Just in case you thought that free software was something only useful to big business and computer hacks, FreshMeat announces an upgrade to a full restaurant system distributed under the GNU General Public License ..

Waiters can choose a restaurant table, assign orders to it and have them automatically printed on printers. "Normal" dishes can also be modified, by adding or removing ingredients. Bills can be printed automatically, even for separated bills. The accounting section allows a restaurant manager to easily administrate the whole accounting (bank accounts, employees, suppliers, income) in an easy way. Stock management is also available, and items quantity is automatically updated.

And it runs on handhelds? Sweet -- given a $80 WiFi card in the kitchen basestation hub and a fleet of little wireless Linux handhelds, the wait staff might trim several kilometers on their daily treks back and forth leaving more time for chalking up orders, and that's got to be worth something on a typical Sauble Beach long weekend.

[ Source: freshmeat.net: Project details for My Handy Restaurant ]