Terminal server? (Kinda.)

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

Hey, all.  My company's about to open up several locations across the
country.  We're going to have cash registers on-site -- good ol' RS-232
connections.  We're also getting software that can talk to these
computers.

Now, I know RS-232 is fairly robust, but it strikes me that even it might
lose signal integrity over 3K miles.  What I'm thinking about (if anyone
has better ideas, please talk up!) is something like this:

[Register] <- RS-232-to-USB -> [Wall Wart] <- VPN -> [Home office computer]

So, as I see it, there are two minor issues:

1) Making the Wall Wart (e.g.,
http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/100-Linux-wallwart-launches/ ) act
as a terminal server, and

2) Having some sort of virtual RS-232 adapter on the Windows system

Anyone got any suggestions?  Done anything like this?  Etc.

Thanks!

-Ken