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Ask Slashdot: An Open Handheld Terminal For Retail Stores?

Posted by timothy on from the give-in-to-hegemony dept.

Evil Al writes "From the ubiquitous Verifone card terminals to the fancy Apple Store terminals, point-of-sale devices are everywhere. But does anyone know of an open terminal (with printer + Wi-Fi), preferably running Linux, that we can use to run a custom application for retail, made by a reputable manufacturer?"

9 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. iPod touch + sled? by perpenso · · Score: 2

    But does anyone know of an open terminal (with printer + Wi-Fi), preferably running Linux, that we can use to run a custom application for retail, made by a reputable manufacturer?

    Just curious but why does the operating system underneath it all matter? It seems the application is key and you can open source that regardless of the platform it is running on. Why not an iPod touch + card reading sled + open source app, an app that you distribute internally as an enterprise app so it doesn't need the Apple approval process that a regular app would need?

  2. PCI by atfrase · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you intend to process credit card payments through your custom application on the point-of-sale device, you'll likely fall under the purview of the Payment Card Industry's Payment Application Data Security Standard (PCI PA-DSS), which may require a source code audit and limit what you can have the software do. That may be no problem for you depending on your resources and intended use of your software, but it's worth keeping in mind.

    1. Re:PCI by hibiki_r · · Score: 4, Informative

      For all but the largest operations though, you need no code audits or anything of the sort: Even a chain with a couple dozen stores won't even be asked to do more than fill a questionnaire claiming to follow PCI standards, which as far as software go, aren't all that difficult to follow, especially if you leave most of the credit card handling to a third party, so you aren't stuck having to deal with securing encryption keys.

    2. Re:PCI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just because you're PCI compliant, doesn't mean you are until there is a breach and it is shown that you were indeed compliant...i.e., Visa wins. The best bet is to offload that risk to a processor as much as humanly possible.

      Also, wifi + credit cards = lame. Really, really lame. Please don't do that...also, ipsec is nice when you can get it. SSL is not the greatest thing since sliced bread.

  3. Re:this is not the POS terminal you are looking fo by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 2

    Well, score 1 out of 3. Fusion power and cold fusion both exist, just on scales too small to be practical (so far).

    It would be nice if I could say the same about warp drives... :o)

  4. Why? by rabbit994 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'll ask the easy question.. WHY?

    Seriously, when you business relies on a machine that must work or you are losing money, everyone wants someone to turn to when it doesn't work. That someone isn't a man page or IRC channel or mailing list or whatever support for $foo GPL program here. It's a computer, not a holy war. You press buttons and it does things. When you want a computer you control, you run linux, when you want a computer that grandma can use, you give her a Mac and when you want retail system that checks people out, you run whatever OS that your POS maker asks you to.

    1. Re:Why? by SpazmodeusG · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So he can create a credit card skimmer? That was my first thought anyway.

  5. AML perhaps? by CyberVenom · · Score: 5, Informative

    AML makes Linux-powered portable handheld computers with Wi-Fi and barcode scanning capability, and they'll give you their source disk with your hardware if you ask, so you can modify it as much as you like if their standard suite of applications don't suit you. You would also need to add a printer like the Epson TM-T88 and an RS232 magstripe-reader like the Unitech MS-240. For the actual card clearing, you'd probably either tie this system into your existing POS mainframe (if you have one) or you'd tie it into an Internet-based POS solution like Authorize.net, or if you are feeling ambitious, you can integrate over SSL directly with a clearing network like TSYS (formerly VisaNet / VITAL). Of course, your biggest expenditure is probably going to be paying someone to write the software to tie all this together for you (unless you can pull it all off yourself, in which case hats off to you!)

    http://www.amltd.com/product.asp?pid=m7220
    http://pos.epson.com/products/prodsPMOP.htm
    http://ute.com/products_info.php?pid=211

    P.S.
    I have worked on the AML portable computers before. I have not specifically worked with the Epson printer or the Unitech magstripe reader, but both should work in conjunction with the AML unit's WiFi and serial capabilities respectively. You would probably need to custom-make a cable for the magstripe reader since the AML unit uses a non-standard RS232 connector (RJ45 if I recall correctly).

  6. Re:this is not the POS terminal you are looking fo by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    So you have some alternative theory as to why stars shine, then...

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.