I want to print through my parallel port, but CUPS (nor linux) realizes my parallel port is in existence. I've checked for lp0 and lp1 and neither exist. Help would be cool....

Do you have the proper support built in to your kernel? It needs pc-style parallel port and parallel printer support to work.

i just checked my kernel configuration, matir... I have parallel support enabled as a module. What now?

the deal is that when I use the KDE control center to configure a printer under CUPS, I can't choose anything from under the "Parallel" tab.

just a dumb stab...is the parallel port enabled under BIOS? would kinda be a show stopper if it wasn't.

is your parallel port module loaded?

Have a look over in the Slack forum here and leaf through Shilo until you come to printing...apparently important to kill lpr if you wanna use cups.

well, otchie, i am willing to bet that my parallel module is not loaded. to tell you the truth, I have no idea which module the parallel port uses (although i am inclined to believe that it would be "modprobe lp").

Edit your /etc/rc.d/rc.modules like this

#### PC parallel port support ###
if cat /proc/ksyms | grep "\[parport_pc\]" 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null ; then
echo "parport0 is built-in, not loading module" > /dev/null
else
if [ -r /lib/modules/$RELEASE/kernel/drivers/parport/parport_pc.o \
-o -r /lib/modules/$RELEASE/kernel/drivers/parport/parport_pc.o.gz \
-o -r /lib/modules/$RELEASE/kernel/drivers/parport/parport_pc.ko ]; then
# Generic setup example:
/sbin/modprobe parport_pc
# Hardware specific setup example (required for PLIP and better
# performance in general):
#/sbin/modprobe parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7
fi
fi

#### Parallel printer support ###
if cat /proc/ksyms | grep "\[lp\]" 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null ; then
echo "lp support built-in, not loading module" > /dev/null
else
if [ -r /lib/modules/$RELEASE/kernel/drivers/char/lp.o \
-o -r /lib/modules/$RELEASE/kernel/drivers/char/lp.o.gz \
-o -r /lib/modules/$RELEASE/kernel/drivers/char/lp.ko ]; then
/sbin/modprobe lp
fi
fi

in order you get your modules loaded at boot.

You have just to uncomment some part
Hope this helps
Ciao

the problem is that I already have those modules loaded. and yet, when I type /dev/lp0 into the device url for the printers, nothing works!