Does the Sharp ARM237 work?

http://www.sharpusa.com/files/cop_dow_linux_mac_unix.pdf

So I'd expect it would work on MEPIS, though I have no personal experience. Check out the bottom of this post as well:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-109159.html

Hope this helps--good luck.

This should help a lot, thank you. Now its just a matter of convincing people.

But to make sure that I get it running right, if anyone else out there has any experience with this, I'd still like to hear about it.

Did you get the Sharp to print from Mepis?

I think that model may have come with different printer boards in the back.

The Standard one was for GDI via USB or Parallel printing only they only made a Windows driver for that guy.

Then there is a PCL board that you can attach an RJ45 network cable to. PCL printing will work with that and a generic HP PCL PPD.

You can add the PostScript kit to the PCL board and then use a PPD file from Sharp.

Let me know how it goes...
ricnmar

http://www.sharp.ca/downloads/default2.asp

Is the location of the Driver, it is made for RHEL or Fedora, what modifications are needed for it to work on MEPIS?

Addition: It's under Copiers, ARM237

Bit long, that list, and it only looks like .exe and sitx files (win and mac). Might want to point directly to the resource you're discussing, if possible.

If you downloaded an .rpm file, then run it through alien to see what you get:

example.user@example.host[dir.name]$ alien -d name_of.rpm

How's my posting?

Please call: 1-800-DEV-NULL

It is about the 19th item on the list, and the only 2 mentions of "linux" are in that entry (so a Firefox Ctrl F can find it fast).

When I ran it in the windows partition it extracted like a zip. If I could post the files that were in there I would.

There are NO rpm files in this, there is an instructional PDF (which is specifically meant for RHEL and Fedora) something else about CUPS, then a tar.gz file which contains a 'setup' executable file that does nothing when I click on it, and files called sharp.install, sharp.licence, sharp.readme, sharp.remove, and sharp.ss. There is also a folder for the source which contains a .tar file.

The instructional PDF asks me to put the file into "/root/work" first, but obviously we don't have that, so lets start here, what is the equivalent, or does it even matter?

If I get someone the source can they get it to work for me?

First you have to extract the folder sharp-1.4-ar236to277-ps that's in the tar.gz file to your home directory.

In Konqueror, enter that folder and press F4 to open a Konsole window there.

Become root by typing su and pressing <Enter> and then typing your root password at the prompt.

Type ./setup

(To those who champion the Right Click -> Actions -> Run as Root procedure, the Sharp setup program can't find it's files that way and throws an error - you have to start it from a console)

This will start the Sharp Installer. Follow the prompts. When you finish the installer, open the KDE Control Center and use the Add a printer wizard. The AR-M237 will now show up in the menus under SHARP to be installed.

Good Luck!

Will it make any difference that this is a network printer?

No, it shouldn't except that when you go to the KDE Control Center -> Peripherals -> Printers -> Add Printer,you have to select one of the network printer options; TCP Network Printer or IPP Network Printer (according to the spec sheet for the AR-M237 it should work with either of those).

You should then have to put in the correct printer address (or just the subnet and have the wizard scan for it). Once it sees the printer you still have to select the model from the list that gets installed when you run the Sharp setup program.

I keep on printing out pages saying that the printer is not licensed for PostScript Printing. Anyone know why this is? How I can solve it.

I notice in the documentation that there is a PostScript 3 expansion kit (AR-PK1). I wonder if that must be installed to print in postscript. I notice that the drivers installed from the sharp website all end in "PS" which indicates they are for a postscript compatible model...

I also notice in one of the links posted above,
http://www.sharpusa.com/files/cop_dow_linux_mac_unix.pdf
that in order to print from *nix the Sharp Linux drivers need to be installed in addition to purchasing ESP Print Pro software from www.easysw.com.

Checking that site, ESP Print Pro has been replaced by CUPS Companion CD v1.2.11 which goes for $25

That may be the licensing issue involved here. Sharp tech support should know for sure.