Black box, 3 of 4 – Black Box #10384 User Manual
Page 3
BLACK BOX
®
3 of 4
11/29/2010
#10384
waiting at the server. Only when you‘re identified by the ID card
reader at the printer will Q-Server proceed to print the job.
A page within the client software application displays all print jobs
that are being held on the FollowMe Q-Server and await printing.
Once the job is printed, its name disappears from the list. You can
delete the print job from the server queue with a simple menu click.
Extra management capabilities are available by accessing the
administration window within the client application. Configure the
FollowMe Printing
client software, for instance, to ask for an ID every
time a print job is sent. This option is particularly useful if the PC has
multiple users or for sending a print job to the Q-Server for someone
else to print out using their ID card.
The controller
The controller is a standalone hardware device that connects to
the system’s ID card reader.
FollowMe Printing
offers two possible
controller configurations, with the device operating either:
• as a network interface.
• or alongside an existing network interface in which the printer
has its own IP address.
In the former configuration, the controller sits between the
Ethernet network and the printer, with a cable running between
the parallel port on the the controller to the parallel port on the
printer. In the latter, the controller has its own network connection
and IP address.
Because the
FollowMe Printing
controller has its own Ethernet
connection, it doesn‘t require any changes to your existing printer
or it settings.
To connect the system’s ID reader to the controller, simply run the
attached RJ-11 cable from the reader to the controller‘s RJ-11 port.
In addition to an RJ-11 ID reader port, parallel port, and
RJ-45 Ethernet port as well as a power supply connection, the
controller unit features a status page/reset button and network
monitoring LEDs. Use the reset button to return the unit to its factory-
default settings. The LEDs provide at-a-glance indications of
FollowMe
Printing
activity: The red LED blinks when the controller transmits data
to the network; the green LED blinks when the controller receives data
from the network; and the yellow LED informs you that the network
link is intact and operating.
The server software
As noted earlier, the FollowMe Q-Server software installs on the
computer you designate as the server PC. This software handles all
of the user-authentication communication between the printer, client
PCs, and the
FollowMe Printing
hardware.
Foremost, Q-Server enables you to create cost models for printers
linked to the
FollowMe Printing
system. Cost models can then be
directly associated with cost centers, which provide you with a
method of organizing users and printers into easily managed groups
or departments. This way, you can gain an overall picture of the
amount of printing costs incurred by specific departments.
These cost models can be created, for example, to set up the cost
options for each type of printer in your application. You can set up a
cost model for each size of paper that a particular printer can print as
well as for black and white, color, black and white duplex, and color
duplex jobs.
Once set up, a cost model can be applied to as many printers as
required. For instance, if your office has three of the same type of
printer, you can expect that the costs per page for each printer will
be identical, which means you would need to create and apply only
one cost model to all three printers.
But if you have two types of printers (say, one that‘s for outputting
color and one that‘s for outputting black and white), then the costs
per page would differ and you would need different cost models.
The software also features a search utility that enables you to
quickly locate cost models from those you’ve already created.
The Q-Server software also includes password-protected database
facilities. The information collated in the database can be used to
create and print a variety of reports on
FollowMe Printing
usage,
whether you require a report for a specific user, cost center, printer,
or prints made on a specific date. This gives you a versatile tool for
monitoring and managing printer usage.
By default, FollowMe is set up to operate with a Microsoft Access
database (although it’s not necessary to have Access installed on the
PC to create reports, you’ll need Access to view the database itself).
However, you can also use a SQL database with the Q-Server software
if you plan to generate large amounts of data.
A user-friendly setup wizard makes adding printers and users to
the system easy. In situations where you have to set up a number of
users for
FollowMe Printing
, the Q-Server software provides several
shortcut methods that enable multiple users to be added and
configured at the same time with the same settings. Import a list
of users from the Microsoft domain and apply user configurations
to the list as required.
To activate the individual ID cards (which contain unique “hidden”
numbers) and assign them to their respective users, click on a ”listen”
function within the Q-Server software interface and position the card
in front of the ID card reader. The system automatically enters each
card’s number into the
FollowMe Printing
system.