Slackware 14.2 and parportpc problem

Pat Verner · 01-05-2019, 01:28 PM

Hi there

I have been a user of Slackware for about 25 years, upgrading at various times sometimes with problems but mostly not.

I have been running Slack 12 for a long time, loathe to upgrade as it would mean a major effort as I have a lot of development libraries on my machine that I would have to re-compile. Then earlier this year I had a disk failure that wiped out much of system, so I was forced to upgrade, installing Slackware 14.2.

At this point most of my development environment has been restored, and I can carry on with my work, BUT I have not been able to get my old HP LaserJet 5L to work. I have two USB printers on the machine that both work fine, using CUPS, but the "old faithful" LJ5L, which is on an old fashioned parallel port is not seen by Slack 14.2.

This is not a hardware problem, as I can reboot back onto the old system and print fine.

The HOWTOs indicate that I should add an entry to /etc/modules.conf as:
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc

Now, "modules.conf" does not exist in etc any longer. I have tried adding the above alias to various files to various files in /lib/modules/4.4.14-smp, but without any success. The file /dev/lp0 never appears, and although CUPS accepts the entry for the HP5L if I try to use it it fails with either a "filter failure" or other error message.

I'm sure this is something quite trivial, but I can't find it.
Please help.
Regards
=Pat

abga · 01-05-2019, 04:32 PM

It's been a while since I used a parallel port printer, last one died some more than 5 years ago, couldn't repair it anymore (no specialists & no spare parts), and the ones I work with now are all USB.
Still, some answers and hints:

Quote:

The HOWTOs indicate that I should add an entry to /etc/modules.conf as:
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc

Create a file, say:
/etc/modprobe.d/LJ5L.conf
and put your alias instruction there.

Regarding the lp driver, maybe following ljb643's post would help:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...7/#post5752057
And, as far as I remember, might be wrong, I had to manually load the parallel port drivers before starting CUPS. Check first if they are loaded and if not, look in /etc/rc.d/rc.M after the lines starting /etc/rc.d/rc.cups and either create an external script that handles the modules loading or just add the lines below before starting /etc/rc.d/rc.cups in /etc/rc.d/rc.M:

Code:

/sbin/modprobe parport
/sbin/modprobe parport_pc
/sbin/modprobe lp

The parport drivers have some options that you can specify while loading them and this guide might provide you some help:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.1...e/parport.html

ehartman · 01-05-2019, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abga

It's been a while since I used a parallel port printer, last one died some more than 5 years ago, couldn't repair it anymore (no specialists & no spare parts), and the ones I work with now are all USB.

I'am still using the "old-style" /etc/rc.d/rc.modules file and load parport_pc etc through it:

Code:

### Built-in PC parallel port support ###
# Generic setup example.  Attempt to load by default, since it usually
# won't hurt.  Some (most?) people may want to comment the line below
# and look into better functioning and performing hardware specific
# options as described later on in this section.
#
#/sbin/modprobe -q parport_pc 2> /dev/null
# Hardware specific setup example  (PLIP requires an IRQ, and the
# ECP protocol requires a DMA channel)
# This may also give better performance in general.
/sbin/modprobe parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7 dma=1

### Parallel printer support ###
# This should be safe to try to load by default.
/sbin/modprobe -q lp 2> /dev/null

and my parallel LaserJet works fine with that.
I use the modprobe line with irq/dma as I used to have a IOmega ZIP drive too on that port and that uses the ECP protocol, but it doesn't hurt for a printer either. The result in lsmod

Code:

parport_pc             16229  1
lp                      6387  0

but, I admit, I'm using a customized kernel, not the standard ones.

Pat Verner · 01-06-2019, 01:47 AM

Thank you.
After removing my earlier attempts, and applying both modprobe lines suggested, I stopped getting error messages, but got no output.
I then tried the various options of CUPS drivers, and voila - I can now print on my old faithful LaserJet 5L
This old printer I bought about 20 years ago, and has been a very reliable printer through the years. I still have a "new" unused toner cartridge for it, so I was very reluctant to retire it.

ehartman · 01-06-2019, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat Verner

voila - I can now print on my old faithful LaserJet 5L

Mine is a LaserJet 6MP and has been real faithful too.
The PPD file for it mentions

Code:

PPD Version for Apple Macintosh only

but it works fine in Linux too. I do use it in PostScript mode only, though.