Updated 2-10-17
Please note: This page is currently being updated and is a work in progress.
Hardware Details &
Hardware Vendors


Below you will find some links to folks that sell POS hardware like receipt printers, cash drawers, scanners, pole displays, etc. In some cases these are vendors that have asked to be listed on this page and others are vendors that I found by searching on the internet. I have two points I would like to make...


1. I am not recommending the folks behind any of these links. While I have ordered equipment from a couple of them with no problems that does not mean that you will have the same good luck. You are also welcome to search the internet for other vendors. Also it would be a really good idea to find out what the vendor's return policies are.


2. It would be helpful for both you and the vendor if you had some idea of what equipment in particular you want. Therefore I am going to give you some tips...


PORTS

The equiment you purchase will only be useful to you if you can actually connect it to your computer. This means that if you purchase a printer with a parallel printer cable and your computer does not have a parallel printer port, that you will be having a bad day. On this page PORTS are photos of various ports that you can use to compare to your computer and be able to identify the types of ports that it has.

CABLES

Some manufacturers assume that you have the proper cables to connect their equipment to your computer and a cable is not included with their equipment. Ask the vendor, "Does this come with a cable?" If it does not you may have to order the cable separately.

PRINTERS

A printer to print receipts is the #1 piece of equipment that you will wish to have on your cash register. It is also he only one with moving parts that can wear out. While there are some pretty inexpensive receipt printers out there I would really recommend that you do not cheap-out on your printer. If your printer dies what then, do you have a backup? Actually you probably do. This program will print receipts on a standard computer printer that uses sheets of paper. If you are a low volume seller and don't mind handing out giant receipts then any printer you have now will probably work either as your main receipt printer or a backup. (Just remeber that a standard printer will not have a cash drawer port.)

However most shops will want an actual receipt printer that prints on rolls of paper. There are two basic kinds, impact or thermal.

IMPACT
Impact printers (also known as "Dot Matrix") print by the pins in the print-head striking an ink ribbon stretched over the paper. This means that impact printers are louder, slower, and require ink ribbons that must be replaced. However the plain paper rolls are cheaper, the receipts do not fade over time, and you can print on multi-ply paper to print more than one copy of the receipt at the same time.

THERMAL
Thermal printers have pins on the print-head that heat up to cause a point on the special thermal paper to turn dark. This means that thermal printers are quieter, faster, and require expensive paper rolls. However they do not require ink ribbons, cannot print on multi-ply paper and the printing on the receipts will fade to be unreadable over time.

CHARACTERS PER LINE
On receipt printers this software will print 40 characters per line. You must make sure that any receipt printer that you purchase will also print 40 characters per line. Usually this will require that the printer will use a paper roll 3 inches (76mm) or wider. However some printers may use a very small font to squeeze 40 characters on narrow paper and some will not print 40 charactes even on 3 inch paper. Ask before you buy.

On most POS systems the cash drawer attaches to a port on the receipt printer. To open the cash drawer the POS program sends a "control code" to the printer which then sends a signal to the cash drawer causing it to open. This Cash Register program will do this however YOU must tell the cash register program the correct "control code" for your printer. Fortunately control codes for a lot of printers are listed here CONTROL CODES. It is strongly suggested that you choose a printer from that list otherwise it is up to you to come up with the control code to open the drawer.

Back to PORTS
SERIAL Serial port printers are not recommended for use with this software. I could go into detail about this but all I am going to say is JUST DON'T DO IT!

PARALLEL Parallel port printers are you best choice. You just plug it in, turn it on, and you are done. However this is less than useful if your computer does not have a parallel printer port. If you are using this on a desktop computer it is possible to purchase and install a "parallel port" card in that computer, there are links below to do this, just make sure that the card you buy is compatable with your motherboard and that you are up to the job of installing it.

USB USB printers are fine as long as you have the Windows driver for it installed. To print you will have to run the APRINT6.EXE program that comes with this software while the Cash Register program is also running.


