| Note: Party Center Software support staff is available to help you install Hardware Link. Please email support@partycentersoftware.com or call 916-226-4062 and we will use TeamViewer to connect and complete the install process for you. Thank you! |
Overview
Party Center Software is a web-based application, and has always been able to run in a web browser. However, a special browser was required in order to allow Party Center Software to communicate with physical hardware. This browser was called PCS Register, and it allowed the use of peripherals such as a cash drawer or a receipt printer.
As technology evolved, PCS Register and its many legacy software requirements became increasingly difficult to maintain. Supporting compatibility with PCS Register began to preclude the Party Center Software development team from adopting many new technologies that were becoming industry standard.
This led to the decision to develop a new method of allowing Party Center Software to communicate with local hardware. This new method is called Hardware Link. With Hardware Link installed, you no longer need to use a special browser and can communicate with your hardware through Party Center Software using a standard browser such as Edge, Chrome, or Firefox.
The arrival of Hardware Link is advantageous for development as well. Deprecating PCS Register will allow Party Center Software to become much safer, faster, and more reliable as modern technology is adopted and incorporated.
NOTE: Hardware Link is currently only compatible with Windows operating systems.
Table of Contents
- Installing Hardware Link
- Hardware Link Settings Overview
- Installing a USB Receipt Printer
- Installing a Network Receipt Printer
- Installing a Printer-Driven Cash Drawer
- Installing a USB Cash Drawer
- Installing a USB Pole Display
- Uninstalling Hardware Link
- Uninstalling PCS Register
Installing Hardware Link
Begin by downloading Hardware Link from our downloads page.
Step 1
Once you have downloaded Hardware Link, locate the zipped folder on your computer. Most browsers will place this file in your Downloads folder by default:
Step 2
Right click on HardwareLink.zip and click on Extract All:
A popup will allow you to change the destination of the extracted folder if you wish to do so. Click Extract to unpack the contents of HardwareLink.zip. The popup will close when you are done:
Step 3
Open the newly created HardwareLink folder and locate install.bat:
Double click on install.bat to run the installation process and install Hardware Link on your computer.
It is possible that Windows will falsely flag Hardware Link due to it being an unrecognized application. In that event, you will encounter this popup warning:
If this occurs, click More Info and then click Run Anyway to proceed with the installation:
The installation process is initiated through Command Prompt. If you encounter this popup, click Yes to proceed:
After this point, the installation is an automated process. Once the installation is complete, you will be notified in Command Prompt. You can press any key at this point to close command prompt:
Hardware Link is now installed. The application itself is a lightweight process that runs in the background on your computer. You do not need to launch Hardware Link, it is already running. If you reboot your computer, you will not need to launch Hardware Link. Windows will simply launch Hardware Link on boot, along with the other background services your computer uses.
Hardware Link Settings Overview
With Hardware Link running on your computer, Party Center Software will recognize your computer's hardware. Before this step, the Customer 2.0 feature must be enabled, you can click here to view how to do that!
Got to Admin > Hardware Settings to see the hardware profile that has been created for your computer:
Party Center Software will detect that you are viewing the page on a computer running Hardware Link. By default, the name given to your computer's hardware profile when running Hardware Link will be your computer's name. This can be modified by clicking edit and then changing Profile Name:
All of the new settings related to Hardware Link can be accessed by clicking hardware from the Hardware Settings page:
NOTE: The option to edit hardware will only display when Hardware Link is detected and running. You cannot edit another computer's Hardware Link settings because these settings are stored locally on each computer. You must log in to each computer to access its Hardware Link Settings.
This should take you to your computer's Hardware Link Settings page. This page and its settings will be discussed in the other sections of this article, as it is necessary to visit this page when installing hardware.
Installing a USB Receipt Printer
Begin by making sure your Epson USB Receipt printer is plugged in, powered on, and connected to one of your computer's USB ports.
Note: This process only works with Epson receipt printer, as listed in our Suggested Hardware, Computer And POS Requirements article.
