Pole display using a monitor - New

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Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:49 pm

For those of you who are looking for a better option than a pole display (something cheaper that displays more data) until recently we had the Pertelian X2040 display that would display 4 lines of data and code only $50. Unfortunately the X2040 display is no longer available.

Another option is the BIGPOLE program that comes with DHPOS. This program sends the pole display output to a monitor. Originally this was expected to require a whole additional computer networked to the POS computer. This would cost way more than a pole display.

Another problem is that BIGPOLE did not work properly on Windows XP or after unless you ran it under DOSBox, and options #1 and #2 only displayed 2 lines of data.

Then I found this http://www.amazon.com/MIMO-UM-710S-Powe ... s=mimo+710

A computer monitor that plugs into a USB port and can be used as a second monitor on the same computer that run the DHPOS software. This means that your regular monitor will display the DHPOS screen and the USB monitor can be used as a pole display.

So I have written a new version of the BIGPOLE program in QB64. This program does run under Windows XP and after and will even run on 64 bit versions of Windows. It has 3 options to display the pole data that you can see here http://keyhut.com/bigpole.jpg

However all is not well yet. When running the DHPOS software the computer is limited to displaying the second monitor only in a Window, not full screen.

And I still need to perfect my method for getting a computer to support the second monitor.

However if you have a spare $110 to blow and want to try this out (or you computer supports dual VGA monitors and you have a spare monitor), and you can figure out how to move the display of the BIGPOLE program over to the second monitor, you can download and try this
http://keyhut.com/bigpoleq.exe

If you put it into your DHPOS folder you will not have to enter a PATH when you run it.

So the basic concept is that you run DHPOS in one window and display that to your main monitor. And you run BIGPOLEQ in another window and display that on the second monitor.

You will also have to download the QB64 .DLL files.

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:37 pm

Today's fun activities.

Today I borrowed a Windows 7, 64 bit laptop computer from the resident kid and plugged the VGA monitor into it so that it had two screens.

We downloaded DOSBOX on the computer. Then created a C:\POS folder and loaded all the DHPOS software, the "keyshop" data files and the new BIGPOLEQ2.EXE program.

We started the BIGPOLEQ2.EXE program first and moved it over to the attached monitor. Then we set the monitor resolution to 800 x 600 so that the image filled up the screen.

We wanted to have DHPOS come up fullscreen on the laptop automatically when DOSBox starts so we had to track down the DOSBox .conf file which in Windows 7 is really hidden. But we found it eventually and set it up. We clicked on the DOSBox icon and DHPOS popped up and filled the screen.

I rang up a sale and the pole display output came up on the other monitor like a champ.

Here is the graphic to prove it. http://dhpos.com/dualpole.jpg

Since this worked I have ordered the 7" USB monitor and will be trying that out in a few days on my XP desktop computer. I will post photos.

Next the resident kid and I will come up with extremely detailed instructions for repeating this experiment and posting them here.

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a USB 7in monitor

Post by brucef2112 » Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:24 pm

BEFORE you send Dale comments and complaints about bigpoleq.exe not working:

STEP 1.
After download bigpoleq.exe AND BEFORE running it, Click Here to also download Program64.zip file (the supporting .dll files that are needed to run bigpoleq.exe)!

STEP 2.
Copy bigpoleq.exe into your POS directory. Unzip the files located in the Program64.zip and place them into your POS directory too.

STEP 3.
Run bigpoleq.exe

You are *NOW* ready to send Dale comments and complaints about the bigpoleq.exe.
Later,
Bruce

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin - Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by brucef2112 » Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:15 am

Dale,
When BigPoleQ2 (BPQ) is configured for 20 characters it is set at 800X600. For BPQ to work with the Mimo you'll need to change/add the resolution of 800x480 as this is the set size of the mimo display. (mimo tech specs: 7 inch, 800×480 resolution.) As of the current drivers, there is no way to modify the resolution of the mimo. And I don't think it ever will.

As BPQ is now, setting it to 20 character wide and then dragging to the mimo, it cuts off the BPQ window (because BPQ is at 800x600).
Image

Setting BPQ to 40 character wide and dragging to mimo leave lots of screen unfilled. and there is no way to maximize the window once on the mimo screen.Image

Also, at the 40 characters wide setting, the item description is truncated at 20 characters. I'd expect if its set to 40 wide then it should display the full 24 character item description.Image

Next issue is the system resources used by BPQ. it runs in the 94 to 97%. Even on start-up when it just sits at the splash screen. See photo.
Image
This is without running DHPOS. If DHPOS is started, and there is any keyed input, BPQ wrestles the system resources away from DHPOS and makes it seem frozen for about 40 to 50 seconds before dhpos gets some resourses back from BPQ. It not only happens to DHPOS. Even window apps take a dive while BPQ is running. Like typing in Note Pad, there are long delays in the keyboard response in Note Pad while BPQ is running.

