Eos Guide : Printing

See Labs for a list of Eos printers. Main printing information for campus is http://print.ncsu.edu.

There is no printer connected directly to individual workstations in the computing labs. Rather, printing is a network service. Every subnet has at least one printer that handles the printing requirements for a cluster of users. You can send your output to any of these printers, but you will probably want to use the printer closest to you (see Labs).

Print Quota

Once you get your Eos/Unity computer account, you will need to go to a WolfCopy center on campus and purchase print quota before you can print on the printers in any of the labs. All platforms (UNIX, Linux, and Windows) use the same print quota debit system.

WolfCopy Centers are open 8:00am-4:30pm for immediate additions to your print quota. After 4:30pm, you may still purchase quota, but it will not be effective until the following day, when a full-time employee can enter it into the system.

Printing is $0.06/page, and the minimum purchase is $5.00 for about 83 pages. You are charged $0.06 for each page you print, even if your quota drops below $0.00. Payment is in cash only.

Check your print quota at http://print.ncsu.edu/. On Solaris and Linux computers, lpquota now launches a web browser to the above URL. On Windows lab computers, select the Unity Print Quota icon (looks like a dollar bill) in Unity Applications of the Novell Application Launcher.

Printer Maintenance

WolfCopy manages and maintains Eos/Unity printers. Also, operators in the labs are responsible for on-site maintenance of printers. If you have any problems with the printers, you should contact these people. Printers are complex and expensive equipment that users should not try to fix themselves. Send e-mail or call wolfcopy@ncsu.edu (515-2131) or help@ncsu.edu (515-HELP).

Printing Files

Most applications place a Print option on the File pull-down menu, so when users need to print their work, they just select Print from inside the application. On Windows, you can also right-click a file icon without opening it in the application, and select Print on the menu.

If there is a Print... option on the menu (note ellipsis dots), it can be selected to adjust the default print settings, e.g., number of copies, range of pages, etc. Among the options generally available from Print... is "Print to a File," which means that you can send your output to a file rather than to a printer. Then, you can print the file whenever you want without opening the application.

On UNIX/Linux machines, the file is a "PostScript" file with a .ps extension. To print a file that has been formatted for printing, type lpr (line print) followed by the file name or the path to the file, e.g., lpr filename.ps or lpr dir/filename.ps.

The workstation you use will automatically route your files to a particular printer, usually a local one in your office or lab (see list at left). However, you can route print jobs to other printers by either (1) selecting the printer you want from the Printer options available inside the application, or (2) printing to a file and then sending the file to the printer you specify.

The latter is done by adding -P after the lpr command followed immediately (no space) by the name of the printer you want to use (see list at left) and the print-formatted file you want to print. For example, if you want to print to the printer in 242 Daniels, you would specify that printer's name and the file you want to print, e.g., lpr -Pdan242 file.ps.

To see what print jobs are queued for the printer, type lpq. To remove a print job before it prints, type lprm job#. You can only remove your own print jobs.

On UNIX, the default printer is set in the PRINTER environment variable. To find out your default printer, type printenv PRINTER. You can change the default printer by typing setenv PRINTER followed by the name of the printer you want to use. When you want to specify a printer other than the default, use the -P option (see above) to override the default setting in your environment.

On Windows, the default printers are listed in My Computer -> Printers, but because of the high-security settings on the lab-installed workstations, users cannot add printers or change configurations.

Advice for Printing and Conserving Print Quota

1. Get accustomed to working on-screen rather than on paper. Read and edit online and print final copies only.

2. Send/share files electronically via email, AFS file sharing, the Web and PDF, rather than printing them.

3. Use print previewers to check documents before you print.

4. Double-check print settings before printing. If you changed a setting to print three copies instead of one, make sure you change the setting back to one before printing again.

5. After revising, print only the pages you have changed, not the whole document again.

6. Do not use the printer as a copier. Copying costs as little as 3 cents a page; printing is 6 cents a page.

Remember that printing is a shared resource, and long print jobs mean that others must wait. Break long jobs into smaller ones when possible.




Information Technology and Engineering Computer Services (ITECS) College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 Comments to eoshelp@ncsu.edu. URL: http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/




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