Need some advice on installing Windows on a POS system?

Question

Here's my problem. I have 3 older POS terminals which have no operating system installed. The terminals have an AMD K6-2 333 with 256MB RAM. According to the manufacturer's specs I can install Windows 95, 98, and 2000. I plan to install 2000.

Here's my problem though. The hard drive is an IBM Travelstar (which I assume is for lap tops) and doesn't have a regular IDE interface. The computer has a port for hooking up a floppy drive but I have never seen a port like it. It does have 2 USB ports, but without an OS, I don't think I can use these for a boot drive.

I'm thinking the best option would be to hook up the HD to another computer and simply drop the entire contents of the windows CD. But how do I make this HD a boot drive so that I can access these files.

Anyone have any other/better ideas?

Answer 1

All of this is assuming that your POS systems have no internal CD drives. I agree with your concept of copying the entire contents of the Windows CD to the hard disk. Also, copy any network drivers for these systems before returning the hard drives to the systems.

Here is what I would do:
1) Purchase a Laptop Hard Drive adapter, available at most major PC retailers. Example: http://shorterlink.com/?XGH965

2) Get a boot disk with a 'basic' OS to perform the install from. I suggest that you like this one from BootDisk.org "Windows 98 SE Custom, No Ramdrive"

3) With the 2.5" (laptop drive) attached from the POS and the boot disk created above boot from the floppy.

4) Partition and Format (include system files) the attached drive with FAT32. You can refer to this page (quick web search): http://www.laray.com/build/fp.html Note: Reboot after partitioning.

5) The boot disk should have your CD activated and a drive letter assigned like d: or e:. Use your 2000 CD to copy install files. Assuming that the 'laptop drive' is the only attached hard drive and the CD/floppy are the only other drives attached. Further assuming that your 'laptop drive' is C: and the CD has been assigned D: I would type the following:
c:
md \i386
cd \i386
xcopy d:\i386\*.* /s /e (if xcopy doesn't work copy all subdirs manually with copy)
Then I would insert a network driver disk (if necessary) and type:
md \software\driver\network
cd \software\driver\network
copy a:\*.* /s /e

6) Put the drive back in the POS and boot.

7) A Win98 command prompt should appear. Type:
CD\i386
setup

8) Since you say you have 3 I would change the install on the remainder. Providing similar POS hardware, I would fully install and setup one with Windows 2000 then remove the drive and use a product like Symantec Ghost to copy the drive to the other two.

Of course there may be other options with your specific POS hardware. Some ideas are 1) BIOS bootable USB flash drive. 2) temporarily attaching a CD-ROM drive to the POS and boot from it with the Win2K CD. 3) Use PXE network boot and setup an image on another system. 4) find a different drive from a POS with an OS installed and Ghost it. 5) Have someone else prep a 2.5 drive and send it to you with steps 1-5 done for you. I could possibly do this for you for the cost of a used 2.5" drive.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

POS System means retail store outlet shop to managing retail store outlet revenue through to inventory management. And the right point-of-sale system creates a hub for your small business revenue, accounting, and inventory processes.

Answer 3

it should have came with a paper telling which wires to jump it on,all of them was supposed to come with instructions and wiring diagram ,if not you can go to Chrysler's web-site for more info on it,good luck with it.