Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 08:38:46 -0500 (EST) From: Mark Hittinger <bugs@warlock.win.net> To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: re: POS (was re: sup: Ok, I'm gonna do it.) Message-ID: <199502011338.IAA20643@warlock.win.net>
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> From: Jeffrey Hsu <hsu@freefall.cdrom.com> > > I am ambitious. I want to see FreeBSD running at ice stations, ... > And I want to see it in small and medium sized businesses doing > Real Work(tm). > > Point of sales systems are a big part of SCO Unix sales and one of > the most common business applications. These POS packages are Groan - I did this for several years for Xenix/SCO-UNIX platforms in my previous job. Believe me, the level of support that POS sites need is so incredible. You guys should drop the idea right now :-). The design I developed was DOS/PC based registers communicating with a Unix box over a serial lan. Central file on host with "cache" on the PC hard drive. Modem pool on host for doing credit cards or electronic ordering. It is one thing to technically make it work, which I have done. Credit cards, data base, electronic ordering, just-in-time inventory, ect. It is quite another thing to support it in the field - 24x7, money on the line, upset managers screaming, ect. 95% of our effort and costs were related to customer site staff mistakes, customer site improper electrical wiring, bad data supplied by wholesalers, and a lack of pre-existing financial controls in the store. It was a mess - and I'm glad to be back into the Internet food chain once again. FreeBSD has made my job easier, but its not *THAT* much easier :-) :-) Good Luck, mark.h bugs@win.net PS: do good xenix 286 image emulation and you will probably be able to run the 100 or so packages that are already out there :-)
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