[Koha] Open source replacement for 3M self check station

[Chad Roseburg]

I can confirm that the first two are pretty easy to implement with Koha and
pure open source. We also use Elo touchscreens with ours. Any computer with
enough juice to cough up a web browser should suffice. You will be able to
better/easily tweak the interface to better suit touchscreens in Koha 3.12
...we currently use tampermonkey for this, but when we move to 3.12 we'll
be able to streamline things.

A barrier to Koha selfcheck implementation would [ might ] be if you needed
non-generic equipment like security strip readers, RFID equipment like
Galen mentioned. The basic touchscreen kiosk with scanner and even receipt
printer is very doable with Koha currently.

Chad


On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 8:58 AM, glaws <glawson at rhcl.org> wrote:

> At it's simplest, I think the main issues would be:
>
> 1. a lock-down mode (kiosk) so that users could not access anything
> other than the checkout software
>
> 2. a barcode reader that provides input to whatever software is being
> used to connect to the Koha database
>     -- I am not terribly familiar with the self-check functionality
> mentioned by Ryan Sipes in this thread, but if that works then (1) and
> (2) may be all that's needed, if RFID is not being used
>
> 3. It's possible something like this RFID programmer
> (http://tinyurl.com/o4dygcz) would work as a reader/writer. I honestly
> don't know what the standards are that are mentioned in the ad (ISO/IEC
> 14443 A and B). There are a number of these things on eBay, I just
> happened to pick the first one that seemed applicable. When/if we get to
> this for real we'll figure it all out.
>
> One of the things we really work at here at our library is reducing the
> footprint of our computer hardware, especially for systems used by the
> public, like a self-checkout would be. We've played with the Raspberry
> Pi (and Cubieboard) some, and generally feel it doesn't have enough
> firepower to be a satisfactory web browser, out-of-the-box anyway. A
> computer we do use more, clearly a couple of steps up from the Pi, is
> the Zotac. It has enough gas in the engine (sorry for the Americanism, I
> mean "power") for nearly everything we use it for, but we've also had
> some flake issues with HDMI output, so we're still cautious, but mostly
> we're happy with it.
>
> http://www.zotacusa.com/zbox-ad06-plus.html
>
> This computer has the advantage of having a "good-enough" CPU, RAM and
> hard drive, and there is no OS installed so there is no "penalty" for a
> pre-installed system that we need to just wipe out.
>
> Greg
> -------------------------------------------
>
> On 09/25/2013 12:31 PM, Galen Charlton wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 7:45 AM, glaws <glawson at rhcl.org
> > <mailto:glawson at rhcl.org>> wrote:
> >
> >     Unfortunately it seems that you need a system now, and anything we do
> >     won't be worked on until at least mid- late-2014. This is, however, a
> >     good discussion topic and worth continuing.
> >
> >
> > Would it be an accurate statement that the primary distinctive issues
> > (as opposed to the usual issues with setting up a kiosk computer) that
> > an open-hardware self-checkout machine would be need to deal with are:
> >
> > - interacting with whatever device desensitizes security strips?
> > - interacting with RFID pads?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Galen
> > --
> > Galen Charlton
> > Manager of Implementation
> > Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts
> > email:  gmc at esilibrary.com <mailto:gmc at esilibrary.com>
> > direct: +1 770-709-5581
> > cell:   +1 404-984-4366
> > skype:  gmcharlt
> > web:    http://www.esilibrary.com/
> > Supporting Koha and Evergreen: http://koha-community.org &
> > http://evergreen-ils.org
>
> --
> Greg Lawson
> Network Administrator
> Rolling Hills Consolidated Library
> 1912 N. Belt Highway
> St. Joseph, MO 64506
> 816-232-5479 x2303
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>



-- 
Chad Roseburg
Automation Dept.
North Central Regional Library