Change add-in LPT card to EPP mode

Support and Help
1

Ubuntu Version:
Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS

Desktop Environment (if applicable)
Xubuntu

Problem Description:
I have an old LPT Zip drive I still enjoy using. My computer has an old PCI port and I had a PCI LPT card, so I stuck it in, but it functions in SPP mode as near as I can tell (I’ve tested before, and this thing transfers data about 3 times as fast on EPP as on SPP or ECP. (My PCIe LPT card did the same thing btw.) I’d like to change it to EPP; the results below are on the PCI card.

What I’ve Tried:
I found AI instructions for this that sounded plausible. They said to run dmesg | grep parport, which returns:

[    3.184033] parport_pc 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0100 -> 0101)
[    3.184228] parport0: PC-style at 0xd050 (0xd040), irq 16, using FIFO [PCSPP,TRISTATE,COMPAT,EPP,ECP]
[    3.187183] parport0: Device ID was 64 bytes while device told it would be 63 bytes
[    3.187233] parport0 (addr 0): SCSI adapter, IMG VP1
[    3.234913] lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).

It says to use the number on parport for the following: in terminal, run echo 0x80 > /dev/parport#. So I ran sudo echo 0x80 > /dev/parport0, but it returns:

bash: /dev/parport0: Permission denied

If I run the echo command after switching to sudo (sudo -i), it returns:

-bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
2

sudo doesn’t traverse the redirection. The only part with sudo access in your command is the echo part. The guide assumes you are root. The way to do it properly, as user using root, is:

echo "0x80" | sudo tee /dev/parport0 > /dev/null

The /dev/null part just keeps the terminal tidy as teeouputs to both the file and the terminal and is run with sudo. The echo command runs as user but that’s fine and is enough access. Users can use the echo command

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3

So should I do this after setting the terminal to run as root (sudo -i)? Or just as a plain terminal?

4

terminal is fine but it’ll work either way

5

No I mean I assume I’ll be doing this in a terminal (no reason to drop out of the GUI altogether). But do I run that as root?

6

You can run it as root or as your user. Both will work. You’ll need your password with the sudo prompt

7

Ok thanks, I’ll try that tonight!

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8

Aw man! It returns

tee: /dev/parport0: Invalid argument
9

OK.. Does that file exist? I don’t know what the echo does but at least you are adding to a file you don’t own in the correct way :+1:t2:

10

Well…

m@mycomputer:~$ ls /dev/parport0
/dev/parport0

Sorry if I don’t answer your questions right or take directions the wrong way. I’m not as Linux-savvy as maybe I should be; I’m sort of an intermediate user.

11

Does this help

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/740720/parallel-port-pcie-card-does-not-show-as-dev-parport-and-does-not-work

12

Oh thanks, I’ll try that tonight.

13

It didn’t really help, sorry. I do appreciate you taking the time to try to assist me on this.

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14

We all try. It’s a community. We help each other out :slight_smile:

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