spowers@ducvax.auburn.edu (02/02/91)
A question: Does anyone have any experience with charging for laser printer use in a university computer lab setting? In particular: how do _you_ do it, does you use or know about VendaCard, is charging successful or not? Any help would be appreciated. Stephen P.
shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu (Jeffery Shaub) (02/03/91)
In article <1991Feb1.105657.3329@ducvax.auburn.edu> spowers@ducvax.auburn.edu writes: > >A question: >Does anyone have any experience with charging for laser printer use in a >university computer lab setting? In particular: how do _you_ do it, does you >use or know about VendaCard, is charging successful or not? > We use the Vendacard system very succssfully in our public lab. The VC unit attaches to innards of the laser printer and tricks it into thinking it's out of toner. Before sending a print job, you insert a card with a magnetic strip into the VC unit. On the cards strip is credit recorded by a seperate machine. When you send your print job, the VC unit takes 2 units of credit per page (Ithink this is custumizable) and allows the printer to do it's thing. We use this setup with a PC and HP LaserJet, and with a MAC SE and APPLE Laser Writer II. The machine which puts credit on the cards, was already available to us because our library uses Vendacard for photocopying. We charge 7.5 cents per unit and 2 units per page. The system works really well, as long as you have big red signs telling the students how it works. If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Jeff -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jeff Shaub - Computing Support Center shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu - University of Wisconsin-Parkside - Kenosha, WI 53141
huopio@lut.fi (Kauto Huopio OH5LFM) (02/07/91)
> We use the Vendacard system very succssfully in our public lab. > The VC unit attaches to innards of the laser printer and tricks it into thinking > it's out of toner. Before sending a print job, you insert a card with a magnetic strip into the VC unit. On the cards strip is credit recorded by a seperate > machine. When you send your print job, the VC unit takes 2 units of credit > per page (Ithink this is custumizable) and allows the printer to do it's thing. Well, I suppose that this system can't be used with a networked printer like DEC LPS-20. It would be nice to have a some kind of "smart card" -system to look whose print job is in turn.. But LPS-20 _has_ a two-way connection, (if I am correct) so it would be quite easy to do this?? --Kauto -- ****************** Kauto Huopio (huopio@kannel.lut.fi) ********************** * Mail: Kauto Huopio, Punkkerikatu 1 A 10, SF-53850 Lappeenranta,Finland * *****************************************************************************
news@uwm.edu (Net news owner) (02/07/91)
>printer like DEC LPS-20. It would be nice to have a some kind of >"smart card" -system to look whose print job is in turn.. But LPS-20 >_has_ a two-way connection, (if I am correct) so it would be quite >easy to do this?? From: shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu (Jeffery Shaub) Path: vacs.uwp.wisc.edu!shaub The problem with the vendacard system is that the only info on the cards magnetic strip is how much credit the user has, so there is no way for the print queue to know who's card is in the Vendacard unit. Jeff -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jeff Shaub - Computing Support Center shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu - University of Wisconsin-Parkside - Kenosha, WI 53141
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (02/09/91)
In article <9383@uwm.edu> shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu (Jeffery Shaub) writes: >>printer like DEC LPS-20. It would be nice to have a some kind of >>"smart card" -system to look whose print job is in turn.. But LPS-20 >>_has_ a two-way connection, (if I am correct) so it would be quite >>easy to do this?? >The problem with the vendacard system is that the only info on >the cards magnetic strip is how much credit the user has, so >there is no way for the print queue to know who's card is in >the Vendacard unit. Why do you care who's card is in the unit any more than you would care whose cash you have? All you need is a handy way to stop between jobs from different users and display who should put their card in next. This would probably require some sort of control terminal on another port, though, unless you can detect the card change and want to print the name on paper. Hmm, some printers let you access their LCD displays with some contortions... Les Mikesell les@chinet.chi.il.us
cie590l@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Hadgraft) (02/12/91)
In article <1991Feb1.105657.3329@ducvax.auburn.edu>, spowers@ducvax.auburn.edu writes: > > A question: > Does anyone have any experience with charging for laser printer use in a > university computer lab setting? In particular: how do _you_ do it, does you > use or know about VendaCard, is charging successful or not? > > Any help would be appreciated. > I've been pondering this one for a while. It seems that any solution will cost a reasonable amount of money. What does VendaCard cost? $1,000 - $2,000 ? To that must be added the cost of a terminal or workstation if the print queue is to be always visible. Perhaps it's easier and cheaper to just charge all users $10/year (or something similar). -- +--------------------------------------+ | Roger Hadgraft +----------------------------------+ | Senior Lecturer | hadgraft@civeng.monash.edu.au | | Dept of Civil Engineering | phone: +61 3 565 4983 | | Monash University | fax: +61 3 565 4944 or 3409 | | Clayton, Vic. 3168. Australia. +----------------------------------+ +--------------------------------------+
shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu (Jeffery Shaub) (02/12/91)
In article <1991Feb08.200227.29572@chinet.chi.il.us> les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) writes: > >Why do you care who's card is in the unit any more than you would >care whose cash you have? All you need is a handy way to stop >between jobs from different users and display who should put their >card in next. I guess what I failed to mention is, that we have a public access novell network and the users login as GUEST(##). There is no easy way to determine which (##) the system assigns to your station since all work is done from a menu. When you print your work, the queue shows a bunch of GUEST(##) jobs, and it's hard to tell which is which. Jeff -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Jeff Shaub - Computing Support Center shaub@vacs.uwp.wisc.edu - University of Wisconsin-Parkside - Kenosha, WI 53141
dale@cec2.wustl.edu (Dale Frye) (02/14/91)
In our mac lab we have a laser printer with a vendercard system. A local company installed the card reader for $75 installation plus 1.5 cents per page. We can set the price to whatever we want. They already have a card vending machine on campus. They collect the money and send us the difference based on the meter reading of the card reader. Dale Frye Washington University in St. Louis