Projects:POS/Hardware Installation Guide
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Contents |
Overview
This tutorial provides an easy way to understand how to configure hardware in Openbravo POS version 2.20 and higher.
General Hardware Configuration
Configuration panel
To set up any hardware in Openbravo POS you need to go to System -> Configuration. In the section Cash register you configure the parameters of the hardware connected to the terminal. All of these options are stored in local and each machine stores its own system configuration.
The properties related to the register cash panel are:
- Name
- is the name of the POS terminal to identify operations from other POS terminals
- Skin
- provides a list of available themes which change the look and feel of Openbravo POS.
- Screen
- sets if the application should be in a fullscreen or just in window mode.
- Tickets
- sets in which mode Openbravo POS works. At the present day the following are available:
- standard, simple or restaurant. Standard is the default mode, it allows to have several opened receipts that are shared between all POS terminals and that can be closed in any order. Simple only allows to edit one receipt at a time in one POS terminal, if you want to start a new receipt you have to close first the current receipt, Also receipts cannot be shared between POS terminals. Restaurant allows to assign receipts to tables. It shows a panel with the plants of the restaurant with all the tables and receipts opened. It also includes a module to manage reservations.
- Customer Display
- sets the way how a customer should see the operations and status in the current receipt like last ordered item, prices and total amount.
- Printer
- is the main receipt printer.
- Printer2
- is an additional printer that could print something additional i.e. an
- order in a kitchen or in a bar.
- Printer3
- is an additional printer that could print something additional i.e. an
- order in a kitchen or in a bar.
- Scale
- sets scales to weigh products.
- Scanner
- sets a barcode scanner to read product barcodes, customer and user identification cards.
- Reports Printer
- is the system printer used to print reports.
Touch screen
Touch screens simulate a mouse. When a user touches the screen the system receives a mouse click in the point the user touches. There is nothing to configure in Openbravo POS. The preferred size and screen resolution for Openbravo POS is 15 and 1024x768. Most popular touch screen systems are developed by ELO TouchSystems and they are very well supported in Windows and Linux.
To test just press the touch screen and see how the mouse moves and clicks.
Barcode scanner
Barcode scanners simulate a keyboard. When a barcode scanner reads a barcode, it types the barcode read just as a keyboard would do. There is nothing to configure in Openbravo POS.
Most popular barcode readers are provided by Metrologic, like Metrologic 9520 Voyager.
To test the barcode scanner just open a text editor and scan a barcode. The value from the barcode should be displayed in the text editor.
Receipt printer and cash drawer
Openbravo POS supports several receipt printers connected to the same terminal and you can configure up to 3 receipt printers in the configuration panel. Cash drawers are connected to the receipt printer and open with a printer command.
The supported printers modes are:
Printer
This mode is for receipt printers and standard printers installed as a printer in the operating system using the system driver provided by the manufacturer of the printer.
When you select this mode a drop-down list to select the printer and a check box to select the paper type will appear.
In the drop down list if you select (Default) the default system printer will be selected and if you select (Show dialog), every time Openbravo POS wants to print a receipt or a document, a dialog will appear where you can select the printer to use.
In the check box you select the paper type, if the check box is selected you select the paper type receipt and if you unselect it the paper type "standard" is selected. The receipt paper type is defined for receipt printers and the standard paper type is defined the A4 paper size used in standard printers.
Depending on the receipt printer model or standard printer mode used some advanced configuration may be done to adjust the paper size used in your printer. To configure in detail the parameters of the paper size open the file openbravopos.properties and look for the following properties:
paper.receipt.x paper.receipt.y paper.receipt.width paper.receipt.height paper.receipt.mediasizename
The property mediasizename stands for the paper size name to use and can be one of the followings:
Postcard, Statement, Letter, Executive, Legal A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10 B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B10 ISOB0, ISOB1, ISOB2, ISOB3, ISOB4, ISOB5, ISOB6, ISOB7, ISOB8, ISOB9, ISOB10 EnvISOB0, EnvISOB1, EnvISOB2, EnvISOB3, EnvISOB4, EnvISOB5, EnvISOB6, EnvISOB7, EnvISOB8, EnvISOB9, EnvISOB10 C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 EnvPersonal, EnvMonarch, Monarch, Env9, Env10, Env11, Env15, c8x10 EnvDL, DL, EnvC0, EnvC1, EnvC2, EnvC3, EnvC4, EnvC5, EnvC6
The the properties x, y, width and height stands for the drawable area of the paper used. The units are defined in 1/72nds of an inch.
The default properties values for receipt printers are for Star Micronics receipt printers and are the following:
paper.receipt.x=10 paper.receipt.y=287 paper.receipt.width=190 paper.receipt.height=546 paper.receipt.mediasizename=A4
If you have an Epson receipt printer modify the default values by the following:
paper.receipt.x=10 paper.receipt.y=10 paper.receipt.width=190 paper.receipt.height=546 paper.receipt.mediasizename=A4
For standard printers the default properties values are defined for the A4 paper size and are the following:
paper.standard.x=72 paper.standard.y=72 paper.standard.width=451 paper.standard.height=698 paper.standard.mediasizename=A4
If you have another receipt printer or you want to set another paper size for your printer you will need to modify these values.
In Windows 10, openbravopos.properties can be located at c:\Users\openbravopos.properties
javapos
This mode is for receipt printer and cash drawers with a javapos driver installed. javapos drivers are provided by the manufacturer of the receipt printer and the cash drawer and you have to install it following the manufacturer instructions.
When you select this mode two text boxes appear. The first box is for the javapos printer name defined when installed the driver and the second box is for the cash drawer name.
