Kiosk tablets and wired network

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Mifa
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Kiosk tablets and wired network

Post by Mifa » Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:25 am

We are slowly but surely moving to paperless. I would like to be able to load the kiosk on tablets or similar portable devices, so that patients can sit in the waiting room when they fill up their forms. However we have a wired network...
- is it possible to load the kiosk while the tablet is connected to the network, unplug it for filling up the information then plug it back in to import everything in OD?
- or alternatively, is it possible make OD's server available both on a wired and wireless network?

Any feedback on your experience with tablets (with or without stylus, Android vs. IOS vs Windows) is also welcome!

Thanks.

tgriswold
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Re: Kiosk tablets and wired network

Post by tgriswold » Thu Dec 10, 2015 1:26 pm

To answer you first question, it would be pretty difficult to get this to work and require very specific programming in a plug-in. This is because OD is set up in such a way to require a database connection at all times to pull down and push up information.

As for your second question, this is certainly possible. The main concern you'd have to deal with is security of the wireless network (unless mysql locked down well you are opening your database and potentially your patient images up to anyone who can catch your wifi signal). And you'd also have to deal with configuration of the wireless network so that it knows how to get from the kiosk table through your wireless network, to your wired network, and to your server machine hosting the database (and back).
Travis Griswold
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com

Mifa
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Re: Kiosk tablets and wired network

Post by Mifa » Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:09 pm

Thanks Travis. I don't like this second option either. Maybe I can try a third option, I have these old Motion M1400 Windows XP tablets collecting dust on a shelf, they have an Ethernet port and I have a connection in our waiting room. Can the kiosk be run on a XP machine when everything else is on Windows 7?

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jsalmon
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Re: Kiosk tablets and wired network

Post by jsalmon » Fri Dec 11, 2015 8:46 am

Yes it can. However, XP is no longer supported so I wouldn't recommend using it for much more than just kiosk machines. If you do end up getting a wireless router or buying tablets that are 3G / LTE compatible, I'd recommend using Web Forms:
http://www.opendental.com/manual/webforms.html
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.

Jason Salmon
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com

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Manny Ramirez
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Re: Kiosk tablets and wired network

Post by Manny Ramirez » Thu Jan 28, 2016 3:21 am

Why not use a router with two SSIDs. A guests SSID and one for Internal use. That way you can keep them separate. We use a Watchguard and Watchguard AP and tight down security through the firewall policies and works awesome. The Windows keyboard is problematic though. If you use the table as Kiosk. Better to use a physical keyboard. Perhaps the developers can figure out how to make the sheets more table pc friendly.
Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC

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