Can I program an ingenico/verifone terminal to do whatever I want?

Question

Ideally, I would connect an Ingenico/VeriFone terminal to the net via an Ethernet cable, the terminal will exclusively run a program that I wrote. This program would poll a webservice, beep when it detects some kind of info, wait for somebody's input, transmit said info back to the webservice, and print a ticket.

Is this possible with terminals from Ingenico/VeriFone/someone else?

I'm looking for the form factor/semi-ruggedness of said terminals. We don't need/want something bigger like an PC or laptop.

Tiddlywinks

What sort of display do you want? Like the 5 inch touch screen that can be signed on? Or more like the 4 line LCD with push buttons? A little more info could go a long way. – Intervocalic

Michael, the 4 lin LCD with push buttons is what I'm looking for. – Tiddlywinks

Answer 1

I have built applications on Verifone, Hypercom and Trintech terminals. The Verifones are by far the easiest to devlop for. They have a simple flash and RAM file systems, apps are downloaded and run as files, the OS (Verix) is POSIX like with good C/C++ libraries etc. Only downside is tool cost, VerixV use ARM SDT (5K Euro per seat) and older Verix terminals (Coldfire based) use SDS compiler. Dev kit comes with default keys to sign your apps (not most secures, but you can password protect download access on terminal). I have written lots of apps on these terminals, not just payment app. Verifone multi-app controller (VMAC) is a crock of shit but it's very easy to run multiple apps yourself using pipes for inter-app comms (your apps won't run on third party terminals which use VMAC though). We used ethernet connectivity for FTP to manage app and config download as well as transaction batching. Also used WIFI on latest terminals for same (also used 3G terminals but I didnt do any of code on these). Verifone is PC-like in terms of code development and we shared lots of library/app code between WIN32/Verix/VerixV and Linux. Verifone terminals are well built and can take a lot of abuse but then most serious terminal manufacturers do a good job these days.

Mandarin

Judge, thanks for answering, this really helps me understanding terminals a bit more. We decided not to code this ourselves, so if you know of a reputable developer with experience in this, let me know. – Tiddlywinks

I'm not active in terinal development now (not for eighteen months), I'm currently working on transit smart card app. I'm based in Dublin, Ireland, I know people here who are always interested in terminal based projects (purely commercial basius). If u are not based here they may be interested if you app idea could be used here. Comment here with an email address if you want to discuss further (no way to do direct contact in SO unfortuanatly). – Mandarin

This answer is aging fast and I would recommend anyone interested in the topic to do some research. I havent developed for terminals in a few years and I know that Verifone have a new grapical OS (also worth noting that GCC can now be used for Verifone developemnt). App signing has become stricter (not possible to use default keys in production environment any more). There are also now more Linux based terminals (mostly from Asian manufacturers) in the market but be sure the manufacturer has EMV (chip/pin) support. – Mandarin

Don't appreciate people correcting my use of english, specifically, replacing my use of the word 'shit' with 's**t'. What, are we small children that we need to be corrected in such a purile fashion. By the way, after twenty years in the payment terminal business, I feel I am fully qualified in judging that Verifones VMAC was a complete crock of 'shit'. That is my professional, technical assessment. That is all. – Mandarin