[ale] USB -> Parallel cable strange behavior.

[Michael B. Trausch]

Hrm.

I am not sure if this is a software or a hardware issue.  I am certainly
hoping that it's a software issue, but I honestly don't have a clue
where to start looking.

Every time I send a print job to my dot-matrix printer (connected via a
USB -> Centronics cable, because my computer does not have a parallel
port), I have to toggle the printer's state from ONLINE to OFFLINE and
then back to ONLINE.  Printing then starts, but loses the first
character of the print job.

Grepping dmesg output for usblp1 (the device name of the printer) gives
me no useful information.  In fact, no information at all, other than
the fact that it is a USB Bidirectional printer.

The lsusb -v output is below my sig; I am not sure if that's going to be
of any use, either, though.  My /hope/ is that this is something that
someone here has dealt with in the past and knows how to fix...
otherwise, I get the feeling that once I am done with my current
projects, I am going to be drowning in the usblp driver or something to
try to figure out what's wrong.  (I can't swim in regular C code other
people have written, let alone kernel code... lol)

	-- Mike

-- 
Michael B. Trausch               Internet Mail & Jabber: mike at trausch.us
Phone:  (404) 592-5746 x1                         http://www.trausch.us/
Mobile: (678) 522-7934             VoIP: 6453 at sip.trausch.us, 861384 at fwd
Pidgin 2.1.1 and plugins for Ubuntu Feisty! http://www.trausch.us/pidgin

Bus 002 Device 005: ID 050d:0002 Belkin Components
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0         8
  idVendor           0x050d Belkin Components
  idProduct          0x0002
  bcdDevice            2.02
  iManufacturer           1 Belk USB Printing Support
  iProduct                2 IEEE-1284 Controller
  iSerial                 0
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           78
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              100mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         7 Printer
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Printer
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 Unidirectional
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         7 Printer
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Printer
      bInterfaceProtocol      2 Bidirectional
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       2
      bNumEndpoints           3
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      0
      bInterfaceProtocol    255
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0004  1x 4 bytes
        bInterval               1
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

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