FAQ - U-Print: ACCC Remote Printing

The ACCC uses the U-Print system to manage printing on the public printers in ACCC public personal computing labs. U-Print is automatically used from the lab computers and can be used from your own computer, including when connecting using Res-Net and UIC-Wireless, provided that you install the Pharos software on your computer.

A print job that you submit to U-Print is not printed until you go to a U-Print printer and direct it to be printed. It can be printed on any U-Print printer regardless of where you were when you submitted it.

Everyone at UIC has a free printing quota of $15 dollars per semester. If you use up your free quota, you can use UIC Dragon Dollar$ to purchase additional pages.

• About U-Print
• Quotas, Charges, and Dragon Dollar$
• U-Print Locations
• Notes about Printing
• Using U-Print from your own computer

Question 1.1 What is U-Print?

U-Print is the campus wide printing system. U-Print is available in the ACCC Public Computing Labs and in certain department locations. It also allows you print from your own laptop or desktop computer, including when connecting on campus using Res-Net and UIC-Wireless.

U-Print manages the printer queues for all printers in the ACCC public labs, making it easier for you to print your job when you want it, where you want it!

• U-Print is a print-on-demand system -- the job is printed only when you release it from a U-Print station.
• Privacy is not compromised; you are there to pick the job up when it prints, so job output doesn't collect at the printer.
• There are many output locations -- print from any U-Print station in any ACCC Labs or in the Honors College (BH B11), School of Public Health (SPHW 523), College of Pharmacy, and College of Medicine labs.
• Valuable resources (paper and toner) as well as wear-and-tear on the printer are significantly reduced.

Question 1.2 How does it work?

The U-Print system provides much more control over when and where your jobs print.

1. Submit print jobs from the ACCC lab computers or from your own computer.
2. To print the job, go to the U-Print station that is next to the printer in the lab that you want print your job on.
3. Log in to the U-Print station using your UIC netid and password.
4. After you successfully log in, a list of all jobs that you have submitted for printing and are still in the print queue will be displayed. Your U-Print balance will also be displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.
5. You now have the option of printing or deleting the jobs listed in the queue.
   1. Click on a print job to see (in the lower left hand corner of the screen) the number of pages for the job and its cost.
   2. Select a job and click Print to print it or Delete to delete the job without printing.
   3. If the cost of the job you are trying to print is equal to or less than your U-Print free quota, you will be able to print the job and your balance will be adjusted.
   4. If the cost of the job exceeds your balance, even by a few cents, the excess cost will be taken out of your UIC Dragon Dollar$ balance. If you do not have any Dragon Dollar$, you will need to add them. See How do I add Dragon Dollar$ below.
   5. The job you selected for printing will start to print.
   6. After you print one job, you can print or delete other print jobs in the queue, if you want.
   7. However: before releasing additional jobs to print, make sure the first job prints successfully. Once jobs are released, they're no longer available from other U-Print stations. If the printer malfunction or has quality issues with the paper or toner, you will not be able to reprint those jobs elsewhere.
   8. Click Exit when you are done.
6. Pick up your output from the printer.

• Once a job is printed, it is removed from your print queue and cannot be reprinted.
• Jobs left in the print queue for more than 6 hours will be deleted.
• There is a time-out of 20 seconds at the print station, after which you will be logged off.
• We strongly advise that you confirm the printer is working and that job quality is adequate before releasing more than one print job. The ACCC will not process refund requests in situations where multiple jobs were submitted and no effort was made to check that the printer was functioning and/or output quality was adequate.

Question 2.1 What are the quotas and charges?

One of the main goals of U-Print is to reduce waste. To support your need to print and address the waste problem, we provide a limited amount of printing at no cost to you. At the beginning of each semester, your U-Print balance is set to a credit of $15.00. The semester is defined as the period between the week before classes start until the week before the next semester starts.

Duplex (two-sided) printing is set as the default in all ACCC labs. Duplex can be overridden to simplex (single-sided) output through the local print client installed on lab computers. This table summarizes the charges for output printed on U-Print.

Note that in the table below a page is defined as a printed side and a sheet is defined as a physical piece of paper.

For example:

You can check your balance and printing history for the current semester on the U-Print User Transaction Page.

Question 2.2 Will my remaining U-Print balance be carried over into the next semester?

• Balances in the ACCC's $15.00 free U-Print printing quota remaining at the end of the semester do not carry over to the next semester. Your free printing quota will be reset to $15.00 at the beginning of the new semester.
• However, any Dragon Dollar$ you have left over will carry over.

Question 2.3 Dragon Dollar$ and U-Print

Starting Spring Semester, 2010, we changed the way you pay for printed pages above and beyond your free printing quota. We are now using UIC Dragon Dollar$ instead of the separate system that we use for paying for print jobs previously.

