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12.0 Point of Sale Hardware
12.0.1
General
Salon & Spa can be used in your Salon/Spa
without any special point of sale hardware. However, the use of
the specialized hardware can make day to day use more efficient.
The point of sale hardware most useful in a business is a cash drawer,
product scanner and receipt printer.
12.0.2 Minimum
Requirements
Salon & Spa requires that you have at lease
one standard windows printer. This can be any type of printer
capable of printing on standard 8½ by 11 inch paper. The printer
may be connected to the computer using parallel, serial or USB
port. The printer must be installed in Windows and able to be
selected from the printer selection dialog in Salon & Spa Preferences. Without this printer you cannot close the cash
register or print any of the many reports.
Preferences
Printer Tab
If you are only using one printer select
it for both the receipt and report printer and select 8½ x 11 receipt
paper.
12.0.3 Report Printer
Report printers can be any popular ink
jet, laser or dot matrix printer. Combination scanner, fax,
printers work fine. Reports are always formatted for standard
paper.
The report printer is also used to print
product labels and client mailing labels and barcode labels. The
set up is adjustable to some extent to account for different printers
however, the labels must be of a similar format and size as the Avery
standard labels noted in the program. The client label and barcode print
is designed for a Avery #5160/8160, 3 wide and 10 down for 30 per page.
The labels are about 1 inch high by 2.6 inches wide (2.5 cm x 6.5 cm).
The product label print is designed for an Avery #5167/8167 with 80
labels per page. To save paper both label routines are designed to start
at any label position on the page for use of part pages.
Note: some salons have found a problem
with the Cannon 2000 series printers when printing product or client
mailing labels. The first print job is fine but the font changes
for the second. To avoid the problem you must close and reopen the
label print dialog for each print job. Has not been noticed with any
other printers
12.0.4 Receipt
Printer
Receipt
printers are popular small dot matrix or thermal printers designed
to use roll receipt paper. Popular products are manufactured
by Epson or Star. They are normally connected by serial,
parallel or USB ports. Again the drivers have to be set up
in Windows before Salon & Spa or any other program can use
them. Your manufacturer can help with the set up. The
paper width is dependent upon the printer and can be either 2 or 3
inches wide and may be single or 2 copy paper.
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12.0.5 Setting Up
Printers
Before the printer will work it must be
installed correctly by windows and would be useable by other programs.
In Salon & Spa you must select the printer(s) you wish to use for Reports
and Receipts in Preferences. From Preferences, select the printer tab,
select the printers at the bottom from the list, then click the save
preferences button. If the printer does not show up in the list it is
not installed correctly by Windows. Note that you may use a standard
printer for receipts and both printers may be the same. If using a
special receipt printer you must set the receipt width to match the
paper width in the unit. Most use either 2 inch or 3 inch wide
roll paper. Select the width in Preferences. You may select
to have every transaction (sale) automatically print a receipt. To
do so check the Automatically Print Receipts check box. You will
be given 5 seconds each time to cancel the print job if you wish.
If you have an Epson receipt printer with either partial or full paper
cut capability you can select the option as shown above.
12.0.6 Product
Scanners
Product
scanners are designed to scan product bar codes direct from the
product. Most salon product manufactures are moving to
place bar codes on their products although this practice is
still not universal.
Scanners can be connected to your
system in a number of ways. Salon & Spa is designed to
function with the keyboard wedge type scanner. The scanner
can be either CCD or laser and from any manufacturer.
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12.0.7 Setting Up
Scanners
Once the scanner is connected and set up
for the product code type as noted in the manufacturers information it
is ready for use. When setting up your product codes in inventory
the code must match the code on the product. Salon & Spa can accept
10, 12 and 14 character UPC codes. You
must tell Salon & Spa what code length you are using. With the
proper length you will not have to press the [ENTER] key after the
scan. When Salon & Spa is ready to accept a product code, scan the
product and then complete the entry as normal.
Set the UPC length code in preferences
from the Barcodes tab, selecting 10, 12 or 14 and click on Save.
12.0.8 Cash Drawers
There are many popular cash drawers on
the market connected by the serial port, receipt printer or USB
ports. Some are more difficult to set up than others. We
suggest drawers from the following manufacturers which have worked well.
MMF Cash Drawers http://www.mmfcashdrawer.com,
MS Cash Drawers http://www.mscashdrawer.com
or APG cash drawers http://www.apgcd.com
For simplicity in setting up and
maintaining we suggest that you purchase a serial port drawer.
12.0.9 Setting Up
Cash Drawers
Connect the cash drawer to the system or
to the printer in the case of drawers opened by a signal from the
receipt printer. If the drawer requires external power connect it
to an available outlet.
Start Salon & Spa and open Preferences and
select the cash drawer tab. The settings look complicated but are
necessary to be able to configure all of the drawers on the market. If
you are not using a cash drawer make sure that the setting is none or
the computer may hang up.
Preferences
Cash Drawer Tab
If using an Epson drawer connected to an
Epson receipt printer select the Epson Printer setting and all other
configurations will be set. For other drawers attached to other
printers select the printer setting. You may need some help from
the manufacturer's manual to assist.
For serial port drawers select the port
you are using, usually Com 1 or Com 2.
From the recommendations in the manual
which came with the drawer select the proper settings for port
speed, data bits, parity, stop bits1, opening characters, keep RTS and
DTR high and close port after opening then press the save button.
A typical setting for most drawers is
speed 9600, data bits 8, parity N, stop bits 1, character 7, DTR and RTS
high and do not close the com port. For older drawers you will
need to close the com port.
The test button is provided for trying
the settings until correct. Note that the drawer should stay
closed when closed after opening. Keep adjusting settings and
consulting the manufacturer's recommendations until it works. You will
have to hit the test button again to reset the port each time you change
a setting. Once you have it as you want it press the save button.
12.0.10 Monitors.
Salon & Spa uses the Windows Graphical
Interface GUI. You will require a normal CRT or flat panel
monitors. Most new monitors and graphics cards are capable of a
number of screen resolutions and color depths. Salon & Spa requires
a minimum 800 x 600 screen resolution and 256 colors to function.
Some screens will look better with 16 bit color. Salon & Spa will
operate on higher resolutions and color depths. To set Salon & Spa
for full screen at 1024x768 select the setting in Preferences, Screen
Tab. Note your windows setting must match or be a higher
resolution. With a higher resolution Windows setting the Salon & Spa
sales and appointments screens will not fill the full area of your
monitor. Additional features are available with the 1024 x 768
resolution.
Preferences
Screen Tab
Please insure that your system meets the
minimum requirements before starting Salon & Spa.
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