Open Source Point-of-Sale - What's Out There? 61
aztektum asks: "I have taken on the task of designing a building a networked Point-of-Sale system for a friends new restaurant/club. We have looked at out of the box solutions, but their upfront costs are a bit staggering, so I suggested a DIY approach. We are going to buy hardware outright, probably using Elo touch-screens and basic white boxes. It's the software that we're coming up short on. We are looking for a system that has good back-end management (running reports for end of day, from a central location and other such features), has a flexible/customizable UI, and as a bonus doesn't suffer from too much proprietary lock-in. Since Elo's screens have Linux support, I wanted to see if anyone on Slashdot has worked on similar projects and has experience with open source POS solutions. I have Google'd a bit and found some options, but I cannot spend a lot time testing out multiple setups because of a firm deadline. Quite bluntly, what's the best but least expensive option that you know of?" This is not the first time this particular issue has appeared on Ask Slashdot. The last discussion on this particular issue was way back in 2003. What has changed since then?
OSS, Free or a Few Dollars? (Score:5, Informative)
I know of solutions out there. They're all web solutions. You might not be looking to implement web solutions, however, isn't it possible to set it up on a local network? Maybe this is your strategy but I'm a bit confused as to what you're willing or desiring to do.
I'm also confused if it has to be "open source" or merely "free." On one hand the title says OSS but you seem to be only concerned with price. Just make a note that "free" and "OSS" are two different kinds of software. If you googled, you probably found a smattering of both. The two I suggest you investigate are purely OSS as I prefer that over free. Your last question ("Quite bluntly, what's the best but least expensive option that you know of?") seems to imply that you're willing to spend money if we can verify it's worth it. What conditions are you working under specifically?
Look into MozPos [sourceforge.net] & freepos [sourceforge.net]. They are web based and maybe you could install a very simple sleek version of Linux with merely Mozilla. The homepage would vary between computer and you could have a pop up keyboard or swipe strips for authentication. You would probably need a swiper that supports Linux but that's another issue.
If you're truly looking to get out of the box open source solutions, look into using websites instead of networked applications.
If you're willing to get your hands dirty, I encourage you to look at the engines some of these OSS things are based on and maybe make a GUI network application that is built on top of a layer of abstraction allowing you to use an already designed backend (database & reporting features). This is a lot of work but would be a great addition to the community if you subsequently made it available since Elo screens seem to be the leader in touch screens.
With a web based OSS application, you can download the source code and change the PHP/JSP/ASP/whatever interface code so that the HTML suites your liking considering the specifications of your Elo screens. That's why I suggest a web application and that's why I think that you'll be most satisfied if you pick one in a language you know and invest two or three solid weekends in tailoring the interface to precisely what you want.
Most importantly, change the system based on feedback from the workers.
Just a thought, I encourage you to post your choices and results here on Slashdot when you do make a selection and attempt to do it yourself.
Re:OSS, Free or a Few Dollars? (Score:2, Interesting)
BTW is possible to search in Source Forge [sf.net], where you can filter your search as web, or whateveryouwant. But in the parent post you can see the best choices.
This is the most important thing you say, because the developers tend to think like "ohh what an amazing app we develop" and then the user doesnt have the little button that does "ping" (As the "machine that does ping") where he wants, and... as a
Re:OSS, Free or a Few Dollars? (Score:3, Interesting)
So yes, It is very likley that some users will go nutz if it doesn't act as they think it should. To me, sound on a cash register is anoying but the little clerk running the thing finds it neccesary. I though it might have been to monitor the till opening but they used a key for that so i guess it was just asthetics.
Least expensive - how do you define that? (Score:4, Informative)
It depends on how much you value your time, inventing something from scratch, building it out of disjointed components, or supporting it when things start failing.
Most importantly, think what happens to your friend's enterprise when you disappear from the scene. Will there be manuals and instructions to rebuild and restore everything? Who will do that, and how fast? Will the replacement hardware be available, and how soon? Things like that tend to stop many a DIY project, once you realize what the hidden costs and risks are.
Given that restaurants and clubs already have some serious price tags, I do not think you should dismiss COTS solutions just because of their absolute price. It may be less than 1% of your friend's other costs. There is such thing as "cost of doing business" and a POS is part of it. I'd tell the owner to pay the man and live happily ever after - unless you want to carry the burden of tech support whenever a PC goes down. Most normal owners just call the manufacturer (IBM etc.) and have the till swapped out within a few hours.
Re:Least expensive - how do you define that? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Least expensive - how do you define that? (Score:1)
Re:Least expensive - how do you define that? (Score:1)
What happens to his friend's enterprise when the proprietary COTS vendor disappears from the scene?
Part of the "absolute price" of a proprietary COTS solution is lock-in. With a decent F/OSS solution, the client is always free to hire a developer for maintenance and improvements.
Not free, but inexpensive... (Score:5, Funny)
May not be relevant at all... (Score:2)
Cause for concern.. (Score:3, Informative)
Mainly in part to a majority of POS software having a protocol that you pretty much have to pay for to use as code in your software. It's a standard created by MCard/Visa.. a basic way to how the transaction as carried out as a user going to a website on the net.
