The Jewelry Shopkeeper software will work on any IBM-compatible PC with a hard disk, a monochrome or color monitor and a dot matrix printer. So, even if you have an old computer the chances are good that it will be enough to start with.

However, if you do not have a computer, or you plan on buying a new one, we would recommend a more up-to-date computer such as one with the following specifications: The ‘processor’ should be a Pentium-166 or higher; The hard drive should be 1.2GB or larger, the monitor should be color VGA and it should have 16 to 32 MB of RAM. Prices are generally in the range of $1000 to $3000.

A 24-pin dot-matrix printer costing about $200-$350 is needed to print tags and can also be used for reports and receipts. More than one printer is optimum for the program and point-of sale printers and Hewlett Packard Laser printers are also supported. While you can use laser printers for reports, statements, checks, appraisals, etc., note that they are not suitable for price tags — that requires the dot matrix printer mentioned above. If you want to print tags with barcodes, that requires a special printer such as the Zebra 105 or the Zebra 500. These are relatively expensive so many the Jewelry Shopkeeper users print tags with the regular dot matrix printer. However, if you have a large inventory and plan on taking physical inventory often, the barcoding can save a lot of time on the physical inventory and may pay for itself.

For best customer support from Compulink, we highly recommend you have a Hayes compatible 28,800 baud or faster modem and the modem software called PC Anywhere.

If you plan on point-of-sale use you probably need a network of computers (one or more for sales registers, one or more for accounting or inventory processing.) For point-of-sale, you will want fast computers, to speed the customer’s transactions, and you will need a Network Operating System such as Novell Netware 4.1 or Win 95. (Note that registers require actual computers, not just screens.)