Subject: Re: LP-11 clone?
To: Boris Gjenero <bgjenero@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>
From: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
List: port-vax
Date: 05/06/1998 17:47:35
> I have a Q-Bus printer interface card.  [...]  VMS seems to think
> that it is an LP-11.  Apparently there is no support for this thing
> in NetBSD.   Now I have a few questions:

> - Is this really an LP-11 clone?
> - What's the pinout of that 34 pin connector? (I may need to
>   construct a cab kit.)

No idea.

> - Does it have a standard paralel interface that can be used to
>   connect to any printer?

Which standard? :)  IIRC, we used an LP-11 to hook up an LN-01 to a
VAX-11/750, years and years back when an LN-01 was cool stuff.  (The
LN-01 is - was - a laser printer of roughly the same physical size as a
VAX-11/750 CPU cabinet.  Maybe a bit smaller, but not a whole lot.)

> - Are there any programming docs and/or examples for this?

If it really is an LP-11 clone, a driver for it is barely more than
basic driver glue.  I know this from having written a driver for the
LP-11 we used under 4.2 (I think) - the LP-11 probably has more
complexity in the bus interface logic than in the rest of the card;
it's not much more than a set of latches.  This fits with what you say
about how the card you have

> mostly consists of standard TTL and LS series TTL parts.

Unfortunately I doubt I still have the old LP-11 driver source I wrote
available online.  I'm going to have a look when I get home and see if
I kept the book I wrote the driver to.

Of course, all this assumes it really *is* a Q-bus LP-11 clone. :-)

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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