Subject: Serial port / LW NT
To: RiscBSD <port-arm32@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Patrick Welche <prlw1@cus.cam.ac.uk>
List: port-arm32
Date: 02/21/1997 13:03:19
I am having problems printing to a LaserWriter II NT, namely nothing
comes out. If anyone can shed some light on the problem, I would be
most grateful!

The story so far:

I made a cable according to http://www.art.acorn.co.uk/SALES/appnotes/
/231-245/234/+fig15.gif which is Acorn's recommendation. The printer
reports the settings:

baud:		9600
parity:		none-mark
handshake:	DSR/DTR
data bits:	standard/7
stop bits:	1

The only way I can get it to print from RiscOS is with 8 data bits,
not 7, so 9600, 8N1, use DCD, DSR, CTS.

>From RiscBSD, I tried the following printcap:

lp|local line printer:\
	:lp=/dev/tty00:sd=/var/spool/lpd:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:\
	:br#9600:ms=cs8,-parenb,-cstopb,-crtscts,-clocal,-ixon:

and the result is the on-line light flashes, but no printout
appears. Resending with cs7, the on-line light flashes a few times,
then stops, still with no printout. I am unclear what clocal actual
means:
     clocal (-clocal)     Assume a line without (with) modem con-
                          trol.
Is modem control == DSR/DTR ? (or something like xmodem - what I am
missing?)

The other thing which is unclear to me is (still from AppNote 234):

"A5000s, A4000s, A3020s and A3010s use an 82710 or 82711 peripheral
controller, which provides the driver hardware for the serial port; Risc PCs
and A7000s use a 37665. As these ICs are used in some IBM PC compatibles, it
is possible to software-configure the computer to use the serial port in
exactly the same way as an IBM PC compatible does. However, the system is
pre-configured to behave as an Acorn machine, so Archimedes cables which
require DCD and have flow control via DSR will work correctly without any
reconfiguration.

Some software communications packages have an option to reconfigure the
serial port on machines using 82710 / 82711 or 37665 so that IBM-type cables
can be used"

Does this mean that I should be using a PC -> LaserWriter cable under
RiscBSD?

Thank you,

 Patrick