When you register a POS software, it needs to have hard-coded a TID/MID.. which is how the processor uses to identify a) the merchant of the account, and b) the actual device being used to do your transactions.
There might be another way around this. I am not too sure. Your best bet would be to contact a major processor/platform (Omaha, Nashville, Nova, etc..) This website ( http://www.authorize.net/solutions/resellersoluti
Otherwise than that (bullshit licensing, standards) you should be fine..
Good luck
Re:Cause for concern.. (Score:1)
Re:Cause for concern.. (Score:1)
Having worked for two years for an EPOS provider (HW & SW) I have to say that this is your single biggest challenge. Certainly in the UK the EFT provider will require to come in and test your solution. Even if you buy there code they still require to test the interface from your application.
Another way to do it is to get your friend to run the stand alone EFT solutions from their bank of choice and just not have the connection between the till and the actual card processing, although this
Re:Cause for concern.. (Score:1, Informative)
processing on a low level, dealing directly with the processors. Just interface your POS software with something like PC-Charge,
or use an internet based settlement processor. The company I used to work for - when I was doing this type of stuff - switched from using PC-Charge internally to using LinkPoint, an Internet gateway and found that worked reasonably well.
Re:Cause for concern.. (Score:2)
BananaPOS? (Score:5, Informative)
Have a banana (Score:3, Informative)
came across this a few days ago (Score:2, Informative)
Buy a real restaurant POS (Score:5, Informative)
I doubt your friends want to deal with the problems that you will encounter when you experiment with software that is not stable and is not fit to run their restuarant.
There is a Linux based restaurant POS, but it isn't free. I think it is called ViewTouch.
The POS that we use at work is called VersiTouch (versitouch.com). It is pretty solid. Compared to the numerous retail POS software packages I have had to support, VersiTouch is great. I prefer the DOS version, which they try not to support anymore (the DOS version is called RCS). The Windows version has hardly any additional features and it requires the constant headache of maintaining numerous windows machines. I use the mars-nwe Netware emulator on a Linux box to share files with DOS clients.
I think the biggest restuarant POS software is Aloha. Positouch is also kinda popular. Both of these are windows-based.
I have tried to configure an Elo touch on Linux, but I could never get the pointer calibrated. The documentation is sparse. I haven't tried again since about a year ago, so maybe it has gotten easier.
Re:Buy a real restaurant POS (Score:3, Informative)
I added the ability to calibrate Elo touchscreens to firecast(commercial linux distro for kiosks) years ago. I used a java app called EloVa. Oh, funky, my google search for it brought up my own post to our LUG 3 years ago. I forgot about the way they changed names of settings like MinX. That might help you
Re:Buy a real restaurant POS (Score:1, Interesting)
Restaurant POS - ever try myhandyrestaurant? (Score:2, Informative)
http://freshmeat.net/projects/handyrestaurant/ [freshmeat.net]
What a business! (Score:3, Insightful)
The cost makes you choke... yes, but does it make your friend choke? When I ran/owned a small cafe, I didn't choke at spending $6000 for a display case/cooler, $3000 for an expresso machine, &etc. Its the business... (ps, back in 1984 -- I don't know what prices are now).
If you want an "open source" solution, try to get someone to customize -- and get someone good. This is where you can most help your friend; weed out the bullshit so that your friend gets quality product.
And that's good advice for a "closed source" solution as well.
YMMV
Ratboy
Open Source POS-ing (Score:2)
Use Network Booting if all of your POS Terminals have the same or similar hardware. This will keep costs down.
Someone already mentioned TinyPOS. TinyPOS is a nice POS for Windows systems (and since you're trying to use Linux, maybe that's not the best idea.) I ended up using SQL-Ledger on the Back-End and writing my own application for the client-side which supported cash drawers, magnetic card readers, and a receipt printer.
The only issue that you may have is running the credit card transacti
POS Software... (Score:1)
Cheers,
MatrixManiac
If you want Linux, low cost, and *supported*... (Score:2)
So, if it's just a Linux-based flexible solution you're looking for, this might fit the bill. Otherwise, if it
Re:If you want Linux, low cost, and *supported*... (Score:1, Informative)
Last time I looked into this (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Use a real POS and not a Piece of SH1T (Score:1, Funny)
OFBiz (Score:3, Informative)
List of solutions (Score:1)
Quasar (Score:2)
You may want to look at the Quasar accounting and point-of-sale suite at http://www.linuxcanada.com/ [linuxcanada.com] The accounting suite itself is available under the GPL. The point-of-sale part is under a commercial license but includes the source code. Version 1.4.7 is currently available but 1.5 should be released shortly and contains many significant changes.
Suse Linux POS (Score:3, Interesting)
Good luck.
Beware of Elo touchscreen (Score:2)
However, the USB version have driver issue. Elo provide binary drivers for the USB controllers for a few outdated distro (RedHat 9, anybody ?). They do provide source for the USB driver, but it does not have any copyright info (thus, I have no idea if I can distribute it to my client), it contain object code, it is poorly documented (.doc ? WTF ?) and I could
Take a look at ntpv (Score:2)
Re:Take a look at ntpv (Score:3, Informative)
Big List (Score:1)