Step 1
Once you have downloaded Epson Virtual Port Driver, locate the zipped folder on your computer. Most browsers will place this file in your Downloads folder by default:
Step 2
Right click on the zipped folder and click on Extract All:
A popup will allow you to change the destination of the extracted folder if you wish to do so. Click Extract to unpack the contents of the zipped Epson Virtual Port Drivers folder. The popup will close when you are done:
Step 3
Open the newly created TMVirtualPortDriver folder and locate the installer:
You may be asked if you would like to allow the application to make changes to your computer. Click Yes if you encounter this popup:
You may click through the installation process with the default options. After you have finished the installation, you may click Finish to close the installation process and begin configuring your USB Epson receipt printer:
Step 4
The Epson Virtual Port Assignment Tool should open automatically once the installation process is complete. Select COM1 and then click Assign Port:
If your printer is powered on and connected to your computer, you should see the model displayed. Select the Model and then click OK to assign your printer to COM1:
Before moving on to the next step, it is recommended that you make sure your computer is communicating with your receipt printer by selecting your printer and clicking Test. If your printer has paper, a small receipt should print to indicate that the test was successful:
Step 5
Log in to your facility and go to Admin > Hardware Settings and click hardware to open the Hardware Link Settings for your computer:
If this is your primary receipt printer, find Primary Receipt Printer Settings. Check Enabled, set Connection Type to USB and set COM Port to COM1 (assuming you assigned your printer to COM1 in Epson's Virtual Port application). Leave IP Address blank:
If this is a secondary receipt printer, find Secondary Receipt Printer Settings and follow the same steps listed above. If you set your printer to a COM Port other than COM1 in Epson's Virtual Port application, make sure you select the corresponding COM Port here.
After clicking Save Changes, your printer is now ready for use. Navigate to Admin > Hardware Settings and click edit next to your Hardware Profile to change various settings such as the number of printed receipts per transaction.
Installing a Network Receipt Printer
It is possible to configure Hardware Link to communicate with an Epson network receipt printer. A network receipt printer connects directly to your router instead of the computer. A computer that is connected to the same network can then send receipts to the printer without being directly connected to the printer itself.
Step 1
Once your printer has been configured for your network, click on Start, find the EpsonNet folder, and launch EpsonNet Config:
You will need to locate your printer's IP address:
Step 2
Once you have your printer's IP Address, log in to your facility and go to Admin > Hardware Settings and click hardware to open the Hardware Link Settings for your computer:
If this is your primary receipt printer, find Primary Receipt Printer Settings. Check Enabled, set Connection Type to Network and enter your printer's IP address. The COM Port setting does not matter for network printers and will be ignored:
If this is a secondary receipt printer, find Secondary Receipt Printer Settings and follow the same steps listed above.
After clicking Save Changes, your printer is now ready for use. Navigate to Admin > Hardware Settings and click edit next to your Hardware Profile to change various settings such as the number of printed receipts per transaction.
Installing a Printer-Driven Cash Drawer
A printer-driven cash drawer is a cash drawer that connects directly to your receipt printer. It does not connect to the computer itself. The cable that connects the cash drawer to the receipt printer is always directional, meaning that there is one end that must plug in to the printer and one end that must plug in to the cash drawer. These are usually labelled, and your cash drawer will not operate if the cable is backwards.
These cables are typically supplied with the cash drawer, and use connectors that look like this:
Step 1
Before setting up your cash drawer, make sure that your receipt printer is properly installed and working in Party Center Software. As long as your printer supports a cash drawer connection, the setup process is relatively simple and does not require the installation of any additional drivers.
Step 2
Connect the cash drawer to the printer. Make sure you connect the right end of the cable to each device. Your cable will typically have at least one end labelled:
Step 3
Log in to your facility and navigate to Admin > Hardware Settings. Click hardware next to your computer's hardware profile:
Step 4
Scroll down to Cash Drawer Settings. Check Enabled and set Connection Type to Printer:
After saving your changes, you should see this button appear in the header of your facility:
This button allows you to pop the cash drawer at any time, as long as your user account has permission to do so. You may also pop the cash drawer at any time from the Point of Sale using the Open Drawer button, as long as you have the same permission:
Installing a USB Cash Drawer
Some cash drawers are built to plug directly into a computer via USB. We officially support M-S Cash Drawer USB cash drawers because we have been able to fully test their compatibility. Other cash drawers may work if the manufacturer's drivers can be detected by Hardware Link, but they are not officially supported and are not guaranteed to work.
After you have downloaded the M-S Cash Drawer USB Controller software, connect your cash drawer to one or your computer's USB ports.
