Welcome!

Welcome to rePOSe, an open-source Point-Of-Sale software system.

rePOSe was originally designed for the Rogue Carrot Natural Grocery store in Alfred NY. We had considered other commercial options, but none of them were quite what we wanted. The Rogue Carrot (I'll abreviate this to TRC) is a small grocery store that dabbles in consignment, in a small village, and TRC just doesn't need all of the bells and whistles offered by the popular commerial and enterprise systems.

The goals of the rePOSe project are and were:

The POS should track inventory.
The POS should record transactions.
The POS should store the names and prices of our items with barcodes.
- This includes our in-house PLUs.
The POS should track consignment.
The POS should keep track of produce prices, by weight or by piece so that we don't have to manually calculate the prices.

In creating this, I quickly realized there needed to be one more goal:

rePOSe should be able to run on multiple platforms.

How Does rePOSe Work

rePOSe is run on a webserver, and accessed via a webpage. This does not mean it needs any internet access though! At TRC, we have the following kinds of hardware:

A cheap Raspberry Pi as a server. You can get a decent one for $35, and maybe even the $10 Raspberry Pi Zero would work. There are some newer, more expensive options, but those are overkill.
A cheap wifi router. Again, this does not need to connect to the internet, it just lets all of our devices connect to the router and talk to each other.
A tablet so that we can access the POS homepage and use a touch touchcreen to interface. I bought a $29 tablet from Dollar General on Black Friday and it worked well. The only problem was it was too small and I had to be careful when pressing buttons. We also had an old iPad, but we found it was not well-suited for this-- it was aggravatingly slow with button presses and would cause the barcode scanner (which acts like a keyboard) to miss numbers every so often. I also used my phone every so often since I had an app that let me use my camera like a barcode scanner. I also used my laptop when I needed to work on the system or enter invoices, but also needed to cash out customers. We eventually settled on a Windows Tablet that we got for ~$170 from Walmart because the screen was large and the price was comparatively cheap.
Cheap barcode scanners. We have lots of windows with bright sunlight, so we found laser scanners to work best. There are imaging scanners as well and those worked better on a handful of barcodes (especially shiny surfaces that laser scanners have trouble with). The problem we had with those was that the sunlight would often be too bright so we would have trouble scanning items. We went through a few barcode scanners, and we found some that were $20, but those were imaging scanners and didn't work well for us (they might work well for you if your store isn't as bright). The scanners that we bought in the $40 to $60 price range have worked the best for us. Here are some considerations to make when buying scanners:
- All barcode scanners interface with computers as if they are keyboards. That's why old barcode scanners often had one of those keyboard plugs (I'm talking pre-USB).
- There are two kinds of wireless barcode scanners! One uses a USB dongle that plugs in to your computer and you probably don't want this. Instead, there are Bluetooth options that will be easier to interface with modern tablets.
Thermal Printer (for printing receipts and reports). We bought a cheap one from China and it worked well for a year or two, but eventually the thermal component melted the pastic and caught the receipt paper on fire. We got another one, I believe from a Thai company and it has been pretty good so far and has some features I'd like to explore. Note that most receipt printers have a standard format (Epson). If you somehow find one that doesn't support the Epson format, don't go for it-- not because it is bad, but because rePOSe probably won't be able to interface with it. Note that Epson is a company founded in 1942 that specializes in printers and they basically set the standard that the rest followed (you can buy from them and you'll get a quality product, but it isn't necessary; you can go for a cheaper option).
A cash drawer. Note that most cash drawers connect to a receipt printer and it is actually the receipt printer that pops open the drawer.

Setup - Software

Raspberry Pi

Install Raspberry Pi OS

On the Raspberry Pi

Install updates

            sudo apt update
            sudo apt full-upgrade

Install Software

            sudo apt-get install apache2 apache2-dev python3-dev python-pip \
                                 python-imaging python-imaging-tk samba \
                                 samba-common-bin postgres
            sudo a2enmod cgi
            pip install python-escpos
            chown -R pi:www-data /usr/lib/cgi-bin
            chown -R pi:www-data /var/www
            chmod -R 775 /usr/lib/cgi-bin
            chmod -R 775 /var/www
            adduser pi www-data
            adduser pi dialout
            adduser www-data dialout
            cd /
            git clone https://github.com/Zeda/rePOSe.git

Now you need edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

              sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

              SriptAlias pos /rePOSe/cgi-bin

[set up the USB printer]
[set up the backup USB drive or server]

Router

On the router, you need to set up the SID and password. You also need to use the router to reserve an IP for the Raspberry Pi. This is different on various routers, so you may need to look it up. Set the IP to 192.168.0.10.

Setup - Hardware

If you are setting up the hardware yourself, you'll basically want the following:

Raspberry Pi
- A basic case to protect the Pi.
- (Optional) PiJuice. This is not necessary, but it is incredibly helpful. In case of power failure, this will keep your Pi on (upwards of a couple of hours) and allows it to shut down safely. It also has a clock that the Pi can use to keep track of time which is especially important when it isn't connected to the internet.
- Heat sink for the Pi (optional, it just helps keep the Pi cool).
- Micro SD card to put Raspbian OS and rePOSe on.
- A power supply. Depending on the Pi you choose, this will be a standard USB-Micro or USB-C. You'll want it to be 5V-5.2V and at least 1A, but most power bricks for cellphones these days supply 5v-5.2v and 1A-3A and will work perfectly (just get the correct USB!).
- If you want to get a small fan for the Pi, you can, but this is really a low-power setup that will get warm, but shouldn't overheat.
Wireless Router
Ethernet Cable
Computer/Tablet

Optional, but recommended:

Barcode Scanner (Bluetooth)
Cash Drawer
USB Thermal Printer

Assuming all of the software is installed on the Raspberry Pi's SD card, then insert the SD card into the Pi. Attach the Ethernet cord to the Raspberry Pi, and the other end to the router. Note that the router will have a special port usually of a different color from the others-- don't use this one; that one is for connecting to the modem in case you want to connect to the internet.

