Post by thread:[OT]:parallel port problem?

Hi! I install Linux on my PC. After installation, the Linux system can detect COM port, PS/2, HDD, CDROM, but can't find the LPT port (don't know why can't detect the LPT port). Then, I made a DOS boot-up disk and use a DOS-base program to detect the port, it shown same setting like BIOS. Then, I pressed "Print Screen" button, and printer also printing. Then, I like to know where is the setting of the parallel port (like its I/O, IRQ setting). And is there any linux tools or command that can configurate or detect the parallel port??? Coz I want to connect my printer to the Linux system? And Gnome Printer System Manager totally can't detect my parallel port? I think of re-install the Linux system, but later I think better to try to solve it rather that next installation might cause the same problem! Thank in advance. regards, Will. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList spam_OUTpiclist-unsubscribe-requestTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu

Hi Will- there may be several reasons why Linux cannot find your parallel port. It would be helpful to obtain more information about your system. Please reboot your computer, execute the following commands one by one, and send the output to me: dmesg uname -a cat /proc/devices ls -l /dev/lp* My guess is that your kernel does not have support for the parallel port enabled, and is not detecting the device. But let's see that output before we jump to conclusions... Martin ------------------------------------------- Martin Wehner e-mail: <.....martinKILLspam@spam@cyclotomic.com> web: http://www.cyclotomic.com/~martin ------------------------------------------- -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList piclist-unsubscribe-requestKILLspammitvma.mit.edu

part 0 44 bytes his is a multi-part message in MIME format. part 1 1001 bytes content-type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii (decoded 7bit) Hi, Martin. I send you the results. Martin Wehner wrote: {Quote hidden}> Hi Will- > > there may be several reasons why Linux cannot find your parallel port. > It would be helpful to obtain more information about your system. > Please reboot your computer, execute the following commands one by one, and > send the output to me: > dmesg > uname -a > cat /proc/devices > ls -l /dev/lp* > > My guess is that your kernel does not have support for the parallel port > enabled, and is not detecting the device. But let's see that output before we > jump to conclusions... > > Martin > > ------------------------------------------- > Martin Wehner > > e-mail: <.....martinKILLspam.....cyclotomic.com> > web: http://www.cyclotomic.com/~martin > ------------------------------------------- > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList > EraseMEpiclist-unsubscribe-requestspam_OUTTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu part 2 215 bytes content-type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii; (decoded 7bit) Character devices: 1 mem 2 pty 3 ttyp 4 ttyS 5 cua 7 vcs 10 misc 29 fb 36 netlink 128 ptm 136 pts 162 raw Block devices: 1 ramdisk 2 fd 8 sd 9 md 22 ide1 part 3 5316 bytes content-type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii; (decoded 7bit) Linux version 2.2.12-20 (rootspam_OUTporky.devel.redhat.com) (gcc version egcs-2.91.66 19990314/Linux (egcs-1.1.2 release)) #1 Mon Sep 27 10:40:35 EDT 1999 Detected 547634811 Hz processor. Console: colour VGA+ 80x25 Calibrating delay loop... 545.59 BogoMIPS Memory: 62752k/65536k available (1008k kernel code, 412k reserved, 992k data, 64k init) DENTRY hash table entries: 262144 (order: 9, 2097152 bytes) Buffer-cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes) Page-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) VFS: Diskquotas version dquot_6.4.0 initialized CPU: Intel Pentium III (Katmai) stepping 03 Checking 386/387 coupling... OK, FPU using exception 16 error reporting. Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK. POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX mtrr: v1.35a (19990819) Richard Gooch (@spam@rgoochKILLspamatnf.csiro.au) PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xed6fc PCI: Using configuration type 1 PCI: Probing PCI hardware Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2 Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039 NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0. NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0 IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 65536 bhash 65536) Initializing RT netlink socket Starting kswapd v 1.5 Detected PS/2 Mouse Port. Serial driver version 4.27 with MANY_PORTS MULTIPORT SHARE_IRQ enabled ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured apm: BIOS not found. Real Time Clock Driver v1.09 RAM disk driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size PIIX4: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev a1 PIIX4: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later ide0: BM-DMA at 0x2020-0x2027, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hdb:pio ide1: BM-DMA at 0x2028-0x202f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio hdc: COMPAQ XM-6402B, ATAPI CDROM drive ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 hdc: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM drive, 256kB Cache Uniform CDROM driver Revision: 2.56 Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306 md driver 0.90.0 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MAX_REAL=12 raid5: measuring checksumming speed raid5: MMX detected, trying high-speed MMX checksum routines pII_mmx : 1219.200 MB/sec p5_mmx : 1280.541 MB/sec 8regs : 940.308 MB/sec 32regs : 527.304 MB/sec using fastest function: p5_mmx (1280.541 MB/sec) scsi : 0 hosts. scsi : detected total. md.c: sizeof(mdp_super_t) = 4096 Partition check: RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 autodetecting RAID arrays autorun ... ... autorun DONE. EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). ncr53c8xx: at PCI bus 2, device 4, function 0 ncr53c8xx: 53c895 detected ncr53c895-0: rev=0x02, base=0x40300000, io_port=0x1000, irq=11 ncr53c895-0: ID 7, Fast-40, Parity Checking ncr53c895-0: on-chip RAM at 0x40100000 ncr53c895-0: restart (scsi reset). ncr53c895-0: Downloading SCSI SCRIPTS. scsi0 : ncr53c8xx - version 3.2a-2 scsi : 1 host. Vendor: COMPAQ Model: BB00921B91 Rev: 3B07 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02 Detected scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0 ncr53c895-0-<0,0>: tagged command queue depth set to 8 ncr53c895-0-<0,*>: FAST-20 WIDE SCSI 40.0 MB/s (50 ns, offset 15) SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 17773524 [8678 MB] [8.7 GB] sda: sda1 < sda5 sda6 sda7 sda8 sda9 > sda3 autodetecting RAID arrays autorun ... ... autorun DONE. VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly. change_root: old root has d_count=1 Trying to unmount old root ... okay Freeing unused kernel memory: 64k freed Adding Swap: 265032k swap-space (priority -1) eth0: OEM i82557/i82558 10/100 Ethernet at 0x1c00, 00:50:8B:C7:E0:08, IRQ 10. Board assembly 692290-002, Physical connectors present: RJ45 Primary interface chip i82555 PHY #1. General self-test: passed. Serial sub-system self-test: passed. Internal registers self-test: passed. ROM checksum self-test: passed (0x24c9f043). Receiver lock-up workaround activated. eth1: 3c509 at 0x300 tag 1, 10baseT port, address 00 60 97 ae 04 a1, IRQ 5. 3c509.c:1.16 (2.2) 2/3/98 KILLspambeckerKILLspamcesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov. eth1: Setting Rx mode to 1 addresses. VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) VFS: Disk change detected on device ide1(22,0) part 4 271 bytes content-type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii; (decoded 7bit) [0mcrw-rw---- 1 root daemon 6, 0 May 6 1998 [01;33m/dev/lp0 [0m crw-rw---- 1 root daemon 6, 1 May 6 1998 [01;33m/dev/lp1 [0m crw-rw---- 1 root daemon 6, 2 May 6 1998 [01;33m/dev/lp2 [0m [m part 5 101 bytes content-type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii; (decode) part 6 154 bytes (decode)

