Ricoh 3245C with access codes for color printing

Does the printer have the optional PostScript module installed? You can ask your IT person whether it has the PostScript module installed or you can print a configuration page from the printer's control panel. The configuration page will tell you what languages the printer can use.

What printer drivers are you using? The printer drivers for Ricoh printers that come with Snow Leopard or that can be downloaded from Ricoh web site are for PostScript printers.

If your printer does not have the PostScript module but can understand PCL PXL, you can use the pxlmono drivers. See http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/macosx/pxlmon o for all the downloads (3) you will need. For the pxlmono drivers, the user codes are already set in the PPD. You can change the user codes by using a script I wrote for that purpose. You can find my script at http://webpages.charter.net/mbroughtn/beta/RicohUserCodes.zip

Hi Matt,

Appreciate your post, and the script provided ... but for some this is only a half-way solution. In our office we also have RICOH printers that require user codes, but also passwords. In looking at your code, I assume there is some way to also grep through the PPD to find a place to enter passcodes or some kind of PIN as well ... ?

FYI: We downloaded the PS drive from RICOH, but there was no dialog for entering the user code and password like there is for the Windows driver. I guess RICOH assumed that OSX users would not use this feature.

Can you assist?

Cheers.

Bones.

Bones wrote:
Appreciate your post, and the script provided ... but for some this is only a half-way solution. In our office we also have RICOH printers that require user codes, but also passwords.

That is one reason that the file is still in my beta directory. I never went back and added the other sections that could be changed.

In looking at your code, I assume there is some way to also grep through the PPD to find a place to enter passcodes or some kind of PIN as well ... ?

There is a place for *Password/Locked Print or Doc Server Password*. I think that may be what you want. I modified the User Code script to change the Password section. Try the script at http://webpages.charter.net/mbroughtn/beta/RicohPassword.command.gz. Let me know if that is what you need.

FYI: We downloaded the PS drive from RICOH, but there was no dialog for entering the user code and password like there is for the Windows driver. I guess RICOH assumed that OSX users would not use this feature.

I believe it should be in the PS PPDs as well. I don't know how things look on a Windows machine, but the functionality should be in the PPD.

Hm.

Thanks Matt. That was the script I was looking for, but sadly it had no effect on my ability to print. The RICOH still appears as "paused" and no print jobs are accepted. I can't even locate a place to figure out what might be preventing the print job from executing, like some kind of error log.

If it helps, I am trying to print via IPP over HTTP to a RICOH Pro 906 EX which requires a logon and password. Under Windows, setup could not have been easier. Not sure why they (RICOH) could not have spent a little effort to make it easy for Mac users as well.

Appreciate any suggestions.

Bones

Bones wrote:
Thanks Matt. That was the script I was looking for, but sadly it had no effect on my ability to print. The RICOH still appears as "paused" and no print jobs are accepted.

Paused may indicate a network problem rather than you not supplying the proper credentials with the job.

If it helps, I am trying to print via IPP over HTTP to a RICOH Pro 906 EX which requires a logon and password.

The recommended protocol for Ricoh printers is AppSocket/JetDirect. Please try using that protocol. That may solve your problem(s).

Under Windows, setup could not have been easier. Not sure why they (RICOH) could not have spent a little effort to make it easy for Mac users as well.

See if you can get one of the Windows machines to print a job to file. You should then be able to open the file in a text editor to see what options are being passed to the printer. The User Code will send USERCODE="xxxx". The password you changed will send JOBPASSWORD2="xxxx". You can double check with the Windows job and your IT person to see if those are what need to be sent.

If you still are having problems, I would recommend that you post your problems to the Ricoh forum on the OpenPrinting.org site at http://forums.linux-foundation.org/list.php?30. A Ricoh representative usually answers all posts to that forum. I often help out there with anything special that needs to be done on a Mac to implement their replies.

Alright, after a number of conversations with Ricoh technical support about this issue, they informed me that printing with access/user codes is not supported on Mac/OSX at this time. They offered to write a custom driver if a significant number of users were being affected, but since we only have a couple dozen ... they lost interest rather quickly and recommended we "updgrade" to Windows.

Hope others can learn from this experience.

Bones wrote:
printing with access/user codes is not supported on Mac/OSX at this time. They offered to write a custom driver if a significant number of users were being affected, but since we only have a couple dozen ... they lost interest rather quickly and recommended we "updgrade" to Windows.

I find this hard to believe. Have you been able to get a Windows user to do a print to file and see what PJL options they are sending? It would be a help to see what they are sending that the Mac cannot.

I am sure that the Ricoh representative on the OpenPrinting.org forum I cited earlier would like to hear about this. It might be worth a bit more of your time to follow through on that forum as well.

I can assure you this functionality (Job Log feature) is fully supported in all versions of Mac OS X beginning with Tiger, so it appears you are receiving incorrect information from somebody, someone or whomever. The issue is confusing because the particular model you are referencing was manufactured before OS X v10.3 was launched (a testament to the high quality of Ricoh hardware if you are able to use this dinosaur) and it would appear the manufacturer decided not to update the print drivers for this legacy product.

Here is the best practice if you have PostScript installed on the legacy Ricoh MFP.

