Hello, > See, now we're going in circles again. I already *asked* the OP to > explain the full picture, and they still only gave a partial answer. > > It has been hinted to us that there are more layers in the problem > than simply Server <--> PC --> Printer. We've been told that there > is another layer of devices connected to the Printer, although this > was never confirmed in the "big picture" answer. > > Apparently the (retail sales??) application on the server needs to > talk to all three layers of hardware: the PC (to display information > on the screen), the Printer (to generate ink on paper), and the other > devices beyond the Printer (reasons never given). Communication with > the devices beyond the Printer is apparently "bidirectional", meaning > the server application needs to be able to query one of these devices > and get information from it, which will cause application state to > be altered, information to appear on the screen, etc. Or maybe the > devices beyond the Printer are capable of initiating an async data > transfer to the server app? Who knows. It was never clearly stated. > > Apparently the OP has a proprietary Windows terminal emulator + telnet > client program (name never revealed?) that can already do everything, > and they want a Debian program that can be used in place of it. > > The problem for *us* is that we don't know what "everything" is (since > the OP is incapable of explaining it all), which makes it very hard > to find a program that can do "everything".
I've tried to be as precise as I can in the technical description. I understand I'm seeking help, but it's challenging for me to provide specific product names and details without violating the security guidelines I've agreed to in this project, which is critical for our company. I have previously mentioned that this is a Point of Sale (POS) system, consisting of the workstation (Wyse-type) that includes the terminal emulator and the receipt printer. This setup is used in the retail sector, primarily for sales transactions. I cannot disclose the names of commercial products in use because we are simultaneously evaluating various proprietary products in a competitive pre-sales phase. My role is strictly technical, focused on providing unbiased, pragmatic, and fact-based assessments of solutions, whether they are proprietary or open source. I always provide detailed arguments and references whenever possible. I must avoid any potential legal issues that could arise from disclosing sensitive information to any of the product vendors involved in the project. Additionally, I don't use the application myself, and I'm not familiar with its functional aspects. My knowledge is limited to the technical aspects of how things work, more like a black-box perspective. I can, for example, mention that this guide explaining passthrough mode (https://www.anzio.com/resources/guide-anzios-passthrough-printing) is a proprietary product that could potentially meet our requirements. I can cite it because, as of now, the project team hasn't initiated any commercial contact with this vendor during the pre-sales phase. However, the technical principles are well described in this resource: https://www.anzio.com/resources/printing-anzio in the Passthrough Printing + Aux Printing section, along with this additional resource: https://www.anzio.com/resources/using-aux-devices-anzio. The current emulator comes bundled with the Wyse-type workstation equipment; we don't have access to this software independently. From a practical standpoint, when it comes to printing, we simply select the Passthrough Printing option and choose the COM port. That's all there is to it, and it works this way. It's almost the same as in PuTTY, except here, we can choose a hardware port instead of a virtual printer. Regards, Thierry
