Re: Parallel, IEEE 1284, Zip drive

Alan Cox (alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk)
Wed, 10 Apr 1996 21:51:36 +0100 (BST)

> Without some sort of common API or common hardware spec it is meaningless to
> talk about writing a device driver. PLIP, PPA and 1284 all use
> the bus in entirely different ways, so there is little hope for a common API
> that includes the specific devices that Albert mentions.

Having hacked on the quickcam kernel driver a bit (mine doesnt lockup now
if the camera falls off - I am happy ;)), I think the problem we have is
small. The plip driver,lp, qcam and other devices need only one small
change to solve the problem. They need to use check_region/request_region
in their open/close routines not at init. That way one driver will
block the others cleanly rather than failing to have them all boot politely.
Maybe someone with enough weird parallel junk can try making those changes ?

Alan