DON'T BUY MORE THAN YOU CAN USE.
There is no point in spending extra for printer features that this cash register program does not support. This program will only print plain text so there is no reason to pay more for graphics, color, fonts, font sizing, under-lining, bold, etc.

CASH DRAWERS


USB USB port cash drawers are not supported and absolutely will not work with this software.

SERIAL It may be possible to get a serial port cash drawer to function. On the other hand, maybe not. The only reasons that you should even consider a serial cash drawer is if either you are using a regular computer printer to print receipts (no cash drawer port) or you are not using a printer at all. Of course this also requires that your computer has a serial port.

PRINTER Most cash drawers plug into a receipt printer and then the printer opens the drawer (see above.) The only concern here is that you have a cable that matches the cash drawer port on one end and the printer port on the other. Usually when purchasing the cash drawer you specify what printer you want to connect to. For example, "I need a cable to plug into an Epson printer." or "I need a cable to plug into an Ithaca printer."

You may also want consider getting a cash drawer with a drawer lock. Turn the key one way and the drawer locks even if the cash register tries to open it, turn the key the other way and the drawer opens even if the power is off.

BARCODE SCANNER

Scanners are the easiest. Serial, PS/2, or USB they all pretty much work right out of the box. Serial scanners might be slightly tricky and on any scanner you rarely might need to change the "termination character" so read this for more details Scanners.

POLE DISPLAY

If the screen of your computer does not face your customers you may want to get a secondary display that will. Traditionally a "Pole display" was the usual option however my program will also let you use a second monitor (even a 7 inch monitor) for this purpose. Read about both options here Pole Display.

NUMERIC KEY PAD

Using a cash register usually means typing in a lot of numbers which is a lot easier on a numeric key pad. While almost all desktop computer keyboards have a number pad, most laptops do not. However you can purchase a number pad that will plug into either a USB or PS/2 port to solve this problem and make life easier.

And now, the links.

Below click the vendor name for main page or an X for a specific product.
TP = Thermal printer --- IP = Impact printer --- D = Cash drawer --- S = Scanner --- N = Number pad --- P = Pole display
.TPIPDSNP
Newegg.com
Do you a parallel port receipt printer but your computer does not have a parallel port? Here is a page full of internal parallel printer cards that will fit inside your desktop computer.
.... X .
Bematech
This is formally Logic Controls, Inc. and makes the only actual Pole displays that have been tested to function with this POS software. They also sell other POS hardware.
X X X X . X
POS-X Brand Hardware for Point Of Sale.
Thermal Printers, Cash Drawers and Touch Screen All In One systems DIRECT. Call POS-X before you purchase anywhere else! Call 1-800-790-8657 Ext 4, email sales@pos-x.com, or go on-line to order or become a reseller http://www.pos-x.com/become-a-dealer/. Retail and Restaurant Systems and software. POS-X., Point of Sale, Perfected!

X X X X . .
POSGuys.com
All POSGuys.com complete systems come with one year of warranty coverage and lifetime hardware technical support. Our phone support technicians are available Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM PST. To contact them, call 800-903-6571 or email support@posguys.com

These guys have an amazing amount of stuff. - Dale

X X X X . X
CueCat.com scanners
A CueCat is a super cheap scanner. They were originally made for another purpose and the ones here have been converted to scan barcodes. And you get what you pay for. They are fairly slow and you have to actually rub the scanner across the bar code to read it, not point & read like most scanners. However for less than $10.00 if you scan few items per day, or you are using my POS software for teaching purposes, they are hard to beat for the price.
. . . X . .
Programmable POS keyboards
Information about programmable POS keyboards and a couple of links. These keyboards have extra keys that you can program to auto-type stock numbers into a sale just by pressing one key.
......
The EPOS Store / UK
Offers Point of Sale equipment and peripherals, receipt printers, cash drawers, and barcode scanners.
X X X X . .
7 inch monitors to use a pole display
This is a link to my page that has links for 7 inch USB monitors that can be used as customer displays and the software to drive them.
. . . . . X

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