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From: bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu (M. L. Dodson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.misc
Subject: Re: Configuring lp
Date: 20 Jul 1995 14:17:53 GMT
Organization: The Sealy Center for Molecular Science
Lines: 45
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3uloih$qte@atlantis.utmb.edu>
References: <3ukfrj$84e@vodka.intele.net>
Reply-To: bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: beowulf.utmb.edu
In article <3ukfrj$84e@vodka.intele.net>, Barnacle Wes <wes@intele.net> writes:
>steinber@slinky.cs.nyu.edu (Joseph Steinberg) wrote:
>> I have tried to configure my FREEBSD box to print -- unsuccessully.
>> Could someone please explain to me how to set up a system (I tried
>> editing printcap) so that I can print to my HP LaserJet4 on /dev/lpt0
>> using a parallel cable.
>> All I get when I print are blank pages.
>
>I had a number of problems when I first plugged in my new inkjet printer
>to FreeBSD. I discovered that the kernel reports that lpt0 is an
>Interrupt-driven port, which seems to give me a throughput of about
>3 characters per minute (yes, MINUTE!). I set the port for polled i/o
>mode at the bottom of /etc/rc.local thusly:
>
>#
># Set the printer port for polled i/o so it will work properly. Interrupt
># driven i/o and lpd seem to not understand each other somehow.
>#
>lptcontrol -p -u 0
>
>Now my printer works fine.
[...]
Exactly the same problem (even to the same approximate print "speed"); exactly the
same solution with exactly the same ("good") results with a new HP DeskJet 540. I
had thought that I needed to send some escape sequence to the printer to get it out
of the funky "two-way communication" mode that HP hints about but doesn't document.
(And of course the HP support line was _NO_ help when I said I was using the printer
under *nix.)
Does anyone familiar with the lpt driver know what could be the matter? I had an
old Panasonic dot matrix under 2.0R which worked fine with interrupt-drive I/O.
I have a quite recent vintage multi-I/O card with multiple capabilities for the
printer port (which I am running in the original PC/XT mode for now), so I don't
think it likely that I have a "broken" printer port (but who knows?...).
Bud Dodson
--
M. L. Dodson bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu
409-772-2178 FAX: 409-772-1790