Step 1
Once you have downloaded M-S Cash Drawer USB Controller, locate the zipped folder on your computer. Most browsers will place this file in your Downloads folder by default:
Step 2
Right click on the zipped folder and click on Extract All:
A popup will allow you to change the destination of the extracted folder if you wish to do so. Click Extract to unpack the contents of the zipped Epson Virtual Port Drivers folder. The popup will close when you are done:
Step 3
Open the newly created MSCD_USBSetup folder and locate the installer:
You may be asked if you would like to allow the application to make changes to your computer. Click Yes if you encounter this popup:
You may click through the installation process with the default options. After you have finished the installation, you may click Finish to close the installation program:
Step 4
Open your start menu and find the new M-S Cash Drawer folder. Open M-S Cash Drawer USB Controller:
The application should indicate that your drawer is connected:
Click Open Cash Drawer. The cash drawer should pop, indicating a successful installation:
Step 5
Log in to your facility and navigate to Admin > Hardware Settings. Click hardware next to your computer's hardware profile:
Step 6
Scroll down to Cash Drawer Settings. Check Enabled and set Connection Type to USB. Click on the Device dropdown and select M-S Cash Drawer USB Device:
After saving your changes, you should see this button appear in the header of your facility:
This button allows you to pop the cash drawer at any time, as long as your user account has permission to do so. You may also pop the cash drawer at any time from the Point of Sale using the Open Drawer button, as long as you have the same permission:
Installing a USB Pole Display
Epson USB pole displays are supported with Hardware Link as long as they meet the transfer speed requirements mentioned in the note about dip switches below.
Before installing the pole display, it is recommended that you first download and install Epson's Virtual Port Driver. This is not required for operation but will help you avoid COM port conflicts with other USB devices, especially USB receipt printers.
The beginning of this section covers installation of the Epson Virtual Port Driver software.
A Note About Dip Switches
Many pole displays have a set of dip switches that can be configured in various ways. This will likely vary by model. These switches may control various things, including data transfer speed in bits per second.
You must set the pole display's transfer speed to 115200 bps, or it will likely not work with Hardware Link. If the transfer speed is incorrect, the pole display with show garbled text or nothing at all.
If a pole display does not allow you to set the transfer speed, it is not guaranteed to work.
The dip switch settings may vary and you are advised to consult the owner's manual. We found that we had to turn dip switch 5 on and the rest off to set our Epson DM-D110's data transfer speed to 115200 bps:
These dip switches can be found underneath a rubber cap on the back of the Epson DM-D110, but location may vary by model:
Step 1
Begin by connecting your Epson pole display to an available USB port on your computer. The pole display should power on.
Step 2
A COM port will be assigned to the pole display, and it is usually COM3. This can be verified in several ways.
One way is to check the Epson Virtual Port Assignment Tool if you have installed Epson's Virtual Port Drivers. The model number of the pole display should be visible under the assigned COM port:
You may also check Devices and Printers. To do so, click Start and type Control Panel. Click to open Control Panel:
Click on View Devices and Printers:
You should see your pole display's model number listed. Right click and select Properties:
Click on the Hardware tab to view the assigned COM port:
Step 3
Once you have determined your Epson USB pole display's assigned COM port, log in to your facility and navigate to Admin > Hardware Settings. Click hardware next to your computer's hardware profile:
Step 6
Scroll down to Pole Display Settings. Check Enabled and set COM Port to the assigned COM port for your pole display. You may typically leave Columns set to 40, but the option exists to set a different column width if your pole display supports it:
After saving changes, your pole display should now display the items rung up in the point of sale.
Step 7 (Optional)
You may wish to set idle display text for your pole display. To do so, navigate back to Admin > Hardware Settings and click edit next to your hardware profile:
Scroll down to Pole Display Settings and enter the text your would like the pole display to display when idle. Idle Scroll Speed is a legacy setting for PCS Register and should be ignored when using a pole display with Hardware Link:
Uninstalling Hardware Link
The process for removing Hardware Link from your computer is straightforward and similar to installation.
Step 1
If you are using the computer from which you would like to remove Hardware Link, navigate to C:\Program Files\Party Center Software\Hardware Link. You should see a file titled uninstal.bat:
Double click on this file to begin uninstallation. The uninstallation process is initiated through Command Prompt. If you encounter this popup, click Yes to proceed:
You will be asked to confirm you decision to uninstall Hardware Link. Type y and press Enter to confirm:
The uninstallation process will now run in command prompt, removing Hardware Link from your computer. When the process is complete, command prompt will close and the Hardware Link folder will be empty:
You may delete this folder now if you wish to do so.
Uninstalling PCS Register
It is recommended that you first remove PCS Register if you already have it installed. This will prevent possible conflicts with Hardware Link. If you have already removed PCS Register, or if you are installing Hardware Link on a new computer, you may skip this section.
Step 1
Open the Start Menu and click the the gear icon (Settings) to open the Windows Settings page:
Step 2
Locate and click on Apps:
This will bring up a list of the applications installed on you computer.
Step 3
Locate PCS Register:
Step 4
Click to expand PCS Register, and then click the Uninstall button to remove the application:
You may be prompted by Windows' User Account Control to allow the changes to be made. If this occurs, click Yes to proceed. You may close the Windows settings page when the uninstallation process is complete.