Meal Tikit Pro

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Meal Tikit
Meal Tikit Pro
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Operating Systems

Meal Tikit v1.0 is the first and original version of our POS software. From it's inception, it was meant to be a simple and intuitive, entry level POS software package, suitable for small businesses. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is mouse driven and optimized for the maximum number of menu items per screen. With spacing between the buttons minimized, navigating across screens is rapid and efficient.

	The GUI provides a tabbed interface and allows for multiple and mixed categories of menu items, either within the same tab, in adjacent tabs or in tabs within tabs. Since it is mouse driven, it requires a slightly higher degree of hand-eye coordination (and computer skills in general) that aren't normally needed with a touch-screen driven interface.

That said, and since a touch-screen monitor is not needed, the overall cost of the system is considerably less. Standard monitors are a great deal less expensive than touch-screen monitors, by as much as one third the cost (or less), and when a business is just getting off the ground, every penny saved is a penny earned. A reasonably good 19" monitor is still required, however, due to the higher resolution needed for a larger number of menu items grouped closely together. In general though, the hardware costs are much lower.

		Meal Tikit v1.0 is not a database driven application and depends upon various configuration and data support files for storing and recording transactions (sales). In operation, it is extremely fast and reliable and since a database is not used, the overall system cost is lowered even more. This is a very good entry level POS system that will provide years of trouble free operation.

Meal Tikit Pro is the Client/Server, database driven version of our POS software. It can run as a single, standalone system or in a multi-system configuration (a cluster of one server and one or more clients).

As Client systems are powered up, they automatically connect to the Server, where the database resides. During slow or off season periods, when the crowds have thinned out, you can run just the Server to conserve electricity.


		In terms of flexibility and functions, Meal Tikit Pro has it all. Menu items, descriptions (displayed and printed), prices, a receipt logo ... everything can be modified by the owner. With shipping and resulting supplier costs skyrocketing, having the flexibility to change prices quickly and easily is critical. Meal Tikit Pro makes it a snap. In addition to all the normal POS functions, there is a plethora of accounting/reporting features that makes Meal Tikit Pro invaluable for your book keeper.

As transactions are recorded, the accounting (Reports) aspects of Meal Tikit Pro begin to shine. They include daily server totals (the total amount of each servers receipts), a "Duplicates" report, daily totals for the restaurant, monthly totals for servers and the restaurant and you can scroll back to previous months to compare your earnings.

There are also reporting features that allow you to print a range of days (two week's worth of daily totals for each server, for example). Access to the reports and server information is password protected. A separate "Administration" application is available that allows for adding new servers, reports collection and printing of the available reports from another location (your office, for example).

In Meal Tikit Pro 3.0, the user interface has been optimized for the fewest number of "touches" (of the touch-screen monitor). Adding a menu item to the receipt, incrementing its count, decrementing it or removing an item altogether takes minimal user input.

Since the software is Windows based and since most people who own computers are running one version of Windows or another, interacting with the user interface is intuitively obvious (even to the most casual observer). It is easy to learn and your servers will become productive with only a few minutes of training.

In interviews with waitresses, we found they prefer buttons with descriptive labels over icons (buttons with pictures). It is your choice though as to which you prefer and we can do either.

Meal Tikit Pro is the quintessential POS software package. Designed from the ground up to be user friendly and easy to learn, your waiters and waitresses will thank you for. It will also give you the peace of mind of knowing that every receipt is totaled accurately and recorded for your records.

