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LPT(4)			    Kernel Interfaces Manual			LPT(4)

NAME
       lpt -- generic printer device driver

SYNOPSIS
       device ppc
       device ppbus
       device lpt

DESCRIPTION
       The  current  lpt  driver is the	port of	the original lpt driver	to the
       ppbus(4)	system.

       One purpose of this port	was to allow parallel port sharing with	 other
       parallel	 devices.   Secondly, inb()/outb() calls have been replaced by
       ppbus function calls.  lpt is now arch-independent thanks to the	 ppbus
       interface.  See ppbus(4)	for more info about the	ppbus system.

       The  parallel  port  bus	is allocated by	lpt when the printer device is
       opened and released only	when the transfer is  completed:  either  when
       the  device  is	closed	or when	the entire buffer is sent in interrupt
       driven mode.

       The driver can be configured to be either interrupt-driven, or to  poll
       the  printer.   Ports that are configured to be interrupt-driven	can be
       switched	to polled mode by using	the lptcontrol(8) command.

       Depending on your hardware, extended  capabilities  may	be  configured
       with the	lptcontrol(8) command.	With an	ECP/ISA	port, you can take ad-
       vantage of FIFO and DMA.

       In  order  to  retrieve printer info from /dev/lpt0, just apply the cat
       command to the device.  If the printer supports	IEEE1284  nibble  mode
       and has data to send to the host, you will get it.

FILES
       /dev/lpt0			 first parallel	port driver

SEE ALSO
       ppbus(4), ppc(4), lptcontrol(8)

HISTORY
       This  driver replaces the functionality of the lpa driver, which	is now
       defunct.

BUGS
       There are lots of them, especially in cheap parallel  port  implementa-
       tions.

       It  is only possible to open a lpt port when a printer is connected and
       on-line,	making it impossible to	run lptcontrol(8)  when	 there	is  no
       printer connected.

       This driver could still stand a rewrite.

FreeBSD	14.3		       February	14, 1999			LPT(4)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=lpt&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+14.3-RELEASE+and+Ports>

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