🚀 go-pugleaf

MARK PINDER <mpinder@awinc.com> wrote:
>>Is there a free utility to monitor the usage of Novell 3.12 printers? We 
>>have a couple of printers that are rather expensive operationally and we 
>>would like to charge back the users for these particular printers, 
>>preferrably per sheet.
>>
>> [...]
>>
>>If there isn't a FREE utility, is there one at all, or several? Can you 
>>recommend them? 
>
>
>I did some investigation on this for a local college and could not find
>anything which would allow you to charge back users (per page or per
>character) for the use of printers under NetWare.  The closest I got to 
>was a print server box (ie: like Intel's NetPort or HP Jet Direct box's)
>that worked under Unix which would provide this capability but unless you 
>want to send your print jobs through a UNIX box it's not an alternative.  
>I don;t know of anything thet is available for free

The main problem with charging per page is that it's hard to figure out
just where one page stops and the next page beings.  Looking at this
post, for example, it's impossible to tell how many pages it is without
knowing margins, font, etc., on your printer.  Postscript has some
advantage in this area because a postscript viewer can usually determine
page breaks.

Anyway, the way we ended up charging back users for each page printed
was by getting a pay-per-copy vending system installed.  The brand we
use is "Vendacard" though others do exist.  Basically, you
drop money into a box and that releases the laser (or whatever) printer
so that it can print.  Each page the printer spits out debits the
balance by a set amount.  That's a good standalone solution, but
for a Netware system...

I wrote a program that runs on a PC and services a print queue.  Submit
a job from anywhere, then come to the printer, drop in your money,
select your job, and it prints.  It's served us well for over 2 years.

The Vendacard or equivalent system will cost you, my software won't once
I finish cleaning it up for general release.