MTP v3.0

Feature Description	Meal Tikit	Meal Tikit Pro 2.0	Meal Tikit Pro 3.0
Database Driven	No	Yes	Yes
Touch Screen Optimization	No	Yes	Yes (extensive)
Accounting Reports	Yes (limited)	Yes (extensive)	Yes (extensive)
Client / Server	No	Yes	Yes
Split Receipt Functionality	No	No	Yes
Table Assignment	No	No	Yes
Table Reassignment	No	No	Yes
Logo on Receipt	No	No	Yes
Print Customer Receipt	No	No	Yes
Mixed Fonts in Receipts	No	No	Yes
Automated Backups (Database and support files)	No	Yes (partial)	Yes (full)
Tabbed User Interface	Yes	No (can be added)	No (can be added)
Admin Editable Menus	No	Yes	Yes

Today
The Future

Meal Tikit and Meal Tikit Pro currently run on the Microsoft Windows XP Pro (Win XP) operating system. We chose Win XP because of the vast range of available development tools (MS Visual Studio 2008, in particular) and rich feature set. It is also the most widely used operating system in the U.S.A. today.

We considered Vista (briefly) but due to the enormous number of bugs and unwanted features in Vista, we decided it wasn't worth the effort. Since Vista has become such an unpopular operating system, Microsoft is already hard at work on it's replacement (code named simply "Windows 7"). A 'beta' version of Windows 7 is due out around the end of this year and it's development has been greatly accelerated.

Because Win XP is so widely used and supported, we felt that a sense of familiarity and comfort with Windows-based software would be desirable. When people feel at home on a computer, they become productive more quickly and when they are productive, they are generally happier.

The level of comfort expressed by computer users is a direct result of their familiarity and comfort with the graphical user interface (GUI). You won't see anything in Meal Tikit or Meal Tikit Pro that you haven't already seen in other Windows-based software. Buttons, check boxes, pull-down lists, etc., all appear just as they do in other Windows programs.

For the moment, Windows XP is the operating system of choice for Meal Tikit and Meal Tikit Pro. That may be changing soon though (click 'The Future' tab), so check back occasionally for updates.

We are currently in the process of porting Meal Tikit Pro over to the Linux operating system. Linux is a very user friendly and robust operating system, when configured properly, and can be made to look very much like Windows XP. There are several reasons for switching to Linux (aside from the very cute logos);

1. Sales of Windows XP will be discontinued at some point in the future. According to Microsoft, support for Windows XP will end in 2014. Even though that is a full eight years down the road, using an unsupported operating system is neither recommended nor desirable.

2. Windows XP is not, nor has it ever been free. The vast majority of Linux operating systems ARE free and are very well supported (better than ANY product from Microsoft). That support is also free.

3. The availability of a Real Time Kernel in Linux makes it more attractive, from a technical standpoint. Real Time processing of transactions is as good as it gets, and Linux delivers that in spades. Microsoft Windows (any and all versions) has never been nor will it every be a Real Time operating system. Running on a reasonably fast computer, this is generally not an issue, but is still a consideration.

4. In terms of general desktop use, there is very little (if anything) that a Linux box can't do that a Windows box can. The biggest difference is the vast majority of Linux software is FREE. There are also well over a dozen different window managers available to run in Linux. The window manager is what you see --- the desktop, the menuing system, icons, the look and feel of the user interface --- everything the GUI is comprised of. Linux offers several very low overhead window managers that use minimal system resources and are, to a large extent, nearly transparent (to the user). Even more important, a low overhead window manager doesn't get in the way of real-time transaction processing.

In terms of the computing power an operating system and the software that runs on it provides, Linux is unbeatable. There are more FREE software applications (literally thousands) available for the Linux platform than for ANY other operating system available. Upgrading and installing those applications is a breeze and even easier than in Windows.

For us, Linux is simply a no-brainer. The inevitable migration of Meal Tikit Pro to the Linux operating system is a logical progression that is unavoidable. We look forward to the future where even better things await us.

Current Status of Linux Port:

The touch screen driver has been ported to Linux, tested and is fully functional. The next big hurdle is writing a driver for the receipt printer. Porting of the Meal Tikit Pro software itself will be fairly easy and is on the back burner until hardware support is completed. It makes no sense to port the software if the hardware isn't yet supported.

Brookings, Oregon | Sales@MealTikitPro.com