Power on the the Raspberry Pi (just plug it in) and router (plug it in, and it might need you to press a button depending on your router), and the computer or tablet. The Pi will probably take 15-30 seconds to boot up, so in the meantime connect to your router's WiFi on your computer or tablet, and open your favorite browser (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, etc.). Now in the URL bar type: http://192.168.0.10 or try http://repose.local (not all devices support the latter format). If the Pi has been booted up, then this page should show you the rePOSe homepage. NOTE: These URLs will only work when you are on the same network as the rePOSe server (the Raspberry Pi in this case). If you are at home, you won't be able to access rePOSe unless the router that the Pi is connected to is also connected to the internet, and you know the router's IP address. I personally don't recommend this because it puts your server at a higher risk of hacking.

If you have a Bluetooth barcode scanner, then turn on Bluetooth on your computer/tablet, and connect to the scanner. For this, you'll need to consult the scanner's manual as they all have their own unique setup.

If you have a USB thermal printer, connect it to one of the Raspberry Pi's USB ports.

If you have a cash drawer, then connect the drawer to the thermal printer.

Setting Up Your POS

Open the home page: http://192.168.0.10 or try http://repose.local (not all devices support the latter format).

JavaScript Technical Requirements

(This is a technical section and will use technical jargon.)

JavaScript (JS) is generally required for the rePOSe web frontend. This page is one exception since it is a static page, but for areas of the site like the register or inventory, it uses JavaScript heavily.

For the most part, the JavaScript is used to open a WebSocket connection to the server, and then keep it open (reconnecting if a disconnect happens). The advantage of using the WebSocket connection is two-fold. First, it uses less bandwidth to get the job done (the HTTP protocol is bulky at best). I come from a background of programming on hardware from the 70s and 80s-- I like to keep it simple and efficient when I can. Secondly (and more importantly), the WebSocket server can provide real-time data as a "conversation" between the server and client as opposed to an AJAX request+repsonse "interrogation."

Why Websockets?

In the original POS used at TRC, I used AJAX calls, and that worked, but it was clunky. One important issue is when we had a customer-facing screen that needed to be updated live. With AJAX, we needed to make frequent and bulky HTTP requests to the server to see if anything updated, and then it would get a response and update the screen. With WebSockets, we can send data from the client (register frontend), then the server does something, and then sends out the new data to all of the relevant devices.

Security

Depending on your technical experience, you might know that JavaScript, when put in the wrong hands, can be a security risk. Nowadays, browsers tend to be good at spotting malicious code, but some people turn off JavaScript altogether. Your instance of rePOSe only talks to its own servers. If your computer, device, or network has been hacked well enough, then a hacker could trick your device into sending data elsewhere.

FAQs

Q: What kinds of data are collected by rePOSe?
A: Only data that you enter is collected and only stored within your own rePOSe server. Furthermore, rePOSe doesn't send any of that data anywhere that you don't tell it to. For example, you might have it set up to automatically back up the database to a USB drive or another server, but that is entirely your call.

Q: What does it mean that rePOSe is "Open Source"?
A: All of the code and design of the rePOSe POS is available for anyone to peruse and use and modify their own copy. For example, if you wanted to, you can download rePOSe and make modifications to it specifically for your store (or you could give an adventurous employee access to the server to do that).
Q: What are the ramifications of an Open Source POS?
A: Open-source software good in that has a lot of advantages over losed-source software, but there are some disadvantages

Because the source code is publicly available, hackers can hypothetically look at it and try to find flaws. Keeping the code "closed-source" is a hurdle (albeit a small one). NOTE: No credit card info is stored in rePOSe, but some sensitive info that might be stored includes Vendor contact info, invoices that you have stored, and employee data that you may have stored.
Other people (including you!) can contribute to the project, whether it is reporting bugs, or even contributing code to fix bugs or add features.
For this project, "Open Source" also means that you won't be charged for the software-- I needed to create the code and now it is done and now I want to make free copies of the code for others to use. If you want to financially contribute then you can contact me and we'll figure something out. NOTE: You aren't charged for the software itself, but that doesn't entitle you to hardware, service, or assistance.

Q: I found a bug/need help, what do I do !?
A: You can see if the issue was resolved or report bugs or issues here. For help, you can send me an email at zedae.z80@gmail.com (I do have a day job, though, so I might not be quick to respond).

Q: Ouch, do I have to enter all the product names and UPCs myself?
A: The rePOSe database is not populated with this information, so you will have to enter in the product information. Luckily, many vendors offer their customers a file with all of that info (CSV or Excel file, you can open either file type in Excel or other spreadsheet programs). One of our vendors actually offered us two files, one with ALL of their items, whether we could get them or not, and one with just the products that we ordered in the past year.
Because every vendor is different, you will probably need to modify the layout of the spreadsheet and save it as a CSV and then upload it to the rePOSe product import tool.