[Solved] How to add lp (parport printing) module?

[bonbob]

Hi all!
I have an HP LaserJet 1000 printer. It's connected via USB locally on PC with Debian 12 and works fine.
Resently i decided to make this printer as network printing device.
As far as my router is just thin client with tinycore x86 OS i made next steps:
Connect printer via USB on thin client. New device /dev/usb/lp0 has appeared
Load printer firmware (printer store it in RAM and need to load it each time as it powered on)

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cat hp1000.fw > /dev/usb/lp0
Printer initialized sucserssfully. LED indicators start flashing and all mecanisms come into motion

HP LaserJet 1000 prints in raw zenographics format, so i saved test document in this format and send it to printer

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cat test.zjs > /dev/usb/lp0
Printer does not react on it. No printing, no errors or warnings.
I do the same on Debian and printer do it's job perfectly.
Next step was to compare tinycore and debian and found differences. And i found it.
On tinycore:

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lsmod | grep parport
parport_pc            0
parport                 2 ppdev,parport_pc

On Debian:

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lsmod | grep parport
parport_pc             0
parport                  2 ppdev,parport_pc,lp

lp adding printer support or something in this case? Сorrect me if i wrong. How can i solve this problem?

[Rich]

Hi bonbob
lp.ko.gz  is part of the base.

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tc@box:~$ modinfo lp
filename:       /lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/char/lp.ko.gz
license:        GPL
alias:          char-major-6-*
depends:        parport
intree:         Y
vermagic:       6.1.2-tinycore64 SMP mod_unloadIs it loaded?

If not, add this to  /opt/bootlocal.sh:

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modprobe lp
Also,  parport_pc  can accept several parameters (parm:):

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tc@box:~$ modinfo parport_pc
filename:       /lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/parport/parport_pc.ko.gz
author:         Phil Blundell, Tim Waugh, others
description:    PC-style parallel port driver
license:        GPL
parm:           init_mode:Initialise mode for VIA VT8231 port (spp, ps2, epp, ecp or ecpepp)
parm:           verbose_probing:Log chit-chat during initialisation
parm:           dma:DMA channel
parm:           irq:IRQ line
parm:           io_hi:Base I/O address (ECR)
parm:           io:Base I/O address (SPP regs)
alias:          pci:v00001C00d00003050sv00001C00sd00003050bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000135Cd00000278sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
 ----- Snip -----
alias:          acpi*:PNP0401:*
alias:          pnp:dPNP0401*
alias:          acpi*:PNP0400:*
alias:          pnp:dPNP0400*
depends:        parport
intree:         Y
vermagic:       6.1.2-tinycore64 SMP mod_unloadSee if debian is setting any of them.

[Rich]

Hi bonbob
I decided to conduct a quick experiment on one of my systems.

First I loaded parport_pc:

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tc@box:~$ sudo modprobe parport_pc
tc@box:~$ lsmod | grep parport
parport_pc             24576  0
parport                32768  2 ppdev,parport_pc
Then I loaded lp:

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tc@box:~$ sudo modprobe lp
tc@box:~$ lsmod | grep parport
parport_pc             24576  0
parport                32768  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
If they are loaded in the opposite order you get this:

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tc@box:~$ sudo modprobe lp
tc@box:~$ lsmod | grep parport
parport                32768  1 lp
tc@box:~$ sudo modprobe parport_pc
tc@box:~$ lsmod | grep parport
parport_pc             24576  0
parport                32768  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lpThough I don't think that matters.

[bonbob]

Problem was in incorrect udev rule. There was two actions 'add' (and 'bind') each time as USB cable was plugged in.
udev triggered them and loads printer firmware twice at one time. First load sucsessfuly initialize printer, but second try caued deep glitch of the device.
Printer not responsed anymore, till it powered down and swiched on again.

Anyway, thank you for help. Your post was useful for me to understand and practice module mechanism in linux more deeper. 

[Rich]

Hi bonbob

Problem was in incorrect udev rule. ...

Was this a rule you created, or is this a rule from an extension?

... Your post was useful for me to understand and practice module mechanism in linux more deeper. 

Glad I could help.

I will mark your thread as solved.

[bonbob]

UDEV Rule was written by me manually. I do not install any extensions.
Thin client has only 128Mb RAM and 128Mb Flash. All of it almost already used. There no place for print server like cups.
Instead of it i create udev rule, that loads firmware to printer each time as it appeared in system and  start p910nd.
p910nd - is a lightweight daemon that redirect all RAW data received by network via TCP directly to printer device.
Printer works good both from Debian and windows 7 as remote network printing device

[Benjamin81]

You might be right about the lp module. On Debian, it handles printing tasks. TinyCore does not load it automatically. Try:

sh
sudo modprobe lp 
If that helps, add lp to /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/onboot.lst.

Interesting case. TinyCore sometimes requires manual module loading. You might also check cups—though for ZJS it might be unnecessary. Let us know if it helped!