internet cafe solution based on a free linuxmint POS system

[quentinb]

Hello All

Before the next World Cup Soccer in Brazil in 2014, let's convert every internet cafe in the world, to run LinuxMint servers and clients, e.g. especially in Brazilian Portuguese. How's that for impact? To show LinuxMint is virus-free and bulletproof, yet as-easy-as-XP.

The Point of Sale system specifcation is:
1. manage both prepaid members (on time or MBs) or registered database membership accounts (with maybe free monthly allocations of time or MBs).
2. control printing, giving the cashier a view of every page, to be directed to either a black n white printer, or color printer, collecting the money before expensive A4 photo quality prints.
3. unlock the PC desktop when time session begins and close all applications when time finishes, including user-started system tray apps like Kget, but SAVE LireOffice docs and spreadsheets every 5 mins automatically, to prevent massive data loss.
4. give feedback to clients, in icafemanager windows, showing usage stats as either time or MBs, even when minimized.
5. give feedback to staff, in table form or shop-layout icon view with varying color feedback, on usage to detect users in trouble for time or fast MBs use, for pre-epmtive customer service interventions.
6. the server to do Network Address Translation, have 2 netcards, one facing shop allocating DHCP IP addresses and default gateway (specifcally not (15) domain name).
7. the other netcard facing the internet, such that all traffic from internet to clients passes through server, so that Quality of Service (QoS) software can control bandwidth used per MAC address, not IP address.
8. QoS software to be configurable to share n-times whatever is available, or profile logins as uncapped and/or 384,000bps (=slow broadband) flat-rate-speed per login.
9. do wake-on-lan to wake up and give an asleep PC to a customer, for selected PCs, all asleep PCs, whole shop.
10. shutdown and or reboot selected PCs, all idle PCs with logged in clients, or whole network at end of day.
11. end-of-shift point-of-sale till cashup reconciliation till slip on 11 A4 page with multiple columns, each having fields showing date-time, PC#, value sold, pages printed
12. shop owner login, to create staff logins and review/reprint end-of-shift reports on paper to match cash supposeedly received, where each staff member has own cashbox and hardcopy timesheets, to discourage fraud.
13. to allow multiple concurrent staff logins for multiple tills.
14. to allow shop owner login concurrently with staff, to read-only employee screens, to reconcile activity with CCTVs on shop, from the shop owners back office on the LAN.

Much love to the developers.

This specification is hereby published by me for free - me doing my little bit to direct open-source developers to greater heights.

Regards

(C) Quentin Bale
Cape Town, sunny South Africa
26th January 2013
06h04 South Africa Standard Time