The shop PC
The shop has one PC. Chemistbook runs on it as a Windows service, keeps the shop's records on its disk, and opens in a window of its own on the same PC. Nothing else opens it: not another computer, not a phone, not anything on the shop's network. Selling never needs the internet; the internet is for the owner's texts and e-mails, a look at the internet's clock to check the PC's, and a cloud folder for the backups if the shop uses one. After a power cut the till is back as soon as the PC is: the service starts with Windows.
What the PC needs
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Nothing else to install: Chemistbook brings its own Java, and there is no Docker.
- 4 GB of memory at the least, 8 GB to be comfortable. Chemistbook itself uses about half a gigabyte: 490 MB for a new shop, about 630 MB at the busiest moment of a busy day. Edge and Windows take the rest.
- An SSD with 2 GB free. The program takes about 150 MB. The records grow by about half a megabyte a day for a shop making 200 sales, and 14 backups, each about the size of the records, are kept on the PC.
- Microsoft Edge, which comes with Windows. The shortcut opens Chemistbook in an Edge window of its own, with no address bar; without Edge it opens in the default browser.
- A UPS for the PC, and for the router if the shop sends texts. Power is the failure that loses the most.
- A USB drive, or a folder that syncs to the cloud, for the copy of the backups off the PC.
- A receipt printer on an 80 mm roll, and a barcode scanner if the shop wants one. Both are ordinary USB devices.
The install
Firmitek does the install with the shop, in an afternoon. What happens, so the owner knows what is on the machine:
What to have ready
The shop's name as it is on the licence; the owner's full name, a sign-in name and a password of 12 characters or more; a backup passphrase of 12 characters or more, written on the inside cover of the licence folder; and the folder for the copy of the backups off the PC, such as E:\Chemistbook backups on the USB drive. The folder can be left empty and set later.
The installer
Chemistbook-Setup-<version>-x64.exe, run as an administrator. It asks for the details above, then:
- puts the program in
C:\Program Files\Chemistbook; - keeps the shop's records in
C:\ProgramData\Chemistbook, with the settings in a folder only Windows, the administrators and the service may open; - installs the Chemistbook service, which starts with Windows and restarts itself after a crash;
- puts a Chemistbook shortcut on the desktop and in the Start menu.
Until the installer is signed, Windows may stop it with Windows protected your PC. Check the file's SHA-256 against the one published with it (Get-FileHash in PowerShell) before choosing More info → Run anyway.
First sign-in
The shortcut opens a window that says Starting on this PC until the service answers, then the sign-in. The owner signs in with the name and the password from the install. The installer checks that this works and then removes the first password from the disk.
The register
The FDA register loads itself on the first start.
Checking it is well
- Services (press Windows and type Services): Chemistbook is Running, startup Automatic.
- In a browser on the PC,
http://localhost:8721/actuator/healthsays{"status":"UP"}.
If the till will not open, the order to check is: the PC is on; the Chemistbook service is running (start it from Services if not); then the service's logs in C:\ProgramData\Chemistbook\logs, which say why it stopped.
What is where
| Folder | What | On an update | On an uninstall |
|---|---|---|---|
C:\Program Files\Chemistbook | The program: its Java, the system, the screens, the service | Replaced | Removed |
C:\ProgramData\Chemistbook\data | The shop's records, one file | Kept, and copied to before-update first | Kept |
C:\ProgramData\Chemistbook\backups | The newest 14 backups | Kept | Kept |
C:\ProgramData\Chemistbook\settings | The passphrase, the off-site folder, the mail and text settings | Kept | Kept |
C:\ProgramData\Chemistbook\logs | What the service did | Kept | Kept |
Uninstalling (Settings → Apps) removes the program and the service and says where the records are. Installing again carries on with them.
What stays with Firmitek
Each installer is built from the source and tested on a Windows test machine before it goes to a shop. An update is a new installer, run when the owner decides: see Backups, restore and updates.