dry cleaners software, dry cleaning systems

Drycleaner Computer Terms

Ever been totally confused by all the "gargon" that computer people throw around all the time? Check out these term explainations to help you understand what they are talking about. Typical Dry Cleaning Software Systems are made up of:

CPU
Touch Screen
RAM
Hard Disk
Thermal Printer
Wet Tag Printer
Barcode Reader

CPU

Central Processing Unit. This is the "Brain" of your dry clean software computer. CPU's come with a speed rating and the higher the speed the faster the CPU can process the tasks that you ask of it. CPU's also come from two main manufacturers: Intel and AMD. While both make good CPU's we prefer the Intel brand as it is the standard by which all others are measured.

Touch Screen

A Touch Screen in your drycleaning store or Laundry can be a great time saver. There are many different types and you can pay from $150 to $900 for a touch screen. A screen size of 15" (measured diagonally) is the smallest you should buy. Nowdays 18" to 19" is becoming more afforable See our Special Pricing Touch Screens are either CRT (big and bulky) or LCD which are flat and slim. Today's touch screens are LCD almost exclusively. We don't recommend buying the old CRT style. Touch screens take a "press" on the screen and converts it into what the computer thinks is a mouse click or movement.

RAM

RAM stands for Random Access Memory and this is the memory inside your computer that stores information on a temporary basis (The Hard Disk stores information long term. See below). This memory is much faster than the Hard Disk memory we will explain below. But, it is only used for short term storage of information and all of the storage is erased when the power to your computer is turned off. Your computer will go to the RAM memory to get information first before it goes to the Hard Disk (which is slower). Think of RAM as fridge in your home and Hard Disk as the big grocery store. When you need milk, for example, you go to the fridge (FAST), but if there is no milk there you have to go to the grocery store (SLOW). So, if your computer finds what it needs in RAM (Fast) great, if not it goes to the hard disk (Slow).

Hard Disk

Your computers hard disk is where all of the information (customers, tickets, transactions, etc.) are stored for as long as you need the information or until it is deleted. This information is saved on the hard disk even when the power is turned off on your computer.

Thermal Printer

These printers are widely used in the Drycleaner Computer Software Systems. They are fast, and quiet. They print on special "thermal paper" that reacts to heat in a special way. Thermal printers don't use ribbons but instead make the information on an invoice appear by "burning" it onto the paper (hence the name "Thermal". Most stores use a thermal printer to print invoices.

Dot Matrix Printer

A Dot Matrix uses a ribbon and a "hammer" in the printer strikes the thru the ribbon onto the paper so that the ink from the ribbon is transfered onto the paper. Dot Matrix printers use regular paper of different sizes. The ink that is used in most drycleaners has to be a special "in-delable" ink that won't be washed off or bleed during the drycleaning or laundry process. For this reason, Dot Matrix printers are required when printing Wet Tags that are attached to garments to track them thru the drycleaning process. You wouldn't want the tag information to come off during cleaning so the special in-delible ink is used.

Barcode Reader

A barcode reader scans those confusing batches of lines and turns them into computer keypresses. The computer itself usually doesn't even know a barcode reader is attached to it (except for drivers, but that's a whole different topic). The barcode reader decodes the "barcode" and converts it into characters that are fed to the computer just like they were typed into the computer keyboard.

dry cleaners software, dry cleaning systems

Drycleaner Computer Terms

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