Hi, has anyone had any experience with linking hardware to ERPNext?
I have a client who wants scanners and cash registers. I am looking for quality suppliers of such hardware items that work will with ERPNext
Hi. Cash registers (POS) basically are computers which run Windows or Linux. Any decent POS would be no issue as ERPNext is accessed through web browser.I assume you are referring to barcode scanners. I have tested ERPNext using the cheapest unbranded Chinese hand held barcode scanner and it worked perfectly. Good quality scanners are Datalogic, Honeywell or Zebra.
Where do you want the hardware? Maybe I can refer my cash register supplier to you but I recommend buying these locally.
Hi, @Muzzy thank you for your reply.
I don’t need the POS side of it as ERPNext has ePOS built in but a cash drawer that opens when cash is received and locks again until the next transaction. Yes, sorry I mean barcode scanners. Is there some information about how the card terminals, cash registers and barcode scanners connect to ERPNext?
There is no real hardware integration that I know of. Anything you use or any software can be connected to ERPNext using its REST API by a developer.
https://frappe.io/docs/user/en/guides/integration/rest_api.html
Thanks, guys. I also need an experienced developer who has experience of this? I have spoken to an acquaintance who can provide the equipment and network infrastructure, Please, let me know if you are interested in doing this work mainly in the UK
Like many others here, I have barcode scanners, thermal receipt printers, and cash drawers working now. It took a bunch of testing to find stuff that worked though. The biggest problem was that Microsoft Windows was really the only operating system I could use to get it all to work as a cash register.
The thermal receipt printers do the work of opening the cash drawer for you. They have a small connector cable that goes from the drawer to a port on the thermal receipt printer. The windows drivers for the printer have settings available to tell the printer when to open the drawer (before printing receipt, after print, or not at all). These printers do NOT work well on any other operating system that I could find. All of the linux systems rely on modified versions of CUPS to drive the printers and then you cannot get the cash drawer to open. Some printer manufactures publish source code that you can “sometimes” get to compile inot a set of files used in CUPS configurations, but of the 3 that I tried, I could not get any to work properly with the drawer.
There are plenty of cheapo scanners you can use to scanning the UPC barcodes, but if you get the cheap ones from china, expect to replace them every few weeks. They are pretty fragile and the first time an employee drops it on the counter or the floor, it may stop working, or worse, it may read incorrectly. To get past this I used only the Motorola LI4278 scanners. I have them even in the warehouses. I have seen one dropped down a whole flight of concrete steps and it still worked. You can normally get the 3 year overnight replacement waranty on them for another $90 or so. I did this for about a dozen of them deployed. over the past 3 years only had to use the service on two of them (on was dropped from 11 feet and wouldn’t work anymore, the other stopped working after being left in the rain on hte dock in a ligthtning storm).
I have not yet found a card reader that will work. There is no ready-made interface software that you can throw in place for ERPNext in a hurry. For now we use external card terminals and only complete the sale in ERPNext POS if the charge goes through.
Good Luck,
BKM
7 Likes
can you give us a windows screenshot of “The windows drivers for the printer have settings available”? Thanks!
we are in 2021, any improvement on the pos retail?
Yup… Here it is:
This is the driver settings for one of the cheaper “Made in China” type printers. Almost all of them come with the exact same driver package and they all appear to work well.
You will find similar settings in the more popular branded POS printers, but none that I tested had the amount of cash drawer control as I found in the off brand China printers. These printers also come in at about a third of the price of the popular name brands.
Others may have differing opinions, but my luck with these off brand printers has been very good. In 4 years and 20 deployed printers I have only ever had one failure and it was due to a static discharge that fried the printer. That could happen to almost any printer.
You can see the settings you would be interested in are almost always on the “Device Settings” tab of the driver configuration screen.
This particular printer allows you to control up to 2 cash drawers with the single printer. The settings for the opening of the drawers lets you open either drawer number either before the receipt is printed or after the printing. It also allows for not opening anything.
Hope this helps.
BKM
this is really great! do you have a recommendation for a Chinese printers? There are too many and I am not sure which one you are using.
As for many pos problems, there is no way not to open a cash drawer if it’s paid by credit card that doesn’t require a cash opening, right?
thanks!
@bkm I had success with Printing on Linux
There’s two different approachs available
Use print node and send raw printing to the printer, adding ESC/POS data will work.
Another approach is write a simple drive using WebSockets and py-esc-pos to send data to the printer.
I’m using that approach on a set of remote point of sales
When the user logs in it’s automatically associated with an hardware id, and it’s used by a service on Linux, to capture the interesting events, like printing.
I’m working also on an scale integration (for remote scales and credit card integration on the Pin pad)
2 Likes