README for ninja-0.10

= 0. Introduction =

The NINJa printing system was developed to meet the challenges of managing a university printing environment.  It offers cost recovery, reduction of waste, and usage tracking.

Conceptually, the NINJa solution begins with a release station kiosk atop each printer. A user sends a job to the printer, which then appears in a queue on the kiosk display. To print, the user selects his/her job from the queue and authenticates. If the user is authorized to print, the station forwards the job to the printer, the job is printed, and the user's printing quota is deducted.

The main components of the system are: the printer; the release station/print server atop the printer; the authorization/page counting server; and the database.  

NINJa is flexible in that it can work under various configurations.  Since this is an initial installation-and-setup document, the descriptions here are representative of the specific setup at Columbia University.  Feel free to make sensible modifications in your configuration, but it may be easier at the outset if you could follow the descriptions below.

= 1. System Requirements =

Release station/print server
	A basic Linux box is recommended for your NINJa release station/print server with the following configurations:

	Recommended Hardware:
	- CPU (minimum recommended Pentium II, 150 MHZ, 128 MB RAM)
	- Keyboard
	- Monitor
	- HP LaserJet Printer (Tested with 5Si/4000 Family/8000 Family)
	- Networking

	Minimum Software Requirements
	- Linux (Various flavors of Linux should work.  We have run it on Redhat 7.2 and a custom built Linux-from-scratch)
	- Java Runtime 1.4 (Java 1.5 currently being tested)
	- A recent X environment (X.Org 6.8.2+ or XFree86 4.4.0+)
	- LPRng 3.8.28
	- ifhp 3.5.20 (dependencies include Net::SNMP, net-snmp, foomatic_filters, and a2ps)
	- Kerberos 5 (Tested with MIT Kerberos 5 Release 1.4.0)
	- ntp 4.2.0
	- NINJa web files: see section below

= 2. Installation and Configuration =

Follow the instructions in the NINJa Configuration Manual at <http://www.columbia.edu/acis/dev/projects/ninja/doc/ninja_config.pdf>.

= 3. Communication =

There is a NINJa mailing list for discussion of issues realated to NINJa.  To subscribe to the list or browse the archives, please see:

https://lists.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/ninja-users

To report bugs in NINJa, please send email to:

ninja-dev@columbia.edu