Question 2.4 How do I get a Dragon Dollar$ account?

Everyone at UIC automatically has a Dragon Dollar$ account; you do not need to create one.

Question 2.5 What will happen to the funds specifically for printing that I already have on my i-card?

The funds that you currently have in your i-card can be transferred (and added to your Dragon Dollar$) account.

Question 2.6 How do I transfer the funds that I have in my i-card over to Dragon Dollar$?

You can:

1. Visit the U-Print Dragon Dollar$ station that will be setup next to the U-Pass station in the Student Services Building, SSB, 1200 West Harrison Street, starting on 1/6/2010 and through the first week of school.
2. On the west side of campus, please visit the ID Center, located in room 241 SCW, Student Center West, 828 S. Wolcott.
3. Visit the ID Center office in SSB or SCW at any time that the office is open; for hours and locations, see http://www.uic.edu/depts/idcenter/.

Question 2.7 How can I check my U-Print balance?

• You can check your balance and printing history for the current semester on the U-Print User Transaction Page.
• Also, when you logon to a U-Print Release Station, you will be shown the balance remaining in your free print quota and the Dragon Dollar$ that are available to you.

Question 2.8 How do I check my Dragon Dollars$ balance?

• Visit www.dragoncenter.uic.edu. (You will need to login with your Enterprise ID and password.)
• Also, when you logon to a U-Print Release Station, you will be shown the balance remaining in your free print quota and the Dragon Dollar$ that are available to you.

Question 2.9 How do I add Dragon Dollar$?

You can add funds to your Dragon Dollar$ account using cash, credit, debit, or by billing to your USFS Student Account (students only). There are several locations on campus where you can add money in person, or you can do it on the Web, at www.dragoncenter.uic.edu, using credit cards only. This site can also provide limited balance information and reports.

Please visit http://www.uic.edu/depts/idcenter/purchase.shtml for details.

Question 2.10 How much money should I keep in Dragon Dollar$?

You might want to keep more Dragon Dollar$ on account than you kept money for printing on your i-Card previously. There are two reasons.

• Dragon Dollar$ can be used for many things around campus, including all UIC eateries.
• You will not lose all your Dragon Dollar$ if you lose your i-Card. Dragon Dollar$ totals are kept in an online database, not on your i-Card. If you lose your card, notify the ID Card Center immediately to limit your liability.

Question 2.11 I lost my i-card, how can I print?

You no longer need your i-card to print; you just login to the U-Print station with your netid and password.

However, you do use your i-card when paying with Dragon Dollar$ most other places on campus, so if you lose your i-card, notify the ID Center immediately, in person or by phone. You will not be liable for any unauthorized use of your i-card and Dragon Dollar$ account after you report your card missing.

Question 2.12 What happens if the job I just printed does not print correctly?

• Before releasing multiple jobs to the printer, make sure the first job prints successfully. Once jobs are released, they're no longer available from other U-Print stations. If the printer malfunctions or there are quality issues with paper or toner, you will not be able to print these jobs elsewhere. We strongly advise that you confirm the printer is working and that the job quality is adequate before releasing subsequent jobs. ACCC will not approve refund requests in situations where multiple jobs were submitted and no effort was made to check that the printer was functioning and/or output quality was adequate.
  
  
• If you do print a job and find that the quality of the output is substandard, you can get the job reprinted at no charge. Simply send the job to the printer again (but don't print it!) and visit the Client Services Office or see the CSO consultant in the lab. Bring your bad print job to a consultant and they will print the job for you free of charge on a functioning printer.
  
  
• If the above isn't an option, then you should do two things:
  1. Re-submit your print job, but release it from another print station -- one that is working with better quality output.
  2. Retain the bad job and seek out a consultant as soon as possible. Present the materials and request a refund.
  
  
  
• ACCC has the final say on the quality of job. Obviously streaks and crumpled paper are considered poor quality and we will do our best to make sure you get satisfactory output. ACCC lab printers are high-volume printers designed to cater to the diverse printing needs of students. You can not expect resume-quality output from these printers. When that level of quality is desired, please seek commercial printing services positioned to guarantee quality.

Question 3.1 Which labs are using U-Print?

All of the ACCC Labs use U-Print. Also participating in the system are: the Honors College (BH B11), School of Public Health (SPHW 523), College of Pharmacy, and College of Medicine labs. The same rules apply in these labs.

Question 3.2 Do I have to print jobs in the same lab I submitted them from?

No, you can print any job in any lab, with one condition:

For your job to print properly, the printer that you print the job on must be the same as or similar to the printer in the lab that you printed the job from.

