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Date:      Sun, 12 Aug 2001 10:17:10 -0700
From:      John Merryweather Cooper <jmcoopr@webmail.bmi.net>
To:        Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>
Cc:        John Merryweather Cooper <jmcoopr@webmail.bmi.net>, questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: What is the magical incantation necessary to print to /dev/ulpt0
Message-ID:  <20010812101710.S477@johncoop>
In-Reply-To: <15222.46877.167367.359239@guru.mired.org>; from mwm@mired.org on Sun, Aug 12, 2001 at 10:04:29 -0700
References:  <55215299@toto.iv> <15222.33820.72582.176034@guru.mired.org> <20010812095648.Q477@johncoop> <15222.46877.167367.359239@guru.mired.org>

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On 2001.08.12 10:04 Mike Meyer wrote:
> John Merryweather Cooper <jmcoopr@webmail.bmi.net> types:
> > On 2001.08.12 06:26 Mike Meyer wrote:
> > > John Merryweather Cooper <jmcoopr@webmail.bmi.net> types:
> > > > I have a DFI AK74-EC motherboard (VIA 686 chipset) and a Lexmark
> Z51
> > > > printer.  I would like to be able to print to the Z51 using
> /dev/ulpt0.
> > > 
> > > > When connected, my dmesg output indicates that the Z51 is detected
> and
> > > > connected to /dev/ulpt0.  However, attempts to print to this port
> > > (using
> > > > apsfilter, cp some_text_file /dev/ulpt0, etc.) have resulted in no
> > > activity
> > > > and no apparent transfer of data to the printer.
> > > > 
> > > > So the question comes, what must I say over my computer to make
> things
> > > > print?  :)
> > 
> > No, I can confirm that the Z51 is not a "WinPrinter"--this same printer
> > works great hooked up through USB to an OS/2 machine.  I'm almost
> positive
> > that no data is reaching the printer.
> 
> I'm not familiar with OS/2, but compatability with Windows was one of
> it's selling points. Are you sure you're not running a rendering
> engine on the OS/2 box?
>

I am VERY familiar with OS/2.  NO, absolutely NO RENDERING engine is
running.
 
> If dmesg shows the that printer being connected to ulpt0 and copying
> data to /dev/ulpt0 doesn't result in data showing up at the printer,
> then the problem is probably hardware. It may be that lexmark and the
> ulpt implementor disagree about some part of the standard, which is a
> hardware bug if lexmark is wrong, or a software bug if ulpt is
> wrong. In the latter case, you'll need to debug the driver.
> 
> Oh yeah - the one time I had a problem like this, it turned out that
> the USB controller was trying to share an IRQ with something that
> didn't play nicely. Tweaking the IRQ configuration fixed the problem.
> 

Well, there are TWO USB controllers on a VIA 686 (total of four ports on
the motherboard) and they both share the same interrupt.  Not much I can do
about that.

> 	<mike
> --
> Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
> Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more
> information.
> 

Well, there's a third possibility--the USB support on FreeBSD doesn't like
VIA chipsets.  I had this problem with OS/2--the first generation of USB
drivers supported only Intel chipsets.  VIA does something slightly
different.  A literally two-byte patch to the binary of the driver solved
things, and the second generation of the OS/2 driver encorporated this
patch.

The symptoms are nearly identical to mine--no data reaches the device. 
Anybody have working USB to modems or printers on VIA chipset motherboards?

jmc

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