Use Android & Chrome Devices to make great Mobile PoS terminals

#Installing Viewtouch on Android & Chrome Devices

The sourcecode for running ViewTouch remote displays on Android devices is here.

Using Android and Chrome devices as terminals assumes that you already have Viewtouch functioning on a host machine.

First, you must download the apk from the Viewtouch website here.

Browse to the APK in a file manager (or with Easy Installer) and install it. If it fails, go to Settings > Security and choose to allow Unknown Sources.

Once you have the app installed on the Android device, open the app. It will give you an address and port in address:port form. NOTE: The ViewTouch Server and Android Client MUST be able to communicate directly.

Open ViewTouch. Sign in as a user with permission to add or remove POS terminals (42, iirc) and select 'Start'. Next, select the 'Hello Developer' / 'Manager's Gateway' button to go to the administrative management page. Now select "Displays, Printers". Then click "Create Display Definition". The important fields are: 'Terminal Name' (human readable - can be anything) and 'Display Address'. For Display Address, enter the address and port as seen on the Android Device. Add a name for the device. If you are to have a receipt printer then you add that in cups with a Queue Name such as 'receipt1', and enter that same exact Queue Name here, too. Printer Model is usually Epson.

Now select "Change View". Make sure the newly added Display is selected, and select the toggle (a toggle is an off/on switch) labeled "Turn Display On/Off". The device should first show 'Connecting' in Blue text, followed by 'On' in Green text, then the remote device's display should be displaying ViewTouch's login screen.

As of June, 2016, the best Android tablet for food and beverage preparation areas, kitchens and bars, is the 18" Samsung Galaxy View sm-670. Tablets of all sizes which are VESA mounting ready are available from many suppliers at Alibaba. There's a great selection of VESA tablet mounting options at B&H.

If you're going to have kitchen printers then you select the toggle, 'Displays & Receipt Printers' to switch it to 'Kitchen, Bar, Expediting & Report Printers', where you can add such printers. Printer Name is human readable and Printer Queue Name must exactly match the CUPS Queue Name. Good name choice here are 'Hot Line', 'Cold Line', Grill, and so forth.