Epson, Tmu220, Star, Ithaca, Surepos
These modes are for different dialects of ESC/POS receipt printers connected to the machine using a serial port, a parallel port or any other kind of device port (like USB) that can be configured as a device file. For example several receipt printers manufacturers provide a system module for Linux that creates a device file like /dev/ttyUSB0 when the receipt printer is connected to an USB port.
Do not install any driver, because Openbravo POS connects directly to the printer. If a serial connection is chosen, the configuration must be: bauds: 9600, data bits 8, stop bits 1 and parity none.
For example to test the printer is properly connected to the first serial port type:
- in Windows
type test > COM1:
- in Linux
echo test > /dev/ttyS0
The Epson type is the most ESC/POS compatible protocol, but you must be sure to configure the printer to ESC/POS mode.
Two modes are available serial for serial and parallel ports and file for serial, parallel and other ports.
The last box is for the device port the receipt printer is connected. In Windows take care that if the first serial port is selected you have to put COM1 for serial mode and COM1: (with the two dots) for file mode.
Screen
On screen receipt printer for configuration purposes. This mode creates images of the receipts that are displayed in the menu option Printer under System.
Customer display
Openbravo POS supports text customer displays of 2 lines and 20 columns. The recommended customer display is Epson DM 110 with a serial or a parallel interface. The two line limit is hard coded, so four line displays only show the first two lines, and only twenty characters long for each line.
The supported customer displays are:
Window
A new window is created and is used as a customer display. Useful if you have two monitors.
javapos
A customer display with a javapos driver installed. To install it follow the provider instructions and configure the ID of the customer display in Openbravo POS.
Epson, Ld200, Surepos
Like in receipt printers these modes are for different dialects of ESC/POS customer displays connected to the machine using a serial port, a parallel port or any other kind of device port (like USB) that can be configured as a device file. For example several receipt printers manufacturers provide a system module for Linux that creates a device file like /dev/ttyUSB0 when the receipt printer is connected to an USB port
The customer display and a receipt printer can be connected in mode bridged. The customer display is connected to the computer and the receipt printer is connected to the customer display. In this case both share the configuration using the same port.
Do not install any driver, because Openbravo POS connects directly to the printer.
If a serial connection is chosen, the configuration must be: bauds: 9600, data bits 8, stop bits 1 and parity none.
Screen
This is a customer display on a screen that can be used for configuration purposes. To see this customer display go to the menu option Printer under System.
Scale
Openbravo POS supports scales connected to the serial interface. Do not install any driver, because Openbravo POS connects directly to the scale.
The serial parameters used to connect to the scale must be: bauds: 4800, data bits: 8, stop bits: 1 and parity: odd.
There are two protocols supported:
- Samsung. The scale command code is $. The weight is returned in kilos.
- Dialog1. The scale command code is 0x05. The weight is returned in grams
If you want to sell products by weight but you do not own a scale you can use the screen scale. This option shows a dialog to enter the weight. The scale is used in the sales panel to introduce automatically the units of a product. Products that use the scale must be marked as scale in the properties tab of the Products panel.
Data collector
Openbravo POS can operate the portable data collector Scanpal 2 provided by Metrologic. But this functionality is deprecated and not supported.
The Scanpal 2 connects to the terminal using a serial interface. The products catalog is uploaded to the Scanpal2 in the Products panel and the inventory of the Scanpal2 is downloaded in the Stock maintenance panel.
Report printer
A report printer is a printer that is installed in the system. All settings should be configured outside Openbravo POS. Openbravo POS uses the system driver provided by the manufacturer of the printer.
In the drop down list if you select (Default) the default system printer will be selected and if you select (Show dialog), every time Openbravo POS wants to print a report, a dialog will appear where you can select the printer to use.
IBM SurePOS 500 Series
This guide is for the IBM SurePOS 500 Series and the operating system openSuse. All the points should also work with the logical differences with other GNU/Linux distributions
Operating system
Follow the installation steps of openSuse and select the preferred configuration you need. If you need help to install openSuse, read the openSuse installation documents.
If for some reason the X server does not start, open the xorg.conf file and replace the driver name of the graphic card by vesa.
Touch screen
Edit the file xorg.conf file and in the ServerLayout section add the line:
InputDevice "SerialEloTouchScreen" "SendCoreEvents"
Near the other InputDevice sections, add a new section that looks like this:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "SerialEloTouchScreen"
Driver "elographics"
# The touch screen is internally connected to ttyS4
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS4"
Option "screenno" "0"
Option "MinX" "1"
Option "MaxX" "4000"
Option "MinY" "100"
Option "MaxY" "4100"
Option "UntouchDelay" "3"
Option "ReportDelay" "1"
EndSection
If the serial port of the touch screen is not detected by the kernel add to the kernel options in the /boot/grub/menu.lst file the following option:
8250.nr_uarts=6
Receipt printer and cash drawer and customer display
To allow the Operating system user to access to the serial ports the receipt printer and the customer display are connected, add this user to the group uucp
To make the cash drawer work connect it to the receipt printer, not to the computer.
At the end to configure the receipt printer, cash drawer and customer display in Openbravo POS, go to the configuration panel, and select surepos, mode serial, and the port where the receipt printer and the customer display are connected.
Magnetic swipe reader
The magnetic swipe reader must be configured in keyboard mode to work with Openbravo POS. To do this put the micro-switch of the magnetic swipe reader in the position keyb, and in the BIOS, in the external devices section and in the field MSR, select keyboard.
In this mode, it may be necessary to have connected a PS/2 keyboard at boot time to make it work properly.
Additional help
If you need additional help during installation please use the Openbravo POS community support forums.