Hi,

I am looking for open source reservation software, so that a patron could book time to use a computer. I have googled around looking for software. Most of the programs that I am finding, are looking not to supported anymore. Anyone here using that type of software? I have looked at pre-book software, but can't use because of the OS, I am running on my workstations. I will keep checking sourceforge.net to see if I can find anything.

Thanks,
slo

Can you expand on what you are needing?

Are you running an Internet Cafe and need to allow people to pre-book/reserve time on your existing workstations, or are you more like a hotel or B&B and are trying to monetize your Internet connection provided to guests?

You don't specifically say what OS you use on your workstations, that may help in the answer. Are they all W7?

HTH
Dave

Are you running an Internet Cafe and need to allow people to pre-book/reserve time on your existing workstations, or are you more like a hotel or B&B and are trying to monetize your Internet connection provided to guests?

You don't specifically say what OS you use on your workstations, that may help in the answer. Are they all W7?

Ok, this helps quite a bit. Now just a few more questions...

Are your reservations PC dependent? That is to say, If I like using PC #4, do I reserve the actual PC #4 or should a reservation mean a PC will be free during that time?

Do you want the reservations to be made at the Point of Use (the actual PCs themselves) or some sort of kiosk system?

Are you opposed to adding additional hardware/making changes to your existing network?

A solution may exist using your current equipment, but you would be much better served with some sort of central database/administration component if for no other reason than fault tolerance.

HTH
Dave

Are your reservations PC dependent? That is to say, If I like using PC #4, do I reserve the actual PC #4 or should a reservation mean a PC will be free during that time?

Do you want the reservations to be made at the Point of Use (the actual PCs themselves) or some sort of kiosk system?

Are you opposed to adding additional hardware/making changes to your existing network?

A solution may exist using your current equipment, but you would be much better served with some sort of central database/administration component if for no other reason than fault tolerance.

http://www.php.brickhost.com/

Check these guys out. Good looking system, uses php/mySQL so it is pretty much platform agnostic. (I would recommend a good Linux box to handle everything though)

They have an online demo, the snag would be logging the user off the system after their time is expired.

HTH
Dave

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the help. After looking at phpscheduleit website, I just don't see this is what I am looking for. I have looked at other opensource reservation software, and found that most of them look like there is no more support or abandoned. I have looked at Open Kiosk, Windsor Internet Booking System, Cybera - Cyber Cafe Administration. Any others that I am missing?

Thanks

Hi, Slomok -

It really doesn't sound like it should be such a big deal.

STRONG SUGGESTION:
1. You probably want a web-based reservation program.
It's simpler, cheaper...
... it scales well to as many or as few hosts as you want
... and it's completely platform agnostic: you can use Windows 7, Linux, or any OS you want

2. The "server" need consist of nothing more than Apache, PHP and a MySQL database. That's it!

3. Q: what exactly are your objections to phpScheduleIt (http://www.php.brickhost.com/)?

On the face of it, it sounds "ideal". If we better understood why you don't seem to like it, perhaps we could suggest some better alternatives.

Thank you in advance!

PS:
I noticed a post you made at the beginning of the month. It sounds like it's probably related to your current project.

What you're looking for is a "Captive Portal".

The solution is usually router-based (vs. "magic" in your web server). There are paid solutions ... and there are also excellent open source Captive Portal solutions. Check it out!

Hi paul,

I will give phpscheduleit a try, my other post at the beginning of the month, I marked as solved.

Thanks

Hi,

I have phpscheduleit up and running, I was wondering if anyone here is running this software also?

Thanks

Hello,

I tried phpschedule out, but doesn't do what I need it to do. I'm looking for a system that will control the client, and log off the user when there time is up. I was looking at code.google.com/p/powerline/, this sounds like what I want. I just can't seem to get it to work correctly. Has anyone used this before?

Thanks