A quick Google search shows the Lupo 3L had start/stop technology. The battery size I'm unsure of but I believe it uses the same size as the other model Lupo cars, which would make it a 12v 60Ah. Varta's website shows their "Start-Stop Plus" batteries have those specs and are made for start-stop systems.

One word - Tethering

They also have to be sure that the plastic gun isn't going to transform into an evil 30-foot tall incompetent robot warlord. Fix'd

I hardly qualify as "older" and I honestly think self checkouts are a waste of time and resources. When they're properly maintained and every item is entered correctly in the system and has a bar code I'm sure they'd work perfectly. As a former retail checker for several years and a customer I know that's hardly ever the case. SKUs change too fast to keep up with sometimes and maintenance from the equipment vendors doesn't come often enough and they react too slow to emergencies. The number of times I've gotten stuck on "Please put your item in the bag" are too many because it can't detect the weight properly and not to mention it feels like the laser in the scanner is much weaker than the one on a proper checkout terminal. If there's an issue you have to wait for the single employee who manages at least four of those self checkouts to come over and fix it. Usually that means waiting for them to finish with the other one or two customers with issues.

Possibly, but he DID mention that the LAN works fine and anything wired up doesn't lose connectivity.

Honestly if you're working on papers on your computer most of the time, flip the monitor to vertical. Pretty much all of the "paperwork" based terminals I saw when doing printer maintenance at hospitals were mounted vertically for quick review of documents.

Hop on over to El Reg and take a look at this article. While not exactly the most official study done, this show has shown that explosive ingredients can indeed be smuggled onto a plane even when going through the scanners. I believe this does qualify this whole mess as "security theater" to me.

I'm thinking it definitely varies by model. But yeah it always seemed to me and the other techs I worked with at my last position that Brothers were one of the bottom of the line as far as part quality. Pain in the ass to work on too. Good job on getting them anything to get off of buying inkjets. Only thing I use my inkjets for is for photo printing or business cards. Both of them are rare since I share most of my photos online, usually with Flickr. My little HP LaserJet 1020 has been a rather surprising little machine.