This document describes the document printing services offered by PCN and the corresponding rules and regulations that apply to their use. The Physics Computer Network offers a wide range of centralized printing services for departmental use. All physics students, faculty members, and staff members are entitled to use PCN maintained printing resources from any system connected to the Physics Network. PCN offers users large volume, high resolution, black and white printing and multi-format general-purpose color printing, free of charge.
Printing to Black and White as well as Color printers is generally unrestricted. We ask that you show discretion when printing your documents to PCN maintained printers. A few guidelines for general printing are:
Be respectful of others' print jobs and printed documents.
Print only appropriate documents related to your work or field of study.
Normal printer usage should be directed to whichever printer is nearest your workstation.
Documents larger than 10 pages should be duplex.
Documents with 20 pages or less (simplex or duplex) may have up to 2 copies printed. (3 jobs in total)
Any documents that need more than 3 copies must be printed by Purdue Printing Services or by a local copy shop.
To print single documents of more than 99 pages (simplex or duplex),
PCN must be notified in advance.
Do not print out multiple copies of a document on transparencies.
Never print private information, such as grades or student records to public printers. If information such as this needs to be printed please use a semi-private print location such as in room PHYS-144.
If you are ever at a
PCN maintained printer and notice a damaged job (seemingly random data and text with multiple pages is one example), please shut the printer off and contact
PCN staff immediately.
Do not print transparencies with solid color background, this wastes toner.
Since many of our Physics software packages are developed overseas you might find some of their printing systems will default to A4 paper instead of US Letter. This is especially true of Linux and UNIX-based printing. If the margins of your printouts look incorrect be sure to check to make sure you are using the correct paper size.
PCN staff can help you purchase and install your local printer if you so wish.
Network sharing your local printer with others is permitted only after consultation with
PCN staff.
If you believe your printing needs are not currently met by the printers near you, or have special printing needs, you may want to purchase your own local printer. We have a list of suggested printers to purchase but this list is not definitive. If you would like to share your local printer with others we do require that you consult with us first before purchasing to find the best printing solution for your application or need.
Department printers are for use by Physics staff and faculty. Instructions for connecting to these printers, as well as a list of these printers, can be found below.