Printbill is advanced software for Unix that manages print billing, accounting, and administration efficiently.
Printbill is an advanced Unix print billing and accounting system that comes with various administration utilities. It has been primarily designed to support LPRng but now also provides limited CUPS support. The software comes with a simple print filter and daemon that can perform pre-printing billing, post-printing billing, print accounting, and print job quote generation.
In addition, Printbill offers different utilities for administrators and users, including programs to check print quota and patterns of usage. The software also provides a web interface for both user and admin, as well as a command-line quote generator. With Printbill, you can specify charge rates on a per-page, per-percent-coverage, or both, and define any number of printers/print queues with different charge rates and printer parameters.
Printbill supports monochrome and CMYK color printers with separate charge rates for both color and black ink. It allows processing out-of-order, prioritizing jobs based on size, and billing jobs in parallel and overlapping. Jobs that finish billing first get printed first, which is not necessarily the same as the order of arrival.
The software collects detailed stats on a per-printer basis for job size, CPU time for each job, page count, and ink/toner coverage. This enables users to analyze the usage patterns of their printers and predict when a cartridge will need to be replaced. In addition, Printbill supports an optional user-supplied anything-to-postscript filter, enabling the proper billing of plain text, DVI files, image files, and more as well as PostScript.
Printbill allows databases and configuration files to be stored on a centralized web server, providing read-only access. Unix (and potentially Windows) clients can easily check quota, calculate quotes, etc. remotely. In addition, Printbill provides an additional filter that enables users to deduct fixed amounts from their accounts, which can be useful for purchasing food and drinks from an unsecured laboratory fridge.
The latest version of Printbill features finished support for per-user per-printer stats, which has been successfully tested. Overall, Printbill is a reliable and efficient printing solution for Unix systems that comes with a range of features and utilities for both administrators and users.
In addition, Printbill offers different utilities for administrators and users, including programs to check print quota and patterns of usage. The software also provides a web interface for both user and admin, as well as a command-line quote generator. With Printbill, you can specify charge rates on a per-page, per-percent-coverage, or both, and define any number of printers/print queues with different charge rates and printer parameters.
Printbill supports monochrome and CMYK color printers with separate charge rates for both color and black ink. It allows processing out-of-order, prioritizing jobs based on size, and billing jobs in parallel and overlapping. Jobs that finish billing first get printed first, which is not necessarily the same as the order of arrival.
The software collects detailed stats on a per-printer basis for job size, CPU time for each job, page count, and ink/toner coverage. This enables users to analyze the usage patterns of their printers and predict when a cartridge will need to be replaced. In addition, Printbill supports an optional user-supplied anything-to-postscript filter, enabling the proper billing of plain text, DVI files, image files, and more as well as PostScript.
Printbill allows databases and configuration files to be stored on a centralized web server, providing read-only access. Unix (and potentially Windows) clients can easily check quota, calculate quotes, etc. remotely. In addition, Printbill provides an additional filter that enables users to deduct fixed amounts from their accounts, which can be useful for purchasing food and drinks from an unsecured laboratory fridge.
The latest version of Printbill features finished support for per-user per-printer stats, which has been successfully tested. Overall, Printbill is a reliable and efficient printing solution for Unix systems that comes with a range of features and utilities for both administrators and users.
What's New
Version 4.2.0: N/A