Enhancement of Self-service Laser Printing
In Computer News Issue 75, we announced the launching of self-service laser
printing in the microcomputer laboratories. In an effort to improve
our user service, the self-service laser printing has been enhanced with
the following features starting in February, 1999:
This is a supplement to the article on "Revised
Laser Printing Service" of Computer News Issue 75.
Self-service Laser Printing
Starting from September 1, 1998, laser printing is available throughout
the day in the Run Run Shaw Building Room 103, and the Old Library Building
Room 134. Each of these two PC laboratories is equipped with three
24 page/minute black and white laser printers and one 10 page/minute colour
laser printer.
In the self-service mode, users can collect their printout directly
from the laser printers themselves and the equivalent number of units for
the number of pages printed will be automatically deducted from the
users' laser printing budget in their HKUSUA account.
Laser Printing Budget
To promote the laser printing service, each user is initially allocated
a budget of 50 printing units. The laser printing budget is similar
to the former laser printing coupon in operation. Each A4-size
black and white page is charged 1 unit while a colour page is charged 10
units. When a user's printing budget is overdrawn, he will not
be able to print until he replenishes his printing budget. Users can then
purchase the laser printing budget at HK$20 for 50 units from the Centre's
General Office at Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building or at the Enquiry Counter
at Room 134, Old Library Building during office hours. Any outstanding
balance of the printing units will be adjusted when additional budget is
purchased whereas unused printing units are not refundable.
Printing Budget purchase using VisaCash after office
hours
Starting from February 1, 1999, the computer laboratories at Room 103,
104 and 113, Run Run Shaw Building and the laser printing service in Room
103, Run Run Shaw Building are available 24 hours around the clock throughout
the year. In view of this 24 hours opening of the computer laboratories
and the laser printing service, users may have a need for laser printing
budget refill after office hours when the General Office at Room 223, Run
Run Shaw and the counter at Room 134A, Old Library Building are closed.
We are pleased to inform our users that the Computer Centre is to provide
after-office-hour sale of laser printing budget at Room 108, Run Run Shaw
Building from March 1, 1999. For security and safety reasons, we will only
accept VISA CASH (an electronic wallet) instead
of cash for sale of laser printing budget after hours in Room 108, Run
Run Shaw Building as we do not wish to handle any cash after hours.
Laser Printout Collection and Disposal
In the Centre's microcomputer laboratories, each laser printer is labelled
with its print queue name and each PC or Macintosh workstation is associated
with a default print queue. The user should note the name of the
print queue to which he has sent his file for printing. He can then go
to the laser printer labelled with the respective print queue name to collect
his printout. The user should check carefully that the printout is his,
and leave other users' printout in the output stack of the laser printer.
Any printout taken by mistake should be returned immediately to the output
stack of the respective laser printer.
On each laser printer, there is a tray to hold any uncollected printout
from that printer. The tray is emptied everyday at 8:30a.m. and any uncollected
printout from the previous day is placed in a box on top of the laser printer.
Uncollected printout older than one day is discarded without notice.
Printing Budget Enquiry and Cancellation of Print Jobs
A user can enquire about his laser printing budget usage at the Budget
Enquiry Page using a web browser and cancel his print jobs at the Print
Job Manipulation Page. For authentication purpose, a user has
to enter the account name and password of his HKUSUA account before accessing
the tools. The budget enquiry page will display the user's remaining
budget and his print history whereas the print job manipulation page will
display the user's print requests queued up to be served. Users can
access these pages from any computer connected to the campus network with
a web browser installed.
Notification to users running out of printing
budget
In the previous article, we suggested that users can check the status of
their print jobs in the print queue at the URL: "http://web.hku.hk/LPRng".
Incidentally, the status of the print jobs can also be queried from the
print queue display workstation located next to the laser printers in each
PC laboratory.
In order to alert users running out of printing budget, a new feature
has been implemented to . This implementation
will hopefully inform users of why they are not able to print and urge
them to purchase additional budget before submitting other print jobs.
K C Chang
Tel: 2859 7972
Email: kcchang@hkusua.hku.hk
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