Many of these systems are ultimately webbased . You could run them using a managed iPad and any offtheshelf USB scanner and an AirPrinttothermal bridge . A Raspberry Pi is a higher end solution than an iPad would be . Where these things run and how many there are is immaterial . They are web browsers , for the most part . I have developed plenty of solutions and I know that thinking such as yours is pervasive , yet it ' s a selfperpetuating circle of mediocrity . These are mostly things that can be prototyped in an afternoon or two , and turned into a production system in a couple of weeks . If you are the cando type , not the type who likes 10 layers of management to replace a light bulb . The OS maintenance you speak of isn ' t there . There ' s a readonly image that the machine runs from , and you choose something that will let you manage that cheaply and easily . That ' s why an iOS device wouldn ' t be a bad choice , neither would be a Raspberry Pi running a standard image . The effort needed to manage either one of them is close to zero .