Hardware

1. Customer display
MinPOS supports text customer displays of 2 lines and 20 columns with a serial or a parallel interface. If you using Customer display with a USB interface, please convert it to a virtual com port.
The two line limit is hard coded, so four line displays only show the first two lines, and only twenty characters long for each line.
The supported customer displays are:
1.1. Window
A new window is created and is used as a customer display. Useful if you have two monitors.
1.2. javapos
A customer display with a javapos driver installed. To install it follow the provider instructions and configure the ID of the customer display in MinPOS.
1.3. Epson, Ld200, Surepos
Like in receipt printers these modes are for different dialects of ESC/POS customer displays connected to the machine using a serial port, a parallel port or any other kind of device port (like USB) that can be configured as a device file. For example several receipt printers manufacturers provide a system module for Linux that creates a device file like /dev/ttyUSB0 when the receipt printer is connected to an USB port
The customer display and a receipt printer can be connected in mode bridged. The customer display is connected to the computer and the receipt printer is connected to the customer display. In this case both share the configuration using the same port.

Do not install any driver, because MinPOS connects directly to the printer.

If a serial connection is chosen, the configuration must be: bauds: 9600, data bits 8, stop bits 1 and parity none.

1.4. Screen
This is a customer display on a screen that can be used for configuration purposes. To see this customer display go to the menu option Printer under System.

2. Receipt printer and cash drawer
MinPOS supports several receipt printers connected to the same terminal and you can configure up to 6 receipt printers (First printer is the main receipt printer) in the configuration panel.
Cash drawers are connected to the receipt printer and open with a printer command.

The supported printers modes are:
2.1. Printer
This mode is for receipt printers and standard printers installed as a printer in the operating system using the system driver provided by the manufacturer of the printer. When you select this mode a drop-down list to select the printer and a check box to select the paper type will appear.
In the drop down list if you select (Default) the default system printer will be selected and if you select (Show dialog), every time MinPOS wants to print a receipt or a document, a dialog will appear where you can select the printer to use.

In the "Receipt printer" check box you select the paper type, if the check box is selected you select the paper type receipt and if you unselect it the paper type "standard" is selected. The receipt paper type is defined for receipt printers and the standard paper type is defined the A4 paper size used in standard printers.

Depending on the receipt printer model or standard printer mode used some advanced configuration may be done to adjust the paper size used in your printer. To configure in detail the parameters of the paper size open the file minpos.properties and look for the following properties:

paper.receipt.x
paper.receipt.y
paper.receipt.width
paper.receipt.height
paper.receipt.mediasizename

The property mediasizename stands for the paper size name to use and can be one of the followings:

Postcard, Statement, Letter, Executive, Legal
A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10
B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B10
ISOB0, ISOB1, ISOB2, ISOB3, ISOB4, ISOB5, ISOB6, ISOB7, ISOB8, ISOB9, ISOB10
EnvISOB0, EnvISOB1, EnvISOB2, EnvISOB3, EnvISOB4, EnvISOB5, EnvISOB6, EnvISOB7, EnvISOB8, EnvISOB9, EnvISOB10
C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6
EnvPersonal, EnvMonarch, Monarch, Env9, Env10, Env11, Env15, c8x10
EnvDL, DL, EnvC0, EnvC1, EnvC2, EnvC3, EnvC4, EnvC5, EnvC6

The the properties x, y, width and height stands for the drawable area of the paper used. The units are defined in 1/72nds of an inch.

The default properties values for receipt printers are for Star Micronics receipt printers and are the following:

paper.receipt.x=10
paper.receipt.y=287
paper.receipt.width=190
paper.receipt.height=546
paper.receipt.mediasizename=A4

If you have an Epson receipt printer modify the default values by the following:

paper.receipt.x=10
paper.receipt.y=10
paper.receipt.width=190
paper.receipt.height=546
paper.receipt.mediasizename=A4

For standard printers the default properties values are defined for the A4 paper size and are the following:

paper.standard.x=72
paper.standard.y=72
paper.standard.width=451
paper.standard.height=698
paper.standard.mediasizename=A4

If you have another receipt printer or you want to set another paper size for your printer you will need to modify these values.

In Windows 10, minpos.properties can be located at C:\Users\minpos.properties

2.2. Javapos
This mode is for receipt printer and cash drawers with a javapos driver installed. javapos drivers are provided by the manufacturer of the receipt printer and the cash drawer and you have to install it following the manufacturer instructions.
When you select this mode two text boxes appear. The first box is for the javapos printer name defined when installed the driver and the second box is for the cash drawer name.

2.3. Epson, Tmu220, Star, Ithaca, Surepos
These modes are for different dialects of ESC/POS receipt printers connected to the machine using a serial port, a parallel port or any other kind of device port (like USB) that can be configured as a device file. For example several receipt printers manufacturers provide a system module for Linux that creates a device file like /dev/ttyUSB0 when the receipt printer is connected to an USB port.

Do not install any driver, because MinPOS connects directly to the printer. If a serial connection is chosen, the configuration must be: bauds: 9600, data bits 8, stop bits 1 and parity none.

For example to test the printer is properly connected to the first serial port type:

In Windows
type test > COM1:
In Linux
echo test > /dev/ttyS0
The Epson type is the most ESC/POS compatible protocol, but you must be sure to configure the printer to ESC/POS mode.

Two modes are available serial for serial and parallel ports and file for serial, parallel and other ports.

The last box is for the device port the receipt printer is connected. In Windows take care that if the first serial port is selected you have to put COM1 for serial mode and COM1: (with the two dots) for file mode.

2.4. Screen
On screen receipt printer for configuration purposes. This mode creates images of the receipts that are displayed in the menu option Printer under System.

3. Report printer
A report printer is a printer that is installed in the system. All settings should be configured outside MinPOS. MinPOS uses the system driver provided by the manufacturer of the printer.
In the drop down list if you select (Default) the default system printer will be selected and if you select (Show dialog), every time MinPOS wants to print a report, a dialog will appear where you can select the printer to use.

4. Scale
MinPOS supports scales connected to the serial interface. Do not install any driver, because MinPOS connects directly to the scale.
The serial parameters used to connect to the scale must be: bauds: 4800, data bits: 8, stop bits: 1 and parity: odd.
There are two protocols supported:
4.1. Samsung. The scale command code is $. The weight is returned in kilos.
4.2. Dialog1. The scale command code is 0x05. The weight is returned in grams
If you want to sell products by weight but you do not own a scale you can use the screen scale. This option shows a dialog to enter the weight. The scale is used in the sales panel to introduce automatically the units of a product. Products that use the scale must be marked as scale in the properties tab of the Products panel.

5. Scanner
Barcode scanners simulate a keyboard. When a barcode scanner reads a barcode, it types the barcode read just as a keyboard would do. There is nothing to configure in MinPOS.