Ricoh 3245C with access codes for color printing

Question

Hello,
We have a Ricoh 3245C and some MacBook Pro users with OS X Snow Leopard. The printer is configured so that a user needs an access code to print in color, but anyone can color in black and white.
When Mac users try to print, the print queue says the job is paused, and the job never prints. It doesn't matter if the document is color or B and W.
Help.
Thanks,
Josh

Answer 1

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