Hey Will- thanks for sending me those files. Bad news: I was right about the device not being compiled into the kernel. As you can see from the cat /proc/devices you did, lp is not listed. Here's my list: Character devices: 1 mem 2 pty 3 ttyp 4 ttyS 5 cua 6 lp 7 vcs 10 misc 14 sound 37 ht 128 ptm 136 pts 162 raw Block devices: 2 fd 3 ide0 22 ide1 Note character device number 6 Now, I don't know if you are familiar with what your kernel is and how it works. Basically, the kernel is your "raw" Operating System. Many people mistake all the utilities (cd, ls, cp, etc) for their operating system. That is not true, however: those programs are merely utilities accessing functions which are part of the kernel. Anyways. Bottom line is that all devices your utilities access must be part of the kernel; the kernel needs to know about the device and how to talk to it before a program can access the device. Meaning: no matter how many config utilities you look at, you won't get the parallel port to work if your kernel doesn't know how to talk to it. You have two options at this point: you can hope that support for the lp port (that's what Linux calls it, not lpt) was compiled as a module, or you can re-compile the kernel. If it was compiled as a module, you can simply load it with one command, if it wasn't, it'll be a bit more tricky. All right: can you try the following, please? log on as root send me the output of the following command: find /usr/lib/modules/2.2.12 -iname 'parport.o' -print From that I'll be able to tell if support for the parallel port was compiled as a module... Martin ------------------------------------------- Martin Wehner e-mail: <RemoveMEmartinTakeThisOuTcyclotomic.com> web: http://www.cyclotomic.com/~martin ------------------------------------------- -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

At 09:23 AM 6/1/01 +0800, you wrote: >Hi! > >I install Linux on my PC. ... can't find the LPT port (don't >know why can't detect the >LPT port >Then, I made a DOS boot-up disk and use a DOS-base program to detect the >port, it >shown same setting like BIOS. Then, I pressed "Print Screen" button, and >printer also >printing. >I think of re-install the Linux system, but later I think better to try >to solve it rather that next >installation might cause the same problem! Yes it might. Good observation. There is a printer setup dialog during installation but I'm not sure if even handles this issue. From your kernel version it looks like a stock Red Hat 6.1 or 6.2 install. When it says it can't find a parallel port, it's actually saying that it can't find any driver that knows about the parallel port. I know, it happened to me. I went to DOS just like you and it worked fine. What you need are the modules that support the parallel port and printing. The relevant command is modprobe parport_pc I think...it might be modprobe parport. When you hit the right one it will load that module and any others it needs. Then your other printtool programs and stuff will work. I have better notes but they are at home. If you get this to work I can get you another line to put in one of the config files so that it installs during startup. Barry -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

Leave the 'reinstall' for the other guys, it's their only hope anyway. You sould ask this on a linux newsgroup. The answer is long winded. In short, your system very likely detected the port as something else. You also do not say what flavor of Linux you are running. Messages about what is found and what not are in /var/log/* where * depends on your distro. Try boot.log debug and messages. The parallel is called lpX where X is a number. There should be messages in there saying something about lpX being found or not found. Try to find them. It is hard to say more without this info. Please email me privately if you need more help. Peter -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

The parallel port is NOT compiled into the kernel in all recent Linux distros. It is a module and it needs to be inserted if this does not happen by itself (for example because kerneld is not running and not compiled into the kernel). Try to issue these commands from a console as root: ## load printer modules /sbin/modprobe parport_probe || true /sbin/modprobe parport_pc || true /sbin/modprobe lp reset=1 || true (cut from my own /etc/rc.d/boot.local) The result will be the printer initializing and you can see messages in /var/log/messages or /var/log/debug Peter PS: It is VERY SELDOMLY necessary to recompile a Linux kernel to make a device work. This thread is way OT. There must be a Linux user group near you with a mailing list. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics