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Technology at SCU

SmartPrint

The Technology Help Desk, located on the 1st floor of the Library/Learning Commons, would be happy to take a look at your printing issue.

For Students, Faculty and Staff, you are given a certain SmartPrint allowance according to schedule in the SmartPrint Pricing.  If you were not given the allowance, you can go the ACCESS office in Benson Memorial Center and inquire about your SmartPrint allowance.  You can add extra funds to your FLEX account to use on SmartPrint printing.  Go to an ACCESS value transfer station (located in Benson Memorial Center) to add additional funds.

For Guests, you can add additional printing funds by clicking on the Add Funds link after logging on to the Print Center.  You will be re-directed to PayPal.com to add funds to your account.

The easiest way is to tap your ACCESS card or Mobile Credential at a print release station and press the Account button at the bottom of the screen.  You will be presented with all your available SmartPrint funds and the funding source(s). 

You can also tap your ACCESS card or Mobile Credential at an ACCESS value transfer station located in Benson Memorial Center.  Select Account Balance, and tap your card.  Your SmartPrint account will be displayed as a negative dollar amount.  The SmartPrint account is a credit account, so it will display as negative credit.  In other words, this is the amount of SmartPrint print you have used.  If your SmartPrint amount is $0.00, you have your full SmartPrint allowance.  For an undergraduate, if the SmartPrint amount is -$48.00, you have used up all your SmartPrint allowance.  If your SmartPrint amount is -$2.63, you have used $2.36 of your SmartPrint allowance.

Once you get a new or replacement ACCESS card, or you got a new Mobile Credential (phone or watch) activated, any old ACCESS credentials are void and cannot be used to purchase items or release print jobs.  ACCESS will send the new credential information to the SmartPrint system and will be installed the following day at about 9am.  You should be able to release print jobs after 9am the following day.

PDF documents are generated many different ways.  Sometimes they do not print or do not print correctly on certain printers.  Take a look at the web page Printing PDF Files for tips on printing problematic PDF files.  If the printer is displaying a 900 Rip or 900 Firmware error, resubmit your print job using the tips from Printing PDF Files and have the attentant at the Technology Help Desk release the reprint.

PDF documents are generated many different ways.  Sometimes they do not print or do not print correctly on certain printers.  Take a look at the web page Printing PDF Files for tips on printing problematic PDF files.  If the printer is displaying a 900 Rip or 900 Firmware error, resubmit your print job using the tips from Printing PDF Files and have the attentant at the Technology Help Desk release the reprint.

 

It depends on what kind of computer or device you have and what kind of access you have.  The upgraded SmartPrint has opened new opportunities for more devices and computers to print.  Here are a few of the ways you can now print:

  • Install the SmartPrint client and print using your computer's native printing process,
  • Email your document to mobileprint@scu.edu and be able to release it printing at any release station,
  • Use SmartPrint PrintCenter to upload and release your document for printing at any release station.

Most likely, yes.  If you have email on your device, you can attach a file to the email and send it to MobilePrint to print it.  The file needs to be one of the compatible types that SmartPrint/MobilePrint understands and it must be less than 50MB in size.  If you have Dropbox or Google Drive on your device, you may be able to attach a file in the cloud to your email and print it.

 

Yes, you can.  A Chromebook can save print jobs as PDF files.  If you print in the Chrome browser, select the Save as PDF option for a printer destination.  If you click on a Google Drive file and it opens up, click on the printer icon, and select the Save as PDF option for a printer destination.  Enter a filename to save the print job.  The file will be saved in the Download area. Once you have the PDF file, you can upload the file to SmartPrint through the Print Center or email the file to MobilePrint.

Yes, most likely, you can. There is a movement in the linux community to move to PDF files using the CUPS printing system. Many of the linux applications can save a print job as a PDF file.  Look for the Save as PDF option in your application.  Look also for a print driver called cups-pdf. The cups-pdf print driver will create a virtual printer on your linux system to create PDF files when you print.  Once you have this PDF file, you can upload the file to SmartPrint through the Print Center or email the file to MobilePrint.

