Aloha Terminal on thin client 1

[acuity2011]

Can Aloha Terminal software be installed on thin client.
We have just taken over a restaurant using WinEZ and the FOH terminals are looks to be thin clients made by BlueShark with VIA Eden 1.5Ghz Processor, Win XP embedded, 128 MB of DDR II SDRAM, 128 MB Flash Disk, Realtek Ethernet, No Fans or Internal Power Supplies
Can these be re-purposed to use on Aloha POS. Thanks.

 

[eburks]

First let me say my experience is with standard Aloha FOH terminal installs. I don't even know if Aloha has a setup that runs more on the server side... if they do I would like to find out more about it but most of what I learn is from this site and being self taught over 5 years


Yes... but you would be better off with 256M ram if it is replaceable The 1.5GHz processors or even 1GHz or less will be fine BUT I don't think you have much of a Win XP embedded system in a 128M flash. Are you sure of that.... I have never seen a usable XP embedded in less than 256M. Win CE yes but not XP. How does the flash memory connect, if it is 44pin or even 40 pin IDE you should have very little problem upgrading that to 1-2 GB Disk on Modules.

You have to be able to replace that flash memory because if it dies your terminal dies and to run aloha on a really efficient Windows XP embedded setup I can guarantee you need a 512MB flash at a minimum even if you don't use a lot of fancy bitmaps (and you really ought to have 1-2 gigs)

Flash memory is great but is only able to write to a memory cell a certain number of times. I have experience with several Wyse thinclient models and they can make great little FOH terminals. You need a good working knowledge of Windows XP to work with Windows Embedded machines. And you need to be a techie or have a really good one. Google is your friend.

Things to google:
Flash memory SLC
Flash memory MLC
Flash wear leveling
Disk on Module
Enhanced Write Filter



MP3car.com can be good resource because for years people have been building custom tiny XP installs and working with windows embedded write filters and stuff to make pico size car computers they could play all their media on (flac mp3 wma m4a etc files for music) biggest problem with thinclients and XP embedded is knowing your embedded install fairly well.

As an example, so you can compare, Wyse Winterm terminals I have used are WT9455XL and J400. These have replaceable memory, USB1 and 40pin IDE so flash memory capacities are not a problem. It really helps to have a couple of com ports if your computer is going to have a receipt printer and print to a kitchen printer. The right tech can do this with less but give me a good old serial interface for reliability and simplicity.

Your touch screen and MSR can be USB. Be aware that keyboard wedges are being frowned on and may be PCI non-compliant in the future so you would need to have OPOS drivers for MSR. I am having a hell of a time getting OPOS to work on a magtek MSR (their website is not much help) but IDT MSR installs are easy and their website has everything in an easy to find form.


One I am tinkering with now but not yet sure of Wyse 9150 SE (it only has a non upgradable 512M flash (I can replace it but not upgrade capacity) but it does have USB2 and 2 com ports

Aloha issues:
When we upgraded from Aloha TS 5.3.31 to 6.5.24 my Javelin Viper 1.5 terminals that had run fine for 5+ years began to have several irritating problems like credit card swipe inputing numbers into the tips field and random freezes of the screen for a second or so when they would be making tips adjustments, MUCH longer times for the terms to read in trans logs etc, etc. My processors are only 333MHz and I blame those problems on that and the fact that Aloha needs a lot more power in the new versions to deal with encryption etc... plus the tendency for all software upgrades to be downgrades in performance. (New does not mean better) but with PCI/DSS issues we gotta do what we gotta do but it still stinks.

It is not a walk in the park but it is doable

PS. for redundancy issues you MUST have your terminals on a UPS; especially if you use any write filter.