I am in the restaurant business, not the IT/networking businesss, but took it upon myself to come up with the most “dummy proof” solution for a “mobile” Aloha POS terminal with thermal printer for our patio. I am aware that there are iPad and tablet based solutions for Aloha POS but I have tried them both in a demo fashion and our Aloha dealer and I don’t like them. The dealer told me my mobile solution wouldn’t work but I was determined to make it work.
The idea being that the staff is able to disconnect the terminal and printer every night to bring it inside at night and then reconnect everything the next day.
And after 18 months I have no issues with the staff breaking or messing anything up (a miracle) so I thought I would share my setup and hear what y’all thought. It’s entirely possible someone else has already done something like this but still, the staff loves it so I thought I would share. My idea was to make it so simple even a non-tech savvy person could do it.
I
1. I attached the power supplies to both the terminal and the printer so that the staff wouldn’t have to turn the printer nor the terminal upside down and disconnect those finicky round power connectors.
2. I wired both the RJ45 port and RJ11 ports for network and serial printer connections on the back of the terminal on a surface mount so all they have to do is plug in two cables.
3. I used powerline adapters for the network connection since there was no cat5 cables run to the patio, and having it installed would be prohibitively expensive.
If anyone has any questions about how I did this, feel free to let me know.
The idea being that the staff is able to disconnect the terminal and printer every night to bring it inside at night and then reconnect everything the next day.
And after 18 months I have no issues with the staff breaking or messing anything up (a miracle) so I thought I would share my setup and hear what y’all thought. It’s entirely possible someone else has already done something like this but still, the staff loves it so I thought I would share. My idea was to make it so simple even a non-tech savvy person could do it.
I
1. I attached the power supplies to both the terminal and the printer so that the staff wouldn’t have to turn the printer nor the terminal upside down and disconnect those finicky round power connectors.
2. I wired both the RJ45 port and RJ11 ports for network and serial printer connections on the back of the terminal on a surface mount so all they have to do is plug in two cables.
3. I used powerline adapters for the network connection since there was no cat5 cables run to the patio, and having it installed would be prohibitively expensive.
If anyone has any questions about how I did this, feel free to let me know.