Connecting through parallel port

Connecting through parallel port

[Paulo J. Matos]

Hi all,

I have a LAN at home and know I just got another computer to
connect to the LAN, I also found a parallel-parallel cable. The
network is ethernet, is it possible to connect the new computer
using the parallel ports of the computers to the server of the
LAN so that this new computer is able to have access to the
internet and the rest of stuff?
What do I need to configure in the kernel?
Is there any how-to out there that answers this question?

Best regards,

-- 
Paulo J. Matos : pocm(_at_)rnl.ist.utl.pt
Instituto Superior Tecnico - Lisbon    
Software & Computer Engineering - A.I.
 - > http://www.rnl.ist.utl.pt/~pocm 
 ---	
	Yes, God had a deadline...
		So, He wrote it all in Lisp!

Re: Connecting through parallel port

[Julio Blanco Perez]

Hello,

There is a PLIP Howto in linuxdoc.

But i haven't been able to use plip after 2.4.17 even after the patch that
should have resolved all the known issues.


Has anybody a clue?

Re: Connecting through parallel port

[Bill Davidsen]

On 20 Feb 2002, Paulo J. Matos wrote:

> I have a LAN at home and know I just got another computer to
> connect to the LAN, I also found a parallel-parallel cable. The
> network is ethernet, is it possible to connect the new computer
> using the parallel ports of the computers to the server of the
> LAN so that this new computer is able to have access to the
> internet and the rest of stuff?
> What do I need to configure in the kernel?
> Is there any how-to out there that answers this question?

There was a protocol called PLIP which did just what you want. I've used
it many times for laptop install (Patrick even fixed it in Slackware at my
request).

Unfortunately, while the feature is still in recent 2.[45] kernels, it
appears to be broken. The last laptop I installed needed a network card to
get working.

Note that using good cable and short runs you can push PPP over the serial
ports at 230400bps, and possibly even use the bonding driver (or EQL) to
hang several in parallel. I would think that was fast enough for casual
use, although PL/IP was faster. I think the parport stuff is the cause,
and it may be that only the config info need be changed, I just haven't
chased it.

Anyone having a fix or info that there's a workaround, fel free to expand
on this!

-- 
bill davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
  CTO, TMR Associates, Inc
Doing interesting things with little computers since 1979.

Re: Connecting through parallel port

[John Alvord]

On Wed, 20 Feb 2002 10:39:36 -0500 (EST), Bill Davidsen
<davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:

>On 20 Feb 2002, Paulo J. Matos wrote:
>
>> I have a LAN at home and know I just got another computer to
>> connect to the LAN, I also found a parallel-parallel cable. The
>> network is ethernet, is it possible to connect the new computer
>> using the parallel ports of the computers to the server of the
>> LAN so that this new computer is able to have access to the
>> internet and the rest of stuff?
>> What do I need to configure in the kernel?
>> Is there any how-to out there that answers this question?
>
>There was a protocol called PLIP which did just what you want. I've used
>it many times for laptop install (Patrick even fixed it in Slackware at my
>request).
>
>Unfortunately, while the feature is still in recent 2.[45] kernels, it
>appears to be broken. The last laptop I installed needed a network card to
>get working.
>
>Note that using good cable and short runs you can push PPP over the serial
>ports at 230400bps, and possibly even use the bonding driver (or EQL) to
>hang several in parallel. I would think that was fast enough for casual
>use, although PL/IP was faster. I think the parport stuff is the cause,
>and it may be that only the config info need be changed, I just haven't
>chased it.
>
>Anyone having a fix or info that there's a workaround, fel free to expand
>on this!

This was interesting when NIC (network interface cards) cost $100.
Nowadays, they are a lot less costly and interest in the PLIP solution
has evaporated.

john

Re: Connecting through parallel port

[Bill Davidsen]

On Wed, 20 Feb 2002, John Alvord wrote:

> On Wed, 20 Feb 2002 10:39:36 -0500 (EST), Bill Davidsen
> <davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:

> >There was a protocol called PLIP which did just what you want. I've used
> >it many times for laptop install (Patrick even fixed it in Slackware at my
> >request).
> >
> >Unfortunately, while the feature is still in recent 2.[45] kernels, it
> >appears to be broken. The last laptop I installed needed a network card to
> >get working.

> This was interesting when NIC (network interface cards) cost $100.
> Nowadays, they are a lot less costly and interest in the PLIP solution
> has evaporated.

Unless cards now come with their own slot, this is still very useful. A
system without parallel is very unusual, while one without network is far
more common, and one without a place to even add a network is not that
hard to find. While a home user with only a few systems which he can
configure at will has no trouble adding a NIC, business use in many places
doesn't work that way, and honestly I have a hard time telling someone to
buy NICs, cables, a hub, etc, when a $7 cable will work between systems
with a functional PL/IP kernel.

Considering the low use things supported in the kernel, I see no reason to
think PL/IP is less so. Not a lot of TokenRing out there these days, even
in an IBM shop;-)

-- 
bill davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
  CTO, TMR Associates, Inc
Doing interesting things with little computers since 1979.

Re: Connecting through parallel port

[John Alvord]

On Thu, 21 Feb 2002 08:16:32 -0500 (EST), Bill Davidsen
<davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 20 Feb 2002, John Alvord wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 20 Feb 2002 10:39:36 -0500 (EST), Bill Davidsen
>> <davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:
>
>> >There was a protocol called PLIP which did just what you want. I've used
>> >it many times for laptop install (Patrick even fixed it in Slackware at my
>> >request).
>> >
>> >Unfortunately, while the feature is still in recent 2.[45] kernels, it
>> >appears to be broken. The last laptop I installed needed a network card to
>> >get working.
>
>> This was interesting when NIC (network interface cards) cost $100.
>> Nowadays, they are a lot less costly and interest in the PLIP solution
>> has evaporated.
>
>Unless cards now come with their own slot, this is still very useful. A
>system without parallel is very unusual, while one without network is far
>more common, and one without a place to even add a network is not that
>hard to find. While a home user with only a few systems which he can
>configure at will has no trouble adding a NIC, business use in many places
>doesn't work that way, and honestly I have a hard time telling someone to
>buy NICs, cables, a hub, etc, when a $7 cable will work between systems
>with a functional PL/IP kernel.
>
>Considering the low use things supported in the kernel, I see no reason to
>think PL/IP is less so. Not a lot of TokenRing out there these days, even
>in an IBM shop;-)

I guess the only remaining problem is finding someone to support the
code as Linux winds its way onward through the years. Or someone
paying to do that work.

john