Setting up a Sharp MX-2600N Printer on Ubuntu

Our church has a Sharp MX-2600N printer, and I occasionally need to print to it from my laptop.  It isn’t the easiest to setup and configure on my installation of Ubuntu, so here are my notes.

Installing the Driver

I had a lot of trouble finding the correct driver. The one that finally worked was using the PPD file from the IAS website.

I tried looking at Sharp’s website. The global customer page does not have a Linux version. The IAS website points to a German download page that does have an option for a Linux download. Here are the options that I used for a search:

Sharp MX-2600N Driver Search Options

I downloaded the “ALL” driver.

Sharp MX-2600N Driver Result

After extracting it, I ran the install script:

sudo ./sharp.install

This installed the PPD file in the /usr/ directory: /usr/share/cups/model/sharp/en/Sharp-MX-2600N-ps.ppd

Unfortunately, the problem is with the authentication. I needed a passcode to use the printer. Otherwise, all of the jobs went to “Withheld” status. So, I downloaded the PPD file from the IAS site. That worked fine. Here is the difference:

PPD Compare

The missing part was:

*OpenGroup: Authentication

*% Base JCL key code option 
*OpenUI JCLPasscode/Key Code: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 10 JCLSetup *JCLPasscode
*DefaultJCLPasscode: None
*JCLPasscode None/No Code: ""
*JCLPasscode 1111: "@PJL SET ACCOUNTNUMBER = \"1111\"<0A>"
*JCLPasscode 2222: "@PJL SET ACCOUNTNUMBER = \"2222\"<0A>"
*JCLPasscode 3333: "@PJL SET ACCOUNTNUMBER = \"3333\"<0A>"
*CloseUI: *JCLPasscode

*% Custom JCL key code option 
*CustomJCLPasscode True: "@PJL SET ACCOUNTNUMBER = \"\1\"<0A>"
*ParamCustomJCLPasscode Code/Key Code: 1 passcode 1 8

*CloseGroup: Authentication

Installing the Printer Queue

Installing the printer queue was very straight forward. I simply went to the printer dialog. After a minute or two, the dialog detected the printer on the network, and I didn’t even have to ask someone or go searching for the IP address. When it came to selecting a driver, I picked the PPD file that I downloaded. Everything else was pretty much the defaults.

Setting the Authentication Code

The authentication code was the big challenge. You have to have used the right PPD file, the one with the authentication section.

To set the code, go to the CUPS web configuration (localhost:631/printers). On the printer page for the newly added printer, select Administration > Set Default Options

Default Options for Printer

After that, go to the Authentication tab, and you can set the code there. Note that if you did get the PPD file with that extra section in it, you won’t see the Authentication tab option.

Authentication Tab

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