OS options for Aloha

[alohaakamai3]

For some of you following the the boards, I am having a problem with connections on a larger sight where XP pro is installed.

As I can see it, I have 3 options available at my disposal.

1) Go back to XP service pack 1, prior to the 10 connection limitation. I am not crazy about this, but to my knowledge, most of sp2 was about the firewall and driver support MS added. If this is definitely something I don't want to do, please chime in.

2) I can go to server class OS, like Windows 2003 Server. I am marginally familiar with this OS, but not as it pertains to running Aloha. I don't know how much different the setup is as opposed to XP, but it sounds like a pretty expensive option for 12 or so connections.

3)I don't really see why I can't use Windows 2000. I didn't really find it all the different than XP in terms stability, and most of the good features they did add are not going to be of much use to a computer thats dedicated to strictly running Aloha. To my knowledge, there is no licesning limitation on connections for 2k. The only reason I really liked XP is for driver support (it has more natively) and it seems easier to install, etc. But beyond that, for POS purposes, other than it being a little older than XP, I don't see why this isn't a viable and more affordable option.

I should mention, just in case it's a factor-there is pretty much a no-frills system. 11 terminals and EDC. No other modules, just in case some of them took advantage of XP features that might create a problem if something like 2k is used.

Opinions and suggestions welcome.

Thanks

 

[zahead31]

Windows 2000 does have the licensing issue. In one of our sites we installed Win 2K Server on a couple terminals and Win XP on the remaining terms.

Win 2K3 Server was available at the time, but 2000 was cheaper and we have not had any problems with it. The only issue we had at installation time was the lana config, which was an easy fix.

 

[bigblok403]

XP SP1 still uses a normal CAL, it just has a different TCP/IP connection limit, which I think is a totally separate issue (correct me if I'm wrong).

As far as O/S, not sure how much it costs for 1 terminal to be a W2k3 instead of XP, but the only other option you have is making the terminals win9x or figure out why your version 6.x isn't working right.

FYI - Aloha versions 6.0.x had lots of problems early on, 6.1.7 and 6.1.9 had these similar problems. The latest version of 6.1 is 6.1.12

http://alohaforum.minion1.com

- Need ideas for new domain name!!

 

[alohaakamai3]

Thanks, I was definitely wrong on the account of win2k not having a connection limit. I thought that was the case, but a pretty knowledgeable colleague told me he didn't think it did. I think you're right, it does.

Its the same guy who told me about the connection limitations, but Bigblok may be be right on that as well. Maybe he isn't so knowledgeable, lol. There are plenty of articles online discussing the TCP connection limit, which is different then connections via a network share, but I can certainly see how he was confused by that.

I should add-this is an older site. So, thankfully, they use Win98 on many of the terminals still, so the connections to the master are not an issue.

Connections to the server is the issue.

And unfortunately, based on what you guys are telling me here, the client is going to be to drop approximately $800 on 2003, which sucks.

Anyway, let me know if you guys think of anything different.

Thanks

 

[bigblok403]

If you have 10 terminals and some of them are Win98, you might be ok with the network connection limit. Win98 terminals do not use any CAL's. Say you have 5 Win98 terminals, 5 XP terminals, an XP fileserver, and EDC you would only be using 7 CAL's, 2 under Windows XP's limit. This applies towards the master terminals as well as the fileserver. I never had great success with mixing 98 and XP though, it works, just not as well as I'd like.

http://alohaforum.minion1.com

- Need ideas for new domain name!!

 

[alohaakamai3]

Well, I've got to say some of what you're saying makes sense, but these are all win98-we may even have a win95 machine somewhere in there that just refuses to die

But, I must mention-when I go to check the connections in XP, it shows all of the individual terminals making a connection to the file server. Not sure if this is contradicting what you're saying or not, but if the exact rule from MS is that no more than can be connected to a share on a WinXP, then it looks like were breaking it (10 terminals, plus one for EDC, if thats what XP considers a connection).

I've seen only two issues. One that EDC won't connect when trying to launch the actual inteface (that was covered in another post)-but once the interface is open, the only other issue I have heard is that sometimes it says "processing credit cards offline"

They've only see that msg a few times, but obviously it cant stay this way.

So, I am totally confused now. I don't want to spend a bundle on a new OS if that's not the issue-but, on the other hand, it still sorta looks like way.

This might shed some light on things as well, in terms of a connection issue likely being the problem:

It just so happened that we built two file servers together, exact same hardware, etc. One was setup to run Aloha (with the exception of the Aloha software being installed), and then it was cloned and loaded onto another PC. So they are effectively identical.

The other server is also in the field and having zero issues.

I know there are still some minor differences with respect to the Aloha version, etc. But it's pretty darn close to exactly the same. The only real difference being the # of computers that need to connect.

 

[Circle9]

bigblok,

What is the latest version of Aloha?

 

[bigblok403]

5.3.46, 6.0.15, 6.1.12, 6.2.5, 6.3.1