I just converted a machine to NetBSD 1.6.1-stable from FreeBSD, and
was pleased to see this dmesg when I turned on my Epson Stylus Photo
1200:

  ulpt0 at uhub0 port 2 configuration 1 interface 0
  ulpt0: EPSON USB Printer, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 2, iclass 7/1
  ulpt0: using bi-directional mode

escputil in theory supports reading ink level, status, and printer
identification.  This didn't work under FreeBSD, so I excitedly typed

  > escputil -u -r /dev/ulpt0 -i
  Escputil version 4.2.1, Copyright (C) 2000-2001 Robert Krawitz
  Escputil comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type 'escputil -l'
  This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
  under certain conditions; type 'escputil -l' for details.

  Cannot read from /dev/ulpt0: Operation not supported by device

So it seems the problem where read() is not implemented, discussed in

  http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-i386/2001/09/25/0011.html
  http://mail-index.netbsd.org/current-users/2002/03/15/0009.html

remains.  I didn't find any open PRs about this.

Also, I've heard mumbling that ulpt support in NetBSD doesn't quite
work (lockups needing power cycling of printer).  These PRs are still
open:

  http://www.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=13360
  http://www.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=17948

Any comments on the -stable and -current state of things?

-- 
        Greg Troxel <gdt@ir.bbn.com>