Another feature you may want to add to BPQ is to support the mimo's ability to display a rotated screen. So you may want to incorporate a 480x800 mode. or even a 480x400 mode. The 480x400 mode would allow the screen to be rotated and have the BPQ displayed on half the screen (top or bottom) and then the other half could be for another app such as one that would display rotating specials, a marque, mov file, or whatever, like Small has mentioned frequently. If our votes count, I'll vote twice for the 480x800 and 480x400 resolutions to be added. The rotated screen feature of the Mimo should be supported by BPQ. (I'm in Floriduh, we always vote twice here).

By the way, I am testing on Windows XP sp3, computer is a old Dell Optiplex270(2.4g Celeron, 2gb ram).
I have the Mimo UM-740. with their latest drivers installed (DisplayLink-5.2.22663)
The um-740 display is the same as the 710 listed in your previous post. The 740 just has additional features like a mic, earphone out, touch screen and web cam.

Overall the Mimo is pretty impressive. It worked right out of the box with the drivers it came with. I DL the latest just because they were there. I can see lots of flexability in its uses. As most reviews online have pointed out though, it a bit expensive given its size and some limitations. Outside of DHPOS, the Mimo definitely ups the Pertelian display in its coolness factor. The built in cam makes it ez to get a pic of those using credit cards to pay for transaction. It could help fight cc fraud and recover customer charge backs by the cc companies.

I guess we'll wait and see what DHPOS can bring to the Mimo!!
Later,
Bruce

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin - Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:44 am

What a clever idea. The minimum Windows screen resolution is 800 X 600 so make a display that has the maximum resolution of 800 X 480. What are we missing here?

Oh right, the bottom of the screen.

So I guess the best solution is to create a mode in BIGPOLE that just does not use the bottom of the screen. Option #1 will use screen lines 1 - 6 instead of 2 - 7 and option #3 will use lines 1 - 20 instead of 1 - 25. the bottom of the screen will be blank but you can't see that anyway.

So the new options will be...

1. 20 characters wide in 800 x 600
2. 20 characters wide in 800 x 480
3. Scrolling in 800 x 600
4. Scrolling in 800 x 480

The current option #2 will be eliminated because it is useless anyway.

BIg Pole only displays 20 characters of the description because POLE.DAT only stores 20 characters. That is because pole displays only display 20 characters. Since lots of other stuff (REMOTE.EXE for example) use the POLE.DAT data I am not going to be changing that.

I do not have the new display at the moment but on my computer I am currently running POS.EXE, BIGPOLEQ2.EXE, APRINT6.EXE, Opera, Outlook Express, and 2 copies of Internet Explorer. CPU usage is 75% - 80% and there is no delay when ringing up items and having them displayed in BIGPOLEQ2.EXE.

This may change when I receive the new monitor and use that. I will post my results.

BTW, another display option with 2 monitors is to just display the POS.EXE screen on both of them. Then you will not have to use BIGPOLEQ2.EXE. However you will need 2 regular monitors (dual VGA ports?) because on a 800 x 480 display the bottom of the screen will be cut off.

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:54 am

Bruce,

The version of BIGPOLEQ2.EXE that you have prints the tax on your printer when using option #1. This is because I was testing something. Download again to eliminate this. http://keyhut.com/bigpoleq3.exe

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by brucef2112 » Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:05 am

Dale:
I'm not sure what the testing tax thing is about. But with BPQ3 i don't see a difference.
Here is a screen shot of BPQ3 on the 7in Mimo. The bottom is still cut off when moved to the Mimo.
Also I noticed that if you right click BPQ3 in the process explorer and choose "Maximize", the BPQ3 window disappears (its still shows as a running app) and the app must be killed and restarted to get it back.(not that this would be something normally done. but we are testing and this did raise its ugly head as a problem.)
I also tried running bigpoleQ3 with process priority set to /LOW but it still sucks up resources in the '90% plus' range.
Image
Later,
Bruce

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by brucef2112 » Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:31 pm

Until QB64 catches up to comprehend the 20 year old concept of an 'OS window' (like minimize, maximize, restore, hide, show, roll-up, un-roll, getfocus), BigPole is still forced to be an ugly workaround on modern h/w.