No. You can upload files to SmartPrint through the Print Center or email files to MobilePrint to print to SmartPrint.  The only criteria is that the file must be a compatible type that SmartPrint/MobilePrint understands and the file must be less than 50MB in size.  Installing the drivers and popup client software is always the most versatile way to print to SmartPrint, but you may be able to print by uploading or emailing files.

Most likely, you have a network connectivity issue.  You have to be on the SCU campus to print to SmartPrint.  You must be connected to either the SCU wired or wireless network.   In your web browser, try to browse to an off-campus web site (www.cnn.com, www.ibm.com). You may not have authenticated on the SCU network.  If you can browse to an off-campus web sites, try browsing to the on-campus website, SmartPrint Print Center (sp2.scu.edu).  If either of these tests fail, you will need to troubleshoot connecting to either the SCU wired or wireless network.  A less likely cause of this error is a firewall rule that is blocking port 28203 on your computer.

If you are on a Windows computer and you are able to browse to sp2.scu.edu,  you can try downloading and running the SetSmartPrintServerAddress.exe program.   If you are still having difficulties, please stop by the Technology Help Desk  on the 1st Floor of the Learning Commons/Library.

 

Most likely, you have a network connectivity issue.  You have to be on the SCU campus to print to SmartPrint.  You must be connected to either the SCU wired or wireless network.   In your web browser, try to browse to an off-campus web site (www.cnn.com, www.ibm.com). You may not have authenticated on the SCU network.  If you can browse to an off-campus web sites, try browsing to the on-campus website, SmartPrint Print Center (sp2.scu.edu).  If either of these tests fail, you will need to troubleshoot connecting to either the SCU wired or wireless network.  A less likely cause of this error is a firewall rule that is blocking port 28203 on your computer.

The SmartPrint system does not print directly to printers.  You do not need to install 5 print drivers to print to 5 different SmartPrint printers.  You now print to a Black & White pool and to a Color pool.  If you sent a print job to the B&W pool (SmartPrint BW Printer), you simply go to any SmartPrint black and white printer, tap your ACCESS card or Mobile Credential at the release station and release the job at that printer.  If a printer is jammed or broken, just go to another printer of the same type (B&W, or Color).  If you would, please report any malfunctioning printer by calling the IT Help Desk at (408-554-5700 or x5700).  You can find SmartPrint printers on our printer locator.

 

The popup box looks like this:
      

If you are using a Windows or Mac computer and you do not see the popup box, your computer was probably configured to print to SmartPrint before the Summer of 2014.  We highly recommend deleting any old SmartPrint printers, downloading the latest SmartPrint client software and installing it on your computer.  We also highly recommend rebooting or restarting your computer after you've installed the SmartPrint client software.

I've used SmartPrint before. When I tap my ACCESS card or Mobile Device, I see no print jobs. I just see a blank screen.
You need to associate your print jobs with your SSO ID.  Take a look at the workings of the upgraded Smartprint by clicking here.  When you print on a Windows or Mac computer using the pop-up client, you should see a popup box asking for your SSO ID. This is how your SSO ID is associated with your print job.  Your ACCESS credential is also tied to your SSO ID.  When you tap your ACCESS credential at the release station, SmartPrint will only display print jobs associated with your SSO ID.  If you see no print jobs after tapping your ACCESS credential, either:

  • no popup box came up to enter your SSSO ID, or
  • you misspelled your SSO ID in the popup box, or
  • your computer has some kind of networking issue, or
  • you sent your job to the B&W printer pool and you are tapping on a Color release station (or vise-versa).

 

One way is to download the Windows or macOS popup client and install it on your computer.  You can print directly from your applications as you would any Windows or Mac program. Alternatively, you can save a file on your computer and upload the file to SmartPrint through the Print Center or email the file to MobilePrint.

SmartPrint is the Santa Clara University branded student print system. All SCU students are free to use SmartPrint, as well as, Staff and Faculty. Guests of the university may also use SmartPrint after they have created a guest printing account.

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