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From: thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: $$$ for laser printouts
Message-ID: <46700034@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 13 May 88 21:49:00 GMT
References: <1814@uhccux.UUCP>
Lines: 82
Nf-ID: #R:uhccux.UUCP:1814:uxf.cso.uiuc.edu:46700034:000:4935
Nf-From: uxf.cso.uiuc.edu!thompson    May 13 16:49:00 1988


The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has gotten more and more
 Macced over the past year.  In fact, a special "computer fee" of $20 per
 semester was instituted this year to finance the additional labs popping
 up all over.  About half of the labs are Mac labs -- the others are PS/2
 labs (booo hissss).  But most of the administrators have noticed that 
 the PS/2s go largely unused, while the Macs tend to have waiting lists.
 I believe this has not gone unnoticed (yayyy! grin) and will result in
 even more Macs pretty soon.

Originally (last year), there were only two mac labs I can recall, both
 operated by our Computing Services Office.  Both had free Imagewriting,
 and one had laserwriting, which was charged two "clicks" per page.  A
 "click" was a unit designed by our Library System here to control their
 copy machine usage... we can purchase "copy cards", which contain a number
 of "clicks" on them (they're magnetic strip cards).  Depending on the quantity
 of clicks purchased at one time, they cost from 10 cents to 5 cents
 per click (quantity discounts -- 400 for $20, only 10 for $1).  Copies
 in copy machines cost one click, and laserwriter copies cost two.

The laserwriters were fitted with magnetic card readers/decrementers, into
 which we placed a copy card.  Printing which was done without a card came out
 blank (hence, I assume the card reader was connected into the network
 port or processor of the laserwriter).

But now, since the installation of the computer fee, we have had a large
 "public" mac lab installed in our Student Union (previous labs were
 officially "instructional" -- classes had priority).  Initially, the
 public mac lab had free laser printing (with a sign begging us to go
 easy, please), but people instantly abused it.  I personally witnessed
 a man printing five copies of a poster, rather than printing one and making
 copies elsewhere, while people were waiting in line behind him.  Worse,
 there was no incentive to be correct on your papers, or to print
 only reasonable numbers of pages (people could download huge files
 at home from Usenet, and print them off on the "Free" laserwriter).
 Apparently, the administrators of the lab had enough of this pretty
 quickly, because within two weeks, there was a sign up notifying students
 that multiple copies were not allowed, and there was a fifteen minute
 time limit at the "Laserwriter Macs" (the two Macs set aside for
 laserwriting -- there are two laserwriters, each hooked up to one Mac
 dedicated to laserprinting).

But apparently even that was not enough, for it did not really get rid of the
 "spurious" printing... the stuff which didn't HAVE to be laserwritten,
 but students decided that since it was free anyway...  

Well, apparently funds were drying up pretty quickly too (a lab operator
 told me they had used up in FOUR MONTHS their entire printing cost
 allotment for the year), so they finally gave in and installed the 
 "copy card readers" in the public mac lab as well, but charging only
 one click per page.  This strikes me as eminently reasonable... since
 I use it relatively often, I went in for the $20 copy card, and
 hence laserwriting is costing me a nickel a page.  Not too bad.

But there are more labs on campus than the Public Lab in the Union.  Indeed,
 Mac labs have sprung up all over campus, and many are equipped with
 laserwriters.  A few are in the dorms, and the laserwriting there is free
 (the dormites pay an *extra* computer fee of $50 per year tacked on to their
 housing charge to finance the dorm labs -- and only dormites can use them).
 There are various other labs as well -- the original CSO "instructional" labs
 are still alive and well, and the new "Instructional Media Mac Lab", for use
 by faculty/staff only, is free for departmental use (up to $50 per course per
 semester, I believe).  Then there's the ACM Mac Lab, for use by ACM members
 primarily, but also "open to the public", and I believe the laserwriting
 is free to ACM members.  And the "Foreign Language Lab" in the Foreign
 Language Building, where laserwriting is *still* free (I think it's
 the only PUBLIC free laserwriter on campus).

And that's more or less the current state of affairs here at the UI -- 
 although "Macification" continues at a breathless pace as more and more
 of the LASers discover that a computer really *can* make doing that
 report easier.

Big note here, though -- I am only a grad student / TA here... I have
 no idea HOW the card readers are hooked up, nor do I really know the
 motivation behind the changes in the Public lab -- these are all
 my opinions.  But I think they're probably pretty close.

-- Mark Thompson				| Disclaimer: I haven't the
   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	| foggiest what I'm saying,
   INTERNET:thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu		| and neither does the U of I.
   BITNET  :thompson%uxf.cso.uiuc.edu@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu