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[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

Linux prints text (cat filename.txt > /dev/lp0) on a different computer
with only one parallel port and no MDA card, and the same software as
here.  Is there something I should be doing differently on a computer with
two parports?  I did not need to specify IRQ 7 or anything different.  
Perhaps I should have one DOS and one linux computer since all the DOS
stuff works on here.  We had both parports working with DOS and Windows.  
I will make sure lp1 is disabled onboard and try again here.


On Sat, 14 Aug 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:

> insmod parport
> insmod parport_pc
> insmod lp    (otherwise I get /dev/lp0:  No such device)
> 
> cat mesg.txt > /dev/lp0
> 
> Or use wp to try to print text.
> 
> Linux accepts the command but does nothing.  What does this indicate?
> Probably that I am doing something dumb, but I made sure to have the 
> printer turned on and plugged in, and lp loaded, as suggested in other 
> lists.
> 
> The printer (Panasonic, same model worked on another linux computer and 
> works now in DOS, on lp0 = lpt1).
> 
> I also tried using ghostscript, command-line with a script to use a 
> printer filter (full path of filter given in the script).  Same result.
> No error message, just nothing but cursor moving to the beginning of the 
> next line and blinking.  Ctrl-C to exit.  
> 
> This computer has two parallel ports - lp0 is in the MDA card and it is 
> recognized when I look at dmesg:  parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [SPP]
> The second port is not recognized (I think I disabled it in CMOS but I 
> should check anyway).  Do I need to specify IRQ 7 somewhere as for plip?
> I can't find my BL2 notes on this.
> 
> I had to specify 0x378 when loading parport_pc or the MDA screen would get 
> scrambled when parport_pc probed for addresses.  
> -------------------------
> I suppose I should try this again in the computer with only one parallel
> port.  This computer, in linux, also has no scroll buffer.  Shift-PgUp
> (which I assigned to Scroll_Backwards with loadkeys) or Shift-PageUp do
> nothing - they are supposed to show you the previous page.  Similarly for
> Scroll_Forwards.  I tried four different keyboards all of which work on
> two other linux computers set up with a clone of the same software.  The
> DOS Kermit scroll buffer works.  This linux scroll buffer is also normally 
> usable in X but I did not bother testing there, or with BL3 (yet).
> 
> No other known problems with this computer except for the MDA card 
> requiring that extra string when doing insmod parport_pc.  I could try a 
> different MDA card.  
> 
> Can other BL2 or BL3 users scroll backwards a page with Shift-PageUp?
> It works for me on all other computers I tested with BL2 (at least four) 
> and is not the keyboard (I tried 84 and 104 key keyboards).  Shift-PgUp 
> does not normally scroll so don't try that.  
> --------------------------
> I would really like to get linux printing with ghostscript since I am 
> having trouble with a DOS pdf print job that prints every other page 
> shifted 1.5" to the right, or even more than that, which not only wastes a 
> lot of black ink printing a dark stripe on the left but cuts off 1.5" of 
> text on the right.  It also used up my inkjet cartridge.  But I have the
> same version of gs (5.10) in DOS and linux at present.  I suspect there is 
> something odd about this pdf file which gs does not like.
> 
> I can view the whole page onscreen with gs or bmv (ps reader for linux), 
> and since I can scroll with bmv, I was hoping I could somehow scroll right 
> and then print the correct part of a page.  Or print with xpdf.  
> 
> pdftoimage gives me a bunch of error messages so I can't convert to image
> and print that.  Usually it works but maybe it cannot handle pdf that is
> nothing but scanned images. pdftops worked at least.  And this is not a
> pdf 1.5 file so gs 5.10 also works on it.
> 
> I may try printing in DOS with psview, which I think lets you scroll and
> print parts of pages.  I have been trying to translate from the screen and
> it is hard on the eyes due to poor copy which for some reason prints a bit
> better on paper.  bmv only goes to 1280 but xpdf at 1600 looks no better
> and takes about 30 sec per page to display or scroll.  P300 cpu.
> 
> Any ideas would be appreciated.  I would HATE to have to use Windows 
> (assuming ghostscript works right there after I download it for 2 hours).
> I am supposed to get this stuff translated within a few days.  Maybe the 
> local university library has the journal.  Maybe ps would print out better 
> than pdf?  Got to refill the cartridge first to find out.  Or print 
> dot-matrix.
> 
> Thanks for any help.
> 
> Sindi
> 
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