Here's an iDear; The stage coach got us across the US territories, so lets strap rockets to the sides of a stage coach as a means of transportation to Mars!
Bruce was excited about Mimo/DHPOS display, but now he is sad. :cry: soo sad. :cry:
*Bruce frantically taps out a message to contact the crisis hotline* .... . .-.. .-.. --- ..--.. :cry:


EDIT:
EUREKA!! FORGET THE MONITORS AND DISPLAYS AND OTHER MODERN STUFF!
JUST USE THE PC SPEAKER WITH BEEP COMMAND TO PRESENT THE SALES TRANSACTION IN MORSE CODE!!!
Later,
Bruce

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin - Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:00 pm

Bruce,

Well the 7" Mimo monitor was there when I came home from work. I plugged into a USB port, put the CD in the drive, and loaded the driver for the display (but not the touch driver), and then turned it on to see the background of my desktop.

I launched the latest version BIGPOLEQ4 (http://keyhut.com/bigpoleq4.exe ) and just slid the window to the right of my main screen and it appeared on the Mimo.

I then started up POS.EXE and began ringing up some sales. There was no delay whatsoever in posting the items to BIGPOLE. It worked like a champ and I could not be more pleased with option #2. Option #3 filled up only about 80% of the screen and I may try a few things to see if I can do better.

Here are the photos http://keyhut.com/mimo.jpg

At the moment the BIGPOLEQ4.EXE program is using 51% of my resources.

I would not hesitate to recommend this. The large character option can be read from 8 feet away. The scrolling option can be read from 2 feet away. The unit comes with a 4 foot USB cord and you can get USB extension cords if that is not long enough. This means that you can mount the display right in front of the customer's face.

The only possible reservations I would have is that this works fine for 2 hours but it is unknown if it will work fine for 3 years. And apparently Bruce is having some sort of catastrophe with this. So if you decide to try this out make sure that you can return it and keep the box and packing materials. (I have thrown mine away.)

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by brucef2112 » Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:57 am

Dale:
I tried BPQ4 with better results. BPQ4 did solve the screen real estate issues. The layout and screen sizes are nicely done. And the processor time is down to 20% while nothing is happening with DHPOS. But as soon as there is any key press the BPQ4 resources goes up to 80%. This delay first occurs on the screen asking to Print or not print the opening receipt. Regardless of choice, the BPQ4 processor time goes up to 80% and make POS seem like it is frozen. It takes about 20 seconds for the POS to get to the main menu after this. Better than the 95-97% from yesterday however it still makes the pos stall for 20-30 seconds after each key stroke when even adding items to a sale.
Between POS and BPQ4 the CPU time is maxed @ 100%.

I don't think the resource problem has anything to do with the Mimo. This can be tested on a PC with a single monitor.
It would be nice if others would test Bigpole4 to see what their results are.
Anybody else!?!?!
Later,
Bruce

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin - Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:39 pm

I have added a photo to the bottom of http://keyhut.com/mimo.jpg

It shows a Windows 7 computer (my wife's) running DHPOS under DOSBox with the screen
resolution set to 800 X 600. NOTE: You cannot press [ALT] + [ENTER} to make DOSBox full
screen, if you do, the BIGPOLE window will revert back to the main screen and one or both of the
windows will go black.

And unlike Bruce this setup ran with no delays. This is 3 different computers that have not had the
delay problem.

The score stands at: runs fine = 3, Bruce = 1

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:02 pm

small found this 7" monitor for less than $70

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... viewsBlock

Dale

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:27 pm

BIGPOLEQ is now ready for prime time http://keyhut.com/bigpole.htm

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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by brucef2112 » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:48 am

Dale, I just DL the bigpoleq.zip file.
You need to re-zip the files associated with BigPoleQ http://keyhut.com/bigpoleq.zip to have long file names.
All the file names in the ZIP are DOS 8.3 which doesn't work. Even if you run BIGPOL~1.EXE it still can't resolve the short names of the DLL files.

Files in Zip with 8.3 names
BIGPOL~1.EXE
LIBFRE~1.DLL
LIBGCC~1.DLL
LIBPNG~1.DLL
LIBSTD~1.DLL
LIBTIF~1.DLL
LIBVOR~1.DLL
LIBVOR~2.DLL
SDL_IM~1.DLL
SDL_MI~1.DLL
Later,
Bruce

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
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Re: Pole display using a monitor - New

Post by daleadmin » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:17 pm

Bruce,

Ok, my life officially sucks. The DOS version of PKZip will not compile long filenames. So once again I am being dragged against my will into the nasty domain of Windows instead of staying in my happy home of DOS where you can actually get things done.

I have recompiled the program file and the .DLL files using WinRAR and the whole mess can be downloaded from the page at http://keyhut.com/bigpole.htm Also posted there is just the BIGPOLEQ5.EXE program file for those that already have the .DLL files.

This will be the final release version of the program unless my life is true to form and I have screwed up again ( am sure that you will let me know if I have.) Today I added a feature where you can read the documentation on screen and have given credit to small302 for his help with QB64 features.

Dale

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