[PARPORT] Slow Zip drive access in Red Hat 8.0

From: Chris Abrams (cja5@onetel.net.uk)
Date: Thu Feb 06 2003 - 10:52:25 EST

  • Next message: Tim Waugh: "Re: [PARPORT] Slow Zip drive access in Red Hat 8.0"

    Hi,

    I've just completed an installation of Red Hat Linux 8.0 on my laptop
    and everything is working fine except for the Iomega Parallel Port Zip
    100 drive. I also have a HP Deskjet 720C printer connected to the
    pass-through port on the Zip. The first time I booted up, my printer was
    found and correctly configured. The zip drive was not found but I was
    able to get it working by using "modprobe imm". The zip drive and the
    printer appear to happily coexist together. The problem is with transfer
    speeds to and from the zip drive, which are incredibly slow. Previously
    I was using Mandrake Linux 8.1 and it configured the zip drive without
    any intervention from me and the transfer speeds were excellent. I
    believe the problem is related to the transfer speeds across my parallel
    port. After loading the imm module I checked the System log and this was
    the output:

    Feb 6 12:30:59 localhost kernel: SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
    Feb 6 12:30:59 localhost kernel: imm: Version 2.05 (for Linux 2.4.0)
    Feb 6 12:30:59 localhost kernel: imm: Found device at ID 6, Attempting
    to use EPP 32 bit
    Feb 6 12:30:59 localhost kernel: imm: Found device at ID 6, Attempting
    to use PS/2
    Feb 6 12:30:59 localhost kernel: imm: Communication established at
    0x378 with ID 6 using PS/2
    Feb 6 12:30:59 localhost kernel: scsi0 : Iomega VPI2 (imm) interface
    Feb 6 12:31:01 localhost kernel: Vendor: IOMEGA Model: ZIP
    100 Rev: J.67
    Feb 6 12:31:01 localhost kernel: Type:
    Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02

    I don't think I have an ECP/EPP parallel port but why does the system
    choose PS/2 to communicate with the zip drive? Could this be why
    transfer speeds are so slow? Is there any way I can improve transfer
    speeds to and from my Zip drive?

    My hardware is : Compaq Presario 1266 laptop with external monitor, USB
    keyboard, PS/2 wheelmouse; the CPU is an AMD K6-II and I have 160 MB
    RAM.

    I'd be very grateful if anyone has any suggestions.

    Many thanks,

    Chris Abrams.

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