Richard Harvey Chapman wrote:
by the way, if you're building a POS terminal, perhaps you should look
into using something like Damn Small Linux (or Demi-Sized Linux if you
prefer).It automatically logs directly into an X-windows environment and you
may be able to add the python site-packages you need and your app
pretty easily. Then, your app could be on a CD and you could still
have a hard drive/network storage for persistent data storage.That's what I'd do. For a POS type application, FC5 and similar
distributions are likely too big to be anything but a distraction.
You'll have to stay on top of updates, it takes a while to install,
etc.R.
Thanks for the pointer, Richard - I had not heard of it. Whether it is what
I want, I am not sure. I confess that there are so many options out there I
find it quite confusing.
I have got a diskless workstation booting up over the network successfully,
and this feels right for what I have in mind. I can have one central server
running FC5, acting as a DHCP server, a TFTP/PXEBoot server, maybe an NIS
server, with Python, wxPython, and my client app installed. Depending on the
load, the same machine can also be my application server (my app is fully
client/server) and the database server, but this can easily be run on a
separate machine if necessary. With this setup it should be easy to add new
diskless workstations to the network without having to configure each one. I
can have two alternative configurations stored on the server - one acting as
a POS terminal, the other with a full desktop and all the standard apps -
brower, email, openoffice, etc. With a combination of NIS/NFS I should be
able to run a full-blown user off a diskless workstation. I can then select
the configuration required when adding a new workstation. I have not done
all this yet, but I believe it is possible.
So far all my experimenting is in-house with a couple of machines. Whether
it is the best approach for the real world I have no idea, but my intention
is to get everything working, get it out there at a couple of small sites,
and see what happens. However, I am very open to any alternative suggestions
as to how to approach this, so please keep the ideas rolling in.
Frank