Old POS Technology Conversion For Newer PC's in Connecticut
CST has some non-profit clients and realize that they have limited budgets when it comes to upgrading equipment as well as software. By utilizing older equipment and integrating it into a PC upgrade can save added costs for the client.
Recently we were upgrading a POS (point-of–sale) system for a non-profit client in Hartford with new PCs. The newer PC's no longer come with the PS2 ports that were previously used for the keyboard and mouse connections and have been replaced with USB connections. The PS2 connection for the keyboard on the older PCs were used to connect the wedge for the scanner and a swipe-keyboard used for credit card transactions. With only USB connections, the client was faced with having to purchase new scanners and swipe-keyboards. The client was replacing 7 PC's which meant that they would have to spend an extra $500.00 per PC, a total of $3500.00 which was not budgeted for.
We were able to find a company that had a wedge converter for $50.00 which enables the keyboard to swipe the credit cards into the POS software correctly. This converter also works with the scanners. We were able to get OEM USB scanner cables to replace the wedges on some of the scanners. For the other scanners that the USB replacement cables were over $50.00, or the cable could not be replaced, we used the wedge converter. We were able to save the client around $400.00 per PC.
The same problem existed with the receipt printers. The newer PC's no longer come with a parallel printer port, and of course, the printers had parallel ports. Because the printer design allowed for the interface cards to be interchangeable, we were able to get USB cards to replace the existing parallel cards. The cards were $75.00 in comparison to $250-$300.00+ for a replacement printer, saving the client $1400.00.
There is always a chance that integrating older technology with newer will not work. A suggestion is to purchase one of what you need, test out all equipment with the software in a real work environment before making the full expenditure.
by- Rick Hendricks
