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It seems like it would have been easy to use as a battery-powered POS terminal, with just some simple BASIC software. That might not have been sufficiently bet
by aidenn0 3y ago
It seems like it would have been easy to use as a battery-powered POS terminal, with just some simple BASIC software. That might not have been sufficiently better than a mechanical cash register or a carbonless-copy receipt pad though to justify it.
- spiderxxxx 3y agoYou'd think so, but I can't find anyone had actually been using it as such. Since it can read and write tapes, it seems it would be perfectly suited to running a retail store's day to day business. The barcode scanner and some basic database software would have probably sold like hotcakes as a portable POS system.
- aidenn0 3y agoWere there barcode scanners that were efficient enough to be battery-operated in 1981?
- kalleboo 3y agoLooks like there was one you had to swipe over the barcode, likely just a single CCD type device https://computarium.lcd.lu/photos/albums/EPSON_HX20/album/slides/DSC03181.html https://computarium.lcd.lu/photos/albums/EPSON_HX20/album/sl...
- rbanffy 3y agoThe printer is very slow, one line at a time. It would not be great as a POS terminal, but it could connect to a serial printer over RS-232 and external disks and a screen via the other TTL-level 36400 bps port.