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Title: Parport - General Information

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Parport - General Information

Applies to

Kernel: Versions since 2.2.0

The Basics

With the parport code in the 2.2.0 kernel it is possible, to share one parallel port amongst multiple parallel port devices. Thus parallel port devices can be attached in series on a parallel port.

It is generally advisable as a rule to implement kernel support for parallel ports as a module.

In addition to the generic paraport code it is necessary to run some hardware dependent architecture code, for example:

insmod parport.o
insmod parport_pc.o io=0x3bc,0x378,0x278 irq=none,7,auto

In this example, 3 ports on the PC are merged into one; the first port has the address 0x3bc and no associated interrupt, the second has the interrupt 7 and the address 0x378, the third has an autodetect interrupt and address 0x278. To enable "Kmod" (of the 2.2.x kernel) to properly load these modules you will need to modify /etc/conf.modules such as:

alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
options parport_pc io=0x3bc,0x378,0x278 irq=none,7,auto

The device driver

If the parport code is initialized in the above describe fashion, then one can bind the device driver to a specific port; For example, by default an lp device is created for each parport found during the loading of the lp module. If for example, you want to have only one lp device with the first and third parport then you must use the following command:

insmod lp.o parport=0,2

In this case you would have /dev/lp0 on the first and /dev/lp1 on the second parallel port. -- Please note that this is fundamentally different than the 2.0.x kernel! If you have only one parallel interface, then it will always be addresses as /dev/lp0.

Parallel port devices can be used in a chain with the "parport" system. With the following command,

modprobe ppa

It should be possible to load kernel support for ZIP drives. In a similar fashion one can also set "paride" (CD ROM drives, burners, hard drives, etc.. on parallel port) on a "parport"; More details are available on the article below.


Documentation:

The current status of development is described in the kernel source file: Documentation/parport.txt. Additional information can be found on the web at http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport.html.

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See also:

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Keywords: PARPORT, DRUCKEN, KERNEL, PARALLEL-PORT, ZIPDRIVE, PARIDE, PPA

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SDB-ke_parport, Copyright SuSE GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany - Version: 12. Feb 1999
SuSE GmbH - Last generated: 07. Oct 1999 16:48:20 by maddin with sdb_gen 1.00.0