POS [Point Of Sale] system for restaurant

marty said:

Think? I need to update 4610 printer firmware, logos, fonts, messages and configuration. Read about it here:
TOSHIBA Diagnostics for POS Systems and Peripherals
Need a username and password. I filled out the form and will wait and see what happens.

Click to expand...

Filled out the form, Nothing has happened. Called IBM yesterday 800-426-7378 First call transfer, transfer, transfer, transfer, transfer, to Lenovo. I give up and hang up. Second call latter in the day. Helpful girl tells me to email Senior Software Engineer at ToshibaCommerce.com He emails back Copying Different Person. WOW a real human at Toshiba! Still I have no username and password

What would Burger King or Target do if they spent a few hundred thousand/million on some POS equipment and there computer fix-it guys were banging their head on the wall because they needed a firmware update or would be forced to buy all new equipment? Think they would hire a team of lawyers to try to shake some software out of Toshiba. I do the same. I got a friendly lawyer who would be happy to be a Cc in my email.

Are there any laws requiring manufacturers to supply parts and or firmware updates for the stuff they sell? For a certain number of years?

marty said:

Anyone have any experience or recommendations with POS point of sale systems?

Pizza Restaurant.
2 phone lines
2 touch screens
cash drawer
receipt printer
credit card reader
bar code scanner
2 printers for different areas of kitchen

Programmer and installer of equipment is me. I have no experience but like to learn.

I am most concerned with SOFTWARE. Should be easy to set up with clear instructions. No buggy software. Easy to navigate menu. Green Olive button should be GREEN. Want to own the software. No monthly fees. Is there any good free open-source POS software? I will probably get confused with programming and need some telephone or email support.

Hardware should be quality and reliable.

Got a bunch of old heavy equipment that used Aloha POS software. Equipment is missing parts and looks pretty banged up. Think it would be best to throw old equipment in the scrap metal pile and buy everything new.

Restaurant is busy and using 3 part paper guest checks and a simple cash register.

Click to expand...

Have you ever heard of http://www.ncr-hospitality.com/
Maybe this could help you...

Senior Software Engineer at Toshiba came through. No lawyers needed. He put 3 files in some cloud. Downloaded all 3. Two of them download failed. Got the Memory Key Package. Fun diagnostics software. Boots and runs off of a thumb drive. Able to test the MSR, that is the credit card swiper Magnetic Stripe Reader and the cash drawer. Diagnostics software will not find the printer.

Put this file into the diagnostic thumb drive.
IBM 4610 SureMark Printer, Microcode files for Firmware Update
Not sure if it was needed?

Printer is IBM 4610-TF6 Cleaned the print head with alcohol and it now prints beautiful test...... Open printer top cover. Press and hold the paper feed button for 5 seconds. The LED indicator will make one quick flash, accompanied by a beep, followed by a pause. Close the top cover. Prints customer receipt test.

After playing with the [TOSHIBA Diagnostics for POS Systems and Peripherals] Printer paper feed button behavior has changed. It used to spit out paper fast. Now it goes in spurts. Not a problem just a change. I suspect printer firmware was updated. Also at random times when attempting to get printer to print it will spit out a small amount of paper with no text.

Long story short. Computer is not seeing printer.

Marty notes from [TOSHIBA Diagnostics for POS Systems and Peripherals] experiment.
Cash drawer = COM D
MSR = COM F

If I had to test the printer I'd connect it's serial port to a different PC, one not having a printer driver installed on it for com1 like your IBM does right now, and send the contents of a text file to the serial port.

Are you thinking to use Command Prompt? Hooked up printer serial cable to my everyday Windows 7 computer. Turned computer on, hoping it would say "found new hardware" It did not. Open Command Prompt, follow instructions here:
Windows XP Professional Product Documentation, Print Sends a text file to a printer

C:\Users\Marty>print \c:COM4 test.txt
Unable to initialize device PRN

Also tried this with the XP POS computer. Got the same.... Unable to initialize device PRN

I am thinking that printer might be broke? Lots of used ones on eBay. I am also thinking that there is a lot to go wrong when Marty is the text inputer in the Command Prompt black screen with white letters. Still waiting for a user name and password to view the Toshoba website.

