A.P. Lawrence

Comments /Forum/Anonymous1.html


Wed Jul 20 18:25:37 2005   TonyLawrence

Why would you expect anything to come out on the printer with that command?
You gave it no input.



If "date > /dev/lp0" doesn't work, you've screwed up the kernel or you
have a hardware problem. Otherwise, see the printing section of the FAQ
for troubleshooting.


Wed Jul 20 18:28:39 2005   anonymous

I had expected something to come out from doing a search on the site here,
that says run that command, to verify the port...



/usr/lib/lponlcr > /dev/lp0

Type some lines then press enter and then CTRL+D






Wed Jul 20 19:20:28 2005   TonyLawrence

OK :-)



You didn't mention that you typed things.. :-)



Did that give you an error? If it did, it's your kernel. Did it hang? If
so, it could be hardware. If it came back to a prompt but didn't print,
make sure /dev/lp0 is a device file, and if it is, your printer is confused
or you need to send it a ctrl-l etc..






Thu Jul 21 13:54:46 2005   BigDumbDinosaur

/usr/lib/lponlcr > /dev/lp0

It could be that the "real" /dev/lp0
somehow got deleted and that when he ran /usr/lib/lponlcr > /dev/lp0
the first time it created a regular file named lp0 in /dev. Assuming this
is OSR5, he should be able to run mkdev parallel and straighten out the
mess. Be sure to delete /dev/lp0 if it is not a character special file.


Thu Jul 21 15:46:14 2005   anonymous

Ok, well I am leaning toward the 'lp' subsystem.

I ran makedev parallel and recreated the lp0 and relinked the kernel and
then rebooted.

I typed and hit enter, and then ctrl+d and no errors, no hanging... nothing
out on the printer.



I know you fellows feel it may be the kernel, if that is it, is there a
way to rebuild it, so that it would go through re-detecting (right word?)
the lp0 port?



Also, I went into "software manager" and re-verified the sytem software
(full scan) to make sure the lp software was good, it said it repaired the
lp files in a few places.

still no change though in the printing.



BTW, really appreciate the input so far, and any future ones! It is one
of the best sites I have used for a few years.




Thu Jul 21 18:04:48 2005   TonyLawrence

If it's not hanging, and /dev/lp0 is a character device, it's not likely
that it's the kernel. More likely the hardware is bad somewhere.


Fri Jul 22 14:38:08 2005   BigDumbDinosaur

Are you sure the kernel's notion of where to find the parallel port agrees
with the actual hardware settings in CMOS? It could be that the kernel is
talking to the standard parallel port I/O address at 0x378 but the actual
port address set in CMOS is at 0x278 or (more rarely) 0x3BC. Also, does
the interrupt being used by the kernel agree with that set for the port
(typically IRQ 7 for the first parallel port)? If the CMOS settings full
agree with the kernel's configuration (you can see what the kernel is thinking
shortly after boot time) then, as Tony said, you probably have defective
hardware.


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