XP or XPE for POS application

Hi,

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this - apologies if it's not.

I'm developing a custom POS application in VB.Net 2.0 for no more than 4 terminals.

The touch terminals all have P4 processors with 512 MB RAM and 40 GB HDDs.

I'm just wondering if there are any advantages to installing XP embedded (or XPE for POS) instead of XP Professional.

Because of the limited number of clients, it would be more expensive to buy the developer tools for XPE and then license each client rather than just buying 4 copies of XP Pro - I already have VS 2005.

Because the terminals are reasonly well specced and they will only by running the POS system, I'm overlooking the preformance benefits of XPE - is there anything else I need to know about XPE

I'd appreciate any help or advise on offer

Thanks

Mark

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XP or XPE for POS application

Neil Beresford
Mark,

Have you considered what database type will work on those machines SQL Express or Workgroup Some are not compatible it sounds.

Or perhaps you have a separate server for your DB

Duie
jlgervais

The advantage in using XP Embedded in situations like this is that the system is made to be more closed and more appliance like (the boot includes tha application, no external software installations and thus less prone to mal-functions)

Arnon
Andgermany
Roger and Arnon,

Appreciate all your help. I think I'll stick XP Pro this time as the system has to go live at the end of June and I don't want to do anything that might delay it.

I'll definately consider XP Embedded in the future though - I just don't have the time to evaluate it this time round.

Thanks again

Mark
Xeon_boy
Arnon,

Thanks for the reply.

XP Embedded seems like the best option.

I'll have to give it some more thought

Thanks again

Mark
tirthankar

You can install .NET 2.0 with XPE

see for example http://blogs.msdn.com/embedded/archive/2006/03/17/553921.aspx

Arnon
Alan Cobb
Thanks Roger,

Are there any issues with running the .net 2 framework on XPE
JanJacobs
If resources are not an issue, you should also consider what other software you need on your POS terminals - some is not qualified to run on XPE.
thinkCode96

Note that building an XPE image takes a little time to get right

here are few resources to get you started:

http://www.embeddedengines.com/pdf/BuildingEmbeddedXP.pdf

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnxpembed/html/custshell.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp url=/library/en-us/dnxpembed/html/xpplatform.asp

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/articles/AT6152425094.html

Arnon
XP or XPE for POS application

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