I’ve configured my system to use fast cash buttons such as “£5”, “£10”, “£20”. Once pressed these show an “ask question” that displays the change due.
The problem I am having is that the cash drawer and printer only open/print once I click OK on the change due box. This means that the change due box disappears and then the cash drawer opens, so in effect my employees won’t know how much change to give.
The rule is currently mapped under “payment processed” and the cash drawer/printer actions are restricted to once the “remaining amount = 0”
In essence I am looking for a way to open the cash drawer at the same time a change due message appears.
Sorry for not having pictures as I am on my mobile. Will add these when I’m back home.
I would be grateful for any help of how to map this rule.
It will be a sort order, either within your rule (the order of the actions) or the rule orders themselves.
I have change message and draw opens ‘before’ the message
What I also have you might like to add aswell is a tendered/change message in the application title, have a search for shell title I think it calls itself.
The actions are one of the free addon modules in the samba marked.
And yes, I did add the application subtitle too. The only problem was that sometimes my dad uses the tills and he finds it hard to see it without his reading glasses!
Am waiting for someone to find a solution to their suggestion that the cash drawers can feedback when they are close for a way to automatic close the change message which would be sweet LOL
Sorry, I was referring to the Subtitle. Already changed the font size on the pop-up and gave it a nice contrast colour scheme, now even after his eye surgery he can easily see it!
Regarding the cash drawer/feedback. I’ve noticed a few systems in UK whereby the cash drawer connects directly to the EPOS terminal via a smaller RJ11 style connection. I currently have some convenience stores using the Toshiba ST-71 and ST-A10 all in one terminals. These connect direct to the terminal rather than a pass-through via the printer.
Interestingly, the drivers installed also include toshiba’s test software which lets you test things like the touchscreen, line display, printer and cash drawer without installing any EPOS software per se. You can open the cash drawer and it will display the cash drawer as “open” and once closed, the dialog box automatically changes to “closed”. So in this case, this small program is able to read the state of the cash drawer.
Will upload a picture. Not sure if I added anything useful though, but hopefully I have
Note the button to open the cash drawer, and also the status just to the right. This would appear as closed once i manually close the cash drawer.
The interesting thing is the connector used to link the cash drawer direct to the terminal is actually smaller than the standard cash drawer RJ11. So even with less pins, it still somehow manages to send feedback on the status of the cash drawer.
Annoyingly I have 4 cash drawers which i can’t use as they are too small to plug into a thermal printer, and I don’t know how to configure them to work with SambaPOS
There has been a few questions about using the built in com ports on all in one terminals.
I dont use all in one machines so am unable to try but if you can find out the comand required I would expect you could get a direct cash drawer setup to work with samba.
The ports are just com ports at the end of day and sure there is a way.
I have a slightly similar issue in that I picked up a hand full of cash drawers which I cant get to kick from my regular printers or epson printers. My research has made me think that they are ‘star’ drawers which use a different pin assignment to the more common epson assignment.
Is a shame as they are nice very very heavy duty drawers
Have you actually tried them in a printer, the plugs are wider but are then same depth/thickness?
The regular ones are 6 pin i beleive but only use the middle 4, your smaller one is 4 pins in 4 pin plug so if it is same depth and ‘clicks in’ in theory the prins would be connected…
If it clicks as doesnt work it may be similar to my issue in that the pin assignment is different. some printers I beleive offer an option for which pins are which for the kick signal…
"The connector also has provision for the connection of a drawer position switch. This switch, in conjunction with the Automatic Status Back command or similar, can inform the application of drawer position.’
Sorry I’m really just throwing information out there and hoping someone can piece this altogether for us!
Yes I know exactly what you mean about the heavy duty cash drawers. The ones I have lying collecting dust are all Toshiba ones and are so much bigger and robust than the cheap ones on ebay. A shame to see them go to waste.
And yes, the first thing I did 3 years ago when I first got the all in one terminals as to try and plug the connector into the printer rj11 port. It wouldn’t click in or stay in at all. Tried my best to wedge it in and make the pins connect but they appear to be completely different sizes, albeit subtly.
Sorry to add more spam. But I’m adding this in case it helps someone in the future who comes along and knows more about programming than me (which is more or less nothing)
"If you are using an Epson or Star printer, they do have the ability to transmit data back to the application - the drawer status is reported as an ASCII character that represents the state of the modem status register inside the printer. For an Epson printer, you need to determine the ESC/POS ASCII character sequence to send to the printer to instruct it to send the drawer status back to your POS application. I’d suggest going to www.epsonexpert.com for specific instruction on retrieving this information from the printer. "
One other though about your smaller plugs, I have though about working it out for mine also but not got round to it.
For the sale of less than £10 for a crimping tool you could rewire the end
Alternatively if you just wanted to test in the mean time you could cut a r11 wire and yours and just temporarily splice the wires for a proof of concept
They all seem to use 4 pins and run either 12 or 24v and think epson printers will power either voltage.
which would be sweet LOL