Yeah, I'd use the command prompt but your xp link says the syntax should be more like:
print /d:COM1 testfile.txt
where forward slash /dort is a command-line switch, an option, with port name and not a directory\file path so you don't use \ there. You can use \ where testfile.txt is though. Could be why you got the error msg about can't initialize prn device if you really did use a \ first.

Actually, I was thinking more to use "copy testfile.txt COM1:" or, better yet, run HyperTerminal and create a direct connection to com1. Then use it's upload file function, assuming it has one, to send a file to the printer.

When using the command line, the mode command is used before printing to set serial port rate, etc. Easier just to use HyperTerminal rather than to lookup command-line parameters.

Finally receipt printer is printing Mark5 thanks for the help. Typing in command prompt is like typing in a different language that I don't know. Yes I did have the \ backwards. /\/\/\/\/\/\ HyperTerminal seems like something to do with telephones? Can make no sense out of it.

Found a clue to the solution here:
4610, Resolving Epson Emulation Issues
The printer must be in IBM mode (NOT in Epson emulation mode) when performing a printer firmware update. To convert to IBM mode, set DIP switch #3 to the OFF position and turn the printer power off and on again.
Now the TOSHIBA Diagnostics for POS Systems and Peripherals finds and updates the printer.
On the test page Microcode EC level was 36.2 now it is 56 Don't know what EC stands for?

After printer firmware update, printer only works with DIP switch 3 set to OFF. So I don't know if the firmware update was necessary or all that was needed was to set DIP switch 3 to off?

Next step is to get the server fired up. IBM System x3200 M2

Got to buy a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Touch screen is 800x600 resolution, 4/3 aspect ratio. Thinking that the monitor I buy should be the same 4/3 aspect ratio so the POS software looks the same on all screens?

Eventually I will connect all the computers together. Never connected computers together before.
Computer network

Question? I put Windows XP on each computer with my old faithful XP CD. Should I use the product key numbers on the CD or on the sticker on the computer? After installing Windows XP I call Microsoft to activate windows. Listen to a recording that tells me numbers to type in.

marty said:

marty said:

Think? I need to update 4610 printer firmware, logos, fonts, messages and configuration. Read about it here:
TOSHIBA Diagnostics for POS Systems and Peripherals
Need a username and password. I filled out the form and will wait and see what happens.

Click to expand...

Filled out the form, Nothing has happened. Called IBM yesterday 800-426-7378 First call transfer, transfer, transfer, transfer, transfer, to Lenovo. I give up and hang up. Second call latter in the day. Helpful girl tells me to email Senior Software Engineer at ToshibaCommerce.com He emails back Copying Different Person. WOW a real human at Toshiba! Still I have no username and password

What would Burger King or Target do if they spent a few hundred thousand/million on some POS equipment and there computer fix-it guys were banging their head on the wall because they needed a firmware update or would be forced to buy all new equipment? Think they would hire a team of lawyers to try to shake some software out of Toshiba. I do the same. I got a friendly lawyer who would be happy to be a Cc in my email.

Are there any laws requiring manufacturers to supply parts and or firmware updates for the stuff they sell? For a certain number of years?

Click to expand...

Still battling with people at ToshibaCommerce.com for access to drivers, manuals, technical documents, etc that I suspect are on there web site. Need a user name and password. Here is a informative news article on this subject.
computerworld.com / Fight for your right to repair

If you can't get IBM drivers maybe you could set the printer to Epson-compatible mode and configure the POS software to print to Epson instead. Still leaves the card reader though. Does the cash drawer also need a driver? Worst case, you can buy an aftermarket stripe reader. Also see if this leads anywhere: http://www.javapos.com/index.html . Probably not, sounds like it's for apps. Drivers are at a lower level. Just thinking aloud here.

Some info about how cash drawers work and how to open them (when directly connected, not daisy chained, send a certain character or sequence of chars to activate solenoid) here:
http://www.4epos.com/epos.htm .

If setting printer to Epson emulation, try using Epson T88ii driver if that's available in Windows. 4epos web page has Epson download link at bottom.

IBM SurePOS 500 Type 4951-514 is mostly set up and functioning ok. Got drivers by searching IBMs collection of broken links. Here is a picture.