Special jobs, such as those for the plotter in the A&A lab, will only appear in the A&A lab U-Print station because they cannot be printed on any other ACCC printer.

The default printer type in each lab is the type of printers that are in that lab. For information on type of printer(s) available in a lab, click on the lab's building initials and room number on the ACCC Public Computer Lab Hours Web page.

If you are not sure whether the printer in the lab you are submitting a print job in is the same type of printer as in the lab where you actually want to print that job, select the printer for the lab you'll be printing the job in before you send it to be printed. Notice that "U-Print" has been added to the lab printer names; for example, SEL2265 is now U-Print SEL2265.

You can not change the type of printer after you've submitted a job to be printed, so make sure you're using the right type of printer before you submit anything to be printed.

Question 3.3 What if the printer or U-Print printing station in the lab I am in is down?

While we try to fix problems with the printers as soon as possible, one of the biggest advantages of the system is that the jobs printed in one lab appear in all the other printing stations in all the other ACCC Labs. Simply go to a convenient lab within the next 12 hours and your job will be available to print.

Keep in mind that the printer that you print the job on must be the same as or similar to the printer in the lab that you printed the job from. See Do I have to print jobs in the same lab I submitted them from? for more information.

Question 3.4 Can I print when I use the Guest Login in the labs?

No, printing from lab computers is restricted to current UIC students, staff, and faculty, with a valid netid and password, who have successfully logged into the computer.

Question 3.5 Is printing from Tigger/Icarus also going through U-Print?

Yes, jobs printed from the ACCC Unix systems to a printer in one of our labs will also appear in the list of jobs waiting at the ACCC U-Print Station.

Question 4.1 How can I reduce my output?

There is little need to print multiple copies of output simply to review or proofread it. Review online, following these tips to help reduce the amount of output you do generate:

• Use the built-in spell checker that most applications have to check for spelling errors (and grammar!).
• Use the print preview option where available to see things such as page breaks, headers, and footers.
• Don't print your job after every change you make. Work on your document for a while (saving it often!) and print only once for a final proofread.
• Print only one copy. Shop around for places where making photocopies is cheaper than printing.
• Print duplex, which is the default setting. Jobs printed single-sided cost more than a duplex-printed page and waste more paper.
• Turn off graphics in Web browsers to minimize the number of pages in Web output.
• Print 2-up or 4-up to include even more printed pages on a single sheet of paper.

Question 4.2 My jobs all print on both sides of the page (duplex). How do I print jobs simplex (single-sided)?

Duplex (double-sided) printing in the default setting on ACCC printers. If you need to print a job single-sided, follow these steps:

For Windows:

1. Go to the File menu
2. Select Print
3. Click Properties
4. Select More Options
5. Click None to remove double sided printing
6. Click OK
7. Click Apply
8. Click OK
9. Click OK to print the job.

For Macs:

1. Go to the File menu
2. Select Print
3. Select Presets:
4. Select Standard
5. Click Print to print the job.
6. Note the Preview option -- use it to confirm your output is paginated correctly.

Question 4.3 How long will my jobs remain in the queue?

Jobs that you have submitted for printing but which have not been printed will remain in the ACCC U-Print queue for 12 hours. The jobs will automatically be purged and cannot be recovered. You are not charged for purged jobs; only those that are released to the printer.

Question 4.4 What else should I be aware of when printing?

• Drivers and Printers

  While jobs can be printed from any ACCC Public Computing Lab computer and released from a U-Print station in any other ACCC Public Computing Lab, this assumes that the printers in the labs are similar. For example, you could not submit a file to the ACCC U-Print queue and expect it to print on the plotter located in the Art and Architecture lab. The appropriate plotter driver files would need to be used when submitting the job for printing from any ACCC Lab, but the job can only be printed in the A&A Lab.

• Acceptable Use Policies

  Acceptable Use Policies apply to printing services. We will not tolerate misuse or abuse of a printer or U-Print station. Do not print offensive material or output related to a business or for-profit ventures. Familiarize yourself with the ACCC Policies to prevent suspension or loss of ACCC account privileges.

Question 5.1 How can I print to U-Print from my own computer?

Download and install the Pharos Popup Client for your operating system. Once you download it you can submit you print jobs from your own computer while on campus.

Question 5.2 What operating systems does the Pharos Popup Client support?

Pharos Popup Clients support following Operating Systems:

• Windows : 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7
• Mac : Mac OS X 10.2 to 10.6

Pharos Popup Client Version 8.1 supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.

Question 5.3 Where do I download Popup Client?

See UIC-Wireless and Res-Net Printing.

Question 5.4 Where do I get help for troubleshooting if installation fails?

Please visit to ACCCeSS Helpdesk for help.

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