[Koha-oz] . Re: Self-checkout machines & Koha

[Catherine Kerrigan]

Hi Bob!

Thanks for the tip about how Koha deals with availability. Thanks too for the advice about upgrading, however at present I have no IT support and I know I couldn't manage it on my own. My plan is to migrate to a hosted solution for Koha when I get some money for it and do the upgrade then. However, we are a very small school and it could be some time before I have the money to do it. I will be contacting Calyx when I do.

Cheers!

Catherine

Catherine Kerrigan  :::  Librarian
T 08 8299 7300  ::: F 08 8172 0504
Adelaide Central School of Art ::: PO Box 225 Fullarton SA 5063 
7 Mulberry Road Glenside SA 5065 ::: (adjacent to the Adelaide Film Studios)
www.acsa.sa.edu.au

   
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-----Original Message-----

Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2017 11:59:01 +1100
From: Bob Birchall <bob at calyx.net.au>
To: koha-oz at lists.koha-community.org
Subject: Re: [Koha-oz] Self-checkout machines & Koha
Message-ID: <3b1a9ea3-03aa-8ff1-8c46-3bdcde28dd8e at calyx.net.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

Hi Catherine,
I'm only speculating, but the issue might have been that Koha does not store an 'availability' value, rather it calculates it from other values.  They may have needed to adjust for that.  In any event we can confirm that FE Technologies equipment is running at a number of Koha sites including Hororwhenua libraries in NZ and has been tested successfully for a public library group in Victoria.

If you don't mind me saying (I really hope you don't), not upgrading may not be the best strategy.  Since your install there have been a number of security fixes to Koha that you should implement.  In addition, Koha advances rapidly.  Not only are you missing out on new features, but you run the risk of having to do a very complex upgrade eventually, or even a migration.  Generally an upgrade from one version to the next is reasonably straightforward.  Your Koha to self-check-machine link should not be broken by an upgrade.

I hope this helps,
Bob Birchall
Calyx

On 09/02/17 14:55, Catherine Kerrigan wrote:
> Hi Katherine!
>
> We used FE Technologies for our self-checkout machine when we installed one and had lots of problems getting their software talking to Koha. Part of the problem stemmed from the fact that we were the first Koha installation they had done and they were a bit stymied by Koha's logic, but we did get it working eventually and I haven't upgraded either Koha or the self-check machine software since for fear of messing it up. It works beautifully now and we haven't had any problems since the installation.
>
> I would suggest that, if you consider them as your vendor, check what other Koha installations they have done since then - ours was 2014. Also consider 3M - they apparently have a lot of experience with Koha in New Zealand.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Catherine
>
> Catherine Kerrigan  :::  Librarian
> T 08 8299 7300  ::: F 08 8172 0504
> Adelaide Central School of Art ::: PO Box 225 Fullarton SA 5063
> 7 Mulberry Road Glenside SA 5065 ::: (adjacent to the Adelaide Film 
> Studios) www.acsa.sa.edu.au
>