Ordered a pole display on eBay so the customer can see the price.

Receipt printer seems to be working DIP switch 3 set to IBM.

Software guy at Toshiba Commerce did send me the [TOSHIBA Diagnostics for POS Systems and Peripherals] works beautifully, cash drawer opens and card reader reads my credit card as a test.

Now I am battling with the people at Toshiba Commerce mostly as a matter of principle. When I click https://toshibacommerce.com/ > Support Overview > Publications. I want access to everything there is for the POS equipment on my dining room table.

I have strong feelings that anyone who wants to should be able to fix the stuff that they own, instead of throwing it away and buying new electronics. Search [right to repair] in Google and you will see.

DIY Tractor Repair Runs Afoul Of Copyright Law
Long story short. Farmer needs to harvest his crop. Tractor breaks. John Deere has a digital lock on the software that runs his tractor. Farmer has to wait for for the John Deere dealer to come fix his tractor. While he waits his crop rots. In the past a farmer could go buy a $120 sensor and fix his own tractor.

If it was me, I'd use an iPad with a Square setup. As LFP said, a lot of people use them, there is a minimal amount of hardware, and it doesn't clutter the often-limited counter space. You might be able to do the same thing with a less expensive tablet though.

IBM web site has gone from bad to worse. Few weeks ago I found drivers. Now drivers are all gone. Unless I am not searching properly? Drivers are no where to be found. Search for:
IBM SurePOS 500
Model 4951-514

Links I linked to a few weeks ago are "410 Gone"

Thinking that IBM has lost interest in IBM Point Of Sale equipment and now Toshiba has taken over.

Toshiba Commerce
You are here: > Home > Support Overview > Hardware
Legacy Systems & Peripherals
SurePOS 500
4851-514 Download Library - Publication Library

PROBLEM is that when I click on to see Download's or Publication's, web site ask for Username and Password. "An Enterprise ID is required to access the Publication & Download Libraries." Filled out the form and got no reply. Have communicated with people at Toshiba by email and am having no success in getting a ID. I am not giving up.

Long story short - To get access to drivers and stuff on Toshiba Commerce web site need to find a "Business Partner" That is a Toshiba POS dealer who will give me his [Toshiba Customer/Account Number] I am not in the POS business and have no partner :x

From a POS dealer:

Unfortunately that number is for authorized Toshiba re-sellers who have been certified and trained to sell, service and support this equipment.

Click to expand...

A month ago all the drivers were on the IBM web site. Now they are gone. I am angry. I am doing this mostly for fun. Taking my drivers away is like taking toys from a child. I don't know what to do? If I buy more old used IBM equipment on eBay, will need more drivers. If I can't get access to stuff on the Toshiba Commerce website, I don't think I want to spend any more money or time on this project.

I am angry. Search right to repair on Google and I see that I am not the only one who wants to fix my own stuff.
https://www.google.com/#q=right+to+repair

Here is a link to senate Bill S3998B
The Fair Repair Bill
Requires manufacturers of digital electronic parts to offer for sale diagnostic and repair information in the same manner as such manufacturer provides such diagnostic and repair information to such manufacturer's repair channel; section does not apply to motor vehicles.

Senate Bill S3998B, Assembly Bill A6068A. I don't have much knowledge of politics and really have no idea what Senate and Assembly is? I am good at copy and paste.

When I get angry I buy domain names. Check out my new web site
http://toshiba-commerce.com/
I dream of a place where POS people can share drivers, service manuals, etc. How to prevent hacker idiots from uploading viruses and whatnot?

This is the first time I have had trouble getting drivers for a computer. Hope this is not the future.

Found drivers. I am overwhelmed with file names.
Go here:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/retail/poseng/upos/
See:
upos1133ga.zip
upos1133ga150jvm.zip
upos1133sdkga.zip
upos1133sdkga150jvm.zip

Curious as to what do those file names stand for? What is ga, ga150jvm, sdkga, and sdkga150jvm?

Everything is working except the customer display. Guessing that this might be what is needed to wake up the customer display?


The U001 never changes.

