[26631] in resnet
Re: student-owned laptop printing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bailey, John)
Fri Jul 15 17:08:20 2011
Content-Language: en-US
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Message-ID: <CA461005.1D523%jwbailey@wustl.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:06:25 -0500
Reply-To: Resnet Forum <RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu>
From: "Bailey, John" <jwbailey@WUSTL.EDU>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
In-Reply-To: <4E2067920200008D00020258@uct5.uct.usm.maine.edu>
Jon,
Washington University in St. Louis has been using PaperCut for some time
and now has a single instance in use across the entire campus. I actually
disagree with the web print method, as we have found that it often causes
formatting issues and is a more cumbersome printing method for the
students. For example, when a student open a browser and brings up a
slide set in one of our Online Course Management systems, they have to
print it to PDF first, then upload the PDF to the web print interface.
Our students are accustomed to not having to jump through hoops, so we
have setup and support "Find Me" printing for our student's laptops.
Here's how we are setup:
The vast majority of printers on campus are HP, so we created a single
virtual print queue on a Windows Server 2008 server, and set it to use a
very generic HP print driver that can handle both B/W and color print jobs
(HP Color LaserJet 4600 PCL6 driver). We found that this driver functions
correctly with every model of HP printer that we have in service across
campus.
The print queue is authenticated against our campus's central AD system,
so when the queue is added, it is authenticated and PaperCut already knows
who owns the job. This makes it so that there is no need to install the
PaperCut client on student computers. Again, that is a hoop that students
did not want to jump through.
To add the virtual queue on a Windows computer, the student simply types
in \\servername\queuename in the run window and Windows automatically asks
them for credentials, downloads the print driver, and the queue is setup
in a matter of moments.
To add the virtual queue on a Mac, we provide a custom shell script that
uses the underlying Unix CUPS interface to create a Windows SMB printer
instance and handles the authentication. All the students have to do is
download the script, double click it, type in their credentials, and the
print queue is setup and configured (including setting duplex default,
etc.)
Once a student has the virtual queue setup, they send a print job from
wherever they happen to be, and it is held in the virtual queue. The
student then walks to the nearest print release station (available all
across campus,) swipes their university ID card to authenticate, they then
see their print job and the associated cost, then they release the job for
print. Each print release station is configured to direct the print job
to the printer sitting next to it, and PaperCut handles all the
appropriate charging on the back end.
This find me printing took a lot of work to setup and leverages advanced
PaperCut features such as cross-server job redirection because the virtual
queue on one server needs to be able to send the print jobs across campus
to multiple secondary print servers so that the job is released at the
correct location. However, once we got everything setup, it has been
performing fantastically well and the students love it.
If you are interested in any further specific details, feel free to email
me directly off list. Also, if you are interested in looking at a copy of
our script for Mac OS, you can download it from within our student
printing setup instructions on our website at the following URL:
http://sts.wustl.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemi
d=97
Regards,
- John Bailey
John Bailey - Manager of Technical Services and Support
Washington University in Saint Louis - Information Services and Technology
- Student Technology Services
6515 Wydown Blvd. - Campus Box 1245 - St. Louis, MO 63105 - (314) 935-4570
- jwbailey@wustl.edu
On 7/15/11 3:15 PM, "Jon Dustin" <jdustin@usm.maine.edu> wrote:
>My plan is to configure the "follow-me" printing feature in Papercut, and
>installing the same model printer around campus. This way students
>install ONE driver, then the Papercut client asks which printer they want
>the job to be sent to.
>
>Thanks for the responses!
>
>>>> On 7/15/2011 at 4:05 PM, in message
><5b363ccd-5293-4f21-ba43-89a2c889085f@esslama.earlham.edu>, "Randall K.
>Kouns"
><kounsra@earlham.edu> wrote:
>> I agree with TJ... that is what we are doing at Earlham and it works
>>great...
>> the side benefit if you use release stations on every printer, the
>>student
>> can send it to whatever printer on campus they feel is the closest to
>>where
>> they are going.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Randy Kouns
>> Manager User Services
>> Earlham College
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: "TJ Higley" <tj.higley@gmail.com>
>> To: RESNET-L@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
>> Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 3:57:23 PM
>> Subject: Re: student-owned laptop printing
>>
>> Why install printer drivers on student-owned devices? Why not use
>>PaperCut's
>> web print functionality? Students submit their doc via web. And it
>>requires
>> no driver install since the job rendering is done on your server.
>>
>
>
>--
>
>Jon Dustin - Network Specialist
>University of Southern Maine
>Portland, ME 207-780-4152
>
>___________________________________________________
>You are subscribed to the ResNet-L mailing list.
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or search the archives,
>go to http://LISTSERV.ND.EDU/archives/resnet-l.html
>___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
You are subscribed to the ResNet-L mailing list.
To subscribe, unsubscribe or search the archives,
go to http://LISTSERV.ND.EDU/archives/resnet-l.html
___________________________________________________
