>What the provide is about a 660 page Word (or PDF) document on this whole
>concept and standards. No actual control is offered. The MS site looks to be
>equally interesting to dig through trying to find something of use.

The control has to be provided by the manufacturer. I put together a solution once where the manufacturer of the Cash Drawer and the Printer (Epson, I think?) supplied appropriate OCXs. Worked quite well, actually....