You can edit any of the older Ricoh models to use the RicohJobLog.plugin file. To do this, you will need to first run a modern Ricoh PPD installer (2051/2060/2075 or newer). This installer extracts the PPD files and the RicohJobLog.plugin file. Then you will need to download and extract the PPD for the non-supported model. Next, edit the non-supported model PPD by overwriting the following lines (taken from the newer PPD):

Note: use the section below as an example of what lines to cut and paste from the Ricoh Aficio 2051/2060/2075 or newer PPD.



*FileVersion: "1.00"
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*LanguageEncoding: ISOLatin1
*LanguageVersion: English
*ModelName: "RICOH 2075"
*PCFileName: "RIC1753.PPD"
*Manufacturer: "RICOH"
*Product: "(RICOH 2075 PS3)"
*PSVersion: "(3011.103) 2"
*ShortNickName: "RICOH 2075 PS"
*NickName: "RICOH 2075 PS"
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 /Library/Printers/RICOH/Filters/jobLogFilter"
*APDialogExtension: "/Library/Printers/RICOH/PDEs/ricohJobLog.plugin"

Finally, change the nickname from “2051/2060/2075 PS” to reflect the name of the machine that you are actually connecting too. Save the file, and then install the printer like you normally would, pointing it to the newly modified PPD.

A couple of things I should have made sure of from the beginning. Where did you get the PPD for the printer? Are you using the one from the Mac OS X pxlmono package I cited earlier in the thread, or are you using a PPD you downloaded directly from http://www.openprinting.org/printer/Ricoh/Ricoh-Aficio_3245C?

You do need to use the one from the Mac OS X pxlmono package. That PPD has been slightly modified so that Foomatic-RIP will work properly with the PPD in OS X.

Did you remember to install Foomatic-RIP and Ghostscript?

Matt Broughton wrote:
I find this hard to believe.

Hi Matt, et al. Thanks for the replies.

Just to re-iterate what I wrote above, we are using a Ricoh Pro 906 EX printer, and have attempted authenticated printing on the Mac with PPD's obtained from both the Ricoh website as well as the open source versions you reference. (Not sure what the "job log" reply above was about.) In that effort, we wrote to Richo at solutions(at)ricoh-usa.com to ask about authenticated printing features on the Mac. I will spare the group the entire discussion thread, but here are the relevant exchanges.

'--- My original inquiry - Sept 22, 2010 ---

Hello,

Our office has a Ricoh Pro 906 EX printer and we are having a lot of trouble getting our Apple Mac users setup to print. After downloading your latest Mac/OSX driver software, we still do not see a place to enter User Codes and Passwords for individual users like the Windows driver software has. As a result, no print jobs are sent to the printer.

Basically, what we are trying to do is Authenticated Printing. I note that there are several different places where Ricoh printers ask for "User Code" or "User ID" or etc. One thing I see on our Windows machines is a place to enter Authentication credentials -- THIS IS WHAT WE NEED -- but we can't find the matching dialog box on the Mac. I included a screenshot from a Windows machine we have setup and working. I think we just need to know if the Mac supports Authenticated Printing.

Can you assist?

'--- Final Reply - Sept 23, 2010 ---

Mr. <snip>

To give you some background information, Ricoh devices can be set up with multiple forms of authentication (that is built-in to the machine) such as:

a. User Codes -- You can have up to 500 distinct user codes defined. Instead of someone inputting their User Name & Password they enter in a 4-8 digit number.

b. Basic Authentication -- You can define user names & passwords on the copier. In order to print (or copy if it's set up that way) you would have to put in both the user name and password defined on the copier.

c. Windows (Active Directory) Authentication -- You can input your Windows user name & password. Obviously you have to be a user on the domain in question.

d. LDAP Authentication -- You can input a user name & password and then the copier tries to verify that you are a user against your LDAP server. You must specify the LDAP server to use.

Based on what you explained and your screenshots I would assume that the Ricoh copier is set up with "Basic Authentication".

Without going to a lot of trouble & hassle (I.E. to convince someone to do a driver customization) the MACs do not directly support Basic Authentication. The only type of authentication + tracking solution that works with the MAC PPDs (and is built-in) are User Codes. So instead of everyone having a user name && password they would be assigned a number (4 to 8 digits) that they would input when they need to print or copy. We could look into a customized driver option, but if you are only serving 20 users it would not be cost effective. Have you considered just "upgrading" people to Windows? There may be some other solutions that Ricoh offers that may work well for you. You may want to contact the sales person for the account and they can work with you to see what options would work best.

Thank you,

<snip name>
TSSC
Ricoh Americas Corporation

OK, Basic Authentication is a slightly different issue than just submitting user codes. I can see where Ricoh is not providing that for Mac OS X, Linux, or any other platform other than Windows. That is Ricoh's choice, just as it is your IT department's choice to use that form of authentication.

The easiest thing to do would be to get the administrators to change over to user codes. That may not appropriate for your setting, however. The fact is, however, that the Mac can print to the Ricoh printer using whatever printer language it will accept (PostScript or PCL 6/PCL XL) with a form of user codes for authentication.

Hello Matt, I'm hoping you can give me similar advice on this issue. I'm using a Ricoh Aficio MP6500 printer in our office and we use the user codes option, not the basic authentication that you reference in the last post.

While I'm using a different printer than the one you addressed in this thread, the problems are the same. The computer and the printer are talking to each other because I can see the toner cartridge levels but when I attempt to print the printer immediately pauses and I can't print anything.

I'm hoping that you can help me find a solution..
thanks