Geovision card with Micros POS

[C7Installer 0]

We have a customer who would like his Micros POS system integrated with his Geovision system (GV-650 running version 8.0). Not sure yet on the model of the POS, but the receipt printer is an Epson TM-U200B, model M188B and it's conneded to an "all-in-one" Micros POS register (cash drawer, keyboard and mouse are separate).

 

Does anyone have any experience with this or any tips that would be helpful?

 

Thanks!

 

-C7

[ezCCTV 0]

From your post it appears that this POS system has an external printer.

 

This should make it an easy installation, as the data is passed through the data capture unit.

 

The two ways of connecting it are as follows:

 

If the POS system is less than 10m from the GV System

POS --RS232--> GV Data Capture --RS232--> Serial Port on GV System

 

If the POS system is more than 10m from the GV system

POS --RS232--> GV Data Capture --RS485--> GVNET Card ----> Serial Port on GV System

 

The RS485 is just 2 core cable.

 

The POS installations can get a bit tricky when you have an internal printer on your POS, as you have to configure the till to output through another RS232 port, for this you will need a till manual, or the help of the customer's till engineer.

[C7Installer 0]

Thanks for your input.

 

You are correct, the printer is an external model. I believe it is a serial version.

 

I have heard of people splitting the serial output from the POS machine, connecting one end directly to the serial port or GV net card/box and the other to the printer. Any thoughts on this? Basically, do I really need the capture device?

 

The printer is about 30m from the DVR.

 

Thanks again!

[ezCCTV 0]

You can plug the cable straight in to the PC's serial port, I'm not sure what cable you would use to split the signal. Also I think, and don't quote me on this, that the effective length of RS232 Serial cable is arounf 20M.

 

The GV Data Capture would give you the following benefits:

 

1. The ability to change the RS232 into RS485, this is much easier cable to run (2 core) and has a much longer maximum distance.

2. It would clone the RS232 port for you, providing a RS232 output for your existing printer, an RS232 output for GeoVision (as well as RS485)

3. The Newer unit also come with an ethernet port, if there is already a network inplace, there is no need to run additional cables. You could even add a wireless access poin to the box to eliminate the need of cabling

 

Basically, I would recommend the capture device, but you may get along without it.

[Aardie 0]

C7 I have installed POS on Geovision but not with Micro Pos it was actually Samsung Till POS and I did find that the receipt Port was Not giving out all of the inputs on the till and ended up using a spare port on the Samsung set up as Pole display with the right baud rate etc and everything that was input on the till including bar code swipe Did register on the Geovision overlay.

 

One thing James did mention is getting hold of the POS Manual I cannot stress this enough if you are going in blind you will end up with zero or garbled output. Oh and get ready to spend a few hours getting acquainted with the till some of them need special keys to get into the setup for baud rates and the like.

 

Bit of a steep learning curve at first. I did at first tell the customer we would try one and go from there but once I had set it up it became a relatively easy job on the rest.

 

Good luck and if you require a overlay clip PM me and I will email you one.

 

Regards

 

Keith

[C7Installer 0]

ezCCTV/Aardie: thanks for your help and information. I have been speaking with a Micros rep about this issue as well and have some info...

 

For anyone trying to get a Micros system working with text overlay, here is some information:

 

Micros uses a proprietary interface they call "IDN" for many of their receipt printers. Apparently, this adds some functionality to their system. They do offer versions that use a standard serial printer. Actually, the printer they use is the same (Epson TM-U200B), but is has a special card installed to use IDN (serial interface is removed). However, this does not replace the serial port on the POS machine itself so we're going to try that route first, instead of just replacing the printer. If we can get both the IDN and serial interfaces working at the same time, this should solve the problem with IDN. If not, a serial card can be placed back into the printer and you can move forward from there (or simply replace the printer with a serial version).

 

I will post more info as I get it. If anyone has any additional thoughts, I'd be happy to hear them.

 

Thanks again!

 

PS - From what I recall about RS232, the length of the cable is somewhat dependent on noise and data rate. You should be able to go much further at 9600 bps than 115.2 kbps. Anyone have any expeiences they can share regarding this?

[Thomas 0]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS_232

 

Has some info on it. And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-422

[a94cobra 0]

I need a parallel version of the Geovision box. Do they make one of those?

[ezCCTV 0]

The original version of the Data Capture supported Parrallel printers. The V2 of the Data Capture dropped this support. I have heard the the V3 of the box will once again support Parrallel printers, but this has not been confirmed to me.

[a94cobra 0]

I been watching eBay for one, but not many Geovision accesories get sold there.

 

Thanks for the info. Maybe V3 will hurry up and have parallel with the lan.