that asshole stops me from being able to buy my Chunky Monkey, I'm going postal up in this *$#*&$#%".

  3. Re:Lame by tepples · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    LOL. Just what it is the risk again [of following an article link]? Tracking cookies. Pop-ups. SWF advertisements. A single article strewn across a dozen ad-laden pages. Or even drive-by downloads of malware. Not to mention losing track of time while reading things on the site with the article, so that you don't have a chance to make Slashdot comments early enough for them to get moderated up.