| 1 | PyKota's FAQ : |
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| 2 | |
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| 3 | # $Id$ |
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| 4 | |
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| 5 | * Is print accounting ever exact ? |
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| 6 | |
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| 7 | No. Print accounting is **never** exact, because it depends |
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| 8 | on external factors like the presence of paper in the printer, |
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| 9 | the quantity of remaining ink in the print cartridge, paper |
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| 10 | jams, etc... All these things are very difficult to account |
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| 11 | for correctly, and no print accounting package deals with |
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| 12 | these artefacts correctly in all situations. |
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| 13 | We are however confident that PyKota is one of the more |
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| 14 | exact print accounting software, because by default it |
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| 15 | asks the printers for how many pages they have really printed. |
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| 16 | |
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| 17 | * Can PyKota account for ink usage ? |
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| 18 | |
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| 19 | No. Actually PyKota doesn't account for ink usage, but this |
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| 20 | may come in a future release. PyKota only accounts for pages |
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| 21 | printed and/or money spent. If ink accounting is a necessity |
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| 22 | for you, PrintBill is recommended instead of PyKota. PrintBill |
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| 23 | allows you to bill differently per color, and to bill depending |
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| 24 | on the percent of the ink covered part of the pages. |
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| 25 | |
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| 26 | * How can I make PyKota work with my non-postscript printer under |
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| 27 | CUPS ? |
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| 28 | |
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| 29 | From version 1.16alpha7, PyKota includes a CUPS backend which |
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| 30 | allows you to use any type of printer and any driver. |
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| 31 | |
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| 32 | * How can I diagnose the problem when something goes wrong ? |
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| 33 | |
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| 34 | Put "LogLevel debug2" in cupsd.conf (usually in /etc/cups/). |
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| 35 | Then put "logger: system" and "debug: yes" in |
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| 36 | /etc/pykota/pykota.conf. |
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| 37 | Finally restart CUPS. |
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| 38 | CUPS' error_log file will now contain many informations which |
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| 39 | will help diagnose your problem. Also your syslog's output for |
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| 40 | the LPR facility (usually /var/log/lpr.log) will contain |
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| 41 | PyKota's debug messages, notably all database related queries |
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| 42 | and their result, be your database PostgreSQL or OpenLDAP. |
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| 43 | With these two files the problem can usually be diagnosed within |
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| 44 | minutes. Send them to the mailing list and wait for an answer. |
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| 45 | |
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| 46 | * Some, not all, print jobs are never accounted for, why ? |
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| 47 | |
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| 48 | From version 1.16alpha7, you can now use the cupspykota |
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| 49 | CUPS backend, which ensures that all print jobs will be |
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| 50 | accounted for. The use of the old pykota filter is deprecated |
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| 51 | with CUPS. It remains the filter of choice for LPRng though. |
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| 52 | |
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| 53 | * When printing from Windows, the jobs are never accounted for, |
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| 54 | but from *nix they are. Could you explain the reason for this ? |
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| 55 | |
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| 56 | First refer to the point above. If this doesn't solve your |
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| 57 | problem, try to set your print driver to PostScript mode |
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| 58 | and check the "maximum compatibility" box in its configuration, |
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| 59 | instead of "maximum speed". Often HP printers come with both |
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| 60 | a PCL and a PostScript driver under Windows. Don't install the |
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| 61 | PCL one. |
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| 62 | |
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| 63 | * My question isn't answered there, can you help ? |
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| 64 | |
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| 65 | Sure. Ask your question to the mailing list. If this is a |
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| 66 | frequently asked question, or if your problem is on the contrary |
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| 67 | very specific, it will probably be added to this document. |
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| 68 | |
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| 69 | You can also ask questions by IRC : |
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| 70 | |
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| 71 | /server irc.freenode.net |
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| 72 | /join #pykota |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | |
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