Inventory and POS/Cash Solutions

[Peter]

Most normal cash registers are able to dump a transaction log, and in certain
locations they are required to do so. The simplest ones use paper tape only
(double tape). More advanced ones have built in reporting functions as desired
by the op and still print those on paper tape. Such as the 10 most sold items
and peak sales hours in the day. These are typically dumped at the end of the
day on operator demand (typically the shift supervisor would get that and file
it when closing and doing the final tally in the evening).

There are several Linux POS solutions and there is even openpos but I do not
know where they went it's been a while since I looked. The problem with Linux
POS is that the tax people usually insist in having cash register approved and
likely no such approval will exist for a Linux solution. So the way to fix it
would be to get an approved paper tape etc cash register with a usable serial
interface and run some application on Linux based on data pulled from that
interface, without tampering with the software in the cash register.

That can be done relatively easily. Cash registers usually use plain ascii
storage and dump formats, Julian dates, and record products by EAN or UPC
barcode. Pulling this data into Excel/Gnucalc etc and working on it is trivial
and some cash registers do offer this function (export to excel).

So take a look at these options, and see what you can actually afford. Because
of the certification need, certified cash registers are usually more expensive
than normal ones.

I'd say get the operation and programming handbooks of 1-2 popular cash
registers and read them end to end before you embark on a big project to avoid
dupplicating existing features.

-- Peter


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