The Visa POS Port is essentially like a Credit Card swipe machine, except for it is connected through the Serial port on a computer. The Visa POS Port Daemon (POSd) is a Unix Server Daemon which handles communication to and from the serial port, and routes it to one or more network connections. The POSd is what the Visa Documentation refers to as an In-Store Processor (ISP), where the external database software is the Electronic Cash Register (ECR). The POSd is known to run in:
The POSd provides functionality through its Network Protocol. It does not manage batches or transactions itself--it leaves that up to your external systems. The protocol spoken over the network by the POSd is PNSP (POS Network Server Protocol).
Security Concerns
It should be noted that no attempt for network security from packet sniffing and other forms of intrusion is made in the base PNSP protocol. It is strongly suggested that use of the POSd and PNSP protocol is performed over a private network, and that some means of encrypting the data stream is used--such as tunnelling over an SSH connection.
Licensing
All licensing and use provisions are explained in the COPYRIGHT file.
Downloading
You can download the latest posd by specifying your name and email address (you will not be placed on any mailing list), and selecting the button I Agree.
Downloading POSd is explicit agreement of all terms in the COPYRIGHT notice. POSd-1.2.3.tar.gz
Support
Support may be gained by mailing the author:
brandon at roguetrader.com
I appologize for the obfuscation of the email address--I do not want it to appear on email search engines. Simply replace 'at' with an at-sign for the actual address.
Copyright © 1997, Brandon Gillespie.