Novell iPrint Client, which brought wireless printing to The University of Memphis last semester, could cut down the crowding and long lines in the computer labs, according to students and laptop users.
"First off, around finals it's hard to get on a computer on campus," said Antonio Clark, a junior real estate major and frequent laptop user. "It's not easy access."
Clark said the innovation is definitely an advantage and would help many students.
"More people could print from remote locations," he said.
iPrint Client is a web-based printing system which uses Internet Printing Protocol to interpret a URL, which identifies a printer and submits jobs.
Students can download and install the client from http://iprint.memphis.edu, where they will be prompted to choose a printing location. iPrint currently employs five campus printers for laptops and four for desktops.
The laptop printers are located in the McWherter Library and Smith Hall labs, Dunn Hall room 232, Fogelman College of Business and Economics room 100 and the Law library on level C. Desktop printers are available in Dunn Hall classroom 124, classrooms 373 and 377 in the school of business and Clement Hall room 217.
Each printer will be accessible based on their own hours of availability.
iPrint is available to Windows 2000/XP, Mac OS X and Linux users. It also requires Internet Explorer 5.0 or later and does not support Netscape or Firefox.
Once the client and select printers are installed, students can simply submit a print job and log in on the Web site to release it.
"You can just print anywhere now," said Steve Bardos, a junior computer science major.
However, Bardos said there could be possible disadvantages such as several people printing out all at once.
"There are enough students who do not have their own computer and a lot who do not have access to one," he said. "Labs will always be useful."
Bardos said, though, that iPrint would definitely help diminish the amount of students jammed inside the labs.
The new service's awareness has been low so far, according to Jamion McNeil, a junior English major and lab monitor.
"If more people did know about it, it would help make the labs less crowded," he said.
McNeil has helped just two people with iPrint since its introduction and said knowledge about wireless printing could expand its advantages.
