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  • From: Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] BL2 won't print or scroll in console mode
  • Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 19:15:33 -0400 (EDT)

Disabling lp1 onboard (it was set to the same address and IRQ as the MDA
card's parport) made one difference: When I typed
cat filename.txt > /dev/lp0
it did not just move to the next line (blank) but also gave me
a new prompt. Nothing printed.

I will see if I have an MDA card with no parport, or one that I can
disable easily.

I still cannot print my pdf files without them being shifted over. I
tried in DOS with gs 5.10 on both pdf and ps files, and with deskjet 500
and Panasonic dot-matrix printers. Can't figure out how to print with
psview on the Panasonic. Or how to convert a pdf or ps file to a straight
image - is there a way? pdfimages could not handle this, error messages.

I can read the files with a text editor and there is one section (after
all the junk about fonts and colors) where the image appears as a string
of characters. Can this be converted (easily) to a plain tiff? Or even
gif or png? What format does pdf use?

I can't print with xpdf because I can't run Xvesa as 'user' - what do I
need to do for that?

I will try gs 8.14 in Win98 if I get tired of reading tiny text on the
screen with bmv (.ps reader).

I bet the rest of you are loafing this weekend instead of working like us
self-employed people.

Is there some way to print with xpdf from the command line (not having to
load X first)? Does BL3 Xvesa work for 'user' not just root?

On Sat, 14 Aug 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:

> 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > BasLinux mailing list
> > BasLinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/baslinux
> >
>
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