How do the peripherals and Drupal interact?

Our hardware page lists some of the hardware we've tested with and use.

The hand scanner is plugged into the USB port of the computer. No driver installation is necessary and it works on all platforms. When it scans a barcode is simply outputs the numbers as if you typed them into the text box on your keyboard and then pressed Enter.

The receipt printer is configured like any other printer. Receipts are printed with javascript. In Firefox a dialog will come up after full payment asking if you'd like to print. This dialog can be turned off by configuring Firefox so receipts are automatically printed (to do this, enter "about:config" into your URL bar, add the boolean option for "always_print_silent" and set it to true).

the cash drawer is hooked up to the receipt printer and opens whenever anything is printed.

the card reader is hooked up by USB and inputs Track 1 of a Credit Card's Magnetic Strip into UberPOS. The data is then submitted to Authorize.net, using your API Login and Transaction Key, for payment processing.