Scenario: The public library or Internet cafe/kiosk
The Sandy Beach Cafe is a typical Internet cafe offering Internet access, faxing, printing and other services. This business has 50 computers and two printers. A black & white laser printer called "Black and White Printer" and a high-end color inkjet system named as "Color Printer". They want to implement a pay-per-print system that meets the following process and requirements:
Requirements
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The customer prints the job to the appropriate printer.
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At the front desk, the customer pays a staff member for the print job.
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The staff member releases the job for printing.
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The customer collects the print job.
Implementation
PaperCut NG's hold/release queues are ideally suited to the Internet cafe scenario. More information on the hold/release queues is available at Hold/release queues & Print Release Stations. PaperCut NG provides both an application interface for Release StationPrint Release Stations place a print job on hold and allow users to release it when required. Often a Release Station is a dedicated PC terminal located next to the printers, however, Release Stations can take other forms such as a web browser based interface. Some common examples where Release Stations can be used include secure printing, approved printing, and authentication. In a secure printing environment jobs are only printed when the user arrives at the print area and confirms his or her identity. This ensures the user is there to collect the job and other users can't "accidentally" collect the document. In some organizations it may be appropriate to hold jobs until they are approved by selected individuals. A good example would be a teacher approving printing on an expensive color printer. Hold/Release queues can be used as a form of authentication in an unauthenticated environment. Users must authenticate prior to releasing their jobs allowing PaperCut NG to confirm their identity. managers (i.e. desk staff) as well as a convenient web browser-based interface. To summarize a typical implementation:
The PaperCut NG server software is installed on the system hosting the printers. An existing server or desktop system will suffice.
Workstations are configured to print to the printers shared on the system set up in step 1.
In the Admin web interface, the printers should have the manager only release option selected.
Desk staff can view and control pending print jobs, their cost, and other details via the web based release interface accessible at the URL:
http://server_name:9191/release