Do you have a 64 bit computer or have you installed the 64 bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7 on your computer. Well congratulations: you have done a wonderful job of making your computer incompatible with DOS and 8 bit Windows software. There is now a lot of great software that will not run on your computer. This is a good thing? Well let's see if we can get the Cash Register program to work on it anyway. First you must properly download the Cash Register program using these instructions upgrade.htm Since DOS software will not run on your computer you will have to run a 32 bit program on your computer that will run DOS software. This program is called DOSBox and can be obtained for free from here http://www.dosbox.com. You will find instructions there on how to download the program and start it up. I will wait here until you do so. Now that you have the Cash Register program on your computer and you are running DOSBox we can get started. First you must tell DOSBox where the Cash Register program is located. Assuming that the Cash Register program is located on a folder named C:\POS type this into the DOSBox window (Press [ENTER] after each command) MOUNT C C:\POS Now this C: Now this POS The Cash Register program will now start. However during the starting process while going from screen to screen the program will sometimes stall for up to 15 seconds, wait it out. The stall only happens when the program starts or when you are switching from one program file to another. This stall does not happen when you are using the Cash Register program on a non-64 bit computer without DOSBox. By holding down [ALT] and pressing [ENTER] you can toggle between displaying the program in a window or full screen. If you exit the program when it is run full screen press [ALT] + [ENTER] then click the [X] on the top, right corner of the window to close DOSBox or from full screen type EXIT and press [ENTER] AUTOSTART You can automate the start of the Cash Register program when you start the DOSBox software. Using the Windows "My Computer" program locate the file... C:\Program Files\DOSBox-????\ dosbox.conf In the path above replace ???? with the version number you have of DOSBox, example... C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.72\ dosbox.conf When you double click on the icon you will be asked which program to use to open the file. Select a word processing program like MS Word. You can also type in the entire path into MS Word to load the file. Just make sure that you have the version number of DOSBox correct. Assuming that your Cash Register program files are on your hard drive at C:\POS change the end of the file to... # Lines in this section will be run at startup. Mount c c:\pos c: pos Note: the last line is the command to start the POS program. If you have the program files located somewhere else than C:\POS then type in the correct PATH on the "mount" line but do not change the last line. If you wish the POS program to start up in full screen find and change the following line... fullscreen=false to fullscreen=true Save the file as a plain text file. Now when you launch the DOSBox software it will automatically run the Cash Register program. PRINTING DOSBox does not recognize printers. This means that you will have to use the APRINT6 program to send the print stream to the printer, even if you are using a parallel port printer. Read this about setting up APRINT6 postip4.htm#aprint If you are using a parallel port printer and you do not have the printer driver for that printer you will have to install the "Generic" driver from Windows. From the Windows [Start] button go to [Settings] then [Control panel]. Click on the [Printers & Faxes] icon. When the window opens from the menu bar click on [File] then [Add printer]. Follow the prompts until a list of Manufacturers and Printers appears. Select the "Generic" manufacturer and the "Generic / Text only" printer. Click [Next] and follow the prompts until the driver is installed. NOTE: There are problems with using the generic printer driver. See Generic printer driver problems. AFTER you have installed either the printer's driver or the generic driver then start the APRINT6 program. Select the proper driver and font size which you only have to do the first time you start APRINT. Remember that APRINT6 must always be started before the Cash Register program and be left running while the Cash Register is running. CASH DRAWERS Since cash drawers that are connected to the printer run through the printer driver no changes have to be made when using DOSBox. However SERIAL CASH DRAWERS WILL NOT FUNCTION. SCANNERS Keyboard wedge (PS/2 port) scanners and USB scanners (Windows 2000 or later) will function. However SERIAL SCANNERS WILL NOT FUNCTION. POLE DISPLAYS Serial pole displays using POLE.EXE will function but not if you try the "Direct access" method. The Pertelian X2040 program uses the PERTPOLE.EXE program so it will function. NETWORKS Special consideration has to be used when using multiple registers over a network. Tyler Reynolds has posted the following. First, make a directory on the computer you wish to be running as your server. Using a directory on the root of the drive is recommended. For example, I'm going to set up a "POS" folder inside of my C: Drive. Inside that C:\POS folder, make another folder called POS. Inside the C:\POS\POS folder, make yet another folder called POS. No, I'm not kidding, you have to make 3 folders, one inside of the next. The reason being, because DOSBox has to have a directory to use, then the share has to have a directory, and then DPOS has to have a directory. It may sound weird right now, but it will work, trust me. Inside the final POS folder, C:\POS\POS\POS, extract the POS program files, and set it up how you normally would for a network server. Configure all your settings, etc. Then, set up a network share to share the main POS folder, the C:\POS folder. Set the network share up so that you can change files, if you are using an XP professional computer, set permissions accordingly. For the purpose of this demonstration, I will name my network share "POS" On the Remote computer running a 64 bit OS, map the network drive of the computer. So, since my computer's name is "THECOMPUTER", I will go to start, run, then type \\thecomputer. Wait a moment for windows to bring up the networked computer's drives/printers. If it askes for a username/password, you probably have XP Pro on the server computer. Not to worry, just type in the username/password that you usually use to login to the computer. After that comes up, you should see an icon that looks similar to the folder, which is named whatever you named your network share. Since I named my network share POS, My icon will be labeled POS. Next, right click on the folder, and click on "Map network drive". Choose a drive letter, for mine, I'm going to choose J:. Go thorough the rest of the wizard and just keep clicking next. In DOSBox, when it first starts, type the following mount J J:\POS mount C C:\POS Assuming that you mapped your network drive to J, and that your local file system is located on drive C, and that POS on that system is located in C:\POS. Modify this to suit your needs. Then, type "C:" into DOSBox Type "POSCONFG.exe" It will take you to the POS Configuration screen. Note that it is posCONFG, not POSConfig. I made this mistake a few times. Under network, set the path to "J:\POS" assuming that you mapped your network drive to J. Save, then press F1 to exit. Press 3 to start the POS program. After all that work, POS should finally work over a network. If it's not working, you probably screwed something up. In which case, don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't try to "Fix" it and end up screwing it up even more. That is all, There it is, Tyler