PHP talking to hardware at client PC?

[Bill Campbell]

On Sun, Sep 10, 2006, Man-wai CHANG wrote:
>> I wouldn't be using a PC running Windows for my POS application,
>> but would be running a Linux box so this is easy.
>
>the POS solution worked because the PHP codes run on the same PC that's
>connected to the cash register. What if you use a remote server to feed
>javascript+html+xml codes to the PC connecting to the cash register?

I would never use a browser for high-volume accounting applications because
they're just too clunky and slow professional data entry.  The accounting
applications I write all have a curses interface, and are designed for
maximum efficiency

The first POS application I wrote in 1985 was for a large appliance dealer,
using dumb terminals with a Radio Shack Model 16/6000 running Xenix as the
server).  Over the years that software has evolved to handle a variety of
accounting applications, and is still in use today.

>Should the cash register PC trust the codes sent from the Linux server?
>If yes, then why isn't there a documented way in the DOM of the browser
>for accessing hardware devices at the browser machine? M$ get around
>this by the ActiveX whatever controls...

Microsoft got around many things (like security) by doing things like that.
I wouldn't take that as an advantage.

Bill
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