I’ve just uploaded another build of the Net Control module. This release includes the following changes:

• All the changes included in the most recent public release of PaperCut NG 6.2. For more information see the release history page.
• Other small fixes.

You can download the latest release (Build 3909) from the Net Control module testing page. To upgrade from a previous release you can perform an install over the top procedure.

I just finished testing and unloading the latest PaperCut NG Mac release. The latest version number is 6.2.3896. This release ticks of the latest of the “must fix” bugs and pending successful feedback, we’ll make this the first official non-beta release some time next week.

The main changes in this release are:

• Improvements to the speed an reliability of the LDAP/OpenDirectory interface on very large networks. Large queries are now batched in retrieval blocks of 900 records.
• Much improved popup performance on busy print queues. PaperCut now hooks into CUPS at a lower level earlier in the print flow process. This means that the popup (account selection or authentication dialog) will now appear as soon as the job enters the queue rather than when the job is ready to print.

Hello, world! I’m Tom, the latest addition to the PaperCut development team. Over the last month or so I’ve undergone a lightning induction into the world of programming at PaperCut and the many technologies used - Java, Tapestry, Hibernate, Spring, Jetty, JasperReports, Derby, PostgreSQL, Squid and many others, not to mention developing for Linux, Mac and Windows - an exciting prospect for any graduate!

You may have already noticed some of my additions to PaperCut NG - some new reports including the ‘detailed summary’ reports that show a breakdown by page size, the ‘report based on above data’ component, regex document name filters, and some new web service and server-command calls. I hope to be adding even more features in future, as well as improving our web site. Is there something that you would like to see added or improved? Send an email to the development team and let us know!

Even with the recent first public testing release of Internet Control for PaperCut NG, the fantastic feedback we’ve been getting with the PaperCut NG for Mac testing programme, and recent improvements for running PaperCut in unauthenticated environments, we’ve still got big things on the way. Here’s a quick look at what you can expect in the coming months:

• PaperCut NG 7 - just around the corner!
• Features from PaperCut ChargeBack coming to NG.
• All those little updates that make the software that little bit easier or nicer to use.

We’ve also aggregated the developer blogs to one location, so please update your links if have been following along.

Happy to be on board with PaperCut and looking forward to hearing from you all in the future.

Cheers,

- Tom

I’ve just uploaded another build with a few small fixes and changes, including:

• Allow the internal admin password to be changed from within the user interface (on the Options->Advanced) tab.
• In the Internet Usage logs screens, allow the results to be sorted by the “MB received (ex cached)” column.
• Fix error that can occur when saving groups if only the Internet Control module is enabled.
• Other small fixes.

You can download the latest release (Build 3858) from the Net Control module testing page.

Just touching base to let you know that we’ve released a new build that includes a number of changes (a number as a result of feedback from our testers). The testing has been going well. We’ve had no reports of any major problems. Most of the comments have been about feature suggestions or usability suggestions.

You can download the latest release (Build 3853) from the Net Control module testing page.
The latest build include the following changes:

• Allow the Internet usage for a single user to be disabled for a specific amount of time or indefinitely (time latches). This can be useful to discipline students who have abused Internet privileges, but you still want them to be able to print.
• Allow data costs to be defined “per gigabyte” in addition to “per megabyte”
• Allow the user client window position to be changed. This allows multiple user clients to be run when different PaperCut instances host Net and Print control.
• Clarify some of the terminology to make it easier to understand whether data includes cached data or not.
• Ignore machine accounts (e.g. username$) in proxy logs. These entries are recorded when a Windows machine downloads Windows updates.
• Improved LDAP support for large sites.
• Licensing changes to allow users who are registered for Print Control to be able to trial the Net Module for 40 days.
• Bumped the version number to 7.0.
• All the updates included in the latest 6.2 release (see here for full details).

I rolled a new Mac release yesterday. This is a minor update and includes a fix for an issue with the “Configure CUPS” script, and also a problem that could cause loss of data on uninstall if PaperCut was installed into a non empty directory. All major Mac bugs have now been fixed. If all goes well and we don’t get any more bug reports, the official final Mac release will be just around the corner.

We just released an updated Windows build of the Net Control release that includes a fix for using domain groups when PaperCut is running on a member server. The problem was that PaperCut was only listing local groups in the setup wizard, so domain groups could not be used. If you were running PaperCut on a domain controller then the domain groups will list correctly, and there is no need to update.

You can download the latest release (Build 3816) from the Net Control module testing page.