installed gutenprint, now cant print on Epson C88

[jeff]

>
> Hello,
>
> On Dec 11 22:54 jeff wrote (shortened):
> > linux:/home/jeff # fuser -v /dev/lp0
> > linux:/home/jeff #
> >
> > linux:/home/jeff # escputil -i -u -r /dev/lp0
> ....
> > Cannot open /dev/lp0 read/write: Device or resource busy
>
>
> For me it works well:
>
> # escputil -d -r /dev/lp0
> ....
> Epson Stylus Color 460
>
>
> # escputil -i -r /dev/lp0
> ....
>          Ink color       Percent remaining
>              Black                      76
>               Cyan                      91
>            Magenta                      91
>             Yellow                      91
>
>
> I have openSUSE 10.2 installed on i386 architecture (i.e. 32-bit)
> with the "out-of-the-box" Gutenprint (i.e. version 5.0.0).
>
>
> In your previous mail you wrote
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> output of dmesg:
>
> parport 0x17a (WARNING): CTR: wrote 0x0c, read 0xff
> parport 0x17a (WARNING): DATA: wrote 0xaa, read 0xff
> parport 0x17a: You gave this address, but there is probably
>                no parallel port there!
> parport0: PC-style at 0x17a, irq 1 [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
> setup_irq: irq handler mismatch
>  [<c0131bb7>] setup_irq+0xd6/0xe9
>  [<df0379e5>] parport_pc_interrupt+0x0/0x2e [parport_pc]
>  [<c0131c39>] request_irq+0x6f/0x8b
>  [<df03777a>] parport_pc_probe_port+0x96e/0xb21 [parport_pc]
>  [<de8742f7>] parport_pc_init+0x211/0x3ef [parport_pc]
>  [<c012afac>] sys_init_module+0x12d6/0x1444
>  [<c010299b>] sysenter_past_esp+0x54/0x79
> parport0: irq 1 in use, resorting to polled operation
> lp0: using parport0 (polling).
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> This does not look good.
> Neither IO address 0x17a nor IRQ 1 is normal for any BIOS
> which I know about regarding the parallel port.
> Perhaps you have broken settings in /etc/modprobe.conf
> (e.g. "io=378" instead of "io=0x378")?
>
> There are some bug reports about problems with the parallel port
> in our Novell/Suse Bugzilla. A good report to start is
> https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=185135
> See also the other bug reports which are mentioned there.
>
> Something is fishy with the parallel port stuff in the kernels
> since Suse Linux 10.0, see
> http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-linux-e/2005-Nov/1206.html
>
> The current workaround is to experiment with various BIOS settings
> and explicite additional settings in /etc/modprobe.conf to find a
> setup, which actually works in a particular problematic case.
>
> Note that the higher-level fast bidirectional modes (EPP or ECP)
> normally require an interrupt and ECP additionally requires DMA.
> To activate the interrupt mode, set in /etc/modprobe.conf
> something like
>
> options parport_pc io=0x378 irq=7
>
> where io and irq must match to your BIOS settings.
>
> Make sure that the IRQ which you use for the parallel port
> is not used by any other stuff, see our online documentation
> (package suselinux-manual_en)
> /usr/share/doc/manual/suselinux-manual_en/manual/sec.drucken.prob.html
> Chapter 11. Printer Operation
> 11.7. Troubleshooting
> 11.7.3. Parallel Ports
>
>
> Kind Regards
> Johannes Meixner
> --
> SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5      Mail: jsmeix at suse.de
> 90409 Nuernberg, Germany                    WWW: http://www.suse.de/

Many thanks for helping me resolve this problem. Turns out I had two problems: a misconfigured /etc/modprobe.conf and a misconfigured BIOS.

My /etc/modprobe.conf contained the following line:

options parport_pc io=378

Note that's "378" not "0x378".

This must have gotten in there when I was trying different things with Yast. At one point using Yast->Hardware->Printer I had gotten to a window that allowed you to enter an I/O port number for the parallel port and since I had been into my BIOS and read "378" I had entered "378" into that window. The problem here is that the BIOS "378" was a hex number but I guess the field you enter into Yast is by default decimal. Anyway, I commented the above line out of modprobe.conf and after that I was able to read the ink with escputil again, but still no printing.

Then I read the bug report you mentioned above with its discussion of the different DMA modes. My BIOS had been set for "EPP+ECP". This setting used to work in Suse 9.2 I guess, but according to the bug report people were reporting problems with this BIOS setting and Suse 10.x. So I set my BIOS to "normal" mode (which I guess means disables EPP and ECP). After that I am able to print again.

I thank you, my daughter who has been trying to get her homework printed out thanks you and my daughter's teachers who now don't have to try to read her handwritten homework assignments thank you too. 8^)

Jeff