E-Postage for Linux? 35
tyen asks: "While it's not dead yet (shades of Monty Python), Internet postage on Linux appears to be missing. The biggest player's software is Windows-only, and the other players mimic this requirement. You would be amazed how many businesses will dedicate a computer to printing off postage and shipping labels, why pay an annoying Microsoft tax for such an appliance application? Besides, these Windows-based solutions are heavily GUI-centric, and any integration into Linux-based automated processes would be unacceptably brittle. Has anyone successfully set up their business to print off e-postage from Linux or any other Open Source platform?"
Thoughts... (Score:2, Informative)
Even if they did, good luck finding *n?x drivers for an Eltron thermal printer (prints out stickers for packages). Not that I've looked... but I doubt you will find them.
Helpful Pedantry? (Score:2)
Re:Thoughts... (Score:5, Informative)
The FedEx server runs on Windows, but they give that machine to you with all necessary software installed.
Communication with the server is done over a TCP socket, using an open protocol (the protocol is weird, but documented). You could definitely submit jobs into the system in an automated way - we have a system at work that does this.
I'm not sure if printer drivers would be a problem on Unix. FedEx gave us a Zebra printer and said to use the standard / text-only printer driver in Windows. It needs to be shared using SMB, but Samba should be able to handle that. If this doesn't work, you could probably hook the printer up to the machine FedEx gives you.
Re:Thoughts... (Score:1)
I want to know who the hell though WinXP would be a good idea on an appliance type system like that.
They did talk to us about integrating the system into our ecommerce app though, don't know what that would cost us in terms of "licenses" for whatever to uncripple
Re:Thoughts... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Thoughts... (Score:5, Interesting)
All the thermal printers I've used with shipping computers have used pretty much standard Epson or HP-GL graphics modes. Set up a generic Epson printer with weird-ass margins and you're set.
Re:Thoughts... (Score:5, Informative)
You can send print strings straight over a serial cable or, if your
printer is networked, simply open a socket to it. We generate FedEx
labels on both Linux and Solaris (for Intel). It's custom code, but
creating print strings is essentially no different than creating
valid XML or HTML. It's just another mark up language.
Oh neat! (Score:4, Funny)
Up here in The Great White North we send everything by dog sled.
Re:Oh neat! (Score:1)
Emulation... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Emulation... (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Emulation... (Score:1)
Re:Emulation... (Score:1)
Laport: Well if Wine is not an emulator, then what is it. (laughs) Julliard: Well, an emulator! This is a paraphrase from memory but I found it very funny that they spent 2 minutes describing Wine and how it's not an emulator and then Julliard says it basically is an emulator.
Cold day in hell (Score:5, Informative)
From a (somewhat ignorant) corporate standpoint, I can understand why. Digital postage is pretty close to digital money. And while I don't know the cryptogtaphy involved, I assume it's a proven system (after all, this is the USPS), as least on paper, if not in implementation. However, the thought of "evil hackers" having low-level access to the system calls, snooping at the system would probably keep the CEOs up at night. I just can't see this happening solely due to a mistrust of the underlying OS. Granted, a skilled Windows "hacker" can do the same thing with debuggers under Windows, but everyone "trusts" Windows' security/obscurity.
I guess it wouldn't hurt to inquire again, just to let them know that a former customer would return if they had a native Linux version.
Colder and colder (Score:4, Interesting)
This is about support, nothing more. I'm suprised how many Slashdotters don't understand the costs of adding support for a platform to a product. I've worked on major projects where it was a big deal that we supported three platforms, and the choice of the third platform was a matter of major infighting. And this was in big companies with a lot of cash to throw around. I'm suprised that stamps.com has the resources to support two platforms.
Re:Colder and colder (Score:2)
The fact that there are two platforms already means that a decision-maker somewhere thought there was enough money to be made to support the second platform.
So the key is to convince the decision-maker(s) that *nix has enough of a monetary base to rationalize th
Re:Cold day in hell (Score:4, Informative)
Not really... in the case of stamps, each stamp is serial numbered, the bar code reader on the sorting line just checks if that serial number has already been used and rejects envelopes. New serial numbers are only activited when they are issued. Its actually easier to detect fraud then with the current stamps or postal meters.
Mark
Re:Cold day in hell (Score:1)
If the cryptography doesn't hold up to running on Linux, it's hopeless. In fact, their best bet would be to make the core library open source and let other people write GUIs for it. The security should only be in the cryptographic keys, not the software.
Reverse engineering software is much more common on Windows because it has to be; on Linux, people
GUI does not imply !(batchable||scriptable) (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:GUI does not imply !(batchable||scriptable) (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, but we're talking about Windows here. It's not that MS-Windows apps aren't capable of doing scripting -- just that there seems to be something of a mindset in the windows world that just doesn't want to go there.
Re:GUI does not imply !(batchable||scriptable) (Score:2)
Re:GUI does not imply !(batchable||scriptable) (Score:2)
My claim is that you're the exception, not the rule.
Kinda related... (Score:3, Informative)
This was only for the envelope and invoice/receipt/statement (no estamps), but I did integrate a barcode->image->embedded in PDF functionality that allowed us to semi-automate return mail.
Worked like a dream - took me about a week to write.
Q.
Hmm... (Score:1)
Has anyone successfully used Linux to wash enterprise underwear!
Sheesh... This thing is getting worse every day.
Nandz.
Re:Hmm... (Score:1)
Pitney Bowes (Score:1)
ClickStampOnline [pb.com] is an internet-based postage system. The page says Windows required but maybe it will work under Mac/*NIX. Maybe it's a browser thing, or maybe it's more complex than that.
GUI? The DM500 [pb.com] we have doesn't use much of a GUI at all on it's low-resolution LCD screen. It's more in the printing. You just pick a zip code, shipping method, then there's a scale that weighs your letters...
USPS Web Site (Score:2)
I've used this under Mozilla on windows. Sadly, I haven't had a chance to get my desktop machine completely converted to KDE on FreeBSD yet, so I can't say whether this works on non-Microsoft OS'es.
Re:USPS Web Site (Score:2, Informative)
A few days ago they added some functionality and part of what they did was check browsers. 1.5 is not recognized and I get a warning box telling me I must use the lastest version of IE, Mozilla, and Opra. Perhaps one other browser.
I have not tried it with Linux since the change, but I would guess that it would still work if they are just checking browser versions.
My main complaint with the USPS App is t