Terminal is IBM SurePOS 500 Type 4951-514
Customer pole display, 2 lines of 20 digits, IBM part number 41K6814
Windows XP

marty said:

Found drivers. I am overwhelmed with file names.
Go here:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/retail/poseng/upos/
See:
upos1133ga.zip
upos1133ga150jvm.zip
upos1133sdkga.zip
upos1133sdkga150jvm.zip

Curious as to what do those file names stand for? What is ga, ga150jvm, sdkga, and sdkga150jvm?

Click to expand...

Just a guess.

ga: General Availability

sdk: Software development kit

jvm: Java virtual machine

Good guess Mark5

Here is reply from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, Technical Sales Support Guy
So these are all UPOS 1.13.3 releases. GA is the General Availability release with JRE. SDKGA has the JDK. The last one has the IBM 1.5 JVM

upos1133ga.zip
upos1133ga150jvm.zip
upos1133sdkga.zip
upos1133sdkga150jvm.zip

GA = JRE Java Runtime Environment

SDKGA = JDK Java Development Kit

150JVM = ?not for me?

Whats your favorite flavor of Java? My thinking is start with General Availability and see if it works.

marty said:

Everything is working except the customer display. Guessing that this might be what is needed to wake up the customer display?
The U001 never changes.

Click to expand...

I don't know how to fix that but i've seen that issue on a numberr of regular retailers' systems, where it's either blank like the burger kings' always are, or u001 or some other number always on there and no normal info.

upos1133ga + upos32b1140ga run like a program and did not get the customer display to do anything. Going to forget about it for now.

I need a simple lesson in how to connect computers together to form a network.

In my house I have a router with 4 Ethernet plugs. The internet comes into this router. One Ethernet wire goes to this computer that I am typing on. Second one goes to the printer. Wireless internet goes to a laptop.

For my POS experiments, I want to connect the server to one computer that is mounted on top of the cash drawer. No internet. I got a pile gadgets that I think are called routers, switches, and hubs? After I connect the server to one computer, Plan is to install Aloha 5.3.47g Aloha is POS software. I assume that one installs POS software on the server? Not sure how the program gets to each monitor that is a separate computer? All computers are Windows XP.

To rephrase - How to connect two computers together? No internet.

I have seen several wine tasting rooms use the ipad and software as LFP suggests.

marty said:

To rephrase - How to connect two computers together? No internet.

Click to expand...

If only two devices, connect them together using an ethernet cable. Older ethernet ports would need a crossover cable with transmitting and receiving lines swapped on one side but regular straight-through cable should work with newer ethernet ports.

If connecting more than two computers, connect all to a hub or switch using regular cable.

Assign a private network I/P address like 192.168.0.n (n=1 to 255) to each computer where each computer has a distinct n.

Got the two computers connected together Mark5 style. Not sure if I need a special Ethernet crossover cable?

Server got:
Gigabit Ethernet Controller
The x3200 M2 includes one integrated Broadcom 5722 Gigabit Ethernet controller for up to 10X higher
maximum throughput than a 10/100 Ethernet controller. In addition, the 5722 supports IPMI-over-LAN.
It also supports highly secure remote power management using IPMI 2.0, plus Wake on LAN® and PXE
(Preboot Execution Environment) flash interface. Optional PCI adapters offering failover and load
balancing between adapters are available for added throughput and increased system availability.

Terminal got:
LAN wired - Integrated 10/100 mbps Ethernet

Some links regarding Aloha.
Aloha Pos Tips and tricks
I copy:
- How to bypass Password Aloha's :

1. Launch Aloha Manager.
2. Go to Login - (before type anything) press Alt-X.
3. 4 sets of numbers will appear.
4. Use whatever username you want ( im using "admin" ).
5. Start with every the last digit of the number at the Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left and Bottom Right and typing this 4 character password.
6. and type 1=q, 2=w, 3=e,4=r,5=t,6=y,7=u,8=i,9=o,0=p
7. example : i got 5941 then the password is torq

Why does software have unknown username and password? Might be simpler to forget this Aloha confusion and shop for different POS software?

Tried to install Aloha 5.3.47g Aloha Manager installs OK.
Here is a PDF file:

Can not find installation instructions for 5. Think 6. is close enough?
Get to this point:
If you are installing Aloha for the first time, you must run Run SetupTRM.exe from the TermInst folder on
the CD to install Aloha on the terminals in your network.

