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Having acquired free software, some retailers have built successful systems using only second-hand equipment for the ultimate in a low cost approach. There is little to fault with this approach. Much of the equipment available has years of useful life left, and there is a steady supply of equipment, due to shop closures and liquidations. (EPOS didn't stop them failing!)
Receipt printers are available with either dot matrix or thermal mechanisms. Dot matrix types are noisier and will occasionally need a new ribbon, whereas thermal printers need special, but readily available paper; but both are usable. Interfaces are currently serial, or parallel, but USB is available on newer units. The program can accept either serial or parallel. USB may present a problem. The program can accept Epson ESC/POS standard. Other widths can be catered for by adjusting the characters to a line setting in the settings screen. Printers are often set up by internal dip switches. To test current settings, press and hold the Form Feed switch while switching on the printer and it should print out a test strip together with information that will show the settings. A printer manual can often be downloaded from the Internet, but in the absence of this, you could try adjusting switch setting by trial and error. A serial printer should be set to 8 bits, no parity, dtr/dsr, 9600 baud and one stop bit. Note that you will require a serial printer cable and not a null modem cable.
Scanners can be keyboard wedge, (a Y-shaped lead that sits between computer and keyboard,) serial, or USB interface. See the section on setting up a serial scanner. If the scanner works for your products, fine. If not, you may need to re-program it. First locate the manual on the Internet, and print it. If your scanner is too old to be supported, download a later scanner by the same manufacturer and try using that one. Scanners are programmed by scanning special bar codes printed in their manual. You need to program it to read type 39 codes (or 3of 9) and the various EAN and UPC codes on offer. Default settings are commonly acceptable, but changing such things as inter-character delay can be helpful.
Cash drawers are generally compatible, and plug into the back of the receipt printer. Make sure that you have the correct lead, as they are not too readily available.
New equipment is also to be recommended. New receipt printers will have a drop in facility for paper; this is very useful if you have a customer waiting for a receipt. ProffittCenter can supply recommended compatible equipment so visit the web site at www.proffittcenter.org for current hardware prices.
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