Residential Computing Print Account Information
Print Queue Utilities
Residential Computing charges five cents per page printed from the residence
cluster printers, which is used to offset the cost of toner and paper.
Charging is done by a debit system where the user pays for print quota
in advance, and their balance is debited each time that they print.
An important feature of the print account system is that users will be
charged only for those pages that actually emerge from
the printer. If for some reason there is an error and the print job
never emerges from the printer, then the user is not charged.
The printers currently installed in the residence cluster are HP LaserJet
4M Plus laser printers, which are PostScript Level II compatable and print
at 600 dpi and 12 pages per minute.
Users can send print jobs to the printers from not only the local
residential computer cluster, but also from the Leland system of UNIX
machines, and from a Macintosh hooked up via their in-room network connections.
- In order to open a print account, you must first have a valid Leland
Account. (For further instruction on how to open a Leland account, see
Opening a Leland Account).
- Once you have a valid Leland account, you must give your local
Resident Computer Coordinator (RCC) a check for your initial print
account balance. (See the Making Deposits to
your Print Account section for information on how to make out the check).
- After your RCC has created and credited your print account, you
should be able to print to any residential cluster printer on campus!
Every time you print, you will be asked for your leland username and password
and your print account balance will be debited for the number of pages
that you print.
Deposits to your print account will be handled by your local
RCC's, with the following caveats and guidelines:
- Checks only, made payable to 'Stanford University'
- Minimum $5 deposit, in round $1 increments
- Checks must have the following information on them:
- Student Name
- Phone Number
- Leland login name
- Bounced checks will incur a $25 fee, debited against the users
print balance along with the amount of the check.
No other forms of payment will be accepted by the ResComp Office,
no exceptions.
- No Refunds
- Once you have deposited money into your print account, it can
only be used for printing. There are no refunds. You may, however,
transfer or sell your print quota to another user. Contact your RCC if
you wish to do this.
- Credit for "Bad Prints"
- Residential Computing will only credit accounts for "bad prints" if
it has been determined that ResComp is at fault (e.g. - bad prints due to
printer failure or no toner). We will not
give credit for:
- print jobs sent to the wrong printer
- print jobs that the user fails to pick up from the printer
- user sending multiple copies of a print job to a printer
- user printing the "wrong" document
- print jobs delated several minutes due to heavy user load
Please note that the print accounting system is designed such that a user's
print account is only debited for pages that actually emerge from the printer.
Users are not charged for unprinted pages, or print jobs that get
"stuck in the queue" and are subsequently removed.
Macintosh Computers
To print to the cluster printer from a Macintosh computer
hooked up to SUNet via an in-room network connection, you need to
have the "Macintosh Authenticator" extention installed on
your computer. The Macintosh Authenticator extension is available via
AppleShare from the "ResServer" server in the "ResComputing" AppleTalk Zone on
the "ResComp Public" volume. It is located in the "Printing" folder.
Copy the Macintosh Authenticator to your Extensions Folder in your System
Folder and reboot.
One you have installed Macintosh Authenticator, you may print to a
cluster printer by selecting the appropriate dorm printer in the
Chooser. All dorm printers are located in the "DORM" AppleTalk Zone.
Each time you print to a cluster printer, you will be prompted for your
leland username and password so that your print account may be appropriately
debited.
The most up-to-date LaserWriter drivers for the Macintosh which have been
tested and shown to work with the print accounting system are also available
from the above file server.
PC-Compatable Computers
At present, there is no method by which PC-Compatable computers can print
directly to the cluster printers. A PC printing solution is currently in
development.
In the meantime, PC users can save their print jobs as text or postscript files,
ftp them to a Leland UNIX machine (such as the elaines), and print it via
the "lpr" command (see below).
All residence cluster laser printers that are served by the Residential
Computing print accounting system are available via the "lpr" command
from the Leland system of UNIX computers (such as the elaines). To
print to a residence hall laser printer from a leland machine, use the
following command:
lpr -Pprintername filename
where "printername" is the name of the printer to which you wish to send the
print job, and "filename" is the name of the file you wish to print.
A List of Dorm Printer Names is available
so that you may determine the appropriate name of the printer to which
you wish to send a print job.
All print jobs sent to the residence cluster printers via the "lpr"
command will be charged to the user's print account, as with any other
printing method.
Questions?
If you have further questions about printing to the residence cluster printers,
please contact your local Resident Computer
Coordinator.