I just started on the same quest and I think that the best way to do is to grab yourself a receipt printer from a well-known vendor such as Epson or Star Micronics. They normally provide enough documentation on to get started on the whole process. The device simulator is too complex and seems to be a bit buggy in my opinion.
Assuming that you managed to get yourself a printer, here's you'll need to do:
- Generate a jpos.xml containing device specific information. The vendor should have a program which can generate this information for you.
- Modify the jpos.properties under $jpos.jar/jpos/res to point it to the location of your jpos.xml. Note: Your vendor tool may do this automatically for you.
- Add all the necessary libraries
- Start on the sample codes provided by your vendor
The somewhat incomplete documentation of JavaPOS can be found as part of the UPOS documentation in Appendix B located at http://www.nrf-arts.org/content/unifiedpos Also, the latest programming guide on JavaPOS that I found is here.
Hope this helps.