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+===================================
+Linux and parallel port IDE devices
+===================================
+
+PARIDE v1.03 (c) 1997-8 Grant Guenther <grant@torque.net>
+PATA_PARPORT (c) 2023 Ondrej Zary
+
+1. Introduction
+===============
+
+Owing to the simplicity and near universality of the parallel port interface
+to personal computers, many external devices such as portable hard-disk,
+CD-ROM, LS-120 and tape drives use the parallel port to connect to their
+host computer. While some devices (notably scanners) use ad-hoc methods
+to pass commands and data through the parallel port interface, most
+external devices are actually identical to an internal model, but with
+a parallel-port adapter chip added in. Some of the original parallel port
+adapters were little more than mechanisms for multiplexing a SCSI bus.
+(The Iomega PPA-3 adapter used in the ZIP drives is an example of this
+approach). Most current designs, however, take a different approach.
+The adapter chip reproduces a small ISA or IDE bus in the external device
+and the communication protocol provides operations for reading and writing
+device registers, as well as data block transfer functions. Sometimes,
+the device being addressed via the parallel cable is a standard SCSI
+controller like an NCR 5380. The "ditto" family of external tape
+drives use the ISA replicator to interface a floppy disk controller,
+which is then connected to a floppy-tape mechanism. The vast majority
+of external parallel port devices, however, are now based on standard
+IDE type devices, which require no intermediate controller. If one
+were to open up a parallel port CD-ROM drive, for instance, one would
+find a standard ATAPI CD-ROM drive, a power supply, and a single adapter
+that interconnected a standard PC parallel port cable and a standard
+IDE cable. It is usually possible to exchange the CD-ROM device with
+any other device using the IDE interface.
+
+The document describes the support in Linux for parallel port IDE
+devices. It does not cover parallel port SCSI devices, "ditto" tape
+drives or scanners. Many different devices are supported by the
+parallel port IDE subsystem, including:
+
+ - MicroSolutions backpack CD-ROM
+ - MicroSolutions backpack PD/CD
+ - MicroSolutions backpack hard-drives
+ - MicroSolutions backpack 8000t tape drive
+ - SyQuest EZ-135, EZ-230 & SparQ drives
+ - Avatar Shark
+ - Imation Superdisk LS-120
+ - Maxell Superdisk LS-120
+ - FreeCom Power CD
+ - Hewlett-Packard 5GB and 8GB tape drives
+ - Hewlett-Packard 7100 and 7200 CD-RW drives
+
+as well as most of the clone and no-name products on the market.
+
+To support such a wide range of devices, pata_parport is actually structured
+in two parts. There is a base pata_parport module which provides an interface
+to kernel libata subsystem, registry and some common methods for accessing
+the parallel ports.
+
+The second component is a set of low-level protocol drivers for each of the
+parallel port IDE adapter chips. Thanks to the interest and encouragement of
+Linux users from many parts of the world, support is available for almost all
+known adapter protocols:
+
+ ==== ====================================== ====
+ aten ATEN EH-100 (HK)
+ bpck Microsolutions backpack (US)
+ comm DataStor (old-type) "commuter" adapter (TW)
+ dstr DataStor EP-2000 (TW)
+ epat Shuttle EPAT (UK)
+ epia Shuttle EPIA (UK)
+ fit2 FIT TD-2000 (US)
+ fit3 FIT TD-3000 (US)
+ friq Freecom IQ cable (DE)
+ frpw Freecom Power (DE)
+ kbic KingByte KBIC-951A and KBIC-971A (TW)
+ ktti KT Technology PHd adapter (SG)
+ on20 OnSpec 90c20 (US)
+ on26 OnSpec 90c26 (US)
+ ==== ====================================== ====
+
+
+2. Using pata_parport subsystem
+===============================
+
+While configuring the Linux kernel, you may choose either to build
+the pata_parport drivers into your kernel, or to build them as modules.
+
+In either case, you will need to select "Parallel port IDE device support"
+and at least one of the parallel port communication protocols.
