SCO XENIX/386 and a slow lp

[Sanford 'Sandy' Zelkovitz]

In article <5470 at killer.DALLAS.TX.US>, toma at killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Tom Armistead) writes:
> I have just installed 386 Xenix (SCO) and am having some problems
> with the lp spooler. It runs **REAL** slow, printing about 1 line
> every 1 to 2 seconds, even when there is absolutely nothing else
> happening on the system...
> 
> Has anybody had the same problem and does anybody know of a fix???
> 
> It's probally in the manuals somewhere - but I couldn't find squat...
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Tom
> -------------
> Tom Armistead
> UUCP:  ...!att | ...!ihnp4 | ...!ames | ...!decwrl | ...!mit-eddie
> 				!killer!toma

The problem that you described above is not unusual with some line printers
which do not follow the proper interrupt protocols. There is one method
which may work with your printer and that is to generate a polled driver
instead of the interrupt service driver. This can be done very simply
by using the mknod program. Firstly, find the "minor" number that you
are using and generate a new node that is exactly 64 larger ( minor ).
For example, if the major an minor for lp0 is 6,0; you can generate a
new node that is 6,64.

            mknod /dev/lp0p c 6 64

The above entry to the lp driver, called lp0p, will be a polled driver.
Re-run lpinit and assign /dev/lp0p as the driver ( this will not
show as a valid driver in SCO's menu; however , it will be accepted ).

The above "fix" will normally work unless the printer is really odd.
 
Sanford ( Sandy ) Zelkovitz - XBBS Node #1 -  714-898-8634
 
               !att!hermix!alphacm!sandy