No go

To get rid of all computer confusion, going to do a clean install of Windows XP, drivers and try again after following these instructions:

Quick XP server and terminal setup.

faq693-7364
Posted: 8 Jul 10 (Edited 9 Jul 10)

Most of this is the Aloha default setup.

NETWORK SETUP

workgroup = ibertech

servername = alohaboh

Static IP Scheme ex 192.168.1.100

NetBIOS must be enabled over TCP/IP

Set Lananumber to 0 of the aloha network adapter using lanacfg (see other posts)


TCP/IP media sense

Disable Media Sense in the Windows Registry
1. Run REGEDIT
2.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters.
3. Verify the DisableDHCPMediaSense value exists in the folder. If it does, double-click it and change Value Data to '1'. If it does not exist, choose Edit/New/DWORD Value and name the key ' DisableDHCPMediaSense '. Then double-click the entry and change Value Data to '1'.

File Sharing

Turn off simple file sharing.

A network share labeled BOOTDRV that enables read and write capabilities to the Aloha application software file server and FOH terminals. This share needs to be applied to the root folder or drive in which the Aloha folder resides.


Logging in
create an aloha user with the same password as the terminals.

Installing software:
create an aloha folder on the server - copy the data and newdata folders to aloha and use the install disk to install aloha on the server - browse to install disk and run advanced.exe

You may need to adjust the login account used by CTLSVR.EXE (Control Server) and EDCSVR.EXE (EDC Server) on the file server to ensure proper operation with terminals running Windows XP. They should be the same login as the terminals to function.

The Hasp security key needs to be attached and a connection to the nic card must be made before CTLSVR will run as a service.


Setting up a terminal is pretty much the same other than the servername = term1 or term2 etc and the terminal install program.

There should be a termminal setup program on al of the existing terminals, copy it over and run it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
tek-tips.com website causes my browser to jam up. Love this phpBB forum.
Coorsman seems to have a good knowledge of Aloha.
Please stay tuned for more computer confusion :?

EDIT Sat Sep 03, 2016 Learning my way around tek-tips.com Browser is not jamming up any more.
http://www.tek-tips.com/ Home > Forums > MIS/IT > Infrastructure Support > Point of sale systems
Point of sale systems FAQ Index
New text change color to blue.

wineboyrider said:

I have seen several wine tasting rooms use the ipad and software as LFP suggests.

Click to expand...

Saw tablet POS systems when I was on the west cost. Around Western NY I see big clunky POS systems. Have only seen one tablet attached to a cash drawer in a Greek restaurant.

On a low budget here.

Progress report:

Get to this step:
Set Lananumber to 0 of the aloha network adapter using lanacfg (see other posts)

Setting Lana Number
how do i use lanacfg by coorsman
faq693-7378
Posted: 22 Aug 10

lanacfg is a dos program.
copy lanacfg program to c:\


Open a command prompt (dos window)

type in:

lanacfg showlanapaths <enter>
this will display all adapters and their lana numbers

if you see one with 0 then you will need to change it to another number that is not being used lets use 9 for an exaple.

do this by typing in:
lanacfg setlananumber 0 9 <enter>

check it:
lanacfg showlanapaths <enter>

find the new adapter description in the list - lets say its 5:

lanacfg setlananumber 5 0 <enter>

check it:
lanacfg showlanapaths <enter>

type in:
exit <enter>

reboot computer.

Find lanacfg.exe file here - http://www.mediafire.com/download/569tvmw7tte1696/lanacfg.exe

Copy of DOS text.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Marty>lanacfg

Network Configuration Diagnostic
View, manipulate, or test network configuration.

lanacfg [options]
showlanapaths - Show bind paths and component descriptions for each exporte
d lana
setlananumber - Change the lana number of a bind path
rewritelanainfo - Verify and write out lana info to the registry
showlanadiag - Show lana diagnostic info



C:\Documents and Settings\Marty>lanacfg showlanapaths
Lana: 0
-->WINS Client(TCP/IP) Protocol-->Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)-->Broadcom NetXtrem
e Gigabit Ethernet



C:\Documents and Settings\Marty>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Think there is no need to change anything? Lana: 0