+If you do not know what kind of parallel port adapter is used in your drive,
+you could begin by checking the file names and any text files on your DOS
+installation floppy. Alternatively, you can look at the markings on
+the adapter chip itself. That's usually sufficient to identify the
+correct device.
+
+You can actually select all the protocol modules, and allow the pata_parport
+subsystem to try them all for you.
+
+For the "brand-name" products listed above, here are the protocol
+and high-level drivers that you would use:
+
+ ================ ============ ========
+ Manufacturer Model Protocol
+ ================ ============ ========
+ MicroSolutions CD-ROM bpck
+ MicroSolutions PD drive bpck
+ MicroSolutions hard-drive bpck
+ MicroSolutions 8000t tape bpck
+ SyQuest EZ, SparQ epat
+ Imation Superdisk epat
+ Maxell Superdisk friq
+ Avatar Shark epat
+ FreeCom CD-ROM frpw
+ Hewlett-Packard 5GB Tape epat
+ Hewlett-Packard 7200e (CD) epat
+ Hewlett-Packard 7200e (CD-R) epat
+ ================ ============ ========
+
+All parports and all protocol drivers are probed automatically unless probe=0
+parameter is used. So just "modprobe epat" is enough for a Imation SuperDisk
+drive to work.
+
+Manual device creation::
+
+ # echo "port protocol mode unit delay" >/sys/bus/pata_parport/new_device
+
+where:
+
+ ======== ================================================
+ port parport name (or "auto" for all parports)
+ protocol protocol name (or "auto" for all protocols)
+ mode mode number (protocol-specific) or -1 for probe
+ unit unit number (for backpack only, see below)
+ delay I/O delay (see troubleshooting section below)
+ ======== ================================================
+
+If you happen to be using a MicroSolutions backpack device, you will
+also need to know the unit ID number for each drive. This is usually
+the last two digits of the drive's serial number (but read MicroSolutions'
+documentation about this).
+
+If you omit the parameters from the end, defaults will be used, e.g.:
+
+Probe all parports with all protocols::
+
+ # echo auto >/sys/bus/pata_parport/new_device
+
+Probe parport0 using protocol epat and mode 4 (EPP-16)::
+
+ # echo "parport0 epat 4" >/sys/bus/pata_parport/new_device
+
+Probe parport0 using all protocols::
+
+ # echo "parport0 auto" >/sys/bus/pata_parport/new_device
+
+Probe all parports using protoocol epat::
+
+ # echo "auto epat" >/sys/bus/pata_parport/new_device
+
+Deleting devices::
+
+ # echo pata_parport.0 >/sys/bus/pata_parport/delete_device
+
+
+3. Troubleshooting
+==================
+
+3.1 Use EPP mode if you can
+----------------------------
+
+The most common problems that people report with the pata_parport drivers
+concern the parallel port CMOS settings. At this time, none of the
+protocol modules support ECP mode, or any ECP combination modes.
+If you are able to do so, please set your parallel port into EPP mode
+using your CMOS setup procedure.
+
+3.2 Check the port delay
+-------------------------
+
+Some parallel ports cannot reliably transfer data at full speed. To
+offset the errors, the protocol modules introduce a "port
+delay" between each access to the i/o ports. Each protocol sets
+a default value for this delay. In most cases, the user can override
+the default and set it to 0 - resulting in somewhat higher transfer
+rates. In some rare cases (especially with older 486 systems) the
+default delays are not long enough. if you experience corrupt data
+transfers, or unexpected failures, you may wish to increase the
+port delay.
+
+3.3 Some drives need a printer reset
+-------------------------------------
+
+There appear to be a number of "noname" external drives on the market
+that do not always power up correctly. We have noticed this with some
+drives based on OnSpec and older Freecom adapters. In these rare cases,
+the adapter can often be reinitialised by issuing a "printer reset" on
+the parallel port. As the reset operation is potentially disruptive in
+multiple device environments, the pata_parport drivers will not do it
+automatically. You can however, force a printer reset by doing::
+
+ insmod lp reset=1
+ rmmod lp
+
+If you have one of these marginal cases, you should probably build
+your pata_parport drivers as modules, and arrange to do the printer reset
+before loading the pata_parport drivers.