Sorry for the delay in posting this summary; I's been busy. Several weeks ago,
I said:
>Greetings, Sun Managers. I have a problem that all of the so-called tech
>experts say shouldn't happen, but does nonetheless. So I figured I'd better
>ask the REAL experts; here goes...
>
>We recently purchased a QMS-1725 printer which we are attempting to connect to
>the parallel port on our ALM-2 board (Sparc 690MP, SunOS 4.1.3). We want to
>place the printer outside the computer room which means we need a parallel
>cable which is over-length. To fix this problem, we purchased a Bravo Parallel
>Line Extender (Model 1042E). Unfortunately, the Bravo will not work with the
>ALM parallel port.
>
>
>[Much of original post deleted]
>
>I find it wierd that the printer and ALM port can talk to each other with short
>cables and no extender. As soon as we put the extender in place, though,
>things die. For whatever reason, the Bravo extender and the Sun ALM-2 parallel
>port don't like each other. I'd like to act as mediator to get the two of them
>talking. If anyone can offer any insights, I'd sure like to hear them.
I spent the better part of two days talking to Sun and Bravo on the phone
about this, and it appears the problem lies in the fact that the parallel
port implementation on the ALM-2 board is not a "standard" one. This would
explain why it works on every other computer I have access to.
I received a number of replies. Several people suggested I try varying the
cable lengths and the placement of the Bravo in the cable run (no change);
others suggested forgoing the parallel port and connect the printer directly to
the network (no money); another said (I paraphrase) "Ha! I hate the ALM board
as much as you do! Mine doesn't work either." (I sympathize, James. :-)
The answer to my problem was provided by Ed Romascan from Magma, who sent me
information on their SBus parallel ports. Since the SBus card was roughly the
same price as the Bravo, I returned the Bravo and purchased a Magma Parallel Sp
card (US$145). The Magma is rated to drive a 100ft cable; my cable is well
within that.
Once I had the card installed I plugged in the printer, set up the driver
software and let 'er rip. The QMS-1725 is performing quite well (albeit with
the odd error - I've gotta call Magma to find out what gives). After sitting
on a table for 3 months, I've finally got the printer online. Yahoo.
My thanks to the respondents.
Ron Russell <Ronald.C.Russell@ag.auburn.edu>
ebumfr@ebu.ericsson.se (Mike Rembis 66520)
Geert Jan de Groot <geertj@ica.philips.nl>
steve@seattle.avcom.com (Steve Lee)
jpd@ucs.usl.edu (James Dugal)
ed@magma.COM (Ed Romascan)
-- - Mike Jewison, Systems Manager Space Astrophysics Laboratory Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science 4850 Keele St., 2nd Floor North York, Ontario CANADA M3J 3K1Internet: mjewison@nereid.sal.ists.ca Phone: (416) 665-5451 FAX: (416) 665-5497
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