Squirrel POS Terminals 1

[johnsgw]

I am setting up a Squirrel POS system for a friend of mine and I can not get the POS terminals to boot. I think it is the cabling because when I start the POS is it checks the terminals and the goes silent on the ones not connected but still checks the one connected. I have no manuals and the system was bought from a closed restaurrant. In looking at the cabling it is using regular phone cable to Belden connector. I believe that the wire mapping is wrong so if anyone can tell me what the wire mapping is it would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[overlord64]

It is not regular phone cabling ... so if that is what you are using ... that is problem number one

It is a special RJ 11 cable which has I believe 1 or 2 extra wires and can be bought at Radio shack.

As for physical layout it goes as follow

Terminal -> biscuit jack (or belden cabling if no biscuit jacks)
Biscuit jack -> converter panel (generally through the walls)
Converter panel -> octal card/rocket port

 

[killaspot]

I think that the SQUiRREL systems use a MSR5 cabling with 8 pin terms, not a RJ11 with 2 or 4 or whatever. However, I have been wrong in the past.

 

[suchasynic]

Squirrel Classic (DOS based) uses 4 wires....Squirrel (new windows version) uses 8 wires -- 10 Base T topology.

 

[Transformers]

Actually you should listen to overlord. It is rj-11 not regular phone wire. regular phone wire is rj12. for classic, and 1x uses 10baseT

 

[carterh]

The first question is how old a system it is. On the back of the terminals, does it say WS V, WS VI, or what? [WorkStation 5, etc.] What version of software is it running? Do you have converter panels? Do you have octal cards (4 phone jacks in the back of the computer) or RocketPort (one big fat connector on the back of the computer)? Most current wiring is done with Cat5 or Cat5e cable, although back in the day we used a special shielded Belden cable.

The patch cables are flat 6-conductor cables which look like phone cords. However, if you go to Radio Shack and buy their 6 conductor cord, it uses stranded wire rather than solid wire, and I have had very bad luck at trying to use those. Best bet is to use the original Squirrel 6 conductor cables, and get yourself a crimping tool and some replacement ends and just trim and fix the old cables rather than trying to replace them.

 

[cassidycaid]

I have a similar problem to the one originally posted and was wondering if you someone could shed addional light...

There are multiple 5 wire terminals in the Squirrel converter panel that run to each of the the wall jacks where the workstations are connected via 6 pin patch cables.

I need the pin outs for the 6 pins of the wall jack.
I have the pinouts for the Squirrel converter panel side of the conductor. The conductor is 8 wire cat5. I assume 3 wires will not be used, since there are only 5 terminals to connect to in the Squirrel Converter Panel.
What I don't know is how those 5 wires terminate at the wall jack so that a common 6 pin patch cable will connect to the workstation correctly.

Is there anyone with this information?

 

[carterh]

cassidycaid,

I am doing this from memory, but a couple of relevant facts:

1) The Squirrel terminal jacks are wired differently than the requisition printer jacks.

2) Here is the cryptic note I left myself after I did the last install:

Req Printer Jacks
Orange -green (#4)
White/Orange -white (#1)
Green -red (#3)
White/Green -black (#2)

Terminal Jacks
Orange -green (#4)
White/Orange -yellow (#5)
Green -red (#3)
White/Green -black (#2)

The first color (White/Orange) is the color of the Cat5 cable that goes to the lego block that plugs in the converter panel. The second color (yellow) is the wire inside the jack.

Note that Squirrel only uses 4 wires. In the old days, the shield wire went in the middle hole of the lego block. Now (I think) it is empty.

 

[cassidycaid]

Thanks for the info..

So now I have one workstation powered on at the "Loading Program Page 0" screen.
The Converted Panel is powered on as well as the CPU. The Rocket Port connector is connected.

The Problem:
I cant get the workstation to boot.

When I run 'start point of sale', it tells me status is silent.

Do I need all of the workstations connected and powered before starting?

What to the red & green/orange lights in the converter panel mean?

Any other suggestions?

 

[carterh]

cassidycaid,

You can boot up with only one terminal. I couldn't tell you what the colors of the modules in the converter panel mean - sorry. Do you have the rocket port drivers installed on the CPU?

 

[cassidycaid]

yes, I think the drivers are installed.

in my programs menu there is an entry for comtrol rocket port rocket modem with a monitor util, a setup util, and test term util.

When I check the rocketport properties (under settings-controlpanel-network-adapters-rocketport) the listed com ports are from 10-17.

I went into \squirrel\bin\tomorrow and ran dealer, changed starting com port to 10 as per installation manual (the manual actually says 7 but since above properties were listed 10-17 I went with 10). Then I ran nuts program, went into system config and escaped out, again per installation manual.

I can change the number of terminals specified in the dealer setup and the number of terminals checked for at startup changes, so I assume my dealer editing was done correctly.

However, when I disconnect power for the converter panel, and attempt to start up the terminals, I get the identical results, so my gut feeling is that the comm between the computer and the control panel is the problem...

 

[carterh]

Things to check:
1) Have you used a tester to ensure you have connectivity between the converter panel & the terminal jacks?

2) Are you using the original Squirrel patch cable between the terminal jack and the terminal?

3) Is the connection of the octopus cable on the rocket port card good & tight, and do you have the 8 cables connected to the correct ports (as I recall, in the converter panel it starts at the top left with port 0, then goes straight down, then starts at the top right with port 4 and finishes at bottom right with port 7).

I'll see if I can find you some mor info in the exact cable connections.

Carter

 

[cassidycaid]

Carter, thanks for your help.
I got the system booting!

Your pinouts for the terminal side jacks are accurate.

The problem was embarrassingly simple, I'm afraid.
I thought the control panel was USB powered...
It is only partially USB powered. You need to plug in the main power cord as well!

Once I did that, the terminal booted up just fine...

Thanks again for those jack pinouts.
If you are ever in Santa Monica, come by the restaurant for a few drinks on me.

Cassidy Caid
cassidycaid@yahoo.com

 

[carterh]

Cassidy,

Glad to help. Yes, the "dual power" feature of the converter panels is a mixed blessing. BTW, in order to use ONLY the USB or ONLY the power supply power, you move that "jumper" [it looks like the power plug on a hard drive] to the "Bypass" position on the converter panel motherboard.

If I'm ever in Santa Monica, I'll take you up on that!